Background
Edward Domain, Army Vet, Founder Techli.com
Edward grew up outside of Chicago. Following in the footsteps of his Grandfathers, he enlisted in the US Army. Edward became a member of the ROTC program at Illinois State University. After graduation, he pursued a career in sales. Edward realized he eventually wanted to work for himself when:
I became the number one salesperson in my role in North America, so I thought that this was going to mean that good things were coming my way…. my bonus, it turns out, was terrible. The reason for that is the company based your bonus on how your whole region did. So if I was the number one person in North America, by definition everyone else is pulling my bonus down…..That was the moment in my head I said to myself, eventually I have to work for myself. I can’t do this anymore
Entrepreneurship – Starting Techli
Edward moved to Silicon Valley and began working for startups in the mid 2000’s. He began building his first businesses on nights and weekends. He later sold these these businesses for a small amount of money. After the startup he worked for closed, Edward moved back to Chicago. In 2011, he joined an accelerator at the University of Illinois and launched Techli.com. Techil is a media company dedicated the startup community outside of Silicon Valley. In 2012 he won an Arch Grant in St. Louis, MO (Episode 14 guest Andrew Couch was also an Arch Grant winner).
Quotes
Not every business should be funded by venture capital like you hear about in Silicon Valley
You need to be the chief Kool-Aid drinker of what you are doing. You need to believe in it more than any other human alive
Start reading and start learning everything you can. You can self educate yourself. It’s not something you have to go to college for.
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