The Question.  I get the question all of the time:

“You have your degree in Architecture, why are you a tech entrepreneur?”

There are a number of ways to answer this question.  Instead of saying that it’s just how my cards were dealt, I will explain.

I could simply blame it on a hellacious economy.  At the time, the economy had forced the firm I had spent two and a half years building a career at to lay off their entire work force in Northwest Arkansas just one month after I graduated.

Bummer or Blessing?

The Corner.  My entire life, I have been told I can’t.  This felt no different.  The career I had worked so hard to get and the security I had spent many hours building was taken away, and someone stood there and told me that I couldn’t have it.  I have told people this many times: I was backed into a corner and I couldn’t fight my way out of it, so I began digging a hole out of that corner.

What I mean by this is, my degree had handcuffed me to a career path.  All I knew was architecture.  That is all I had ever thought about going into.  My life long dream: To be an Architect.  I probably sent out thousands of resumes, interviewed close to 30-40 times, looked day and night for a job at an architecture firm, trying to fight my way out of a corner that I had been placed in.

I took a job at my best friend’s father’s liquor store.  My lawyer walked in one afternoon and said “Hey, Josh. How are you?  Whatcha gettin’?”  I said, “Well Rick, I actually work here.”  He laughed so hard and made fun of me.  At that point in time, I told myself I am not going to fight out of this corner, but I will dig myself out of it.  And a hole I began to dig.

That hole that I dug so deep, today has began turning back up and I am working ever so hard on getting out of that corner.  Today, most people don’t believe for a second that I have a degree in Architecture.  It is a valid question.  I spend my days running a team at a rapidly growing startup.  I spend my nights running a number of startups of my own as well as leading an organization which is a huge advocate for entrepreneurship in Northwest Arkansas.  Sounds like I got a business degree.  To me, a business degree sounds boring and I promise you, this has been anything but boring.

The Answer.  I was very fortunate to attend an amazing architecture school.  Ranked 19th in the country and staffed with the nations finest, I learned from the best.  I focused on Urban Design and how society interacts with architecture socially, economically, environmentally, and culturally.  I worked alongside Professor Stephen Luoni and Aaron Gabriel, and some of the best designers in the business whom I was so fortunate to graduate alongside.

Much like my focus on urban design in college, today I focus on how society interacts with technology socially, economically, environmentally, and culturally.  I am passionate about building communities and all of the intracasies which make up each.

I was once the designer of buildings and urban plans.  Today, I am the designer of businesses and products that shape communites and build consumer bases.

“You have your degree in Architecture, why are you a tech entrepreneur?”

I am an “Archi-Tech Entrepreneur.”