In a +Tech Literacy Download session facilitated by current MBA2 student and president of Women Who Launch, Elise Burton, Ross MBA Alum LaTresha Howland shared her journey balancing a tech career with co-founding her own company. Starting at Ross in 2018, LaTresha knew she wanted to achieve two goals: venture into the technology industry and explore entrepreneurship and venture capital.
In her first year she began to beta test Breadless, a bread-free restaurant concept, alongside her co-founder and husband Marc Howland. She attributes their early success to selling and user testing their products at local farmers markets, catering to student organizations’ events, and participating in programs like the Zell Lurie Institute’s Dare to Dream and Michigan Business Challenge. Howland’s advice to other aspiring student entrepreneurs is “Whatever your idea is, don’t keep it in your head – just start doing it.” She encouraged entrepreneurs to not wait for their idea to be 100% realized, but instead start prototyping and getting ideas out there and garner real feedback.
While a full-time MBA student and venture founder, LaTresha was also recruiting for a career in tech. She now works full-time as a Product Marketing Manager at Microsoft in addition to serving as CCO of Breadless. When asked what skill sets she was able to specifically provide in her role at Breadless, she credits her marketing background and experience in the tech industry. Her experience in tech allowed her to discover helpful tech-enabled tools for the business including Toast, a restaurant POS software, and AppFront, a restaurant CRM software. She also pointed out “When you’re the founder of a startup, you have to wear multiple hats,” and that her role often changes to serve not only as COO, but also CTO or COO depending on the needs of the business each day.
Despite the many challenges she and Breadless have encountered, including a delayed brick and mortar opening due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Howland shared that “Being there for the customers that we created for has been the most rewarding, especially in my hometown.” As a Detroit native, Howland expressed her pride in opening Breadless in her hometown neighborhood and being able to provide healthy options for and connect with her community.