🚀 Lessons from 10 young founders
Happy Sunday!
Welcome back to Founders Feature, a weekly newsletter all about the journeys of young startup founders.
This week, we're back with the greatest lessons learned from the most recent 10 founders.
Thanks again to all the founders for taking the time to speak with me. 🙌
If you know anyone who should be featured next, let me know!
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🚀 Joel Alexander: On taking the initial leap
“Back yourself to take the initial leap.
It's easy to start working on things part-time and maintaining a job on the side, but it's incredible how much time that takes away from making progress and actually executing on the milestones set.”
🤝 Max Germann: On finding mentors
“One of the most important things you can do when founding a company is to find a mentor and people to talk to who are facing the same problem as you. Go to events, find peer groups, and talk to people. Be honest about what you're experiencing - people, in general, want to help each other.”
🤨 Jay Meistrich: On questioning the default
“Question everything you're told because a lot of the path you think you're supposed to follow and the advice you're given is not necessarily going to be the best path for you. You don't have to believe what everyone else believes. So, when you're faced with something you think you're supposed to do because someone else said so, ask yourself why. Is it actually the best thing to do? Or are there alternative paths that might be more interesting?”
👽 Charlie Rogers: On looking beyond what’s known
“Don't restrict yourself by what is out there and what has been done before. Push the boat in terms of what's possible. If you do the simple things right, you'll often see great results.”
💞 Sujith Vishwajith: On the importance of relationships
“Aim to build relationships over anything, whether it's with investors, people you're working with or just anyone you happen to meet and get along with. This will allow you to build a community around you, which makes building and launching something later on so much easier. Your network will be your most valuable asset.”
🧘 Edward Ashton Johnson: On prioritising yourself
“The more work you put into yourself, the better equipped you are to serve other people. You can't give as much from a half full cup.”
🏆 Eve Halimi: On keeping track of milestones
“Make sure to keep a roadmap of milestones for different time intervals. Weekly goals as well as monthly and quarterly targets. If you don’t hit the targets, make sure to understand why you didn’t. It’s the small actions along the way that will make the difference in the end.”
🤗 Maren Heinz: On asking for help
“Ask for help. You don’t have to do it alone. Other people are happy to help and support you.”
⚖️ Emma Heiling: On finding balance
“I have learnt to accept that nothing can ever be perfect. I particularly like the idea of the 80/20 rule for improving efficiency - you can achieve 80% of results with 20% of effort, whereas the last 20% take 80% of your effort.”
💪 Ananya Jain: On focussing on strengths over weaknesses
“Building a relationship takes years, and the younger you are, the more of a disadvantage in this regard you have. You haven’t spent years meeting and connecting with people. Simultaneously, it is important to understand that young people have other advantages. We are young, dynamic, have plenty of energy, and have fewer responsibilities in life. A lot of young people, including myself initially, focus on the things that we don’t have, and in doing so we end up doing worse than we would have if we just focused on what our biggest advantages are. Be authentic in the way you are and stop thinking about the disadvantages.”