What Cheers Actor George Wendt Can Teach Us About Starting a Company
Unexpected lessons in entrepreneurship from the veteran actor
The latest episode of Team Coco’s Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast features co-hosts Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson reminiscing with Cheers castmate George Wendt. As I watched the episode I was struck by how Wendt’s early career trajectory mirrored the journey that led me to found a successful software startup.
Detours Are Okay
Years before Wendt played the part of Norm Peterson on all 275 episodes of Cheers, he struggled to find his path after graduating college with a B.A. in economics:
This friend of mine said: “Oh, you don’t know what you’re going to do?” No idea. “Then I know what you do.” What? You go to Europe.
Wendt “honked around Europe for about two years” before embarking upon his acting career. I was likewise adrift early in life, lasting only one semester as an Art major before dropping out of college. Not having the wherewithal to tour Europe, I got a minimum-wage job as a bank reconciliation clerk. After realizing the path that I was on had no future, I joined the Army. That added another two years before launching my career.
