Believing in Your Business and Yourself with Nick Shah ’08 MS

HELEN KIM: Welcome to Northwestern Intersections, where we talked to alumni about how key experiences have propelled them in their life's work. I'm Helen Kim from the Northwestern Alumni Association. And on today's episode, we'll hear from Nick Shah, the founder and president of Pearson Technology Partners. Nick's entrepreneurial journey began in his teens, when he was given the opportunity to manage operations for a local Chicago newspaper after he immigrated to the United States from India.

His experience of preparing for college is not your typical story, which makes it that much more admirable and exciting. So let's take a listen to how Nick worked throughout his teenage years in various settings and how he started his own premier IT recruiting agency.

NICK SHAH: Like most kids growing up in India, my dream was always to come to the United States and to actually become a doctor. So my uncle had migrated to Chicago in the early 70s. My parents were like, let's send you to Chicago for further education. So I came here when I was 16. I graduated from John Hersey High School, and then I met a college counselor who told me that to become a doctor, you need 10 years and $250,000, and did I have that kind of money?

Being a naive 16-year-old, fresh from India, she forgot to mention that you had the options of financial aid, scholarships, grants, et cetera. So I decided to drop out of college and join my uncle in his business, which is a local newspaper called India Tribune. And I decided to start working with them. And then a year later, at the age of 17, I started my first company called Real Colors. That's an import-export company that I started. And Helen, I was doing great. I mean, the first few years, I was doing a $1 million in revenue. I was flying high. I mean, I felt like I was king of the world.

HELEN KIM: At age 17 this was all happening?

NICK SHAH: This is at age 17. And then it all came crashing down. I made a series of mistakes. The people that I trusted were the wrong people. I not only ended up closing the business, but we ended up losing a lot of money. So this was life's actual classroom that I was getting education from. A year later, I started my current company under the name of Solutions 2000, which is now called Petersen Technology Partners.

And then in 2004 I met my wife who had a master's degree, and I was a college dropout. She motivated me and encouraged me to go back to school and get my degree. And that day that I actually graduated was our wedding day. So yeah, that's the quick synopsis of my life before Northwestern.

HELEN KIM: Wow. You have to be really independent and adaptable to just move to a new country at age 16 while trying to figure out your life.

NICK SHAH: Yeah, I mean, you know, it was scary at the same time, but I was learning as I was going along. And making those changes in real time. I mean, it was a lot of trial and error trying to see what would work and what would not work for me, learning at the same time and implementing it. So when I looked back, it was the greatest experience a 17-year-old can have starting a company, first year, second year, doing $1 million in sales.

I still remember the first time I got a check from my client for $50,000. It was the greatest feeling that you can possibly have. And then when it went south, those two years were absolute torture. You are trying to figure out how you can save your company and what can you do? What options do you have?

I didn't have enough experience at that time to say, OK, this would help. This will not help. So we went to this day, when I am in a business deal or I'm talking to clients, those experiences always stay with me. And they are like, wait a second. You have been through this, take precautions. They have been my guiding light, so to speak.

HELEN KIM: And you learned that at such a young age.

NICK SHAH: I tell my boys that it's great to learn. Start early. Make those mistakes. Because it's like learning to walk. You know, when you are young and you fall down, you get up. You don't even realize you have fallen down. You just get up and start walking again and start trying. So that's how it was for me. I have fallen down so many times. You just get up and try again.

HELEN KIM: I really want to dive deep into this, because if I'm imagining what I did at age 17, it is nowhere near what you were doing. And that's incredible that you were doing all this and had multi-million dollar clients on your first year of business. Did you ever feel like you wanted to do what other kids were doing at your age during that time? Did you feel like you were growing up too soon or anything like that?

NICK SHAH: I was so focused on growing my company, especially after making that decision to drop out of school. I was in a race for myself. And I was just hyper-focused on getting a name for myself in business. So I would not take no for an answer from my clients. You went to this day. If you say no as a client, it's no for today. I'll come back tomorrow, and I'll keep trying. Because I believe that I bring that value to my clients as their partner. So even back then, it was just hyper-focus on growing my company. So I did not do most of the things that teenagers were doing. Sometimes when I look back, I'm like, maybe I should have done some of them. But yeah, I was just focused on growing the business.

