Host Company: Angie’s List

Current Company: SupplyKick

Following his graduation from Wabash College in 2007, Josh Owens accepted an offer with Orr Fellowship at Angie’s List. He says he chose the Fellowship because it was a great opportunity to “work with high growth companies with some of the best leaders in Indianapolis.” Josh rose to the role of Analytics and Marketing Strategy Manager at Angie’s List before later moving on to OneClick Ventures where he took on direction of their Acquisitions and Business Development department. Following that position, Josh attended the London School of Economics where he earned his Masters in Economic Science. This led him to Representative Luke Messer’s office in Washington, D.C. where Josh spent a year on the Hill advising Rep. Messer on economic policy. He then moved back to Indianapolis to teach economics at Butler University. From there, he became the CEO of SupplyKick, a leading integrated marketplace retailer located in downtown Indianapolis. Listen to our Podcast interview with Josh as he gives some insight on his Orr experience, his career path, and the current hopes he has for SupplyKick as a growing business.

Of his time in Orr Fellowship, Josh says that he found a “very accessible network” of leaders in the Indianapolis business community, and that his emails to executives were always returned. In terms of his early professional development and growth, Josh touts the Fellowship as “an environment in which it is hard not to learn what you need to know to succeed.” He says that the Fellowship “totally paid off” and that when he returned to Indianapolis following his time in Washington, the network he had built as an Orr Fellow picked right back up. The Fellowship has been present throughout his personal and professional life: he still meets up with friends from his Fellowship class and consults for Orr portfolio companies.

Josh finds that the most successful people in his life are those “who are willing to bet on themselves, and who are willing to take chances.” Therefore, he says his best advice to graduating college seniors and new Fellows would be that “it’s hard to get your first job wrong with the right attitude and drive.”