SoFi Blog

Becoming an entrepreneur is one of the most rewarding—and terrifying—things you’ll ever do. I started my own business, a business-planning software company initially based in Palo Alto, California, three years after graduating from business school. I’ve succeeded through several decades, but it wasn’t always easy given that I struggled with student loan and mortgage payments, and took care of my family at the same time. But today, I’m financially secure, my business is healthy, and I employ more than 60 people at our new location in Eugene, Oregon. Because I’ve dealt with startups and entrepreneurs for a long time, I’m well equipped to outline what you can expect if you’re planning to start your own business.

B-school has given other entrepreneurs exactly what it gave me: business fundamentals, including basic finance, marketing, and administration. An MBA program also teaches you how to plan and, most importantly, how to understand cash flow. But what school doesn’t teach you is how to wade through the entrepreneur clichés to get to the unvarnished truth.

For any startup to succeed, it takes talent, intelligence, hard work, and a love of innovation. It also helps to be connected—to have people looking out for you, especially when you’re on your way up and in need of that first big break. SoFi Entrepreneur Program member Mark Pawloski started Upkey with friends Mo Bitar and Amir Badr to help college students who didn’t come from elite backgrounds get noticed by more elite employers.

Chiara McPhee and Jen Kessler are great friends and the owners of San Francisco-based Bizzy, a startup offering a state-of-the-art email marketing platform for ecommerce businesses in varied industries and stages. They each refinanced student loans with SoFi, and they’re members of our Entrepreneur Program, which not only allowed them to defer their student loan payments for up to 6 months, but also provides access to valuable mentors and investors. Read about how they grew their friendship into a business and made it past a near-crippling initial failure to success.

We recently announced the newest members SoFi Entrepreneur Program, a group of promising SoFi members who are starting businesses while also paying off student loans. As they progress through the program, we’ve asked each member to share important lessons they’ve learned on their road to startup success.

A year ago, SoFi member Elena Foukes Lucas was the lowest-level analyst at a Fortune 200 company. Today she’s a co-founder and CEO of a renewable energy startup. Elena’s adventurous path to a more fulfilling life and career, including her experience with SoFi Career Strategy, is an inspiring story for anyone who’s pondered the pros and cons of starting a business while repaying student loan debt.

Read the full post about Elena’s experience over on Women 2.0.