Entrepreneurial Job Opportunities Indianapolis

Last week, I received a very interesting email. This message informed me that Mayor Ballard, and Governor Mitch Daniels would be paying a visit to Angie's List, my host company, the following day. As I drove up to the ever eclectic Angie's List campus the next morning, the energy was undeniable. The entire company was counting down the minutes until 9:15, when the two were scheduled to arrive. At about 9:00am, my department was buzzing was eagerness. We all walked over to the courtyard where a mix of employees, including many Orr Fellowship alumni, sat on hand-me-down picnic tables, looking on as Angie Hicks introduced the mayor and the governor.

The first statement Governor Daniels made was that he was proud of this organization and the impact it has made on the near east side of Indianapolis. As he continued his speech, I could not help but feel pride as well. I am proud to be a part of Angie's List. I am proud to be associated with one of the Best Places to Work in Indianapolis; a company that will be providing over 500 jobs in the city of Indianapolis in the next 5 years. I then looked around at all of the Orr Fellow alumni, and thought about their positions within Angie's List, as well as all of the entrepreneurial endeavors they work on after hours and the career opportunities they are pursuing.

I could not help but feel, in that moment, that I was beginning to fully realize the mission of the Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship in Indiana. Angie Hicks, Co-founder of my host company, is motivating me to take a career risk. The current Orr Fellows and alumni I associate with, aside from their distinguished post-grad jobs, are motivating me to do more with my energy than just a 9-5 job. Governor Daniels and Mayor Ballard are motivating me to make a tangible impact on the city of Indianapolis.

As I left my office that day, my head was buzzing with opportunities to pursue around the city. I spent that evening sending emails and brainstorming how I could give back to this community that is offering so much to me during my fellowship experience. I found myself reaching out to connections I have already made through the Fellowship to offer help in various volunteer avenue. I was beginning to take advantage of post-graduate networking in Indianapolis. I am so fortunate to have the opportunity to experience the influence of city and state leaders just three short months out of college.

• Attended a Venture Club of Indianapolis meeting with Chris Palmer and an executive at my company. Our CEO spoke on the guest pannel.
• Helped develop my company's social media presence
• Worked on my salesforce database skills while sending messages out to customers
• Had a bbq pork sandwich and a beer in the office as part of our thirsty Thursday tradition.
• Wrote this post.

I realize I have yet to make a splash on the Orr Fellowship blog (shame on me), but I’m hoping that – after reading this post – this will speak to not my lack of involvement with or enthusiasm for the Orr Fellowship, but quite the opposite.

As I read through the blog posts to date from my fellow Orr Fellows, it’s clear that this entire string highlights one reason after another why you should respect the organization’s goals and obvious deliverables (deliverables? Meaning: the network, connections, friendships, professional experience and education, exposure to executives and high-growth startups, entrepreneurial opportunities, and on and on…) – or even consider applying. It’s a team effort to grow and improve the Fellowship, which says something else about it. We have all either consciously or unconsciously acquired a sense of ownership of the program. Every new class of Orr Fellows has the potential to define the Fellowship further, which is intensely motivating.

In that same vein, one of the biggest themes between the two current classes of Orr Fellows (2009 and 2010) right now is collaboration and, more importantly, the power thereof. Orr Fellows are active and making an impact on the Indianapolis community. Matt Hunckler, with assistance from Jon Corwin and other Orr Fellow alumni, organizes Hackers & Founders, a group for entrepreneurs and developers passionate about startups and new opportunities. Max Yoder decided to help give the group some face time and wrote about it for the Indy Spectator (this tweet shows how the magic happens).


Speaking of Max, he’s also fairly active with his music alongside his job and Orr Fellowship activities. I (Lauren Weatherall) am working with a co-worker of mine in organizing Linking Indy Women, a networking group for women professionals looking to share and be inspired by others’ accomplishments. In short, a lot of great things are happening through collaboration and, often times, connections spurred by the Orr Fellowship serve as the catalysts for this kind of activity.
 

For brevity's sake, I won’t delve into further examples, but I will express my enthusiasm for the culture we, as Orr Fellows and motivated young professionals, are helping cultivate in Indiana. I'm surprising myself by how much I'm enjoying Indianapolis right now; I think it's partly because I can see and am part of some of the changes happening here. People are helping and connecting each other in the entrepreneurial scene (well, and just in general) and I'm finding myself constantly surrounded by positive energy. I can honestly say I have the Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship to thank for that. Wherever you go and whatever you do, never underestimate the value in connecting and collaborating with people. Who you surround yourself with makes all the difference. If there's one thing I could share that I've learned in the past few months, that's it.

After attending several of the Governor Bob Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship recruiting events, I have discovered a common concern held by many senior candidates.  As if the job search isn’t stressful enough, many college seniors are concerned that recruiters are attempting to “sell” them on the job at hand, leading them to hold false expectations about what the job will really be like.
 
