The Entrepreneurial Journey: Jay Manickam of uShip and Everfest

by Patrick Hechinger
June 7, 2016

Jay Manickam (pictured third from left) and members of the Everfest team. 

Our Serial Entrepreneur Series sponsored by

is a personal look into what it takes to spearhead multiple companies here in Austin. For the second installment of the series, we had the chance to chat with
The new uShip headquarters sits in the middle of Travis Heights within walking distance of bustling South Congress with plenty of private parking.
, and founder Jay Manickam. 

Jay Manickam received his B.A. and Masters from UNC-Chapel hill before coming to Austin to pursue his MBA at UT's Red McCombs School of Business. One of his class projects developed into his first company, uShip, which he helped build from 2003 to 2014. He then founded Everfest and RoverPass in December 2014.

We spoke with Manickam about the transition from pre-med to business school, why so many entrepreneurs come from consulting firms and the type of people you need on your startup's team:

 

When did you first realize you had the entrepreneurial spirit? And how did you turn that spirit into your first business?

I grew up in Annapolis, Maryland as the son of first generation Indian immigrants. My dad was a doctor and most of my family was in the medical field, so I always thought I might go into that. As it turns out, I would have probably been a lousy doctor. 

I’ve always had an entrepreneurial bend even before I knew what that word meant. As a kid, we lived on a golf course and I collected and sold golf balls back to golfers. When I was 10 or 12 we put on a neighborhood festival, charging neighborhood kids a few bucks and had carnival-style games. And then as a I got older, I started dabbling in all kinds of things — I was a ticket broker for a while in college and I ran a boat load of entrepreneurial endeavors, some successful, some not.

But I consciously figured it out after I had received a degree in pre-med and chemistry and gotten into med school. I told my parents I wasn’t going to med school and started taking business classes. I started a career working for “the man” at big consulting companies, putting in about five years doing that while learning a lot about business acumen, best practices, and all that. It also taught me I never wanted to work for a large company again. 

I was more motivated than ever to be part of this thing called entrepreneurship, whether that meant starting my own company or being involved in a smaller venture. So I knew that was where my heart lied. I didn’t have a lot of business experience academically so I decided to go back to grad school and get an MBA which brought me here to the University of Texas. I was lucky to meet similar minded people while in school at UT and we had an idea that was the beginnings of what became uShip. It was a class project at UT that had legs and we decided to pursue it after graduation.

 

You had experience working as a consultant at Arthur Anderson and Deloitte. Why do you think so many entrepreneurs come from consulting?

I think you see a lot of companies and you see a lot of companies going through different things, whether that's great growth, retractions, acquisitions, or public offerings. You see all the different positive and negative phases a company can be in so I think it gives you at least a sense of what the spectrum is that you are likely to go through when you start a company. Maybe that gives you some confidence because you have at least seen it and been part of a team that addressed it so you have something to lean on. You might not have all the answers but at least you know what the questions are. 

 

uShip did quite well during the 10 years you spent building it. When did you know it was time to move on?

There comes a point, if you’re truly an entrepreneur, where you basically out hire yourself and you find folks (if your company is successful) who are just better at the functions of running and scaling a company than you are. It’s an interesting moment but in some ways it is what you hope for as an entrepreneur. I think I reached that point at uShip, left the company in great shape in very capable hands with folks who were, in many ways, better at their jobs than I was. 

I had been there 10 years and at some point you want to prove to yourself that the things you’ve learned along the way can be useful again — particularly if you have the ambition and hunger for entrepreneurship. After spending 10 years at uShip, I like to think that I know something about consumer internet and the only way to prove whether that’s true or false is to try it again. Hopefully you don’t make the same mistakes, but you might make new ones. 

For me it was also a personal journey as well because of the fact that I really do have a passion for festivals and travel. I was fortunate enough to combine personal and professional interests into what I think was a great opportunity to start Everfest. 

 

What were some high-level lessons you learned from uShip that you were able to apply to Everfest?

The thing I learned is to surround yourself with really good people. Particularly when you know you don’t know something that well. I was never the technology “guy” at uShip or Everfest but I was always able to find folks to work with who I trusted and knew I could go to battle with that knew the technology sphere. Make sure you surround yourself with great people, particularly in the holes that you recognize within yourself. 

Create a culture where it's not "Us vs. Them", but it's "Us vs. The World." Management and employees need to be really aligned —especially early on— about what the mission is and what type of culture your building and why you’re building it. You can’t have a lot of folks who aren’t on board because too many things can go wrong at an early stage company. Find the right folks who understand the sacrifices you’re going to make to build something special. We did a great job with that at uShip and I hope we can do the same type of job at Everfest. 

 

Finding the right people to work with has been a trend we’ve discussed a lot in this series. Were there any key players from uShip you brought along to EverFest? 

A few people have come along, but one key one was Adam Greenspan who is a do everything person here at Everfest and was the Head of Global marketing at uShip. He started out as an intern at uShip and grew into an executive role. That’s the model we’re looking to hire for at Everfest. 

 

What are your thoughts on the state of entrepreneurship in Austin? Do people really know what they’re getting into?

There is a sense of entrepreneurship being “en vogue” and it certainly is in Austin. But I think it's a good thing to encourage that. In many ways it's over glamorized — you have the success stories that are a thousand times amplified in the media and the press with less coverage on what it took to get there and all the folks who worked equally hard who maybe didn’t get there. 

There may be a harsh reality there for a lot of folks who don’t have the instant success of a Zuckerberg right out the gate. But I think going through the journey of entrepreneurship, even if you find out it's not for you, can be a really rewarding journey for a lot of personal reasons. It can teach you to live within your means and how to work with lots of different people. It can teach you a lot of life skills in regards to relationships and handling your finances. You find out what's important and what you want out of life. 

IBM Global Entrepreneur is a startup program that gives founders and developers access to big-company resources — for free. Want to learn more? Email Meagan

Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Jobs at IBM

Austin startup guides

LOCAL GUIDE
Best Companies to Work for in Austin
LOCAL GUIDE
Coolest Tech Offices in Austin
LOCAL GUIDE
Best Perks at Austin Tech Companies
LOCAL GUIDE
Women in Austin Tech