From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
I even had my wife convince my in-laws to mortgage their property, for Christ's sake, so I could produce these cartridges. I knew I had something special. Game Boy was coming out at that time, and I thought Tetris was the perfect game for it.
We are first generation entrepreneurs, with middle class values, coming from middle class backgrounds, we never expected to be so wealthy! Our first reaction therefore is to share.
Great entrepreneurs are people with tremendous passion. Without passion you cannot go on a journey that requires such huge personal sacrifices, looks bleak, risky and impossible in the beginning…
In India affordability and improving life are also key pillars of entrepreneurship- coming from the circumstances and context of the country; for example, India has 1,000 radiologists for a population of 1.4 billion.
I just hope that those who become influencers make smart choices; it's the kind of attention that comes quickly and is very hard to maintain. There are a few people that remain, and who have maintained longevity, but for the most part, influencer culture is extremely short lived.
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.
By 2025, we're going to see 40-50% of all tech entrepreneurs being women, and that's good news.
Some of my greatest rewards have been when I jumped off the cliff and figured out how to fly on the way down.
My best ideas, and most successful opportunities have come- usually- from the most unexpected areas.
A lot of entrepreneurs don't make that switch. They cling to that brand identity of 'I'm an innovator,' still tinkering with the product while everyone else is saying, 'Hey, it's good enough — let's hire our first salesperson.'
I completely appreciate that people think social media is a waste of my time, but spending all day being obsessed with our customer, interacting with them in every way that I can, answering every question, trying to understand everything that I can about them, matches everything that we do and everything that we produce.
Here's the thing: if people really want to do something, all they need to do is meet someone who's built something from scratch to show them that it can be done by someone just like them.