I'm a rising junior and I spent a great deal of time last year in an attempt to get a small start-up company off the ground with a group of other students. It no longer looks like this company is going to be successful but I still gained a tremendous amount of experience from working on it. I cold called landlords all over the city and made multiple presentations (pitches) to a large group (50+) selling my product. I feel like these are very good things to have on a resume even though the company ultimately failed. Do you think putting all this on my resume, including the fact that the company failed (I could leave that part out) will help me next year when interviewing rolls around? I do have a website up that says the company is under development that recruiters can go to when they see that line but there really isn't much information there.
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Hi, did you raise any money in the process?
I think it is definitely something you can play up on your resume. Afterall, it's truly what you've been involved with the past year. Just because you failed doesn't make it a bad experience. Interviewers will like to hear your experiences in starting something yourself, and will probably ask how could things have been better, or what would you do next time. I don't know what your other experiences are at school, but the only thing I'd recommend is to watch out for the "You seem too entrepreneurial for banking" comment. Make sure you are able to list plenty of situations where you were under the management of someone else and had to conform to them. Just my $.02.
*I had my own business throughout the end of H.S. and beginning of College, LOST EVERYTHING - But what I lost monetarily I was able to more than make up experientially.
*If you put the business on your resume - I would recommend recognizing it as a completed endeavor, unless you are SERIOUSLY still working on growing the business, b/c if you're still current in your activities it may bring up the question of how dedicated you are going to be to your new job (if offered one).
YOU'RE EITHER IN BUSINESS, OR YOU'RE NOT - AND IF YOU'RE OUT THEN DON'T BOTHER CITING IT AS SOME KIND OF ONGOING PROJECT/HOBBY. - It may appear as though you don't know when to call it quits and move on - Indecisiveness.
do you even have to mention that it failed? just explain the business and waht you did. in an interview if they ask how much money you made just be like
"um... somewhere in the ballpark of uh... a million."
Def. put it on your resume!
It shows leadership, drive, and entrepreneurialship (is that a word?). It will be great to talk about during an interview and will seperate you from the crowd.
Dont put that it was a failure on your resume, but if it comes up during an interview be honest. It's the fact that you actually did SOMETHING that will make these people go ga-ga
exaggerate while not crossing the line.
think about a investment bank selling a disastrous company to a private equity, talk about your business's peak, and the initiatives that you took, never mentioned that you failed, that's just not the art of persuasion.
here's a story of encouragement: i know a friend who started an on-campus business, he spent hours and hours into the business during the exams time but still financially broke even at the end. however, he currently works at a top consulting firm (think mckinsey, BCG, bain..) and he attributed 30% of the credit to his business.
I do have a private wealth management internship and I am working for a bank this summer with mutual funds but I figured it was worth adding the company too. I really didn't get any money from the company but my experiences are genuine. I think it is a good idea to say that it is a completed project. I know there are a lot of people who try to do this sort of thing when they are in school only to have it fail so I'd like to hear how that's worked out for everyone.
lol, as long as it's not some sort of facebook wannabe and generated a great deal of revenue and spent a majority of your time upgrading and maintaining the business, i think it's very legit.
i have a similar quesiton.. throughout college i've been making some money on the side by setting up ad-driven websites centered on certain keywords (eg omega-3-fish-oil.com ).. each one gets me on avg about 200 dollars a month. considering i have quite a few under my belt, i'm not exactly sure how I should cite this on my resume... no one would be impressed by them, but they are a source of income nonetheless
Definitely mention it.
It's not a "failure." Just say you made the decision to shut the business down to focus on your studies and your other goals.
If they ask about results, say you made some sales (I assume you made some), put in tremendous effort, but it became clear from the feedback you were getting, that the long term potential wasn't there. So you decided to exit the business.
Either way, spin it like you were in control. You made an effort, evaluated the results and made good decisions. Makes you sound like an executive. Absolutely nothing wrong with that.
In my opinion, it may be safest to leave it off the resume. If they feel it's actually something good, they may try to check up on it. A failed business is more the type of thing that would be a good story to tell during interviews.
Fack yeah put it on the resume. That is a go-to talking point in an interview. "Tell me about a time when you failed at something..." or "Tell me about a time when you worked on a team..."
Every person who ever succeeded had failures along the way - big or small. Employers love this stuff.
Just be able to tell your story in a clear, concise manner.
Experience in a failed startup (Originally Posted: 03/27/2013)
I'm working on a mobile app startup as a non-tech founder, and will likely launch sometime early summer. Realistically, it could fail in a number of ways, but I was wondering how valuable being involved in a failed startup would be this summer vs doing something in boutique consulting if I hope to break into MBB out of graduation.
I'm going stick with the startup anyway but I was just trying to get an idea of how I would match up against kids who did boutique work in the sophomore summers if my startup ends up not doing well. btw I'm a sophomore at a target.
I am a sophomore planning to do the same thing this summer. I'm focusing on the business development and marketing side of the startup and I feel that there is a lot of great experience that can be gained due to the insight into the struggles management faces. Also, from what I know, most boutique firms don't hire until your junior year.
I interned for an online education course management startup. It hasn't completely failed yet, it just isn't going anywhere. I don't beleive this experieince has helped me that much, if at all, during my recent job search. But, maybe my background just really wasn't that attractive to potential employers.
Leveraging fail startups to banking (Originally Posted: 02/07/2011)
Hi there,
Last summer I partnered with a friend to start an internet company. The business went well for about three months (by month 3 our weekly revenue had tripled the start up cost). However, my partner and I had some personal issues and I was ousted from the business. (I don't have any legal document to sue him and have no intention to). My question here is should I list that experience on my resume or talk about it during interview. I actually learn a lot about managing a company but will it be awkward talking about how you are kicked out?
Any advice?
Ut eos qui enim fugiat. Aut neque rerum delectus soluta in.
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