{"id":28870,"date":"2020-07-02T12:59:07","date_gmt":"2020-07-02T10:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/?p=28870"},"modified":"2020-07-28T10:48:02","modified_gmt":"2020-07-28T08:48:02","slug":"insights-zev-siegl-co-founder-starbucks-startup-mentor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/insights-zev-siegl-co-founder-starbucks-startup-mentor\/","title":{"rendered":"Insights From Zev Siegl, Co-Founder of Starbucks &#038; Startup Mentor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At EU Business School, entrepreneurial spirit is in our DNA.&nbsp;So&nbsp;it was a great delight to welcome&nbsp;Zev&nbsp;Siegl,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.starbucks.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Starbucks<\/a> co-founder and self-confessed startup man,&nbsp;to our Learning From Leaders conference series.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From sharing the founding story of the&nbsp;now&nbsp;iconic Starbucks, to offering&nbsp;essential&nbsp;advice&nbsp;for&nbsp;entrepreneurs, the warmth which Zev brought to this&nbsp;fascinating&nbsp;conversation&nbsp;with Peter Vanham, author of \u201cBefore I Was CEO\u201d,&nbsp;was appreciated by&nbsp;everyone in attendance.&nbsp; Sharing&nbsp;interesting&nbsp;anecdotes,&nbsp;his&nbsp;thoughts&nbsp;on&nbsp;crucial topics including&nbsp;equality&nbsp;and&nbsp;sustainability, and insights to help entrepreneurs learn from his incredible success, Zev\u2019s&nbsp;sincere and open manner demonstrated the generosity which marks a true leader.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can&nbsp;view&nbsp;the&nbsp;full event <a href=\"https:\/\/info.euruni.edu\/webinars\/?webinar_name=Starbucks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>. In the following article,&nbsp;we\u2019ve&nbsp;outlined moments of the conversation which will inspire and inform anyone wishing to start their own enterprise.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Be&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>A<\/strong><strong>ssertive<\/strong><strong>:&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>The F<\/strong><strong>ounding&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>S<\/strong><strong>tory of Starbucks<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The founding story of Starbucks demonstrates&nbsp;that,&nbsp;with&nbsp;the right&nbsp;combination of determination,&nbsp;curiosity&nbsp;and careful research, anyone can create their own success.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zev&nbsp;recalled that he and&nbsp;his co-founders, Jerry Baldwin&nbsp;and Gordon Bowker,&nbsp;\u201cStarted meeting kind of formally to see if we could come up with a way to improve our lives that would give us more from life than&nbsp;the&nbsp;first jobs we had after graduating college. We just wanted something more interesting.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"atbs-ceris-responsive-video\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Zev Siegl on Founding Starbucks | EU Business School\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fTG-eCuerRg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Their&nbsp;rigorous approach involved generating,&nbsp;researching&nbsp;and discarding many ideas&nbsp;until August 1970 when the trio went for lunch and were offered an espresso by the waiter. In Seattle at the time there was no coffee scene;&nbsp;no one had&nbsp;an&nbsp;espresso machine.&nbsp;This&nbsp;caught the attention of the three would-be-entrepreneurs.&nbsp;When it came,&nbsp;the coffee&nbsp;was awful&nbsp;and&nbsp;\u201cDoes Seattle have to live with bad coffee?\u201d became the spark that started&nbsp;Starbucks.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In&nbsp;1970 there was no internet;&nbsp;research had to be done at the library.&nbsp;It was there, looking through a phone book, that&nbsp;Zev discovered Peet\u2019s Coffee in San Francisco.&nbsp;As every entrepreneur should, Zev said: \u201cI did the right thing, I was assertive and called someone who I thought would be an expert.\u201d&nbsp;That bold step paid off. Not only did Mr. Peet&nbsp;invite Zev to visit&nbsp;his&nbsp;roastery and&nbsp;retail store with&nbsp;its&nbsp;small&nbsp;coffee&nbsp;bar, he took Zev to dinner and offered to coach&nbsp;him&nbsp;and his&nbsp;business&nbsp;partners through setting up their&nbsp;coffee&nbsp;company. That was a life-changing moment.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zev admitted that although Starbucks would have been created without Mr.&nbsp;Peet\u2019s support and advice, it would not have had the quality standards that it&nbsp;does today.&nbsp;\u201cMr. Peet&nbsp;was old-school&#8221;,&nbsp;Zev commented.&nbsp;We have him to thank,&nbsp;at least&nbsp;in part,&nbsp;for the ubiquity of Starbucks today.