HELEN KIM: Wow. Let's fast forward a little bit to your time applying to Northwestern for your masters. So what kind of programs were you looking for to receive your masters? Once I got my bachelor's degree, I was in love with education. I'll take a step back. When I decided to drop out of school after having that counselor experience, education wasn't speaking to me. It somehow felt like it was a few years behind times for me when I was learning on the street, so to speak, running my company.

NICK SHAH: But when I came back for my bachelor's, it started resonating from my own personal business experience, what school was teaching, there was a natural connection that happened, so I actually fell in love with education. Once I had my bachelor's, I actually wanted it to always come to Kellogg for my MBA. Plus, I wanted to level set the playing field with my wife since she had a master's. I didn't want her to stop at bachelors.

I was looking at Kellogg for my MBA, and I used to know the dean of Kellogg, Deepak Jain, relative of family, friends. So I ended up calling him saying that I would like to apply for my MBA at Kellogg. So he invited me and my wife to come to Thanksgiving dinner, and he actually guided me, that rather than looking at Kellogg, since I have my own company, I plan to run my own business, not work for somebody, he actually guided me to look at computer science programs rather than coming to Kellogg.

He's like, go. It will help your current business to grow more if you have a computer science background. And then 10 years from now, come back and do your executive MBA at Kellogg. So I'm actually grateful that dean was able to guide me. That's how I ended up in a master's program for computer science.

HELEN KIM: When you were getting your masters for computer science, you were working full time at the same time?

NICK SHAH: Yes. Working 60, 70 hours a week, still passionate about growing business. So I would take evening classes. I would take weekend classes and still continue to work. But I'll tell you, Helen, my first six months in a computer science program coming from a business background was absolute torture. For a business, it's like, what's your bottom line? How do I get to my bottom line, whereas computer science is a step-by-step logical process. And if you missed one step, your program won't compile. So I would be up until 2:00, 3:00 in the morning, trying to write a single line of code that would actually compile.

I can tell you there were so many moments in that six months that I was like, maybe I should look at some other programs. Computer science is not for me. And then I met Dr. Acavi who was like, Nick, just be patient. It will click. It takes time. It's not instantly that you can just say, OK, I can pick up computer science background. And it finally did, and then I had the best time in the computer science program. All the professors, the classmates that I had in that program were awesome. And then I was able to graduate two years later from a computer science background.

HELEN KIM: I guess this experience really taught you a lot about time management because you were also married and had a family. So just balancing all those three, it must have been so hard.

NICK SHAH: I have a very supportive wife and she has 100% backed me up in everything that I do. I call her my best cheerleader. You know, that confidence boost whenever I need it. Then I go to her, and she's like, you've got this. So she has been very supportive through Northwestern and through everything that I have done, even to this day. She always stands behind me 100%, so I'm very fortunate in that matter.

HELEN KIM: Aww, she sounds like a lovely person.

NICK SHAH: She is.

HELEN KIM: Let's talk about some of the challenges that you went through while running your business. And I know that you mentioned the second year of your first business. What are some stories you could share with us that really affected your business and career path?

NICK SHAH: Right after 9/11 had happened, United Airlines was one of my big clients. So we had about 40 plus consultants working at United Airlines, and then 9/11 had happened. So right after that on Monday, all the projects at United were indefinitely canceled or put on hold. So we went down from 40 consultants to like, two people left.

My uncle, who was a partner in my business, he's like, Nick, IT's never going to come back, because right before 9/11, the e-commerce bubble had busted. So that with 9/11, he's like, IT will never come back. Let's just close the company. Let's do some other business.

