Schooling of Entrepreneurs in a Corporate Job
A great venue for apprenticeship
Entrepreneurs have no formal degree requirements, although some schooling is crucial for success. Apprenticeship is often touted as an alluring way to be schooled.
What if that apprenticeship was a corporate job, with riskless regular pay? How sweet would that be?
Cindy Koebele began working at a title insurance company in the ’80s. After five years and several promotions, she felt disconnected from the owners. TitleSmart was born in 2007, during the collapse of the housing bubble, with a proffer of a higher level of service.
Today, the company has 100 staff members in eight locations throughout the Twin Cities doing 12,000 annual closings.
The company has received numerous awards, including listing in Inc. 5000 fastest-growing private companies in America for five consecutive years 2014–18, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the year for the Upper Midwest in 2015, Star Tribune Top 150 workplaces in 2018 and 2019, and Twin City Business Magazine’s best of business reader’s choice in 2018.
Cindy still found time to author two children’s books and one titled Obsess to Success about customer experience's cardinal virtue. She serves on a nonprofit board providing housing grants to parents with a seriously ill or critically injured family member.
Kristi Piehl was an investigative reporter for over twelve years at five different television stations. She became savvy about obtaining media exposure. According to Nielsen, most consumers trust ‘earned media’- non-purchased media exposure, over paid ads. Yet, traditional PR agencies were spending client money to secure news coverage, mostly with press releases, free pizza, or emails.
An unexpected layoff in 2009 triggered the start of Media Minefield, sharply focused on assisting corporations’ secure earned media. Her 28 employees are mostly former journalists who understand how to create compelling, newsworthy content, coach clients on regular and crisis communications, as well as secure news coverage. The company has clients from startups to billion-dollar brands, including Snap Fitness, Supercuts, and Allina Health.
The recognitions include Minnesota’s best places to work, for four years in a row 2015–18, Inc. 5000 list, 2018 and 2019 and on Minne Inno’s coolest companies list, 2019. To share her knowledge and experiences, she is a founding member of the Women in Entrepreneurship Institute at DePaul University.
Jaime Taets spent 12 years at Cargill and 2 years at Moneygram International. She delivered large scale projects in change management and enterprise transformation across many industries in many countries. After turning down a promotion, Keystone Group was started in 2013 for smaller businesses, in line with her background. Now, the company has 6 consultants and 3 support employees.
Jaime was awarded the 2019 emerging woman business owner by the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO).
These entrepreneurs recounted several benefits that flowed directly from their corporate ‘apprenticeship’ that made their venture flourish:
The accumulated savings came in very handy. It allowed them to bootstrap their business and not chase investors.
Their opportunity itself came solely because of the job experience. In some cases, having worked in several institutions, they could clearly see an industry-wide opportunity for their own business.
They discovered their real strengths and weaknesses. Project work gave them firsthand knowledge of their own ability and constraints. As they dug below the surface into details, they learned that we're the right fit for them and those that were not. After hearing many notes — from superiors, from clients, from team members, they learned to turn a “no” into a “yes.” Even a battery of tests would not have uncovered these.
The competency to build and run a business can only be gained by being immersed in one. The skills learned went beyond sales techniques and software tools to financial details that drive a business, working with limited resources, and managing lots of egos in a diverse workplace. In dealing with the backroom for navigating clients, investors, and coworkers, they gained invaluable new insights.
The network of people that they came in contact with. These contacts became invaluable for a startup -whether for technology, introductions to customers or investors, advice on financing, and for just about everything else.
Many options did open up. Till they were doing interesting stuff, they stayed and made progress. They could also get a different job if they wanted flexibility and autonomy. They also developed the competency to start their venture when they felt totally ready.
They gained control over the outcomes of events in their lives. When things happened, and it became harder and harder to see the impact they were making in the larger company, they abandoned a large corporation's safety to fly on their own.
Aspiring entrepreneurs need not consider a corporate job as an abandonment of their dream. It may be a delay while they are schooled. This alternative earns double compensation — cash for resources, plus knowledge and personal experience gained from peers and bosses.
A version of this article first appeared in Twin City Business Magazine in April 2020.
To see other opinion columns go to medium.com/@rajivtandon
Rajiv Tandon is executive director of the Institute for Innovators and Entrepreneurs and an advocate for the future of entrepreneurship in Minnesota. He is an adviser to fast growth Minnesota CEOs. He can be reached at rajiv@mn-iie.org.
