Jim Koch
Samuel Adams
Boston, MA USA
"The big risk would have been staying at a job that wasn't fulfilling and wasting my life. That's a risk. Quitting it to do something that I really loved and believed in, that's not a risk."
Career Roadmap
Jim's work combines: Entrepreneurship, Food, and Accomplishing Goals
See more careers and stories that connect to your interests.
Take Roadmap Quiz
Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Harvard University
Graduate Degree
Business Administration and Management, General
Harvard University
Doctorate
Law
Harvard University
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life has been direct
1.
After a year of law school and a year of business school, he realized that at 24, he hadn't done anything but go to school.
2.
Dropped out; joined Outward Bound as an instructor; spent three-and-a-half years traveling, mountaineering, kayaking, etc.
3.
After his "prolonged adolescence" ended, he went back to school, got his J.D. and MBA, graduated at age 29.
4.
Joined a consulting firm in Boston; was making a lot of money, being flown around the country in first-class.
5.
Knew he didn't want to be at that job for more than 10 or 15 years; started thinking about what he really wanted.
6.
Loved the city of Boston, but realized that they were missing a key factor: a world-class beer.
7.
Calls Samuel Adams and Boston Beer Company "the one little tile that [he] added to the mosaic of Boston."
8.
Although he knew little about brewing, selling beer, says his "cultures and values" acted as fair substitutes for "hard resources."
