When a Guy Worth $15 Million Worked the Counter at McDonald’s
The founder of Meetup, Scott Heiferman, sold his first company for $15 million then went to work at the counter of McDonald's in Manhattan.
This was 25 years ago.
After this, he went on to found what became Meetup, which he later sold for $200 million.
But this is in the year 2000.
He wanted to see what it would be like to work at a McDonald's.
He got paid $5.75 an hour.
Every day he would make $30 and come home smelling like french fries and McNuggets.
He said, “I spend a lot of time with bankers, lawyers, Internet freaks, corporate wonks, and other people living strange lives.
As a good marketing guy, this is a bad thing.
I got a job at McDonald's to get back in touch with the real world.
Also, after six grueling years in the Internet whirlwind, I wanted to experience a profitable, well-oiled, multi-billion-dollar machine.”
So what did he find working the counter of McDonald's?
He noted all the items on the dollar menu existed before the dollar menu.
The McDonald's marketing team had the brilliance to combine everything into one branded menu. People loved the simplicity and this made it pop off.
He noticed that despite the slogan, "We love to see you smile," staff were never instructed to be nice to customers.
As a result, all his co-workers were rude to patrons.
But he also said his co-workers did their jobs much better than he ever could.
They were quicker and had more talents and intuition that he didn't have.
He burned his skin on the fry basket.
The last thing he learned: how important it is to get appreciation from management.
He thought top performers didn't need it.
He wrote, “No management experience or reading about management teaches you just how frustrating it is to be an under-appreciated employee.”
This lesson changed him.
After this, he started and worked at Meetup for almost 20 years.
He sold Meetup for $200 million.
Then, he went to work as an Associate at an Amazon fulfillment center.
#startups #ycombinator #entrepreneurship
Read the original: https://web.archive.org/web/200406160...