Jack Killion has started nine successful businesses. Street-Smart Entrepreneurs — his 10th — aims to share his knowledge of those first nine to empower future entrepreneurs across the globe.
Founded in May, Street-Smart Entrepreneurs will include an abundance of resources for founders in all stages, as well as corporate leaders who want to channel an entrepreneurial spirit in their company. These resources include online courses, 1-on-1 consultations with Killion and his team and monthly educational webinars.
Killion said COVID-19 inspired him to think about the innovation that was bound to happen.
“With everybody being concerned about COVID, I started thinking about all the good things that are going to come out of it,” he said, “I think our health care system is going to improve, because we’re going to rely less on overseas vendors. And I think our processes for getting approval for important things will be sped up.
“I think entrepreneurship is going to boom, worldwide, because a lot of people are going to have to find new career paths.”
Killion should know. After getting a B.S. in mechanical engineering at Yale University and an MBA from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Killion has made a career out of starting and selling a variety of companies — serving as a publisher, horse breeder, fund manager and a variety of programs designed to help businesses grow.
And, while the world has been slowed by COVID-19, he sees a business boom on the horizon. That’s why he says he’s excited to offer his resources outside the U.S. He said his connections in Pakistan, Belgium, Vietnam and Ireland have brought a global audience to his monthly webinars.
Street-Smart Entrepreneurs’ first Global Forum will be held at noon Friday. (Registration is free.)
Working alongside his six advisers, whose experience includes law, consulting, marketing and customer retention, Killion said he is excited for the wide range of expertise his team can offer.
Jack said Street-Smart Entrepreneurs will have two or three online courses available by the end of September.
“We’re going to do a course on networking to drive business growth,” he said. “Then we’re expanding our strategic alliance program and making that an online paid course. So, it’ll be strategic alliances to create business growth.
“We’re going to do a course on how to raise funding for startups in early-stage companies. And we’re going to do a really robust course on creative marketing to accelerate growth.
“So, we’ve got about 10 courses in the pipeline.”
Killian said he’s keeping the cost low as a nod to startup entrepreneurs. In the future, he aims to bring these courses to universities. Killion has served as an adjunct professor at Rutgers University, Montclair State University and Fairleigh Dickinson University at various times over the past three decades.
“I can envision creating a whole new mini-MBA online,” he said. “I’m actually in the process of reaching out to various universities, both in the U.S. and overseas.”
