Entrepreneurship

I was studying at Xavier's College, Mumbai doing my 11 standard, and I was taken ill with Typhoid. I was recuperating at home, and my closest friend Manisha saw a poster put-up in college which was basically a shout-out to all aspiring actors to audition for a campus based TV show. She knew I'd just done a 2 month production oriented drama workshop at Prithvi Theatre, and she called me and said, '…would you be interested? They're asking for pictures!' – I didn't have any, and didn't know how to go about getting headshots, and I wasn't well!

Indian actress known for critically acclaimed roles in unconventional films

We were poor, had no branding, and had no money- the only way we could get people into store was to put everything on rollers, and move it to the side, so we could have yoga classes in the middle of the store- a lot of inventions come from the mother of necessity!

Founder of Lululemon Athletica, Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist

My fun statement is that if I see the same thing, three times in one week, from disparate news or information sources, I have to move quickly as it's a trend that's likely to happen.

Founder of Lululemon Athletica, Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist

I got into boxing promotion by accident. One of my cousins was a boxer, so I used to go watch him fight as an amateur and then when he turned pro. He had a fight, I went to watch it… he got beat and had a return match… he beat the guy… they had another match, but they wanted to pay them crap money. I went to the meeting, turned around and said, '…I don't need you, we'll promote it…' I don't know why I even said that! The next minute, I was in the promotion business and helping to get this thing together; I got bitten by the bug, and it went from there.

Founder of PostSecret, anonymous confessions project & book series

So many people say, 'Jacqueline, I would love to change the world- but I don't know my purpose yet…' Purpose doesn't come to people sitting at the starting blocks and thinking about purpose. You have to live it.

Founder of Acumen Fund & social entrepreneur focused on global poverty alleviation

I think overconfident founders get a lot of flack, but you have to shoot for the stars to really manifest your dreams. I think about things asymmetrically; I connect things that aren't necessarily related, which sometimes creates radical outcomes.

Founder of Nasty Gal & Author of "#GIRLBOSS

I do this thing- I say something out-loud–announce it to the public–and then I'm forced to do it because people are excited and I don't want to let them down.

Founder of Nasty Gal & Author of "#GIRLBOSS

What feels similar is the pursuit — by artists and entrepreneurs — of the actualization of an idea borne in their minds; and then pursuing bringing this vision to reality. Especially at the beginning, it takes just the right amount of delusion to dedicate yourself to something ambitious. The reality is you're more likely to fail than succeed and so you need strong belief to commit your heart and soul to an idea; as well as a bit of over-optimism (delusion) to make the sacrifices they are often called for to bring anything to life.

Founder of Kickstarter, crowdfunding platform pioneer

In the early days it was controversy… I remember, back then, thinking that there was something good about not being acceptable to everyone… it made us stand out from the crowd, and courted press attention.

Founder and former CEO of Ann Summers lingerie and party plan business

The learnings I had as an athlete about communication and motivation- and even how we worked with companies and brands- really have helped me in this new journey but most important has been the realisation that I have to stay true to myself, and find that same passion and focus in entrepreneurship as I did in athletics.

British Olympic heptathlon champion and gold medalist

I believe my legacy will be BitTorrent and Tron. I'm building one of the financial infrastructure layers for the next generation. I hope our network will be used like SWIFT and that future generations settle their financial transactions on our blockchain layer. It's going to be very cool.

Founder of TRON blockchain platform & cryptocurrency entrepreneur

If I acted 8 years ago how I do today, I wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes in the business. If I acted today how I acted 8 years ago, the business wouldn't be where it is today. Entrepreneurs and founders have to learn to be the most adaptable people in their business- that's really important – otherwise, the business will outgrow the founder, or the founder will cause the business to stagnate or slow.

Founder and CEO of Gymshark, fitness apparel company

At the beginning I literally started a business out of passion. I loved fitness- it changed my life- it changed my schooling, education and taught me skills that changed my life for the better. I just wanted to be in fitness. When we started the business- whilst the first 6 months were difficult- it started to gain momentum and started to feel like a real opportunity. That's when I had to grab the business by the 'scruff of the neck' and drag it to where I thought it needed to be.

Founder and CEO of Gymshark, fitness apparel company

As an entrepreneur you have to know your market. You shouldn't take too much advice, and you need to believe in your own ability and be ready to tackle problems. You also have to be prepared for the fact that it may not work!

Many people say that if you're the brightest person in the room, you're in the wrong room – that's totally right. You need to bring in people with much more expertise than you to take the business forward. I started out making shoes by hand – I'm a shoemaker, not an intellectual.

Jeff and I tried our best but all our father could say is, 'when I'm gone, the business is yours…' – number 1, we didn't want our Dad to go.. and number 2, it was clear the business would be gone before he was. The business was dying.