Watch PillPack Founder’s Advice to Graduating Students

TJ Parker delivers morning Commencement address to Class of 2026.

Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) graduates got career advice with a dose of humor from entrepreneur Timothy “TJ” Parker: take risks while you still can.

Speaking at MCPHS Commencement on May 7 in Boston, the PillPack founder reflected on his unlikely path from struggling student to building a billion-dollar company sold to Amazon.

“I was not a model student,” Parker admitted, joking about near academic failures, skipped studying and even a “secret fourth floor faculty bathroom” on campus. But beneath the laughs, Parker, PharmD 2012, delivered a message about embracing uncertainty early in life.

“It never gets easier than right after you graduate,” he said, recalling how he quit his pharmacy job—working for his father—to launch PillPack just months after earning his degree.

Parker also shared hard-earned lessons about success, family and purpose.

Watch the full speech to hear why he says “the people around you are all that really matters.”