Chestnut: Turned down Cox corporate job out of fear of regret
Ben Chestnut · (July 2021) Ben Chestnut: From Side Business to $12 Billion – The Accidental Triumph of Mailchimp · Aug 25, 2025 · at 18:47
Mailchimp co-founder Ben Chestnut describes turning down a safe corporate role at Cox following the dot-com crash to pursue entrepreneurship.
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“Cox being the good company that they are, you know, they offered a bunch of us jobs back at Cox corporate. And I declined because I felt like if I take the job, I will probably do very well. I will probably eventually become a vice president, but forever, it will always nag me. What if You know, what if I had started my own company? It was just something that I wanted to do you know, since I was young, and so I just felt like I would regret it. It was the fear of regret that, that told me, do not take the corporate job, and instead go my own way.”
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