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before&nbsp;they could register&nbsp;the&nbsp;company,&nbsp;the&nbsp;trio&nbsp;had to come up with a name.&nbsp;Their&nbsp;attorney&nbsp;was pressing them, because&nbsp;the paperwork needed to be submitted,&nbsp;so,&nbsp;in the end,&nbsp;\u2018Starbucks\u2019&nbsp;was an impulsive choice born of a hurried discussion. <strong>The aim was to create a brand that people felt had been around forever, and&nbsp;the&nbsp;name Starbucks&nbsp;evoked&nbsp;that sense of history<\/strong>.&nbsp;Although&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;since&nbsp;been updated,&nbsp;the&nbsp;modern logo&nbsp;evolved&nbsp;from the original design&nbsp;and&nbsp;still&nbsp;bears the same,&nbsp;central mermaid figure.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Growing and Selling a Successful Company: The Entrepreneur\u2019s Goal&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Entrepreneurs\u2019 stories all have one common denominator: a lot of hard work.&nbsp;Comparing&nbsp;his&nbsp;experience to the&nbsp;journey of a&nbsp;modern tech&nbsp;startup founder,&nbsp;Zev said:&nbsp;\u201cYou do what\u2019s called sweat equity, you compose&nbsp;the code&nbsp;at night and at weekends when you are not working at your day job\u201d. Zev, Gordan and Jerry&nbsp;did everything they could&nbsp;themselves, including fitting and painting the first store.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In their second year they&nbsp;started to expand.&nbsp;Despite having run&nbsp;out of money,&nbsp;Starbucks&nbsp;was doing&nbsp;well&nbsp;and some local investors&nbsp;agreed to finance&nbsp;the expansion in exchange for 15%&nbsp;in&nbsp;stock. They were the only investors&nbsp;the founders took on.&nbsp;By staying&nbsp;within Seattle,&nbsp;Zev,&nbsp;Jerry&nbsp;and Gordon&nbsp;were able to continue to grow by reinvesting profits and borrowing against their&nbsp;inventory. Competition at the time was low; the commercial coffee they were up against was terrible and,&nbsp;once a customer was in the shop, they were sure to be converted.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Originally,&nbsp;Starbucks was&nbsp;a&nbsp;retail&nbsp;store for coffee beans. They only brewed coffee as a sales technique to demonstrate the quality of their&nbsp;product.&nbsp;As well as selling direct to consumers,&nbsp;they&nbsp;supplied local restaurants with beans. By displaying&nbsp;\u201ccoffee by Starbucks\u201d on&nbsp;the restaurant&nbsp;menus, many new customers were introduced to the brand.&nbsp;Although Zev reflected that they could have started their own coffee bars sooner, it was a highly effective strategy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After ten years of growth, Zev decided to sell his shares in the company.&nbsp;He\u2019d&nbsp;been opening new divisions of the Starbucks business which simply weren\u2019t as profitable as their core&nbsp;product. When his partners approached him and asked him to stop, he realized that he&nbsp;couldn\u2019t. He reflected:&nbsp;\u201cI am a startup guy and I know who I am. I am an early stage entrepreneur; I have been all my life.\u201d&nbsp;If&nbsp;he\u2019d&nbsp;stayed at&nbsp;Starbucks,&nbsp;he\u2019d have&nbsp;felt driven to&nbsp;continue&nbsp;working on new things which was not what the company&nbsp;needed to grow.&nbsp;Gordon and Jerry&nbsp;bought him out&nbsp;and&nbsp;Zev&nbsp;started on&nbsp;his next&nbsp;venture.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile Howard Schultz, now&nbsp;the longstanding chair of Starbucks, was working&nbsp;for one of their suppliers. On a visit to his clients, Howard\u2019s&nbsp;intrigue in the dynamic young brand led to his appointment as their new&nbsp;Vice President of Sales and Marketing. It was, Zev remarked, \u201ca very good hire\u201d.&nbsp;And much of the success of the brand today can be attributed to Howard\u2019s leadership.&nbsp;During&nbsp;a now infamous trip to a trade show,&nbsp;he&nbsp;found that \u201cin Italy, you could get an espresso on every corner\u201d.&nbsp;He&nbsp;decided <strong>the company needed to pursue brewed coffee as a central part of their strategy, moving away from their&nbsp;retail&nbsp;focus<\/strong>.&nbsp;He found angel investors who believed in his vision and&nbsp;discovered&nbsp;that Jerry and Gordon were ready and willing to sell.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is&nbsp;Howard&nbsp;who is&nbsp;responsible for growing the brand into the Starbucks that is globally&nbsp;known and&nbsp;loved today.