Three bits of wisdom from two entrepreneurs who started in their late 30s / early 40s after leaving high powered jobs. Today I’m sharing their thoughts on “changing” paths, taking a “risk” and finding conviction. They believe you can push the reset button and that there is benefit to earning perspective from your previous jobs and learning as you go.
On leaving an established job to try something new or on your own:
“At the end of the day, the one thing I would say to anyone who wants to leave an established job at the top of their game and are afraid to give it up to try their own venture is this: if you were good enough to succeed in one shape or form, why wouldn’t you be able to succeed again? Even if it doesn’t end up being the first thing you start, there will be something else and you will learn something from that experience that you can apply in the course of the next one. I think people in general, have too much fear and it keeps them from doing things.”
On the pursuit of happiness….
“If you want to be happy, you get it from two dimensions and money is only one means to that end. You see people that get tied into lifestyle handcuffs. I think life is ultimately all about sacrifice if you want to be distinctive at something. You will get emotional rewards from the pursuit of happiness.”
On proof of concept and power of conviction….
“We went 18 months without pay. We stretched it as long as we could. We knew that what we were building had so much potential that we didn’t want to get investors involved early on until we really tried to do everything possible. We learned through that process that there was undeniable demand on the part of the consumer and that behavior could change (despite others doubts). I think it was that contrarian perspective that helped us keep going. Had we not had prior business experience, testing hypothesis and proving our case at a consultancy we would have not known how to get to an answer with such conviction. We might of chucked it all when a journalist told us we were going to fail.”
– Co-founders, tech startup, NYC