My Entrepreneurial Journey and Why I am Happy I Missed Out on Millions
The following is adapted from Viva the Entrepreneur by Brian Requarth.
One of the most important actions you can take in warding off the stress-filled isolation that plagues so many entrepreneurs is to find your personal support network, made up of trusted individuals who you can really talk to. I recommend seeking other founders who have done what you are doing, have been through similar situations, and can offer their guidance in a non-judgmental way.
No man is an island, as they say, and I’ve leaned heavily on others throughout my life and career. In fact, one of the first people who played this role for me was someone I knew when I was still at university. As students at San Diego State, my close friend, James, and I started a carpet company together. At the time, we lived in the dorms. These residences were nothing to write home about. Worse were the crappy linoleum floors.
One day, I had the idea of going to Sid’s Carpet Barn and picking up a bunch of cheap remnant carpets. James was my roommate, and I recruited him to come with and convince the Carpet Barn to give us all these remnants on consignment.
The plan worked: after obtaining the carpets, we would sit out in front of the dorm on the first day of school and sell them to parents dropping off their kids. Over the following weeks, more and more students would come and buy them from us. We did this at the beginning of every semester, and our scheme became hugely successful.
Flash forward to senior year. Now, James and I were living together in the same house. We were always dreaming up business ideas together. We had another roommate, a Dutch guy who was working at an internet startup. James and Paul had the idea to build an online ticketing business. They invited me to join them, but I followed my heart instead.
Long story short: my two roommates went to London in 2003 to launch the ticket business. I didn’t join them. Instead, I decided to opt-out of the project and drove with another close friend to Mexico, then to Costa Rica on a six-month adventure. Eventually, I flew to Colombia to visit Andrea, a fellow schoolmate, who would later become my wife.
This turn of events with my friends and me was pivotal: not only because of how the decision set in motion my own entrepreneurial journey in South America but also because of what happened with the ticketing business. After moving to London, my two former roommates recruited another friend, who basically took my spot in the trio. The business did incredibly well, and a few years later, they sold it to Ticketmaster and made a ton of money. I had missed out!
But not really. James became a multimillionaire at age 27 and ended up investing some of his own money in my new company, Viva Real. But this connection went beyond money and financing. He was the first person I really leaned on, not just financially but for his wisdom. He had already been through a lot of the process of building a business, fundraising, and more and he helped me through the same process. (As an investor, his experience also lent some credibility to my project, even though he was still very young.)
So while I didn’t make millions at 27, like James did, I am happy I didn’t. My path went in another direction in Latin America, to my wife, Andrea, to my family and then eventually to my own millions. But I didn’t do it alone. I had help. I had a network.
For more advice on becoming an entrepreneur in Latin America you can find Viva the Entrepreneur on Amazon.
Brian Requarth is the co-founder and former CEO of Viva Real, a leading proptech business in Brazil. He merged the company with ZAP Imóveis (owned by Grupo Globo) and became the Chairman of Grupo ZAP. Brian raised $74 million in venture capital funding for Viva Real, which sold for $550 million dollars. He now invests in the most promising tech companies in Brazil and Latin America as an angel investor. He is dedicated to empowering the next era of entrepreneurs in the region. His new company, Latitud aims to democratize access to everything an entrepreneur needs to succeed. Our fellowship brings together the top entrepreneurial minds and most experienced tech operators across Latin America to learn from each other, and obtain hands on mentorship from top experts in the region and Silicon Valley.