&nbsp;Although&nbsp;this has&nbsp;been compared to the McDonald\u2019s brothers\u2019 story, Zev was quick to point out the difference. While the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mashed.com\/147897\/the-tragic-real-life-story-of-the-mcdonald-brothers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">McDonalds&nbsp;brothers&nbsp;reportedly felt cheated<\/a>&nbsp;in the sale of their&nbsp;now-global&nbsp;fast-food&nbsp;business,&nbsp;Starbucks\u2019 founders did&nbsp;not feel the same&nbsp;at all.&nbsp;Zev said, \u201cI feel really happy, it\u2019s like seeing your child turn into the one of the best people in the world. The impact on myself and on the rest of the world of Starbucks is a positive one. And I am thrilled that a man like Howard Schultz was present and wanted to do this.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zev&nbsp;is&nbsp;content&nbsp;with the&nbsp;success&nbsp;of Starbucks:&nbsp;\u201cI am not a person who is very comfortable in a company with a hundred employees,&nbsp;let alone thousands. I am good at the early stage;&nbsp;putting things together, financing, but&nbsp;I am not good in a large organization.&nbsp;[\u2026]&nbsp;If you know who you are \u2013 and I do, I know who I am &#8211; you can be content if you are following your own life plan.\u201d&nbsp;It\u2019s&nbsp;a valuable piece of advice for&nbsp;budding entrepreneurs; know yourself,&nbsp;know&nbsp;your strengths and your true interests. If they guide your decisions, you&nbsp;won\u2019t&nbsp;feel regret.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So,&nbsp;while&nbsp;Starbucks&nbsp;grew under the leadership of Howard Schultz, Zev&nbsp;was&nbsp;able to pursue the path that most interested&nbsp;him:&nbsp;working with and supporting other entrepreneurs:&nbsp;\u201cI work with a considerable number of young entrepreneurs and I get to hear their stories.&nbsp;They&#8217;re&nbsp;my teachers, and they\u2019re now in many countries\u201d.&nbsp;&nbsp;Zev\u2019s skill in this area&nbsp;is&nbsp;evident&nbsp;from&nbsp;his ability to pinpoint errors&nbsp;made during&nbsp;the early days of&nbsp;Starbucks, as well as identify business development avenues that could prove profitable for the company now.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Learning&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>F<\/strong><strong>rom<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;Failures and&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Identifying&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Missed Opportunities<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Perceptive questions from EU students drew out insights from Zev on mistakes the company made in the early days, and opportunities he thinks&nbsp;they\u2019re&nbsp;missing now.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI have been mystified why Starbucks has no presence at all in the world of chocolate\u201d, he said.&nbsp;It makes&nbsp;sense \u2013 coffee and chocolate are industries that pair perfectly and that require&nbsp;similar expertise.&nbsp;He&nbsp;is, however, impressed by&nbsp;the&nbsp;continual&nbsp;product&nbsp;development in the lab&nbsp;Starbucks&nbsp;keeps in Seattle: \u201cThey\u2019re still able to develop new coffee products which really amazes me. You\u2019d think after 400 years of coffee there\u2019d be nothing left to develop!\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reflecting on the&nbsp;first few years&nbsp;of the business, <strong>Zev recalled three mistakes that provide useful learning opportunities for entrepreneurs<\/strong>:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>One of their earliest aims was to get high quality coffee onto supermarket shelves. They created a sub-brand, Blue Anchor Coffee,&nbsp;and&nbsp;persuaded&nbsp;two local chains to let them install their coffee in-store.&nbsp;\u201cA smarter more experienced entrepreneur would have seen this coming\u201d, he said, \u201cbut we did not\u201d. Once they had their products on display, having made an investment to do so, the&nbsp;supermarkets&nbsp;started to press them to decrease their prices. \u201cWe were operating efficiently but the coffee we had was really expensive\u201d. Eventually they had to sell the brand because they \u201ccould not play the price game with supermarkets\u201d.&nbsp;<strong>Understanding the goals of&nbsp;potential business partners is key to successfully navigating business growth.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" start=\"2\"><li>The second mistake he recalled was <strong>a&nbsp;significant error in&nbsp;financial forecasting<\/strong>. The founders&nbsp;estimated that their fine leaf teas,&nbsp;sourced&nbsp;from&nbsp;around the world,&nbsp;would represent 15% &#8211; 20% of their&nbsp;total&nbsp;sales. The actual number was&nbsp;just&nbsp;2.5%,&nbsp;which meant warehouses&nbsp;were left&nbsp;full of tea.&nbsp;Thankfully&nbsp;they were able to sell off their excess stock.