Kelley dropouts announce $2M deal

Ever thought about dropping out of school?

Most students and their parents would dismiss the thought automatically. But this is exactly what former Kelley School of Business students John Ramey and Evan Hareras did.

“We started our company in the Midwest but moved to the west coast in a more technology-based startup environment,” said Ramey, co-founder of isocket, a Silicon Valley startup.

Ramey and Hareras left Bloomington in 2008 to start the company, which is a marketplatform for advertisers. isocket recently announced the closing of a $2-million early-stage funding deal from high-level investors. These investors include former head of Google advertising sales, David Hirsch.

“We almost went bankrupt last year, but we kept pushing and trying despite of the economical setbacks,” Ramey said.

Both Ramey and Hareras are from middle-class families that have entrepreneurial minds.

“My family is from Greece and has owned many businesses,” Hareras said. “I’ve helped my family with many of their businesses and also ran the family car wash before I came to IU.”

Although both families knew the ups and downs of starting a business, they were very encouraging.

“My parents asked me healthy questions to make sure that I had thought everything through,” Ramey said. “Once they knew that I thought everything through, they were very supportive. Once we became successful, they wanted their money back.”

Hareras’ family was skeptical with the idea of dropping out of college at first.

“My parents are big on obtaining an education even though they are very entrepreneurial,” he said. “Once they realized that we had a solid idea, they told me that we needed to go ahead and pursue our interest.”

Hareras returned to IU this fall to finish his degree in economics. Although he still has input in the business, he no longer works with the company full time.

“I still play an active role in the company but I feel that I’ve taken the company as far as I could with my skill set,” Hareras said. “Once we became larger, my skill set was not best for the company. We’ve brought in more people that I know can help the
company grow better than I can.”

While at IU, Hareras and Ramey received feedback from many of their professors such as Joe Denekamp, senior lecturer of management and entrepreneurship and Ramey’s former professor.

“John was exceptionally bright and tenacious. He could think on his feet and really was able to think through difficult situations,” Denekamp said. “He believed in his idea and he was willing to work extremely hard to find people to invest in his idea.”

Denekamp advises students to think through the challenges of entrepreneurship before taking it on.

“Don’t do entrepreneurship simply because we are the number one public undergraduate program in the country,” he said. “Entrepreneurship means you have to be willing to take charge of your life and be that agent in the economy that brings together resources to create something new.”

Althought Hareras and Ramey are happy for the success of the company, they urge students to take caution when thinking about following in similar footsteps.

“Get a good grasp on your concept and get feedback in the early stages,” Hareras said. “Don’t listen to naysayers and know where you have to go for the next stage.”

Ramey urged action in addition to dreaming.

“Stop talking and start doing,” Ramey said. “Realize that it’s the hardest thing you’ll ever do and that you will probably fail at it; be prepared and accept it.”