But when I was laid off in 2022 from a tech job in my late 30s, I used my mid-five-figure severance package<\/a> to launch a startup.<\/p>\n I 100% believe that I’ve learned more from my startup experience than I ever could have in a classroom.<\/p>\n Work seemed to be going well, then I got laid off<\/p>\n After graduating with a degree in Sports and Business Management in 2005, I knew what I wanted: a corporate career, a skyscraper office in London or New York, and to one day make the C-suite.<\/p>\n I spent three years at Anheuser-Busch and then nearly nine years at FedEx, where I learned the fundamentals of running a business.<\/p>\n In 2021, I joined G-P, a private equity-backed HR technology company, where I started a side project in my spare time: building an HR tech marketplace, mostly as a learning exercise.<\/p>\n Sam Perry worked at FedEx for almost a decade.<\/p>\n Courtesy of Sam Perry<\/p>\n At work, things seemed to be going well. In October 2022, my team won a major industry award. A month later, I was laid off.<\/p>\n I seriously considered using my severance money <\/a>to pursue an MBA, believing it might give me an edge in job interviews.<\/p>\n First, I looked at the Rolls-Royces of MBAs<\/a>: Harvard and Wharton. Costing more than $100,000 a year for two-year programs, it quickly became clear that they cost considerably more than my payout, with no guarantee of a job at the end.<\/p>\n I looked at cheaper UK and online options, but spending thousands of dollars on a program without a big Ivy League name attached felt like too big a gamble. I also questioned what an MBA could teach me after 15 years in the corporate world.<\/p>\n I chose to launch a startup over an MBA<\/p>\n A family friend suggested I use the payout to start my own company instead. It would cost a fraction of an MBA, he said, and I’d learn how to build a business from the ground up. I might even make some money along the way.<\/p>\n By that point, the idea for a startup already existed: the HR tech marketplace that I’d started as a side project while at G-P.<\/p>\n I invested about a fifth of my severance pay into getting it off the ground. Most of the technology was off-the-shelf, which kept costs relatively low, and I used free online courses from places like MIT to make basic changes to the platform.<\/p>\n As a founder, I learned about business, resilience, and myself<\/p>\n I launched the company, Ensemble, in late 2022, and we saw some early but limited success selling access to the marketplace. We later pivoted to procuring HR software directly for customers.<\/p>\n Becoming a founder<\/a> taught me so much about business \u2014 from marketing to product development and hiring \u2014 and about myself and resilience.<\/p>\n After years in the corporate world, I thought I knew how to sell, but nothing compares to sitting alone with your laptop and phone and calling strangers to persuade them to buy something you’ve built. It was a real education.<\/p>\n Sam Perry sold his startup, Ensemble, in 2024.<\/p>\n Courtesy of Sam Perry<\/p>\n In the summer of 2024, Ensemble was acquired by a competitor. Nowadays, I work as a group vice president at Sphera, a supply-chain risk SaaS company.<\/p>\n I’m not convinced I’d have reached this level at 40 without my startup experience<\/a>. Now, when I review CVs, I’m drawn to candidates who have started their own companies.<\/p>\n In a crowded job market, I believe that having worked toward a successful acquisition is the single biggest differentiator you can have. Many people have MBAs; far fewer have built and sold something.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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