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" start=\"3\"><li>Thirdly, Zev said: \u201cI have been asking myself, could we have been opening coffee bars in 1976?&nbsp;And I think the answer is,&nbsp;we probably could have.\u201d <strong>Starbucks did not start experimenting with coffee bars until 1981<\/strong>. Prior to that,&nbsp;they\u2019d&nbsp;been supplying&nbsp;beans to&nbsp;the first coffee&nbsp;bars and carts in the city, which is why&nbsp;they\u2019d decided not to pursue that line of business.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Knowing when to take a risk, forecasting accurate sales figures and anticipating external pressures on your&nbsp;business&nbsp;model are all complex but key skills a startup founder needs to master.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/retoque-2-2.jpg\" alt=\"Starbucks Coffee\" class=\"wp-image-28876\" width=\"890\" height=\"593\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Entreprenurial<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;Advice&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>F<\/strong><strong>rom<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;Mr. Startup<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Throughout the conversation Zev shared&nbsp;advice&nbsp;from his long experience as an entrepreneur and mentor. <strong>These are some pearls of wisdom every startup founder should take note of<\/strong>:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>First, identify demand<\/strong>. You need an idea that has a market. One of the most effective approaches is to identify&nbsp;your&nbsp;target customer\u2019s pain points. What is causing them trouble? How can you fix it?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Know yourself;&nbsp;identify where your skills and interests lie and work&nbsp;to your strengths<\/strong>. Fill in key gaps by finding business partners or consultants who can offer missing expertise.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Determine what\u2019s driving you<\/strong>:&nbsp;\u201cThere are three main reasons that people start companies:&nbsp;the feeling you could do well for yourself financially;&nbsp;a vision \u2013 I would call that an insight into an industry;&nbsp;and self-actualization. A lot of people who want to start a company want to have the experience of creating something.\u201d&nbsp;All are equally valid, but it is useful to know where you are coming from.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Be a good listener<\/strong>:&nbsp;\u201cIf you find that you are having conversations with people about your business idea and the other person does all the listening, that&#8217;s probably not a good sign. The entrepreneur needs to have a certain level of assertiveness and good ideas, but they also need to have the ability to listen.\u201d&nbsp;<\/li><li>Exceed customer expectations. <strong>Get ahead of the competition and then go above and beyond to offer your customers exceptional service<\/strong>, especially when things are tough. This will generate loyalty and positive word-of-mouth&nbsp;publicity.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Pay attention to financial forecasting<\/strong>:&nbsp;\u201cThis is really significant and it\u2019s something that I have learned over many years\u201d, Zev said. \u201cAlways know what your financial position is. If you are not a numbers person you need a consultant or person who is. It\u2019s not okay to begin a company and take money from your family and later from angel investors and not have a deep understanding of how financial spreadsheets work.\u201d&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Look after your colleagues and employees<\/strong>: \u201cBeing your own boss doesn\u2019t mean being a dictator to the people around you, it means listening to them and thinking about their needs \u2013 your partners, your staff&nbsp;and&nbsp;your customers.\u201d&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Find business partners that complement your skill set<\/strong>. Reflecting on the partnership between Jerry, Gordon and himself, Zev said:&nbsp;\u201cWe got on very well.&nbsp;I think our ability to cooperate and to listen to each other was really important&nbsp;[\u2026]&nbsp;We were a little bit lucky&nbsp;because,&nbsp;as it turned out, I was a very good startup person;&nbsp;I could handle a lot of tension and do a lot of things at the same time.&nbsp;Gordon Bowker was a very deep thinker&nbsp;about&nbsp;how to&nbsp;position&nbsp;a company in a marketplace and he did that for other companies too, and then Jerry Baldwin evolved into an excellent leader and a fabulous financial executive.&nbsp;So&nbsp;we had a lot of important areas covered from early on, and Starbucks looked pretty good to our customers because of that.