I was single, not married at that time. So I'm like, if I run from a business just because the market went down, no matter what business I go into, that business will have its cycle and I'll keep running just because the market went down. So I was like, you know what? Let me buy your portion of the company and started to run the company by myself right that was a very painful experience because you go down from 40 people to two consultants working. I almost got a job for myself at AT&T, but I was like, no, let's not go and work for somebody. Let's just continue in the business. I'll figure out a way. I'm very glad that I stuck around.

HELEN KIM: So you stuck with your gut.

NICK SHAH: Yes. Yes, so that's the most recent one I would talk about challenge-wise, would be the current pandemic that we are going through. When the pandemic hit, a lot of my clients either put their projects on hold or canceled it, and I had a hard decision to make, whether to furlough, lay off my existing employees. Instead of doing either one of them, I decided to keep everyone on the projects with us. We paid their full salary. We were like, OK, let's retrain. Let's sharpen our skills so when things turn around, we are ready. It's getting better and I'm glad that I didn't have to furlough or fire anybody. But again, that was a tough decision-- a challenge that I had to.

HELEN KIM: Especially if you are the CEO of a company or an organization, you're the one that is faced with making big decisions that other people don't have to, especially during a time like a pandemic where no one expected this.

NICK SHAH: The way I look at it is they are human lives. It's not just, hey, it's a number on a spreadsheet. It's human life that gets impacted. And this is the time when I can say, hey, look, we stick to what we have been saying so far. I'm in a business in a recruiting industry where it's more of a human connection, and I, myself, believe in human relationships. You know, it's that partnership. And when things are not great, that's when those partnership truly comes into play. And I didn't want to say one thing and then let go of people just because other clients were letting go of their employees and consultants. So we were able to, luckily, thank God, able to follow through and keep everyone employed.

HELEN KIM: And during these challenges that you went through and the stories that you've shared, is there anything you would have done differently?

NICK SHAH: You know, no, I don't think I would have done anything differently. This has stories and experiences that has made me and made me the man who I am. Even when I look back all the way back to Real Colors and college and all of that, no, I would not change anything. They were painful going through it, but when I look back, they were the best experience anybody can have because it taught me so much. I'm able to now instill that in my boys as they are growing up.

HELEN KIM: Those experiences were able to test your patience throughout those times and also see how your potential can exceed.

NICK SHAH: Growing up I was, like I said, I was I was racing to get to a certain level. But when you are faced with the challenges and setbacks, it teaches you how to be patient and wait. And it also tells you that if you believe in it, don't give up. Keep working at it. Keep looking at it. You will get through, but, you know, you constantly need to keep working. The current company we actually completed 22 years of being in business, and I still work the same way that I was working day one when I started the company. So I still work 16 hours a day. I don't remember last time when I took a vacation.

I take my family on vacations but I'm working through my vacations. I think I've been wired that way. It's like, OK, you know, what comes first? But family is important as well.

HELEN KIM: What are some advices that you have for those in a business or those going into a business?

NICK SHAH: For someone who is going into business, I would say make sure you give yourself enough runway, because when you start a new business, the first year is when you are going to lose money. Second year is when you break even. And the third year is when you start to see some money coming in. So if my advice to someone who is just starting new is make sure you give yourself enough runway. Make sure you have enough time to stick around for three years.

I see a lot of people who start a business and then they quit the first and the second year when they are really close to the finish line. So make sure you give yourself enough time. That's one suggestion.

Second is there are no shortcuts in business. You have to put in your time. You have to put in your effort, and don't look for shortcuts.

HELEN KIM: Any last words of wisdom for the entire Northwestern community?

NICK SHAH: Northwestern had given me such a great platform from Dean Jain, Professor Bala was my mentor at one point, Dr. Acavi. So you are at the best place where you can get the best education. You need to apply that in real life. Be patient. What I have seen is, ultimately it's the person with the confidence and willpower that you will make it in whatever career path you are on, but be confident and be true. And believe in whatever you are working on.

HELEN KIM: Thank you for tuning into today's episode of Northwestern Intersection. For more information about our podcast, please visit northwestern.edu/intersections. Until next time, stay safe and take care of yourself and your family.