12 founders share their entrepreneurial wisdom

12 Successful Founders Share their Entrepreneurial Wisdom Wrike.com Where Work Gets Done When you've formulated a n ew b usiness i dea i n your h ead, w here d o you go for a dvice o n h ow to m ake your d ream a reality? Your p arents? B est f riend? G oogle? It's b etter to take your a dvice f rom experts i nstead (No o ffense, M om.) We asked business founders and CEOs to share their best piece of advice for new entrepreneurs Read on to see what they had to say ➔➔ Wrike.com Where Work Gets Done On always following your passion “ The only thing that will get you through the tough times of being an entrepreneur — and there will be many of those — is being very singular and passionate about what you are doing If you're not, if you're chasing money or anything else, then the highs and lows o f startup l ife w ill a bsolutely wear you o ut Andrew F ilev Founder/CEO Wrike ” Wrike.com Where Work Gets Done “ Ideas and businesses are not created overnight Things will tend to take longer than expected, whether that is fundraising, product development cycles, customer a cquisition, etc… In Silicon Valley, this is tough, because the whole culture here is built around a short-‐term focus of how quickly you can grow Survive another day and keep at it Those w ho h ave p atience a nd resilience w ill eventually f ind s uccess ” Jonathan Tang Founder/CEO Vastrm On growing your business — slowly Wrike.com Where Work Gets Done On embracing new, different ideas “ Keep a nimble mind It's good that you want to stick to your vision, after all it's your baby, but things change along the way Don't be afraid to e mbrace c hange a nd m ix t hings u p Brad Zomick Co-‐founder/Senior D irector o f C ontent SkilledUp ” Wrike.com Where Work Gets Done On talking to your customers “ If you haven’t spent at least as much time talking to your customers as you have building your prototype, stop and go have as many conversations as you possibly can You’ll get more game-‐changing insights about your product, messaging, positioning and sales strategy than you could ever learn from reading b usiness b ooks Alex Turnbull Founder/CEO Groove ” Wrike.com Where Work Gets Done On carefully accepting and incorporating feedback “ Be careful who you choose to listen to Too much of the wrong feedback and ideas can choke your creativity and your beliefs Does the person giving you feedback share your lens? Do they fit your target persona? ” Nick Kellet Co-‐founder Listly Click Here for Even More Entrepreneurship Advice > Wrike.com Where Work Gets Done “ On finding your “other half” Never, ever, settle on a co-‐founder If it's not right, take a pause Even if you have to drop the project entirely for a while Even if you fall far behind Because a great co-‐founder will just take you to so many a mazing p laces, s o m uch faster Jason L emkin, Co-‐Founder/CEO Echosign a nd S aaStr ” Wrike.com Where Work Gets Done On hiring a great team “ Build a team of people that aspire You don’t want the person who is the best in the field, you want the person who desperately wants to be that person ” Jessica J essup Co-‐founder Giftovus Wrike.com Where Work Gets Done On nurturing your company culture “ Your e mployees a re your m ost valuable a sset Even m ore i mportant t han your f irst f unding round o r your attempts at going v iral You must focus o n c reating a work e nvironment t hat i s e mpowering, f lexible a nd enjoyable A lso focus o n h iring p eople m uch s marter t han you — i f you’re n ot, you’ve got i t a ll w rong Clayton D ean Co-‐Founder/Managing D irector Circa I nteractive ” Wrike.com Where Work Gets Done “ Read, l earn, a nd read s ome m ore! T he a mount o f i nformation that can b e found o n t he web i s i ncredible A nd d on't forget about b ooks — H ow to W in Friends a nd I nfluence People, L incoln o n L eadership, a nd T he B ig Leap a re g reat p laces to start S tart rounding o ut your h ard e dges s o that you can m ake yourself easier to work w ith ” Arsham M irshah & C hris M echanic C o-‐founders WebMechanix On being a better leader Wrike.com Where Work Gets Done “ On growing leaders The secret of leadership is to create more leaders You that by giving up responsibility and [letting] the other person fail on their own We never learn from others' teachings, we learn from our experiences Let your