Jon Schram joins Kansas City's Acumen team as a Growth Catalyst, where he empowers CEOs and Owners to grow their business, become more efficient in all they do, and enrich their storyline.
Jon Schram's Background & Recognition in Kansas City
Jon founded and led one of KC's leading IT Support companies, The Purple Guys, regularly recognized on the Inc. 5000 list, the Corporate Report's Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies, a Best Place to Work, and one of the KC Chamber Top 10 Small Businesses of the Year. Before that, Jon founded and grew an IT Staffing firm, growing from $0 to $10M in revenue in just four years, recognized as Kansas City's Fastest Growing Company.
Jon's Entrepreneurial Journey
Business success, partnership failures and recoveries are the themes of Schram's entrepreneurial journey. He states, "Business is easy; people are hard!" In his first business venture, launching the first branch office for a service company, Jon learned that a partnership is only as good as the people agreeing to be partners. He believes failure is fertilizer for the next adventure.
During his second launch, and first startup from scratch, Jon learned that money is an amplifier in a business partnership. He states, "Going from zero to ten million in revenue
(profitably!) in four years does not remove the stress of a bad partner. A bad partner at a million is ten times worse at ten million!" He says timing can be everything and decided to resign from the IT Staffing company on September 10, 2001. The next day the world changed, and it put everything into perspective for him. Prioritizing his family was critical in surviving the exit.
He used the fertilizer of his past failures to structure better partnerships and maintain alignment. Starting The Purple Guys in October of 2001, the economic climate was challenging, and Jon realized that a positive attitude could overcome just about everything. When the recession hit in 2008 and 2009, his company chose not to participate and grew over 40% each year.
While growing the brand and team was slower the third time around, it reinforced that having a clear vision and sticking to your core values creates consistency. He had multiple partners pass through the business successfully. In 2017, he sold the majority interest and learned he could be a minority owner with the right partners. Continuing to run and manage the business, Jon doubled the size in four years and sold it again in 2021. Wrapping up this most recent 20-year entrepreneurial journey, he is excited for the next adventure with Acumen, leading CEOs and Business Leaders through their own journeys.
Joining Acumen
Jon is passionate about leadership and businesses that impact the community. With his experience, he understands and can relate to the issues of a CEO or Business Owner. Jon is an entrepreneur who likes to empower others to grow their business, become more efficient in all they do, and enrich their storyline. He has been a member of the Acumen community since its inception.
Today, Jon is a Growth Catalyst for the Acumen team, Velocity, which consists of 13 CEOs and Owners in Kansas City. While Jon has been blessed with business success, he did not accomplish that alone. Jon attributes his success to his 25-year involvement in a CEO peer group. Jon and the entire Acumen team are excited to use his experience to help others achieve their potential.
We are humbled and inspired to have Jon Schram here at Acumen. Help us welcome him to the team!
Learn more about Jon here.