My response to their concerns is always the same.  We’re not here to “sell” you on anything.  Our responses to your questions and accounts of our experiences are completely genuine.  When we say the Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship offers executive mentorship, it’s the truth.  Last month, I went to lunch with the President of my company where we talked casually about his career successes and some of the business challenges he’s faced.  On a more frequent basis, I experience executive mentorship through some of the projects I am working on with the VP of Technology.  He’s taken a direct role in some of the critical learning experiences that have pushed me to grow at my host company. 

When we say that the Orr Fellowship offers networking and social opportunities, we mean it.  Aside from our monthly Business Leader Meetings, there is a steady stream of networking opportunities, whether it’s attending a technology-based convention in Indianapolis or attending an Orr Fellowship social event, like the one being held this month, where guests include Orr Fellowship Board Members, Orr Fellowship Alumni, current Orr Fellows, Host Company Executives, and other special guests.

So far, I have completed four months of the Orr Fellowship, and I can honestly say that it has lived up to and even exceeded my expectations.  The Orr Fellowship doesn’t need a sales pitch.  It speaks genuinely of itself. 

 

Recently, Bob Reish, Matt Barloh and I attended the first career fair of the season! We traveled north to our Alma mater, The University of Notre Dame, and after spending the morning promoting the Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship in front of several classes, we moved to the fair to further spread the word about this amazing program.

We met some great candidates and had a ton of fun getting to know many of the good prospects for the Orr Fellowship Class of 2011. We had conversations with people we had asked to come see us, and also a surprising number of folks who sought us out after they had heard of our program from friends.

Many candidates were not specifically looking for entrepreneurial companies or technology jobs in Indianapolis, but when we began discussing the fantastic networking opportunities in Indianapolis, and the high growth start-ups we work with, we could see their interest begin to swell. Of course, many of our best candidates had serious offers from big companies and other prestigious post-graduate programs, so with this strong competition it was even more incredible to see the how their eyes would light up when we discussed the opportunities at the Orr Fellowship. Obviously the advantages the three of us saw in the Orr Fellowship resonate with other people.

The recruiting season is off to a great start but there is still much to do. It is obvious already however that the word is spreading about this great opportunity. With a little luck this recruiting season will be the best yet.
 

It’s funny, you know, how everyday life can get in the way. We start out with some sort of plan—even just a short-term intention—yet are later shocked to find we’re somewhere we never intended to be. It’s like going online “just for second” and an hour later finding you’re reading some obscure article about “The Principles of Collective Animal Behavior.” God only knows how you got there.

One day a few years back, out to lunch with a mentor from Kimberly-Clark, I found myself asking how he kept his busy life in order. With a fast-paced career, a wife, a few kids, how did this guy even find a second to talk to me? “I have clear priorities,” he said, “and I stick to them.” Okay, great, I thought. Priorities—I have a million of them, I remarked. He smiled. You have to treat life like a pickle jar, he told me. My writhed face must have confirmed I hadn’t heard the analogy before, because he went on.

Yes, a pickle jar. You have finite time, energy, and resources—that’s the jar. First, you have to fill up the jar with your big rocks—those things most important to you, those that if you accomplished nothing else, you’d still be happy. Next, smaller stones fill in the spaces left between the rocks with those things you’d really like to do. Then, pebbles fill in a little more. And then sand until you think you couldn’t possibly fit another molecule in the jar. Finally, you drown the rocks, pebbles, and sand with water—using those few minutes here and there to accomplish the least important things in your life.

By the end, I was smiling. There it was, the answer—so simple: It’s impossible to have a million number one priorities. And I’ve learned more since then, especially that it’s perfectly okay to let some things fall to the wayside if they don’t align with your priorities. Scott Brenton talked about our priorities as Orr Fellows—first to do outstanding work for the host companies, second to help grow the Fellowship. I would contend being part of an entrepreneurial fellowship is only a part of my life, albeit now a large part. Working at one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S. certainly demands much of my time, but that’s okay because my work is a top priority for me right now. So I ask, what are your top priorities?

It takes a little reflection to figure out if you’re really spending the majority of your time on your top priorities, but I challenge you to do so. You’ll be happier six months from now when you pause to reflect upon where you’ve ended up. Because perhaps unlike in the past, you’ll be very near where you wanted to be.

The Orr Fellowship provides an opportunity for recent graduates to be placed in fast paced jobs within some of the top entrepreneurial companies in Indianapolis.  For more information about the Fellowship program and how to apply, visit www.orrfellowship.org.
 

1. Didn't want to teach people how to dive
2. Didn't want to take out more than 6 people at a time

I get asked this same question, or some variation of it, a LOT.  So many people are interested in the Orr Fellowship and the post-grads' careers that come through the program that this question is almost a staple of any new conversation struck.  Similar questions include:

What do you want to do after you finish?
What kind of venture are you interested in?  Technology jobs in Indianapolis?  Business jobs in Indianapolis?
What's the next step in your entrepreneurial career? 
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

And the list goes on... and my answer is always the same: I need to wait and see.  This sort of answer frustrates most listeners, as it probably should.  Even worse, it frustrates me because I WANT to run a high growth start-up, full of all the excitement and wonder these sort of organizations are known for.  And Im young.  Now is the time to make mistakes, right?  Without having to worry about not being able to recover from a bust, with plenty of time to recover my life and my career right?

Yes.  But no.  A May, 2008 study by the Kauffman Foundation found that twice as many tech saavy entrepreneurs start businesses in their 50's as they do in their 20's, with an average age of start-up founders being 39.  Not 20, not 25, not even 30.  39.  To me, this says that experience is a great teacher, but more important is the kind of experience; being a former CEO of three failed start-ups at 30 might be great experience to lean on, but it probably isnt as effective as working within and learning how start-ups and small businesses should be run to build successful organizations.  There is a proverb that goes something like "yesterday's tracks are tomorrows guides", and this is a perfect example of that; so, the first part of my answer to "why havent you started a business yet?" is: Why make the same mistakes you can learn from watching others?

There is a second part of my answer, that is more complicated but Ill do my best: circumstance.  Start-ups, especially technology start-ups, need the right circumstances to survive and grow.  The team, the idea, the implementation, the market, everything needs to be well understood and in place before Ill want to touch money.  Many a good idea have failed because they were missing a piece of the entrepreneurial puzzle, and all the hard work, long nights, and missed sleep was wasted.  The thing is, we usually never hear about these companies, the ones that fail.  Thats part of what makes entrepreneurship so attractive: we really only hear about the successes, and so it seems (to the untrainted eye) that starting and owning a business is easy as apple pie.

For me, I will choose my opportunities wisely.  And only when I am ready will I become that ever-so-coveted title of  "entrepreneur." That could be tomorrow, or it could be never.  The numbers (and my own brain) are telling me it will probably be a while.  But then again, who knows?

We've all talked about our host companies and what makes ours better than the rest, but how are these companies chosen, and why would someone want to work for an entrepreneurial company in Indianapolis?  In order to shed some light on the Orr Fellowship host companies, I have given the information in a question/answer format.

Q: What is a host company's role in the Orr Fellowship?
A: Orr Fellowship host companies have the responsibility of providing their Fellow(s) with a unique experience that cannot be found anywhere else.  We want these companies to give their Fellows important projects that help them learn and grow as a working professional.  In addition, we require these companies to provide their Fellows with ample exposure to executive-level management so that they can become more comfortable in that type of an environment (this is exactly what we're talking about when we say that the Orr Fellowship is one of the best networking opportunities in Indianapolis).

Q: How are host companies selected to be involved in the Orr Fellowship?
A: Although this process may seem unscientific at times, that's probably because it is.  However, host companies are invited to join the Orr Fellowship if they've successfully demonstrated their ability to move at a fast rate of growth, created an environment that is conducive for great learning experiences, and have emerged with a product/service that has the ability to thrive in a changing society for years to come.  Overall, we seek out companies that we're confident will provide our Fellows with a wonderful two years of experiences coupled with strong promise of job security with that particular company.

Q: How long are host companies allowed to be involved in the Orr Fellowship?
A: There really isn't a straight-forward answer to this question.  There have been companies like ExactTarget and Angie's List that have been a part of the Fellowship essentially since the beginning.  However, some companies participate for a year or two while others take Orr Fellows for four, five, and even six years.  We typically allow host companies to be in the Orr Fellowship until they've grown out of the stage of being a small, entrepreneurial start-up or until they've shown that they no longer are a suitable company for an Orr Fellow to work in.

 This year the Governor Bob Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship has agreed to allow twenty host companies to participate in our program.  Over the years we've made a conscious effort to grow the organization - and this year we've finally made the decision to double the size of next year's class.  So why have we decided to take so many more Fellows?  With an increase in name recognition in Indiana, and the development of a strong reputation among business leaders, we've experienced a tremendous growth in the amount of applications that we've received.  It's because of this recognition that the Orr Fellowship has proven itself to be one of the best places to work in Indiana.  With that, I want to go ahead and congratulate those candidates that have moved on to the final round of recruitment.  You've managed to set yourselves apart from the rest of the competition and have proven yourselves over and over again.  Good luck to you all on Friday and I look forward to meeting the Orr Fellowship Class of 2010!
 

• the presence of a network of young professionals like myself to share ideas, concerns, successes, etc.
• the pipeline of Indiana business leaders that fellows are given the opportunity to interact and build relationships with
• the position and ability to join a small, start-up company and, through hard work, be able to make an impact within the organization
• knowing that I'm making a good investment in my career by being in an environment that forces me to learn as much as possible about running a small business