In 2009, Daniel Saks co-founded AppDirect, a marketplace for selling cloud services to companies. AppDirect is now valued at $1 billion, with distribution to more than 35 million businesses around the world, including IBM, Deutsche Telekom and Lacoste. In 2015, following his success, Saks was named one of Forbes\u2019 Top 30 Under 30. The son of entrepreneurs, Saks displayed an entrepreneurial spirit from a young age.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always wanted to start a business. Whether it was a lemonade stand or a tour company, I always thought about ways to create value and start businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
But rather than pursuing a business degree, his mom encouraged him to study political science at McGill University. He attributes this to shaping his career and success.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got into McGill Commerce my mom encouraged me to go into the Arts program, and I never really could figure out why. I said \u2018Mom, I got into McGill Management, I should take the program.\u2019 But she said, \u2018You\u2019re so much of a business person, you really have to be more well-rounded.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
For Saks, balance is everything, and he has carried this lesson with him throughout his career. He believes that his BA degree did indeed help him become a well-rounded entrepreneur. He credits his psychology course with opening up his mind, and his urban geography class with forcing him to question norms.<\/p>\n
However, he does think there are lessons to be learned in business school, but perhaps not the way they are being taught.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can learn a lot about how to raise capital, or how to market, or how to sell. What you don’t learn is how to fire a friend, or how to deal with stress when multiple customers are calling you when something goes wrong. Textbook learning may not effectively prepare you for what’s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
What he suggests is case studies, with a focus on failure.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf people had opportunities to hear from others, not only about successes, but specifically about the challenges, it would be tremendously valuable. I think that there is a mantra of celebrating success, so you only hear about success stories. It\u2019s interesting, no one really asks about the hardest thing you had to go through. It doesn\u2019t get deep enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saks is no stranger to failure. Three years into AppDirect, he recalls that they had few visitors to the platform. Harley Finkelstein, CEO of Shopify, joked that Saks had less traffic than his intern\u2019s blog. As he thinks back, Saks says he could have easily given up. Yet, he believes that failure can create balance. What\u2019s more, failure can create drive.<\/p>\n
Saks had complete conviction of his vision and believed he would have success. Perhaps his well-rounded education had prepared him, or maybe it was his young, blissful na\u00efvet\u00e9. What cannot be discounted is the importance of what Saks learned by studying other founders. Understanding how Gates, Brin, Page or Bezos created enduring companies has allowed AppDirect to grow into its own success. He considers three elements necessary to create successful, endurable companies.<\/p>\n
Firstly, founders need to define their vision from Day One. This vision drives \u201cTrue North,\u201d AppDirect’s term for owning customer focus by executing business in such a way that, not unlike a compass needle, it is always moving the company and the product in one direction.<\/p>\n
Secondly, founders need to have very clearly defined values. This will unite the company as a whole, and make decision-making easier. However, this doesn\u2019t mean making everyone happy, which is an important lesson Saks learned.<\/p>\n