Mick Mountz is not afraid of rejection, “I heard ‘No’ 50 to 100 times in 2002”. From previous experience, the innovator / entrepreneur realized that the labour costs of monotonous warehouse jobs were greater than the revenues earned from selling the actual product. Simply put, the company was LOSING money due to high wages relative to revenue.

The visionary started the company Kiva Systems, a textbook example of entrepreneurship. Mountz envisioned a warehouse run by robots. The idea was outrageous to many companies he pitched to, as the projected break even costs were estimated at $100 million.

Undeterred, Mountz built his own prototype robot that produced at 3 times the rate of a human. This robot would impress Bain Capital Ventures’ managing director (Ajay Agarwal) so much, it went on to earn him an immediate $1.6 million from angel investors, along with $20 million over the next 4 years. Agarwal endorsed Mountz, seeing the limitless potential of this technological application and the possibility of transforming the $100 billion e-commerce market.

Evidently, Kiva Systems has satisfied all the points to qualify as an entrepreneurial venture. Although faced with initial negative feedback (risk), the company has expanded at an exponential rate. The company has skyrocketed to 240 employees and $100 million revenue, with prominent customers such as Walgreens, Staples, The Gap, and Amazon.