\u201d&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It also became apparent throughout the conversation that companies should have good values. Not only because the mark&nbsp;they leave&nbsp;on the world should be positive, but because it makes good business sense.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Corporate Social Responsibility and Business&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>W<\/strong><strong>ith<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;Conscience<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although Zev has not been at the helm of Starbucks since 1981, it was interesting to hear his opinion on how the brand handled criticism it faced for racism after a&nbsp;nervous store manager&nbsp;called the police on&nbsp;two African American customers, who she thought were loitering. They were, in fact, waiting for a friend to join them for coffee. The reaction of the business was strong and immediate.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/business\/2018\/apr\/17\/starbucks-racism-training-close-stores-may-us\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">8,000 stores across America were closed<\/a>&nbsp;on the same day for urgent staff training on&nbsp;racial bias.&nbsp;It was characteristic of Chair Howard Schultz, Zev commented, who&nbsp;is known for his liberal,&nbsp;progressive&nbsp;and inclusive approach.&nbsp;The reaction&nbsp;came from the heart, Zev said, but was also remarkably good marketing:&nbsp;\u201cThis is corporate social responsibility of a high order.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Linking that earlier incident to the Black Lives Matter movement, which is very present in Seattle, Zev remarked:&nbsp;\u201cThis is one of those wonderful moments in which doing the right thing is actually good for business, so I expect a lot of corporations to make changes.\u201d&nbsp;He explained: \u201cEqual opportunity in education and in employment is where we have got to go.\u201d \u201cIt&#8217;s going to be painful for people of privilege [\u2026] we have advantages that many people don&#8217;t due to their economic situation or their race. We are just going to have to persuade those in power to give more to&nbsp;the&nbsp;people lacking the power to get what they need.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sustainability is another hot topic in the world of coffee. \u201cIt is a tragedy that there still isn&#8217;t a widely available to-go cup that can be recycled\u201d, Zev noted, adding&nbsp;that was a job for enterprising students: \u201cThe EU graduate who solves that problem is going to make a fortune!\u201d&nbsp;The coffee industry has a tremendous problem with environmental compliance;&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;largely&nbsp;a to-go industry and generates an astonishing quantity of un-recyclable waste. There is, however, brilliant work being done at the start of the supply chain, eliminating the use of chemicals in&nbsp;coffee&nbsp;agriculture. And Starbucks started using recycled products in their interior design 15 years ago, as part of their commitment to a&nbsp;more sustainable industry.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When it comes to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/insights-sustainability\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sustainability and corporate social responsibility<\/a>, particularly&nbsp;for businesses&nbsp;catering to&nbsp;millennial&nbsp;and Gen Z audiences, <strong>initiatives that have a positive impact on the world are also&nbsp;valuable&nbsp;marketing opportunities<\/strong>.&nbsp;In this&nbsp;period of&nbsp;global&nbsp;flux,&nbsp;companies that demonstrate&nbsp;they\u2019re&nbsp;working towards building a better tomorrow will have a competitive&nbsp;advantage.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Opportunities for Entrepreneurs Post COVID-19<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There\u2019s&nbsp;no doubt that the game has changed for business owners and entrepreneurs;&nbsp;coronavirus&nbsp;has&nbsp;shifted&nbsp;the economy.&nbsp;<strong>Zev helpfully&nbsp;highlighted&nbsp;some&nbsp;opportunities&nbsp;this presents&nbsp;for&nbsp;savvy&nbsp;professionals looking to start their own business.<\/strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe game has changed. There are&nbsp;a number of&nbsp;things that are still possible now. Most businesses that have to do with a product&nbsp;that\u2019s&nbsp;sold online, a software product or a phone application are going ahead.&nbsp;[\u2026] The other aspect is assets are going to be available at extremely low cost, so it is going to be possible to acquire existing businesses of all types \u2013 distributorships, retail \u2013 all kinds of companies, and grow them after the virus has been managed with a vaccine.