Any entrepreneur can tell you, launching a startup is a learning process. Therefore, one of the best things you can do prior to launching a startup of your own is to learn from those who have blazed the trail. We were fortunate enough to hear some valuable insights during our interview with Seema Shenoy of Chef Avenue that will inspire, motivate, and teach aspiring and established entrepreneurs alike.
1. Trust Your Gut
“Trust your gut feel and intuition. If something does not sound right, do not justify how that is right. Trust yourself, and believe in yourself.”
2. Focus on Actions, Not Words
“Do not take anything on its face value. Do not go by what people say, but watch what they do.”
3. Previous Startup and Entrepreneurship Experience Is Invaluable
“This is my second company. I am a co-founder of a high-tech company in Silicon Valley that has been running successfully. The experience of being an entrepreneur, especially when you have gone through all stages a company goes through, is invaluable. It cannot be replaced by anything else. You develop hunches and insights, and you know what it takes to build a successful new business. I cannot imagine going into my current business without the prior experience of running a company.”
4. Good Leaders Lead by Example
“Good leadership to me is someone who leads with example. You cannot sit back and direct people that, ‘You will do this. You do that.’ There’s pretty much nothing in the company that I don’t do. Every little detail, every little thing that is related to the product, the company, the operations, I do it, and then I show to someone else how to do it and then just make sure that they understand and then just give them that responsibility.”
5. Kickstarter Is an Excellent Startup Resource
“Helpful resources for starting the business have been, mainly, I would say Kickstarter because if I did not know about Kickstarter, it would have been very difficult to launch a product, [a] brand new product, in the market from a company that nobody has heard of.
6. You Need to Be More Prepared Than You Expect
“The biggest lesson, actually, I have learned here […] is the fact that you need to be more prepared than what you think you are. Because having so much business experience ahead, I still feel I was not as prepared.”
7. Do Your Homework
“My advice to entrepreneurs would be first of all, do your homework. Because there [are] always things that may not be apparent to you on the surface when you look at any business.”
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