June 22, 2015

My next chapter

Kyle Gundrum Uncategorized 7 Comments

What’s next?  Am I sure I made the right decision?  Was I ready to make this leap?  Is this going to work?  These are all questions I’m pondering now on a daily basis as I begin this next chapter of my life.

Nearly two weeks ago – Wednesday, June 10 – was my final day working for GE.  This came after many months of careful consideration about my identity, passions, goals, and willingness to take risks.  Certainly, it’s the most important decision I’ve ever made and also the riskiest and boldest.  In this post, I’d like to share my rationale and roadmap.

I’ve always had a deep passion for entrepreneurship and a burning drive to start my own businesses.  My dad opened his own small business before I was born and he never looked back.  I witnessed firsthand the life of an entrepreneur every day growing up, including the challenges, triumphs, and incredible amount of hard work necessary to be successful.  It often seemed stressful, though it was even more inspiring.  My dad had created something thousands of people enjoyed.  For a while, the Blue Note was one of the most prominent bars and live music venues in Cincinnati.  Being so close to this throughout my entire life left in me an innate urge to do the same… create things people enjoy.

I was extremely lucky when I was a sophomore in high school to get involved with INTERalliance, a Cincinnati non-profit which promotes IT careers.  After I attended my first INTERalliance program, I was addicted.  I started out as Student Webmaster Intern, making updates to the website and designing the first ever INTERalliance Intranet (for which you would mock me if you saw it now).  Then I was offered the opportunity to serve as Associate Director while I was in college, coordinating the operations for our programs.  This was a highly entrepreneurial role: one day I worked on a new feature for the website, the next day I designed a flyer (definitely not my forte), and the next day I reviewed our finances.  I was able to learn a little about every aspect of running a business, and I absolutely loved the diversity of work.

I started working for GE right after I graduated from UC.  I had an excellent experience, worked with extremely intelligent people, and learned so much.  But GE is the 9th largest company in the world and employs more than 300,000 people.  While it was a great experience I’d recommend to anyone, it felt very different than the old Blue Note or INTERalliance days.  Huge companies offer a great degree of stability and security, which may be very attractive when I’m older.  But now is the time, when I’m only 23, to take the risk, start my own businesses, and see if it works.  So I made the leap.

I’m feeling so many emotions.  I’m sad to have left so many amazing colleagues at GE.  I’m happy that I had the courage to make the decision and thankful to those closest to me for being supportive along the way.  I’m anxious to see how it will all work out, and I’m very, very excited to get started.

My dream someday is to create a technology product (app, website, or other) which millions of people use.  I think this is a very exciting time to be alive and the world is ripe for even more technological innovation.  I want to be a part of that.  Technology has the potential to connect people like never before, improve life dramatically for everyone, and ultimately raise our society and civilization to a new level.  While I no longer work in corporate IT, technology will always be a major aspect of my career.

Many people have asked me, “what are you going to do with all of this free time?”  While I took a short break to recharge and reflect, “free time” is not a frequent item on the itinerary going forward.  My time will be divided between several ventures:

Ignitus – a company which ignites authentic connections and builds a stronger community through events called “Sparks.”  I’m incredibly passionate about this mission (see my TEDxUC talk) and think something like this could make a really important impact in people’s lives.  We have exciting plans we can’t wait to unveil, and I’m glad I now have the time to cultivate and build the brand.  (See more at ignit.us.)

Advantum – IT, branding, and social media consulting services.  I love creating websites, web applications, and pretty much anything that involves technology… and I’ve learned things along the way that enable me to be effective at that.  I want to use these skills to help small businesses grow by promoting a sharp, refined brand.  (See more at advantumgroup.com.)

Harrison Event Center – I always told my dad this would never happen, but here goes nothing.  We’re working together to open a bar and event/reception center and I couldn’t be more eager to open the doors.  This will be an interesting change of pace before, but I love the entertainment and event industry so I plan to have a ton of fun with it.  (Website/logo coming soon.)

In addition to these ventures, I’ll continue to be involved with various things in the community, like the INTERalliance Board of Directors, TechOlympics, Believe in Cincinnati, and Cincinnati Intern Network Connection committee.  It’s important to me to continue to stay plugged in to the Cincinnati community and give back to the organizations and institutions which have done more for me than I could ever repay.

I’ll publish periodic updates about my experience, how everything is going, and my challenges and successes.  I want to turn this website into a portfolio of sorts.  And please let me know if you have any ideas, questions, or would simply like to chat about any of this… I’m grateful to have you as part of my journey.

P.S. – I added an “email subscription” feature in the left sidebar if anyone’s interested in receiving an email whenever I post an update.  I’ll still probably cross-post most things to Facebook though.  Thanks again!