Sept. 5, 2024
Their friends and families worried that launching a business nearly straight out of college was too risky. What if it failed?
But Alex McCarty, B.S.’16, and Mitch Morse, B.S., M.Acc. ’16, viewed their entrepreneurial endeavor as a calculated risk. After all, they’d done their homework – just like they’d been taught to do at the Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business at the University of Missouri – and understood their maximum possible loss.
For the young entrepreneurs, their decision to launch a business in October 2018 was a leap of faith – with a safety net.
Today, their company, Premium Outdoor Grills, is a thriving online marketplace seller with a Kansas City showroom and warehouse that sells barbecue grills, gas and electric heaters, outdoor kitchen storage and cooking accessories.
The partnership
Shortly after graduating from the Trulaske College of Business, McCarty, who is originally from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, joined the Peace Corps and served a two-year stint as an agribusiness extensionist in Panama. Morse, who grew up in Harrisonville, Missouri, joined KPMG in Kansas City as an accountant.
Halfway through his assignment in Panama, McCarty returned home for a visit and reached out to Morse, whom he knew from their years at Trulaske. The two met and soon the conversation turned to future business ventures.
“I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to own a business together?’” McCarty recalled.
Morse liked the idea and the two began a long-distance correspondence to lay the groundwork. By the time McCarty returned to the Kansas City area in September 2018, the soon-to-be business partners were ready to hit the ground running. They rented a small office and went to work, hammering out the details. First, they set three criteria for a business: profitability, ability to do it and benefit to the world.
The challenge
With Premium Outdoor Grills up and running, McCarty and Morse eased into their roles – Morse as the behind-the-scenes finance guy who handles the books and day-to-day operations and McCarty as the growth and new relationships guy.
Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and the business buckled as supply chain bottlenecks and a moratorium on shipping non-essential goods made getting anything grill-related nearly impossible. Instead of panicking, the partners looked for opportunities and recognized they could be third-party sellers of overstock food items that closed-down restaurants couldn’t use – flour, yeast, bulk-sized condiments and sauces, to name a few.
Eventually, moratoriums were lifted, and the business took off, selling outdoor patio heaters to restaurants trying to extend their seasons to serve people outside. From there, the business continued to grow.
Today, the company has grown to include two full-time warehouse employees and three full-time virtual assistants.
The foundation
McCarty and Morse agree that attending a reputable business college has equipped them well to navigate the dynamic landscape of the business world. Many of the experiential learning opportunities they encountered as students allowed them to hone the problem-solving skills and decision-making abilities they use every day at Premium Outdoor Grills.
As students, McCarty and Morse were also part of the Cornell Leadership Program (CLP), which they credit with offering them additional opportunities to develop leadership skills and business acumen – all of which have become second nature while growing their business.
Trulaske was the serendipitous intersection of two future business partners whose complementary skills and personalities have paved the way to success.
Read more from the Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business
