7 Lessons We Learned From Entrepreneurs This Year
The reality of starting a business, launching an app, or developing a fashion brand is not as glamorous as you might think (if you’re not an entrepreneur). It requires hard work, long hours, personal sacrifice, and deep commitment. And so much more than that.
We asked several entrepreneurs to share their lessons learned as they worked through the challenges of starting their businesses and compiled their lessons and words of advice below:
Lesson 1: Network to get work
“Networking is key. Start poking around early. Try new things. And if you don’t like it, make note of it and move on. I would definitely encourage [you] to network, even if you are not looking for something directly. I find that the best networking takes place when you’re just curious and you’re not looking for something. Anything can happen.”
In 2008 Andrew Larsen graduated from college with a finance position lined up at Merrill Lynch, working in the hedge fund and private equity space in New York City. After four-and-a-half years, he joined UBS. It was there, inspired by emerging tech-startups in Silicon Valley, that Larsen began to consider entrepreneurship as a potential career path. While establishing his client base, Larsen met brothers Cody and Sage Disch, who had an innovative idea for a new fashion brand — a made-in-America sock company called Ace & Everett, where Larsen is now the CFO.
Lesson 2: Find a way to personally connect with the work you do
“This is more about creating a community and providing an outlet or a system of support for people who are going through similar experiences. At the end of the day, if we can have a little bit of an impact or make a little bit of a difference for another family, that is what means the world to us.” — Alan Manning.
After losing their daughter to congenital heart failure a few months after her birth, Alan and Victoria Anderson Manning wanted to find a way to help struggling families manage the emotional and financial toll of long-term hospital stays.
Lesson 3: No risk, no reward
“What it comes down to is whether you are willing to take a risk, and whether you can find the right people to help execute your ideas.” — Peter Kratsios
After passing up a promotion in the digital marketing field, Peter Kratsios, quit his job and launched his own company, Golfmatch. Kratsios created a mobile application that connects golfers both on and off the course based on age, skill level, and game preference. Its social booking system also allows users to purchase tee times at courses they can afford and at times that are convenient.
Lesson 4: Be true to yourself and to your brand
“Details matter. You can’t worry about popularity or what anyone else is doing; it’ll cause you to lose focus. Instead, focus on authenticity. Your audience will see it, and they’ll respond to it.” — Carson Kressley
Carson Kressley — former Queer Eye for the Straight Guy host and author of the upcoming lifestyle guide Does This Book Make My Butt Look Big? — believes the explosion of technology has increased access, not just to lifestyle businesses and experts, but also to communities of people who identify with those brands.
Lesson 5: The early bird gets the worm
“An entrepreneur is someone who hustles. They are the first person at work and the last person to leave. It’s cliché, but only because it’s true.” — Matthew Trainor
Matthew Trainor is the cofounder of NORY, a program that provides short-term classes for children on subjects and skills that are beyond the traditional — botanical silk scarf printing, 3-D animation studio, hula dancing, and Korean craft and dance, to name a few.
Lesson 6: Be willing to change and adapt
Tom Azelby was approached by George Allgair about creating a company to provide Internet services to business clients. Allgair had previous telecom experience and Azelby had the start-up experience to make it happen. However, timing was not on their side.
“It was new technology, really the beginning of DSL and broadband,” Azelby explained. “Right after we started this venture, though, was the dotcom bust. Then we had the telecom bust, and after that was 9/11. A lot of companies who were doing exactly what we did went under, and we knew that we had to change our plan.” — Tom Azelby
Lesson 7: Stay curious, stay creative
“It’s easy to lose assembly line jobs, or even those that require computer skills, but it’s virtually impossible to outsource creativity, the ability to connect the dots, and run teams collaboratively. You have more job security if you’re good at those things.” — Kat Gordon
Kat (McCaw) Gordon founded The 3% Conference, which started as her own personal project to highlight the lack of female creative leadership and its impact on the ability of advertisers to connect with a marketplace that’s driven by women. After launching her first event in September of 2012 in San Francisco, the conference has grown into an 800-person, two-day conference.
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