My guest this week is Ken Burke. Ken and I go back about 10 years. Our paths crossed while I was working for the Walt Disney company and Ken’s company became our partner as our eCommerce provider. Ken is the founder and CEO of The EntrepreneurNOW! Network. He’s a speaker, serial entrepreneur, mentor, and author. Ken founded MarketLive, a market-leading, enterprise-class eCommerce software platform used by major merchants generating $2b in online sales through the platform. He sold MarketLive to Vista Equity Partners in 2016. Ken authored the book, “Intelligent Selling: The Art and Science of Selling Online,” as well as hundreds of industry articles. He earned his MBA in Entrepreneurship from the USC Marshall School of Business, which later awarded him the honor of Entrepreneur of the Year. During our conversation, we talk about the journey to becoming an entrepreneur including the challenges that entrepreneurs face, how to know if you have what it takes, and the secret sauce for becoming a successful entrepreneur.
About Ken Burke
Ken started a company called MarketLive about 25 years ago. The journey to entrepreneurship is not a short one as many people think. Ken speaks at some colleges in the Bay area and he gets asked when someone is going to be a unicorn. What they are asking is when they will become a billionaire, when their company will make a million dollars. They think it might take two years or three years but it’s actually a long journey. Ken has been at it for a long time and it’s been a great experience, but he did start an e-commerce platform company back when e-commerce was very new. Today we’re in a whole new era of the working world. And for teens that are in high school, and maybe just coming into college or thinking about college, they are in an entirely new world with opportunities that didn’t exist even six or nine months ago.
Episode Highlights
- How the pandemic is affecting business
- Ken’s journey to becoming an entrepreneur
- Traditional schools aren’t built for entrepreneurial thinkers
- Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur?
- Surviving an economic downturn as an entrepreneur
- There is no such thing as failure
- Advice for parents of teens considering the entrepreneurial path
- Education can be helpful for entrepreneurs
- The importance of finding a mentor
- Five steps to thriving in business and in life