What I Tell Young Founders When They Ask for Advice

When some young entrepreneurs contact me, many come in with pitch decks, projections, nervous energy, big dreams, and a desire for money, connections, or validation. After many years as an investor, I believe they really need honesty.

So I tell them:

The difference between success and failure is focus, discipline, and work ethic. Building a company is hard work, through one problem after another. It is not a series of epiphanies.

Choose co-founders as you would a life partner. You’ll spend more time with them, stress with them, and when things go wrong (as they often do), you will need honesty, hard work, and a willingness to carry the load. Most startup failures come from founder conflicts.

Raise less money than you think you need, but more than you can live on. Desperation is the enemy of good decision-making, but too much money leads to complacency. Good founders have enough to experiment, but not so much that they get lazy.

Before you build, sit with your customers and listen. Because if you can’t convince ten people to use it for free, no story in the world will persuade a thousand to pay for it.

Speed is your competitive advantage; while large companies work through several levels of approval, politics, and lengthy meetings, you move with clarity and speed. Use the politics and bureaucracy of large companies to your advantage. However, be aware that speed without direction is chaos. You need to move quickly towards the right horizon, be able to quantify each move, and be ready to change direction if the numbers tell you a different story.

Strong companies are created by entrepreneurs who care for themselves, care for the people around them, and understand that it is not burnout but enduring power that creates a lasting company.

I do not invest in polished slides or rehearsed pitches, but I will likely invest in the human being standing behind them. We did it for many, many years, through our Build Your Business competition programme, and later, through our byb venture capital fund.

In the end, as founders, remember this: If you can prove your resilience, your curiosity, and your commitment to consistency and discipline, the strategy will refine itself. The rest will follow.