In 2016 I had the opportunity to chat with several Sacramento area entrepreneurs about their startups and their entrepreneurial journeys. One of my standard questions I ask in most interview is what tips or words of advice, inspiration or encouragement they have for other aspiring entrepreneurs. After all, entrepreneurship can be a lonely journey, so having the advice of others who’ve traveled the path before can hopefully help to ease the burden. Below are some words of advice and encouragement from Sacramento’s own entrepreneurs to others.
Do you have any words of advice, inspiration, or encouragement for aspiring entrepreneurs?
John Parilo, wimZr
“Make sure you’re passionate about the product that you’re working on. Make sure that it’s an idea that you’re willing to work on on a Friday night when you’re friends are out having a good time. Be dedicated and never give up. If you never give up there will always be a chance it pushes through, sometimes exactly what you have in your mind or maybe something even better. Do whatever it takes to be successful.”
Watch the full interview with John
Maelene Wong, Vivita Technologies
“PURSUE IT! You won’t know how something could work out unless you try, and what is the harm in trying? Start small. Get as much feedback as you can from family, friends, and colleagues about your idea. If that gains traction, you can continue to collect feedback and consider next steps. If interest isn’t what you hoped it to be, that’s okay. You can revisit the drawing board and try again. It hasn’t cost you anything. Unless you move too quickly and make missteps that cost an inordinate amount of time and money, I think that the regret of not trying something when I had the chance would haunt me more than a bruised ego from this early customer research.”
Read the full interview with Maelene
Gabe Gomez and Nicholas Trosko, GymHit
“Be persistent and be creative. Keep going. Figure out a way at any cost. Never give up just because you hit a bump in the road, no matter how big it is because the first three or four years are going to be up and down. One day you’re going to be happy, the next you’re going to be hitting your head into the wall trying to figure out what to do.” ~ Gabe
“It’s the truth. You have to really know what entrepreneur means for you. It doesn’t mean that, hey I’ve got this great idea and I’m going to do whatever it takes while I’ll live comfortably to see it happen. It really means give up everything for that idea and that essentially becomes your life.”
Watch the full interview with Gabe and Nick
Cinde Dolphin, KILI Medical Drain Carrier
“First of all, be realistic. Second, dream big. Start by calling it a project – then it’s less daunting than calling it a new business. As pieces start falling into place, you can begin the process of funding, borrowing and employing — then you have a business. Start thinking about scalability and exit strategies. Then ask yourself “what will be my next big idea?”
Read the full interview with Cinde
Michael Purnell, Sievent
“Make sure that if you are going to pursue entrepreneurship that your idea is a passion that you have and it’s bringing value to the world. There will be long days when things aren’t going your way but you have to have to be your own cheerleader at times to keep your startup alive. The best way to cope with it is connecting with other entrepreneurs out there because they often have been in your situation before and can offer advice on how to get through the rough days and make your business succeed.”
Read the full interview with Michael
Clare Price and Lacye Martini, Octain
“I would say the biggest thing is never give up. I’ve been actually working on version of this idea for at least the last eight years and other versions of it did not work but this one did and part of its really finding a great team, find a wonderful partner like Lacye.” ~ Clare Price
“That’s what I would say is that if you have a vision keep going with it. Clare said that she’s done this before and I think that she continued pursuing it, she ran into me, so find your tribe I guess and that’s what’s so valuable about having a great ecosystem here is that you can step into something and it’s easier to follow your vision. Why do people quit? I think because there aren’t supported efforts so i think that’s what makes Sacramento such a great place to have entrepreneurs following their ideas.” ~ Lacye Martini
Watch the full interview with Clare and Lacye
Mike Mendolson, Splor
“Exponential growth starts out really slow, but it continuously improves. So the ability to say what concrete wins have I had… every single piece of growth is worth celebrating, appreciating because it all grows on itself, by definition as compound growth. ”
Watch the full interview with Mike
Brianna McGuire, Foodfully
“Something told me at the very beginning by an individual who has founded a successful company, a successful venture funded company, and he said to me the highs always feel higher than they are and the lows always feel lower than they are. Running a startup business is a subjective and an objective journey and the subjective part is always going to feel a little harder so that was always great to remember whenever something really great what happened I would kind of temper that by knowing there are gonna be hard times ahead, to enjoy this, but don’t forget that you have to keep working full-time and always remind myself that better things have happened. If we keep going we will realize this vision we’ll bring the product and stuff we we’ll accomplish at least some of our goals that we keep going.”
Listen to the full interview with Brianna
There’s a lot of great advice and insights in these interviews and there’s more to come in 2017. Check out all the Sacramento Startup Profiles.
