On St. Patrick’s Day (March 17), we hit a pot of gold at our March Founder’s Friday Lunch with Kellie Clark, CEO of AppThink. Founder’s Friday is held on the third Friday of every month at Forge where local founders and organization leaders share their founder’s story and lessons learned along the way. This past week, Kellie openly shared the humanity behind her journey to CEO of AppThink. CEO was never a title she chased, but one that found her.
Driven by economic development and equality her role at AppThink gives Kellie the platform to support early stage start-ups and aspiring founders in breaking down barriers through the adopted principle of Super Specific How’s. Along with her work in championing others in the community and start-ups, Clark balances her roles as a wife of 10-years and mother of two. Kellie left the crowd with nuggets that certainly did nothing less than inspire.
Below are a few of my key takeaways from the conversation with Kellie…
1. People are inherently GOOD.
Kellie shared her work with founders and start-ups and her realization that they are a group of people who are looking to help and impact the world by providing a solution to a problem.
2. Build a business around an opportunity, not a passion.
Your passion may not always end up as the most profitable business. Finding the right opportunity to meet with a need may change your trajectory.
3. Doing a lot of things, but not doing them well is an integrity problem.
When Kellie realized this, she had to clear herself of some duties and roles in order to reach ultimate productivity and serve her current role well, with full integrity.
Kellie Reads:
Hangry by Mike Evans, Founder of GrubHub
Essentialism: The Discipline Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
A very special thank you to our sponsor Gatehouse Law for providing the delicious Unos Tacos for lunch!! And yes, Gatehouse provides lunch for every Founder’s Friday!
We appreciate each of you who came and connected with us! We hope to see you on the 3rd Friday of April at our next #ForgeFoundersFriday where Brooke Gillis, CEO of Innovation Depot, will be our featured speaker! Sign up here.
If you or your company are interested in sponsoring a Forge event, please contact Valyncia Johnson (valyncia@workatforge.com).
Great recap! Kellie was great! So relatable and inspiring.