From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
Taking that first step is your biggest competitive advantage; most people won't do it.
As business-leaders we have to start taking responsibility to speak-out about our own struggles, so that others do the same- and by doing so, make our teams and our peers realise that it's fine to not be fine.
The most challenging phase for any entrepreneur is when the business hits the $1-2 million mark. At this point, your business is too large to be small, yet too small to be big. You find yourself in need of a CFO or someone with a deep understanding of your business, but you can't afford either.
Another hugely common mistake is optimising your business for investors, and not customers and employees.
I do not approach challenges with the sole aim of targeting the largest customers in established markets to replace current players. Instead, I focus on the overlooked, marginalized customers who often find the products of big players unaffordable. By catering to them, that is how we initially found our foothold.
Born into a family where my father made about £35 a week and both of my parents worked tirelessly, we didn't have the luxury of material wealth. Yet, we were enveloped in an abundance of love, which I view as the ultimate luxury. This upbringing imbued me with empathy towards families facing similar circumstances.
I would love to say that we knew all the answers in advance, but the truth is that we discovered our product and opportunity, rather than planning for it.
In the last 20 years I believe I have become a hybrid entrepreneur – believing in the power of technology and process, but also in the very deep humanistic point of view. I guess it's a weird mix of Italian with Silicon Valley.
It is vital that you never, ever, ever stop pursuing excellence. And that is elusive. It's very elusive. It calls for a lot of honesty. A lot.
Entrepreneurs are people who by nature are optimists, who can tolerate risk and who have huge curiosity.
Having attention as an entrepreneur is the ultimate business development tool, and business development is the backbone of any great business- it's important.
One of the challenges in networking is everybody thinks it's making cold calls to strangers. Actually, it's the people who already have strong trust relationships with you, who know you're dedicated, smart, a team player, who can help you.