Conventional wisdom has it that you should only work on what you know. As in what you studied in college and/or gained experience in through your jobs. This is especially true for entrepreneurs - 'domain expertise' is expected in founders.
But entrepreneurs are also advised (pushed) to 'follow their passion'. And the reality is that not everyone recognizes their passion early on. Or if they do, they are not able to indulge it and they settle instead for jobs they're good at - maybe to pay off the monster college debts they racked up studying 'marketable' subjects that they were not so passionate about.
So what's an entrepreneur to do when she discovers the passion for an area that she has no direct experience in? In a previous post, I'd written about how it is important to get to know the area well if you are going to build a company around it and suggested various steps that you could take. And a few days ago I met an entrepreneur who exemplifies the commitment to doing what it takes to make that shift successful.
CK12 has been getting a lot of attention in education and tech circles for making the promise of online textbooks a reality, and, most importantly, an affordable reality. But what is less known is how the founder Neeru Khosla went about starting CK12. Her background was in biology, not education. Neeru was involved in leadership roles in various non-profit efforts until she decided to jump into the digital textbook revolution and make online textbooks readily accessible. But before she did that, Neeru joined a Master's program in education at Stanford University. I had the opportunity to chat with Neeru at an event last week and I asked about her experience. It was 'very hard' she said, understandably. It is no cake-walk to get back into college when you've been out of it for a couple of decades or so, especially for a demanding program. 'So why did you do it?' I asked. Her answer: it got her involved with people in education.
The organization is well established now and there are millions of views of the textbooks on CK12. It got there because Neeru was willing to do the hard stuff and didn't let age or lack of domain knowledge stand in her way. And that's one of the defining characteristics of entrepreneurs - they do not shrink from tackling the difficult, challenging, out-of-the-ordinary things that are needed to make their ideas reality. Living your passion takes commitment!
1 comment:
I agree. I think knowing your vocation early in life is pretty rare, but people's passions tend to establish themselves early on. For example, someone driven to help others might flirt with being a doctor, do a stint at teach for America and wind up in the private sector. On the other hand, is a rare person who knows at age 16 that they want to go into microbiology.
And transferring from a different discipline has its upsides, since you bring a fresh perspective and approach to problem solving.
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