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Despite the occasional bump and drop, entrepreneur Ellen Thompson has stayed on the startup roller coaster for 16 years—and all things considered, it's been a great ride. A 1990 Wharton graduate, Thompson attributes her teenage years spent in foster care with her decision to start her own business immediately after graduation.
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| Ellen Thompson, a successful serial entrepreneur with strong ties to Ben Franklin Technology Partners, says, "I feel if there's a good idea, I can do it better. I have never invented anything or created a category, but I can take a category and give it a good wrinkle." |
"They say bad things happen for a reason," says Thompson. "If I had been in a family with a traditional mother and father encouraging me to take a job at a Big 6 accounting firm after college, I wouldn't be where I am today. I took the entrepreneurial path because there was no one to tell me not to take a risk," Thompson says.
Where has that path led Thompson? Today she's CEO of 4 Walls,
a free apartment guide that lets visitors shop online for
rental homes and apartments across the United States. 4
Walls is the latest of Thompson's numerous business ventures,
some of which survived
and some that did not.
"Entrepreneurially, I feel if there's a good idea, I can do it better. I have never invented anything or created a category, but I can take a category and give it a good wrinkle," she says.
The Importance of Mistakes
Thompson started her first venture immediately out of college, a combination video store and ice cream parlor in Collingsworth, New Jersey. "My business partner—the creator of King of Pizza—and I hoped to turn it into a franchise. But we made every mistake that could be made, and five months into it, we were out of business. Luckily, the mistakes I make, I make quickly. I learn and I move on," she says.
From there, Thompson bounced between five jobs over a
period of 18 months. "I didn't know what I wanted
to do," she says. Then, in late 1992, she wrote a
business plan for a computer training business called Computer
Literacy Associates. "I started the business out of
a bedroom in a West Philadelphia apartment," she recalls.
The company was renamed Know It All and received funding
from Ben Franklin Technology Partners (BFTP).
A Democratic Approach to Computer Education
At the time, most computer training companies assigned people to classes based on their position in a company—for example, all the managers together, all the administrative assistants together. Know It All distinguished itself from the competition by using a more democratic approach—grouping people by skill level. This allowed instructors to serve the needs of the class more effectively and efficiently.
“Today, I analyze new businesses to help Ben Franklin decide who they want to fund. Having been a financial recipient myself, I have something different to contribute to the process.”
—ELLEN THOMPSON, SERIAL ENTREPRENEUR
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But as often happens with startups, the company's vision evolved over time. Thompson created software to assess a person's computer literacy—but soon enough, the software itself became the core of the business.
From Software Developer to Internet Company
BFTP saw potential in the Know It All software and made two investments totaling more than $150,000 in 1998-99. Thanks to business guidance from BFTP, the company evolved again. "We went from being a software company to an internet company that helped people who weren't computer programmers do computer programming," Thompson says.
Beyond the funding and business advice, "BFTP's networking opportunities were pivotal to the new company," says Thompson. "I was invited to join a roundtable group of Ben Franklin-funded company CEOs who met to share best practices and offer support to one another. In fact, we still get together today."
Thompson sold Know It All to a Philadelphia-based company called Kenexa in 2000. She remains connected to BFTP as a due-diligence reviewer. "Today, I analyze new businesses to help Ben Franklin decide who they want to fund," she says. "Having been a financial recipient myself, I have something different to contribute to the process."
More Irons in the Fire
Thompson's current endeavor, 4 Walls, has led to a spin-off project called Cartandhorse.com, a web-based Yellow Pages-style directory where small businesses can advertise on a performance basis, meaning they only pay when the ad leads to a phone call.
In addition, Thompson runs what she calls her retirement project—247Advisor.com, a weekly online magazine of articles and blog entries offering tactical advice on how to run a small business. She's also involved in the early stages of 247Body.com, a health and fitness portal. And there's no telling what else lies in her future.
Her advice to budding entrepreneurs? Keep going. "Even
if you are the most accomplished entrepreneur with the
best team and well-developed business plan, there will
be times when you are wallowing in the abyss. What differentiates
the companies that survive is how they handle those lows.
The companies that make it fight through the bad times—they
don't fold up their tents and go home." |
