Light your fire: you’ve got nothing to lose, everything to gain.

I often wonder what stops people from getting involved into something completely new. Especially young students, who (usually) don’t have family or job constraints. Fear of the unknown? Risk aversion? Probably, but how can it be that many 20-years-old guys have no ambition to create something meaningful whatsoever, be it a new startup or a theater club at school?

I am 27 years old and I still dream of creating my own company that will have a positive impact of the society in some way. It’s very ambitious I know, and I have no idea what that company will be like or when that’s going to happen, but it will happen. I am one of those guys who tries to join (too) many activities, clubs, associations, and blah blah blah, because that’s my way of having a positive contribution right now, and that is why I have joined Abstract Assembly in 2018.

When I first met Richard during a Startup class a Virginia Tech, Abstract Assembly was on a very early/seed stage of development and there was basically zero idea of how to make a company out of it. At first, it was a class project for me and the other guys, but then wondered: why don’t we continue? There was nothing stopping us from working on Abstract Assembly even after class, so we simply did it. We had nothing to lose, everything to gain.

I think that there we have something in common, me and the other guys from AA, we all want to create something ours, something that improves others’ work (and life, why not) and that we can be proud of. We have that fire inside of us, that motivation of not settling for the status quo, but instead change it. I recall Fabricio’s story on why everyone should take an entrepreneurship class and I totally agree with it: entrepreneurship opens up your mind and it is not just for those who want to actually start their own company. The entrepreneur mindset helps you to create and join projects, clubs and so on. It really makes people more proactive. Does this mean that you really have to take an entrepreneurship class in order to accomplish that? Well, that would help, but the real answer is no. What you need it to be curious, to take more (calculated) risks and to get out of your comfort zone.

I say you have to “light your fire” and let it grow, never estinguish it. That fire, that is what will take you far.