Have a Burning Business Question? Ask the Expert: Kip Tindell. Our expert this month is Kip Tindell, the CEO and founder behind The Container Store. As a long-time entrepreneur, he knows a thing or two about what it takes to run a company and is excited to take founders' questions.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Let's face it, entrepreneurship is not for the faint at heart. The entrepreneur is often denoted a jack of all trades yet is expected to lead a team down a treacherous unknown startup path with the hopes their vision and execution will lead to success. To say this career choice is lonely, stressful and exhausting is a bit of an understatement, which is why so many well-intentioned founders fail.
Fortunately, in the startup world, many serial founders look to give back and provide a helping hand to aspiring and new entrepreneurs. Kip Tindell is one of them.
As the CEO, chairman and founder of The Container Store (you know, the place where you can find storage solutions for just about anything), Tindell has seen the company go through various iterations while witnessing both successes -- and a few failures. Launched in 1978, Tindell helped grow the business to the point where it became a publicly traded company. During this time, he remained committed to his employees and his original vision of providing consumers a mix of inventory. With such a strong focus on company culture and employees, The Container Store was on FORTUNE magazine's list of "100 Best Companies to Work For" for 15 years in a row. He is hoping to use his past experience as a leader to help others.
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"Everything you do and everything you don't do impacts your business and those around you," says Tindell. "Serving as a mentor to our future business leaders allows me to share what has worked over the years, help avoid pitfalls, provide encouragement and confidence during times where it feels like everyone is telling you what you want to do won't work or shouldn't be done."
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Besides overseeing The Container Store team, Tindell has been active in the business world – both receiving accolades and assisting others. In addition to receiving the Entrepreneur of the Year award and Innovator of the Year award, Tindell was inducted into the Retailing Hall of Fame in 2006 and went on to receive the National Retail Federation's 2010 Gold Medal Award, one of the most prestigious awards in retail. Aside from collecting trophies for his achievements, Tindell is actively involved in numerous "conscious capitalism" initiatives, hoping to help entrepreneurs incorporate more humane practices into their mission.
For the month of October, we are thrilled to have Tindell as our expert. He is eager to tackle your burning questions each week. Feel free to ask anything pertaining to leadership, communication strategies, culture, managing employees, consumer capitalism and general entrepreneurship inquiries. Also, because Tindell has been in the retail space for quite some time, he can also provide advice on commerce, customer behavior and dealing with vendor relations.
Submit your questions in the comments section below or tweet us, using the hashtag #ENTexpert. One topic will be selected by the editors of Entrepreneur and addressed by Tindell in a weekly write up here.
