You’ll often hear about companies and their founders who made the decision to pivot from their initial big idea that wasn’t quite working right, to something else that ended up being the best thing that ever happened to them. Take Facebook for instance, which got its start as a silly website used by college kids to rate the attractiveness of their classmates, to now being one of the most important information and communications platforms around the globe.
This example obviously serves as an extreme case where that seemingly small decision to pivot made a world of difference. But one of the best skills a person can have, both in life and in business, is knowing when it’s the right time to pivot, persist, or pull the plug. And while it may feel in the moment like calling it quits is your only option, in many cases, it may not even be your best option. It may just be time to pivot your business (or your career), rather than persist blindly in the face of opposition.
In this episode, Malcolm Ethridge sits down with Donald Boone, Founder and CEO of BoxedUp, a startup that allows creators to rent high-end cameras and production gear from trusted equipment owners across the country. Donald shares his journey from working on a previous idea and deciding to shut the company down, to working on BoxedUp as a side project while also working full-time as an engineer at Amazon, to making a big career pivot to pursue entrepreneurship full time.
Donald discusses:
- The challenges of being a solo founder when looking to raise capital from investors
- What factors led up to him ultimately deciding to leave the safety and security of working at Amazon and give entrepreneurship another go
- How his previous experiences as a founder helped give him the confidence and optimism to persevere through the pandemic
- His process for determining when to persevere, give up, or pivot
- And more
Resources:
Connect With Donald Boone:
Connect With Malcolm Ethridge:
- The Tech Money Podcast
- LinkedIn: Malcolm Ethridge
- Connect with Malcolm
- @MalcolmOnMoney
About Our Guest:
Donald Boone is the CEO and Founder of BoxedUp Inc., a startup that allows creators to rent high-end cameras and production equipment from trusted owners across the country. He is a father of three and a husband, and has been an entrepreneur for most of his adult life. From 2015 to 2017, before founding BoxedUp, he founded the startup Oleo LLC. Oleo was a mobile app for restaurants and their patrons featuring 40 restaurant locations in Houston, Texas and Washington, DC. Donald graduated from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University with a BS in Mechanical Engineering.