&nbsp;[\u2026]&nbsp;I recognize that means that somebody else has had to give up their assets at a price far lower than expected,&nbsp;but it is a reality. Also,&nbsp;I would advise anyone, especially a startup, to think in terms of a niche;&nbsp;a narrow area that has been overlooked.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once you start looking, there are plenty of innovative new markets and thriving existing industries that present valuable opportunities for graduates and entrepreneurs.&nbsp;For more&nbsp;ideas of&nbsp;business areas that\u2019ll&nbsp;remain&nbsp;profitable&nbsp;in the future, explore&nbsp;the&nbsp;other blogs in our&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/en\/EU-Experience\/Learning-From-Leaders\/Learning-From-Leaders.html\" target=\"_blank\">Learning From Leaders series<\/a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Start Your Startup Journey Today<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether you are interested in founding your own business, repositioning an existing&nbsp;company&nbsp;or finding your niche in a competitive global industry,&nbsp;your future starts here. To succeed, you will need&nbsp;a&nbsp;thorough grounding in business expertise and insights from the forefront of innovative business. Which&nbsp;is what&nbsp;we offer at EU Business School. For an international,&nbsp;experiential&nbsp;and flexible business&nbsp;education,&nbsp;we encourage you to explore our internationally accredited programs.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/?utm_campaign=blog-banner&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=banner&amp;utm_mode=30\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Define_750x125_3.gif\" alt=\"eu business school define\" class=\"wp-image-28872\" width=\"957\" height=\"159\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At EU Business School, entrepreneurial spirit is in our DNA.&nbsp;So&nbsp;it was a great delight to welcome&nbsp;Zev&nbsp;Siegl,&nbsp;Starbucks co-founder and self-confessed startup man,&nbsp;to our Learning From Leaders conference series.&nbsp; From sharing the founding story of the&nbsp;now&nbsp;iconic Starbucks, to offering&nbsp;essential&nbsp;advice&nbsp;for&nbsp;entrepreneurs, the warmth which Zev brought to this&nbsp;fascinating&nbsp;conversation&nbsp;with Peter Vanham, author of \u201cBefore I Was CEO\u201d,&nbsp;was appreciated by&nbsp;everyone in attendance.&nbsp; Sharing&nbsp;interesting&nbsp;anecdotes,&nbsp;his&nbsp;thoughts&nbsp;on&nbsp;crucial topics including&nbsp;equality&nbsp;and&nbsp;sustainability, and insights to help entrepreneurs learn from his incredible success, Zev\u2019s&nbsp;sincere and open manner demonstrated the generosity which marks a true leader.&nbsp;&nbsp; You can&nbsp;view&nbsp;the&nbsp;full event here. In the following article,&nbsp;we\u2019ve&nbsp;outlined moments of the conversation which will inspire and inform anyone wishing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28874,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1769],"tags":[1707,778,1676,629,658],"class_list":["post-28870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learning-from-leaders","tag-business-advice","tag-business-strategy","tag-entrepreneur","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-learning-from-leaders","post--single"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>Insights From Zev Siegl, Co-Founder of Starbucks &amp; Startup Mentor<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From sharing the founding story of the now iconic Starbucks, to offering essential advice for entrepreneurs, the warmth which Zev brought to this fascinating conversation was appreciated by everyone in attendance.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/insights-zev-siegl-co-founder-starbucks-startup-mentor\/\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"EU Business School\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.euruni.edu\\\/blog\\\/insights-zev-siegl-co-founder-starbucks-startup-mentor\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"EU Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.euruni.edu\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"EU Community\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.euruni.edu\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/eu-business-school-community\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Learning From Leaders\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.euruni.edu\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/eu-business-school-community\\\/learning-from-leaders\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Insights From Zev Siegl, Co-Founder of Starbucks &#038; 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