Feras Alhlou didn’t always have the life of an entrepreneur. After earning a degree in engineering, he expected job offers to pour in. But life had other plans. With no immediate job prospects, Feras found himself washing dishes at a restaurant—hardly what he had imagined after years of rigorous academic work.
“I thought jobs would just come to me because I finished a degree in engineering. That didn’t happen,” Feras recalls. It wasn’t until a friend referred him to a job at Home Shopping Network that his career took a different turn. “It was that relationship that got me out of the restaurant,” he says. This pivotal moment taught Feras the value of investing in relationships, a lesson he would carry with him throughout his entrepreneurial career.
A Forced Pivot: The Layoff That Sparked Entrepreneurship
In 2003, Feras was a VP at a high-tech startup in Silicon Valley. They had raised plenty of capital, but the company couldn’t gain traction. Sales were stagnant, and eventually, the business folded. Feras found himself laid off and unemployed, a situation he hadn’t planned for.
“I was hit like a ton of bricks,” Feras shares. “You start questioning yourself: ‘Why me? What did I do wrong?’ But I had a family to support. I couldn’t stay in that headspace for long.”
Determined not to let the setback define him, Feras partnered with a friend to start his first business—selling websites to small businesses. “It wasn’t an easy start,” he recalls. “The first day we went out to sell, we were rejected by five different restaurants. But instead of being discouraged, we learned from every ‘no’ and kept going.”
That persistence eventually paid off, leading to the first of many business successes, including growing companies to seven and eight figures and successfully exiting them.
The Philosophy of Perseverance: “Skills and Sacrifice Over Passion”
While many entrepreneurs preach the importance of following your passion, Feras takes a more pragmatic approach. For him, passion is optional—skills and sacrifice are non-negotiable.
“I think passion is overrated,” Feras says. “You can enjoy what you do, but there will always be parts of your business you don’t like. The key is having the skills and being willing to make sacrifices.”
He likens entrepreneurship to martial arts, where discipline, repetition, and persistence are the building blocks of mastery. A third-degree black belt in Aikido, Feras applies the same mindset to business. “In Aikido, your knee might hurt, you’re tired, but you still show up to train. It’s the same in business. Even when it’s tough, you have to keep showing up.”
Relationships Matter: The Power of Building and Nurturing Connections
One of the most recurring themes in Feras’s journey is the importance of relationships. Whether it was the friend who got him his first job or the colleagues who helped scale his businesses, Feras emphasizes the critical role that relationships have played in his success.
“Invest in relationships, help others, and help will come your way in ways you can’t even predict,” Feras advises. In his businesses, he made it a point to be transparent with his teams, even during high-stakes moments like selling a company. When his analytics company was acquired by Dentsu, a global media giant, Feras took 30% of the sale and distributed it among his employees as a thank-you for their dedication.
“No one makes it alone,” Feras says. “Success is a collective effort, and it’s important to remember those who helped you get there.”
A New Chapter: Black Belt Start Up
After exiting his analytics business, Feras took some time to focus on his passion for nonprofit work, offering pro bono consulting to various organizations. But the pull to return to entrepreneurship was strong. In 2021, he launched Black Belt Start Up, a coaching and training program for entrepreneurs.
“We wanted to combine the discipline of martial arts with the rigor of business training,” Feras explains. The program offers an online course, weekly office hours, and one-on-one coaching, designed to help entrepreneurs in consulting and service-based industries grow smarter and stronger.
“Our goal is to provide practical, actionable advice,” Feras says. “There’s a lot of information out there, but we offer something unique—real experience from people who have been through the highs and lows of entrepreneurship.”
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More of Feras:
- Website: www.startupwithferas.com
- Start Growing Your Business: Enroll to Black Belt Startups
- LinkedIn: @ferasalhlou
- Instagram: @StartUpFeras
- Facebook: @StartUpFeras
