The Value of Optionality: Jeff Peters’s Story
Jeff Peters, a partner at Autotech Ventures, has led his life driven by his desire to achieve optionality. This led to his pursuit of the highest level of education possible at some of the world’s greatest educational institutions, including the University of Michigan, Purdue, and Stanford.
His interest within academics wasn’t one influenced purely by himself; rather, he was influenced by his family’s values. Jeff, who is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, said that he was fortunately raised in a household that valued education. “I think what I was told at a very young age is that education is something that no one can ever take away from you.” He also remarked that this particular sentiment would resonate within him for the rest of his life, along with the humble recognition that his childhood allowed him to grow up with educated people helped him develop an appreciation for education.
Jeff started his career with humble beginnings. He originally got his start at a Wendy’s drive-through, and then as a cashier at Hobby Lobby, he found that his most interesting high school job was at the car dealership that belonged to his friend’s family. He worked random jobs around the dealership as he developed an interest in cars. He also recalled that one of the best perks of his job at the car dealership was driving the brand new Nissans. As a teenager, does there exist a better perk than that?
Before Jeff went off to college, he and his friend took apart an old car in his garage, furthering his interest in cars. Although he was uncertain of what he wanted to study, he said that a few of his friends were studying engineering, which interested him. He elected to attend the University of Michigan, due to its proximity to Detroit and his interest in cars, but he later decided to pursue aerospace engineering because he wanted to do something a little different.
After completing his undergrad at the University of Michigan, Jeff got a job at Northrop Grumman, a prestigious firm. However, after working for a couple of years, Jeff decided that he would like to continue his academic pursuits because he wasn’t really enjoying his work. He decided on Purdue after a little exposure to a Purdue professor that he ran into at the University of Michigan. At Purdue, Jeff’s interests shifted towards economics. Upon receiving his degrees from Purdue, Jeff continued his academic pursuit with postdoctoral research at Stanford.
Quickly, Jeff then developed an interest in Venture Capital through some of his friends from the University of Michigan. It took little time for him to recognize that this was the right fit for him and his skills.
“You know, in academia you get an idea. You write a grant, you know, you try to get some grad students to go help you with the research, you do the research. Publish the research. You wait for it to get published. It’s like 6 years and the idea that you had originally, yeah, it’s more fleshed out, but it’s six years old by the time it’s published. And that, meanwhile, seeing all these startups that have more ambitious ideas — let’s call it — start, fail, maybe get acquired. You know, actually create a business and affect things in a shorter period of time, so I was realizing that, you know, that I wanted to be in a more fast-paced environment,” said Jeff.
Upon reflection of his academic career, he had pursued several different paths of interest. He described himself as having a short intellectual attention span, and rhetorically asked, “What type of job or role satisfies that? Is it becoming, you know, a researcher? Probably not. Where can I, you know, continuously be in a fast-paced environment where new problems emerge all the time? You know, maybe it’s a startup. Maybe it’s an interesting role in a larger startup. Maybe it’s starting something, or maybe it’s Venture Capital, because that where you see kind of the fastest pace, I would say.”
Autotech Ventures was also a great fit for Jeff. Having worked in a car dealership, having sold cars, and having had experience in developing vehicular components, Jeff was incredibly familiar with what Autotech was investing in.
When asked about his proudest achievement, Jeff said that he hopes his proudest moments are ahead of him. He said that his proudest achievements are not specific to his career. Rather, he said, “What makes me happy, if you will, is helping other people succeed in their goals. I don’t think that I have particularly strong vision or strong execution ability. So, if I’m able to help others achieve their goals, that inspires me, right?”
He continued, “And I think, when you look at my career now, I allocate money and resources to inspirational entrepreneurs so they can pursue their vision. And if they’re successful, that’s very rewarding, right? Even if they’re not successful, it’s still very rewarding to help someone, you know, chase their vision or dream.”
As we often do in life, Jeff reflected upon his career and his pursuits. Despite Jeff’s success, he says that he would do only one thing differently in the future — take more personal risk. In the future, he says that maybe he would like to pursue starting his own project. “So, going forward, maybe I should be, you know, a little bit less risk averse in my own life, and maybe that means, you know, just starting something for myself one day.”
Jeff also added, “I am very cognizant that I am very fortunate in my life and, you know, as evidenced by everything I’ve shared with you, I have not experienced many obstacles. I’m fully aware of that. Like, yeah, you can say that I have a great career and all this, and yes, I work hard but, I never really had obstacles, frankly. And, you know, going forward, I think I recognize that. Well, and I like to take the time to help people that do have obstacles in their life. Um, I need to do more of that, frankly.”
Towards the end of our time together, we dove into the deeper questions. When asked to described his philosophy for life, there was an underlying theme of optionality. He said that he pursued the highest level of education so that he could do whatever he wanted. He remarked that getting his PhD is “a reflection of my desire to have optionality.” Jeff truly values optionality as it allows him to make the best decisions possible and to be flexible. Reflecting on his career, Jeff asserted that working at Northrop Grumman all his life would have been stifling for him, so instead, he pursued other career opportunities, including Venture Capital.
Although Jeff’s family didn’t have a background in entrepreneurship, it was a natural fit for him. His shifting interests, as well as his adaptability, made the fast-paced environment of Venture Capital particularly appealing to him. Also, Jeff’s academic and professional strengths and skills made him stand out as a figure in the Venture Capital realm. As he put it, his PhD gave him 15 minutes of credibility. In addition to that, his broad experience in working with cars also opened up opportunities to him.
Although we may not all share the same opportunities and experiences as Jeff, I was struck with numerous lessons. We should aspire to take advantage of every opportunity that comes our way. We should emphasize the value and importance of education and pursue it to the highest level so that we can open doors for ourselves. We should approach every learning opportunity eagerly. We should make connections with our peers and pursue the things that interest us. We should learn to be flexible and adapt.
Lastly, above all else, we must acknowledge our personal privileges and advantages to help others overcome their own obstacles.
I hope you enjoyed the interview with Jeff. I certainly learned a lot and hope you did too :)
You can find Jeff on LinkedIn @jeffreycpeters .
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