Whether or not they are billionaires today, recognized internationally or in France, they dared to take the plunge, clung to their dreams despite the failures and ended up creating value. What are their tips today for budding entrepreneurs? A small dose of inspiration for the day, to consume without moderation!
1- Do it with passion or don’t do it
The greatest entrepreneurs here are all unanimous: you will never do things as well as when there is passion and pleasure.
For Jeff Bezos (Amazon), you have to do something that you have a lot of passion for “even if it is not in the current trend”. Steve Jobs adds that it is so difficult to be successful when starting a business that “if you don’t have passion and are sane you will stop”. Similarly, Biz Stone (Twitter) claims that “failure is almost guaranteed” if there is no “emotional engagement” in your step. What about money, a sufficient engine to succeed? Michael Dell believes that “people who are looking for ideas for making money are not as successful as those who are doing what they love”.
2- Find a solution to a problem
We have repeated it to you, hammered home, but we can never tell you enough: no one wants a solution to a problem that does not exist. For Paul Graham (Y Combinator), if the majority of startups fail, it is “because they created something that people did not want to buy”. Aaron Vidas (Strategybox) also advises you to “be the solution to a problem, not a solution in search of a problem to be solved”. Very concretely, “pay attention to people’s needs and what hasn’t been done” (Russell Simmons, Def Jam Records).
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3- Having an idea is good, executing it is essential
Anyone can have an idea. But there is a gap between ideation and action, which is sometimes difficult to cross in the entrepreneurial adventure. Walt Disney (himself) once said that “the way to start is to stop talking and start acting”. Similarly, Jack Dorsey (Twitter) confirms that “the hardest part is to start”. For Sarah Azan and Hannah Oiknine (Babbler), “it is not enough to have a good idea and a little bit of money”, the success of a project depends on its execution.
“Your winning advantage is not an idea that you hold dear, but the ability to check if this idea works, to find the right team, to get in motion” (Reid Hoffman, Linkedin)
In entrepreneurship as in life, you have to be constantly on the move. To avoid getting stuck, make decisions every day (even small), take a step forward every day (even small). As Serge Kampf (Capgemini) says: “You have to be constantly on your toes. If we sleep, we are dead ”.
4- Surround yourself … and the best!
Palmer Luckey (Oculus Rift) warns the founders: “You don’t have to know how to do everything, and even if you can, you shouldn’t”. Reid Hoffmann (Linkedin) adds: “If you play solo, you will always lose against a team”. Yet, did you know that a bad team is one of the main causes behind startup failure? Renaud Visage (Eventbrite) advises entrepreneurs to “pay particular attention to first recruitments”. For Warren Buffet, you have to “rub shoulders with people better than you”. According to Beth Hurley (Covanta Energy), you also have to “find experts in the areas where you are not the strongest and not feel threatened by them”. Even more concretely, Naval Ravikant (Angelist) states that “you have to find an associate who has these three characteristics: