Fast Growing Indianapolis Companies

• Welcoming the largest class of Orr Fellows in the history of the organization. (Earlier this year, 27 new Orr Fellows took positions at some of Indiana's best and fastest growing companies.)
• The first acquisition of a company founded by an Orr Fellow. (MyJibe, founded by Fellowship alumnus Mike Langellier, was purchased by Utah-based MoneyDesktop less than a year after its initial launch.)
• A prestigious honor bestowed to an Orr Fellowship alumnus and his Indiana-based startup. (Yaw Aning, founder and CEO of Pocket Tales, took top honors at this year's Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Global Education Challenge.)
• National media coverage for a current Orr Fellow and his bootstrapped social polling tool. (Max Yoder and Quipol have been covered by or used by NBC Chicago, Forbes, and TechCrunch.)

• Screen 1,000+ candidates from across the state
• Interview 200+ on-campuses & in Indianapolis throughout October
• Reception on the Circle – Invite 70 candidates in November
• Finalist Day – Invite 40 candidates in December

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.
 

Today I went golfing with 25 of my friends.  Last night, a few of us got together for some drinks after work, on Thursday we're touring the FedEx facilities in Indianapolis for our monthly business leader meeting and in October a group of us is heading to West Virginia to whitewater raft at Upper Gauley.

When I joined the Orr Fellowship I knew I was getting an entry-level job at WebLink International, a fast growing Indiana software and technology company.  I knew I'd have networking opportunities with executives from high-growth Indianapolis companies, and I knew I'd be preparing myself for the future.

What I didn't know, or at least didn't expect, was to instantly gain 40 close friends.  We all work very hard, as most people in entry-level jobs do, but we also like to have fun.  Honestly, I was worried about the transition from college to the professional world, and while big changes are never easy - knowing there are close to 30 other people who are going through the exact same things as me really helps.

People join people.  While the Orr Fellowship offers opportunies for post-graduate employment at some of Indiana's most progressive and dynamic companies, it offers something more.  At today's golf outing I saw Orr Fellows who completed the program several years ago together on course.  They talked about work, families, and other things you'd expect old friends to reminisce about - and that's when it hit me.  The most valuable thing I'm going to get out of this two-year program is the relationships.  While the retreats and business leader meetings will become a thing of the past, and, let's be honest, who knows where the road will lead me professionally, I can say, with a high degree of certainty, the friends I've made in the 3 short months I've been an official Orr Fellow will stay with me indefinitely.
 

It's that time of year again; the Holiday Season has passed and in a short amount of time you'll find yourself taking down those holiday decorations that probably cover your entire house.  After you've mustered up enough motivation to finally begin this lengthy process, the last struggle is always the disposal of the family Christmas tree.  However, that's not going to be the case for you this year - the Orr Fellows are here to help!

As a non-profit organization, the Governor Bob Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship places a strong emphasis on community outreach, civic responsibility, and self-sustainability.  As such, one of our annual fundraisers is called "Tree Luggers" in which we travel around the Indianapolis community collecting and disposing of Christmas trees while collecting donations.  But how does this fundraiser actually benefit the community?  Well, first, we are providing a service that for many people is extremely helpful.  More importantly, though, we offer an incentive to local churches and other non-profit entities that promote our fundraiser to their members.  For all money that is donated to the Governor Bob Orr Fellowship during Tree Luggers, half of the proceeds are given to the specific non-profit that created the referral.  In this way, we are able to assist Indianapolis-based non-profits in funding their efforts.

One of the most important values that the Indiana-based Orr Fellowship promotes is entrepreneurship.  Tree Luggers is a great example of entrepreneurship in action as the Orr Fellows carefully organize, plan, and execute the fundraiser from start to finish.  So what goes into Tree Luggers to ensure its success year in and year out?  Many of the Orr Fellows are "luggers," or those that travel to homes, collect the trees, and then later dispose of the holiday conifers.  Several others use their marketing expertise to help spread the word through social media like Twitter and Facebook, strategically placed fliers in the Indianapolis community, and specified email lists owned by several Orr Fellowship host companies.  We also have fellows that help create partnerships with churches and other non-profit organizations.  Lastly, a couple of fellows take on a financial role so that all donations and referrals are carefully recorded.  To participate in this fundraiser, and save yourself a great deal of time and effort, please sign-up here.  Remaining pick-up dates are:
 

For those that don't know much about the Governor Bob Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship, it is an Indiana-based non-profit organization that provides jobs for recent graduates in fast growing Indianapolis companies.  Whether you're looking to start a marketing career, an entrepreneurship career, or maybe just a career in business, this is one unique fellowship program like no other.
 

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!
 

While many of you out there are suffering from a case of the Mondays, I, on the other hand, am coming off a weekend buzz that will surely last me for the rest of the year.  What happened that was so great, you ask?  Well, on Saturday the Little Giants of Wabash College defeated, smashed, and slaughtered (I think you get the idea) the little Tigers of DePauw University in the annual Monon Bell football game.  The prize - the infamous Monon Bell that has been passed from victor to victor for the past 116 years.

As Natalie Ciambrone, a fellow Fellow of mine, so eloquently noted in her post regarding the Monon Bell game last week, this unique tradition does bring people together from both sides of the rivalry.  In fact, many of the Orr Fellows were able to meet up this year for some friendly trash-talking before the game.  You can see what went down from the picture below (that's Katie Veatch and myself, in case you were wondering).  With both schools well-represented in the Orr Fellowship, this little rivalry will certainly remain a topic of conversation for many years to come.

Ok, ok, so it's about that time in the post that I have to say something enlightening and at least half-related to the Orr Fellowship.  Well, here's my valiant attempt at doing so.  Historically, many Wabash College and DePauw University students have been successful in securing their place in the Orr Fellowship.  But how are these liberal arts students even remotely prepared to take jobs in these fast growing Indianapolis companies that inherently require experienced employees with a great deal of business-related knowledge?  The answer is simple, really.  These two universities do a tremendous job at teaching their students how to think and learn effectively.  In a sense, working in a start-up company is extremely similar to getting a liberal arts education.  While at Wabash, I remember taking classes in Theater, Art, Music, Economics, Math, English, and Religion (just to name a few).  In a way, it was extremely difficult to develop a way of thinking that was sharpened to be single-discipline minded.  It is this flexibilty and broad way of thinking that permeates within a entrepreneurial business which often requires its employees to wear many different hats while performing day-to-day operations.

So why do I think that liberal arts students make great Orr Fellows?  They make great fellows because of their ability to think critically while still keeping all interests of the business in mind.  This, I propose, is an invaluable skill that every business, whether small or large, needs to look for when it comes to hiring.  So, no matter what your background is in school, or what discipline you ended up studying, just remember - the Orr Fellowship is looking for students that can fill a variety of roles within a company, while working hard and learning to thrive, no matter what they end up doing.

On a lighter note - ding, dong, ding, dong, ding, dong...

Sorry Dannies, that's the Monon Bell that will be ringing in Crawfordsville for at least the next 363 days...  Better luck next year!