[[{“type”:“media”,“view_mode”:“media_large”,“fid”:null,“attributes”:{“class”:“media-image alignright size-full wp-image-1617”,“typeof”:“foaf:Image”,“style”:“”,“width”:“100”,“height”:“100”,“alt”:“Washington Post”}}]]At age 26, Matthew W. Calkins ’94 quit his job to follow his dream of starting his own company, even though he had no business concept, plan, or customers.

“At the time, I thought it would be inappropriate of me to have even planned my business prior to departing,” he told The Washington Post. He settled on business process management as the focus for his new company, called Appian.

Appian went after corporate accounts first, but after winning one contract with the government (working on the internal website of the U.S. Army), it was positioned to get more. Now half its business is federal, which, although it is not exactly what Calkins had envisioned, is part of what makes Appian a thriving company today.

Read the full story, published by The Washington Post on 08/7/11.