Stories
Stories
Finish What You Start-up
Angie Hicks (MBA 2000) is cofounder and CMO of the popular online ratings website Angie’s List. In this interview she reflects on the challenges––and advantages––of starting her company away from Silicon Valley:
“Don't take yourself too seriously. I think a lot of times––whether we're coming out of college, coming out of business school––we have ourselves puffed up in a way that the reality of the world is going to crush in some way.
“There was an advantage, in some ways, to being a startup in the Midwest. As I was getting out of HBS, it was 2000. It was the tech boom. It's like, everybody was moving to the coast. And we kind of got to stay outside the fray.
“Sometimes, one of the biggest challenges with starting a business is staying focused on starting a business. And we weren't lured by the next greatest bell or whistle that was coming along. And I think, as we ended up getting venture funds later in the business, it was the best of both worlds, because we had funding from venture firms on the coast, but we were able to stay heads down here. So they could get us introduced at the appropriate things, but we weren't distracted. We had been told that we should move the business; that we wouldn't be able to find the talent we needed here. But in many ways, that kind of spurred us to prove them wrong.”
(Published October 2017)
Support the next generation of leaders Make a gift nowPost a Comment
Related Stories
-
- 01 Mar 2025
- HBS Magazine
Venture: Time Heals All
Re: Ilana Springer (MBA 2022); Eric Gruskin (MBA 2022); By: Amy Crawford; Illustration by Klaus Kremmerz -
- 01 Mar 2025
- HBS Magazine
Forward Thinking
Re: Matthew C. Weinzierl (Joseph and Jacqueline Elbling Professor of Business Administration Senior Associate Dean, Chair, MBA Program); By: Alexander Gelfand; Illustrations by Franziska Barczyk -
- 15 Dec 2024
- HBS Magazine
Kelp Is on the Way
Re: Matthew Perkins (MBA 2009); By: Jen McFarland Flint; Illustration by Melinda Beck -
- 01 Sep 2024
- HBS Alumni Bulletin
From the Classroom to Casablanca
Re: Alan D. MacCormack (MBA Class of 1949 Adjunct Professor of Business Administration); By: Jennifer Gillespie
Stories Featuring Angie Hicks
-
- 12 Nov 2020
- Harvard Gazette
All in the Neighborhood
Re: Angie Hicks (MBA 2000); Bill Oesterle (MBA 1992); Scott Brenton (MBA 1999) -
- 01 Jun 2017
- HBS Alumni News
Six Receive 2017 HBS Alumni Achievement Award
Re: David Bradley (MBA 1977); Jack Brennan (MBA 1980); Angie Hicks (MBA 2000); Ilene Lang (MBA 1973); Bayo Ogunlesi (MBA 1979) -
- 24 May 2017
- HBS Alumni News
Angie Hicks, MBA 2000
Re: Angie Hicks (MBA 2000); By: Susan Young
More Stories Featuring Angie Hicks
