Man Invests Severance Into Startup Instead of MBA, Discovers Business Life Is Cold Call Hell
KEY POINTS
- •Sam Perry was laid off in November 2022 shortly after winning an industry award at his HR tech company G-P.
- •Instead of pursuing an MBA costing over $100,000, he invested part of his mid-five-figure severance into launching Ensemble.
- •By summer 2024, Ensemble was acquired, and Sam became a Group Vice President at supply-chain SaaS firm Sphera.
Sam Perry, a 40-year-old UK bloke, graduated in 2005 with a Sports and Business Management degree, because why choose just one career path? After nine years at FedEx (the place that really taught him how to run a business, ironically delivering stuff, not ideas), he landed at G-P, an HR tech startup backed by private equity—because nothing says 'stability' like finance vultures. October 2022, he wins a major industry award with his team. November 2022, he's getting laid off. With a mid-five-figure (~£50k) severance in hand, Sam eyes pricey Harvard and Wharton MBAs climbing well past $100,000 a year, realizing his severance might just cover a decent vacation instead. A family friend with better ideas nudges him to launch his own firm, so he pours about 20% of his severance into his side hustle: Ensemble, an HR tech marketplace he hacked together with off-the-shelf tech and some MIT free online courses, because why pay tens of thousands for a classroom when you have YouTube and sheer desperation? Ensemble limps along selling platform access, then pivots to brokering HR software. In 2024, Ensemble is acquired (cue celebratory dance), and Sam now proudly boasts a Vice President title at Sphera, the supply-chain risk SaaS company. Moral of the story: while MBAs flood the market, nothing screams 'hire me' like crashing and selling your own startup, awkward cold calls included.
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Nothing screams 'executive potential' like dialing strangers all day trying to sell HR software you cobbled together with free MIT courses instead of conquering Harvard’s $200k business school jungle gym.
MBA programs charge you six-figures for lectures, startups charge you sleepless nights dialing cold leads and brutal self-reflection.
Laid off, Sam chose a fraction of Harvard's tuition and a 100% chance of existential sales calls. Spoiler: still no Nobel Prize.
Source: Businessinsider | Published: 2/17/2026 | Author: Joshua Nelken-Zitser
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