My Entrepreneurial Journey (Part 2)

Part 2 - Getting Your Cheese Moved

It’s September 1991 and I’m a senior in high school.?I was given an opportunity to interview for a part-time job at some company I’ve never heard of in King of Prussia, PA called International Mobile Machines (now InterDigital Communications).?Since we couldn’t Google anything back then, all I knew was that the guy I was interviewing with went to my high school 10 years or so before I did.

I vaguely remember my interview with John Miluzzo or exactly what we discussed.?I’m sure it was obvious to him that I knew little about finance or technology.?But I think he sensed I was interested to learn.?I guess he figured he could train me or if I was a dud, he could replace me.

I was thrilled when he offered me a job.?I’d work a day or two after school and on Saturdays.?And if I liked what I was doing and John felt that I deserved it, I could have an opportunity to work full-time in the summer.

To say I loved my job was an understatement.?John taught me so much about computers, telecommunications systems, applications, hardware, and software.?I also learned time management, how to prioritize activities, and the importance of asking for help. He held me accountable to him with status reports and while I was his employee, a friendship formed that lasts to this day.

I decided I wanted to major in finance and information systems in college and John offered me the ability to work part-time during the semester and full-time in the summer during school.?Assuming I went to a local school, I’d be able to work in the career field I was interested in and get paid very well as a college student.?

I decided to go to Philadelphia College of Textiles & Sciences (now Thomas Jefferson University) where I could work during the school year.?I really felt I belonged at Textile and given that I could still work with John, I had the best of both worlds. I started my freshman year in August of 1992.

***

Given that the company was very cash poor at the time and working to change its business model, the IT support team for at least a year was just John and me.?The benefit of that to me was an opportunity to experience not only how the department worked, but also how the company worked given the projects I was involved in.?I would not just be making photocopies.?And the experience I gained was extraordinary.

I also learned about, saw firsthand, and at times got mixed up in corporate politics.?There are so may stories I could tell but let’s just say I learned the importance of always keeping your ears and eyes open and knowing when to keep your mouth shut.?As you can imagine, I was learning more at InterDigital than I was in many of my college courses.?And the long-term benefits of what I learned have been priceless.

I could write so much more about my experiences at InterDigital – indeed an entire book.?I loved so many of the people I met and I also worked for some very talented executives.?There were also a few idiots as well.?I laugh when I think back about some of those people and the situations I found myself in.?It was a wonderful training and learning environment and I feel I took complete advantage of all I could soak in.

***

Around my sophomore college year, I started to realize that the skills I had been acquiring at InterDigital were really useful given the adoption of the personal computer in all aspects of life.?An amazing person I met in college at Textile (Jefferson) was the director of career services Marianne Able.?She became a friend and mentor to me.

I think Marianne was shocked to learn I was working at what was a “real job” while in college.?She encouraged me to dream even bigger.?She actually introduced me to an alum who had a business and had complained to her about his company’s antiquated computer and accounting systems.?She believed in me and felt I could help him.?

When I compared his 25 employees to the 300 employees I was working with at InterDigital, I thought it would be a walk in the park to help him.?And it was and he appreciated it.?He offered me $500 for my time and I could not believe he would pay me that sort of money at the time.?But he did because he told me I provided him enormous value.?

When I told Marianne about this, she encouraged me to think about doing something called consulting.?I was 19 and a kid in college.?I thought consultants were old people that had decades of experience.?I remember her saying – "not in this new field of technology – it’s going to be all kids and younger people like you." And boy was she right.

***

With the seed planted in my head from Marianne, I started to think about consulting and the thinking led to dreaming about starting my own business.?Marianne’s mentoring encouraged me to keep my eyes open and alert for opportunities.?She also encouraged me to put myself in the right places (via networking with people) so that people knew me and might be able to refer me.

