From Rags to Riches: The Journey of Howard Schultz

931 Words2 Pages

Elizabeth Gutierrez

Howard Schultz whom has a current net worth of 2.9 billion USD is the current chairman and chief executive officer of Starbucks. Shultz comes from a poor working class family, he was the first in his family to attend college with the help of an athletic scholarship. In 1975, he graduated from Northern Michigan University with a bachelor’s degree in Communications. Though Shultz is best known for becoming the owner and CEO of Starbucks, he is also known for his entrepreneurial ventures as owner of the Seattle Super Sonics NBA team and co-founder of the venture capital firm, Maveron.
In 1982 when Starbucks only had four stores, Shultz joined Starbucks as director of operations and marketing. At that time, Starbucks was only …show more content…

Shultz gained success with Starbucks because he recognized the opportunity of developing a chain of coffee houses where customers could gather in an inviting and laid back social setting. Starbucks created stores where customers could gather not only to consume food but also to socialize, the atmosphere was sort of a home away from home. The previous coffeehouses in America before Starbucks had a customer base of people who were already strongly familiar with coffee drinks, people that might be called “coffee snobs” and those stores weren’t really inviting to the average people who didn’t really know much about coffee. Starbucks created a chain of stores where any person could conveniently obtain quality coffee in a relaxed …show more content…

The company is based in Seattle and San Francisco and it invests in consumer businesses focusing on technology-enabled products. Maveron has funded many successful startups including eBay, Drugstore.com, and Potbelly Sandwich Works. Part of Maveron’s success is keyed to Howard Shultz. He is described by the company as “innovative, corporate conscience, and a visionary in the consumer sector”. Shultz has had a good eye for recognizing opportunities in the market and that is one of the key reasons why he has been successful. By investing in promising startups Shultz helped develop Maveron into a successful multi million venture capital firm. Along with his entrepreneur knowledge, Shultz helped Maveron become successful by making significant investments in all of Maveron’s funds from his personal

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