managers/leaders grow t he s ame way Annkur P A garwal Founder PriceBaba.com ” Wrike.com Where Work Gets Done “ On failure and success Act m ore T hink l ess I believe that many entrepreneurs can suffer from “analysis paralysis” and overthink themselves to inaction, which lets valuable opportunities slip through their fingers I encourage my employees to be proactive in their roles and learn from their experiences — good and bad Failure isn’t a negative, as l ong a s you l earn f rom w hat you d id! Rob B ellenfant Founder/CEO TechnologyAdvice ” Wrike.com Where Work Gets Done On the mental hardships of being a founder “ There's n othing b etter t han starting your own b usiness b ut you h ave to b e O K w ith t he u ps a nd d owns You a re going to have h igher h ighs a nd l ower l ows t han you've ever h ad b efore From a n e motional standpoint, you n eed to b e o k w ith t his B ut in t he e nd I 'd a dvise " just d o i t." Will von B ernuth Co-‐founder Block I sland O rganics ” Wrike.com Where Work Gets Done Want to hear more from startup founders around the world? Click Here For More Entrepreneurship Advice Visit t he Wrike b log to read a dvice f rom a ll 30 f ounders who t heir b usiness t ips wrike.com/blog Wrike.com Where Work Gets Done https://www.wrike.com Links to image credits, by slide: Slide 1 http://www.freepik.com/free-‐vector/education-‐infography_763892.htm Slide 2 http://www.istockphoto.com/ Slide 3 http://www.freepik.com/free-‐vector/blood-‐donation_763771.htm Slide 4 http://www.freepik.com/free-‐vector/city-‐sewerage_763996.htm Slide 5 http://www.freepik.com/free-‐vector/idea-‐man-‐vector-‐design_718375.htm Slide 6 http://www.freepik.com/free-‐vector/evaluating-‐a-‐business-‐idea-‐vector_758729.htm Slide 7 http://www.freepik.com/free-‐vector/business-‐meeting-‐icon_723246.htm Slide 8 http://www.freepik.com/free-‐vector/creative-‐team_761451.htm Slide 9 http://www.freepik.com/free-‐vector/businessman-‐being-‐throwing-‐up-‐by-‐his-‐teamwork_764394.htm Slide 10 http://www.freepik.com/free-‐vector/fireworks-‐vector-‐art_724259.htm Slide 11 http://www.freepik.com/free-‐vector/education-‐concept-‐with-‐book_761457.htm Slide 12 http://www.freepik.com/free-‐vector/creative-‐team_763734.htm Slide 13 http://www.freepik.com/free-‐vector/team-‐work-‐cartoon_756781.htm Slide 14 http://deathtothestockphoto.com/ Slide 15 http://www.freepik.com/free-‐vector/world-‐travel-‐vector-‐free-‐template_714008.htm All images found on www.freepik.com designed by FreePik [...]... suffer from “analysis paralysis” and overthink themselves to inaction, which lets valuable opportunities slip through their fingers I encourage my employees to be proactive in their roles and learn from their experiences — good and bad Failure isn’t a negative, as l ong a s you l earn f rom w hat you d id! ... Arsham M irshah & C hris M echanic C o- founders WebMechanix On being a better leader Wrike.com Where Work Gets Done “ On growing leaders The secret of leadership is to create more leaders You do that by giving up responsibility and [letting] the other person fail on their own We never learn from others' ... he e nd I 'd a dvise " just d o i t." Will von B ernuth Co-‐founder Block I sland O rganics ” Wrike.com Where Work Gets Done Want to hear more from startup founders around the world? Click Here For More Entrepreneurship Advice Visit t he Wrike b log to read a dvice f rom a ll 30 f ounders who t heir b usiness t ips wrike.com/blog... http://www.freepik.com/free-‐vector/businessman-‐being-‐throwing-‐up-‐by-‐his-‐teamwork_764394.htm Slide 10 http://www.freepik.com/free-‐vector/fireworks-‐vector-‐art_724259.htm Slide 11 http://www.freepik.com/free-‐vector/education-‐concept-‐with-‐book_761457.htm Slide 12 http://www.freepik.com/free-‐vector/creative-‐team_763734.htm Slide 13 http://www.freepik.com/free-‐vector/team-‐work-‐cartoon_756781.htm Slide 14 http://deathtothestockphoto.com/ ... f rom experts i nstead (No o ffense, M om.) We asked business founders and CEOs to share their best piece of advice for new entrepreneurs Read on to see what... valuable opportunities slip through their fingers I encourage my employees to be proactive in their roles and learn from their experiences — good and ... yourself easier to work w ith ” Arsham M irshah & C hris M echanic C o- founders WebMechanix On being a better leader Wrike.com Where Work Gets Done “ On