One day in the spring of 1994 as I was about to finish my sophomore year, I was working at InterDigital.?User support back then was conducted in person.?There was no remoting into anything.?And so just like any other day, I was in the office of a colleague helping him with an issue on his computer.?He then turned to me and said that his father owned an accounting firm, had a similar computer system and applications, and was struggling with it.?He wanted to know if I could help him, and I said – “of course!”

A week or so later, after finishing my college classes, I went over to his dad’s office.?His name was Jack McCarthy and he was a kind, intelligent, and all around wonderful human being.?I helped his team with a few issues and then he asked if he could hire me as a consultant.?When he wanted to know what my hourly rate was and I told him I’d have to let him know.

***

I left Mr. McCarthy’s office wondering what I would charge him as a Novell / Great Plains accounting consultant.?In one of my rare visits to my university’s library (I wasn’t exactly an “A” student during my undergraduate years), I decided to research this problem using microfilm and microfiche.?After a few hours I learned that consultants were billing anywhere between $60 and $100 per hour.

I remember thinking there is no way someone is going to pay me – a 19-year-old kid – close to even $60 an hour to be their consultant.?But I decided it was worth a shot to provide Mr. McCarthy a rate thinking he would throw me out of his office when I told him.

But he didn’t.?I went to him with a rate of $60 an hour and I remember him saying “sold.”?I was in disbelief.

***

Meanwhile, everything was still going great for me at InterDigital.?John ended up leaving the company a few years after he hired me which was a very difficult change for me.?However the timing of his leaving, during the summer of 1994 between my sophomore and junior year of college, allowed me to serve as the interim IT director.?

Both the CEO and CFO at the time were very impressed with my work ethic and commitment.?The CEO in particular offered me the opportunity to work at the company after college and promised to move me into a leadership training track to one day become a senior executive.?

Then one day during my junior year of college (around January 1995 to be exact), Dave was hired as the new IT director.?He was now my boss.

About 5 months later, the CEO who had taken me under his wing and would have continued to serve as my mentor (and protector from someone like Dave), left the company.?My new boss and the CEO moving on had really changed my outlook and I wondered about my future career at the company.?

Dave was the exact oppositive of John – and not in a good way.?Probably in his early 50s at the time he had something to prove.?And I, this young 20-year-old whipper snapper kid was in his way.?There is no way he could have me outshine him.?Our relationship went downhill from the beginning.?

If you’ve ever worked for someone who always had to take the credit, be in control of everything, not trust those who work for them, and just about every other negative thing you can think of, that was my new boss.

He immediately shut me out of projects that I would normally be involved in.?And because I was not there every day, he was able to blame things on me that I had nothing to do with.?I found out what was going on from some of my colleagues who liked me and couldn’t stand him.?It was a circus!

***

Then one day in December 1995, about 5 months before my graduation, I went to work for what was to be my last day.

I walked into my office and noticed someone else sitting at my desk and all of my stuff piled in a box in the corner.?When I introduced myself to the new guy and politely explained that he was sitting in my chair, he told me to see Dave and that this was not my office anymore.?

I went right to Dave’s office.?I remember him being dodgy, sweating, and generally nervous.?I asked him what was going on and he told me “we don’t need you anymore.”?I asked, “what do you mean, I have a whole list of things that I need to get done today.”?He replied back, “this is your last day, you aren’t needed.?Get your things and go to the HR office so you can turn in your badge and passwords.”?

Dave had just moved my cheese – and to me at the time – not in a good way!

Walking out of the office, with my box, and almost in tears I stopped myself before I got into my car.?All of the sudden a thought popped into my head and the message was as clear as any message or inner voice I have ever experienced.

“I will never work for someone ever again.?I will never let someone like Dave do that to me ever again.”

That is a valuable lesson to learn at age 21 while still in college.??And I’ve never looked back.?My future was clear.?I was going to try and start my own business.?I wanted to control my own destiny and never let a Dave control it.?

I never saw Dave again but if I did today, I would thank him.?After what happened, I knew for sure I wanted to be an entrepreneur.?He did me a huge favor.

He would be the last boss or job I ever had.

Now it was time to turn dreams into reality.