ľ�ϸ���Ӱ��

I’ll be honest with you straight off the bat. I have never had New Year’s resolutions, because I never believed in them. The time to do something you want to do is any moment, every moment. I have, however, always believed in being thoughtful about one’s perceptions and actions. As this is the time for many to reflect, I hope you will indulge me with your precious time to share with you some thoughts that might be helpful. First and foremost to help you to live a fulfilling life, and as a result: maximise your chances to succeed as an entrepreneur.

By Samir Saberi

1. You are not your company
Don’t mix up your sense of being with the company you’re trying to build or the vocation you’re trying to pursue. You’re not your company. You are an entrepreneur and your company is an experiment. You, as an individual, haven’t failed when your company has. Instead, you’re now an experienced entrepreneur on the way to her next experiment.

2. Don’t lie to yourself
The impulse to conflate your sense of being with your company is as strong as the enchanting songs of the unearthly beautiful Sirens that used to lure Odysseus to deadly waters. They summon you to start lying to yourself, the surefire way to steer your company to ruin. The great antidote: data. Be brutally honest with yourself by taking decisions based on hard data - even if the Sirens call tells you otherwise.

3. Find the genius in a team
Ada Lovelace, Marie Curie, Mahatma Gandhi, Einstein, Nelson Mandela, Edison, Avicenna, contemporary entrepreneurs such as Andy Grove, Elon Musk and Larry Page, are all people who have changed the world.

None of them achieved these results on their own. The lone genius does not exist. Einstein had, to name a few, Marcel Grossman and Michele Besso. Marie Curie had Pierre Curie. Ada Lovelace had Charles Babbage. Large Page had Serge Brin, Eric Smidt, John Doer and Bill Campbell. Anything of any significance that has been built has been built by a group of people. Genius is a team effort. Find it in a team.

Genius is a team effort.

4. Ask for help
It’s perfectly all right to not know. Especially as the founder or CEO you feel the pressure to know it all. In these moments you feel lonely and desperate. But you do not have to. Build a network of people outside of your company. A network of people you admire and you know will give you unvarnished and well-intended feedback and advice. Proactively seek help, feedback and advice. You’re never alone.

5. Aim for the stars.
Aim high. Just for the thrill and fun of it. Aim for something that will make a positive difference in the lives of people, rather than something that it is easy to do. It’s not easier to build a moderately successful company than a wildly successful one. It’s hard in both cases. So why not aim for the stars?

6. Focus
“I work 10 hours a day. I mean I really work 10 hours a day.” That’s what a billionaire entrepreneur said to me many years ago in a conversation. Our lives are filled with distractions. When you reach a certain level of success, the demands on your time will increase exponentially. Journalists, investors, partners, etc. will reach out to you. To pitch here, do a keynote talk there and on and on it goes.

Don’t let this whirlpool of attention that is so utterly seductive distract you from what is important. Be mindful of the fact that at the end of the day people just don’t care about you because they are busy living their own lives. Recognise that this is actually a good thing. It gives you the licence to say no. If there is any secret to accomplishment it is the ability to focus and an iron determination to say no.

If there is any secret to accomplishment it is the ability to focus and an iron determination to say no.

7. Be present, I mean really present
Breathe. Don’t let your monkey mind rule your life. Breathe consciously. Live in the moment. Really, but really look into the eyes of your partner. Really, but really look at the art you're looking at. Really, but really listen to your friend or colleague. Really, but really ponder about what kind of company you want to build. Breathe consciously.

8. Don't stare blindly at success
Forget about success. Be helpful instead. Be helpful to everybody in every instance. Be helpful to your partner, your friend, your children, your loved ones, your colleagues, your direct reports, your seniors, your customers. Be helpful to a complete stranger. Be helpful by helping them accomplish what they set out for, not what you think they should do.

Be helpful in small ways, in the smallest ways, not by moving mountains. The people that I have seen obtaining a certain level of accomplishment by society’s standard and - more importantly - by their own measure, were the ones who focused on being helpful.

9. Be kind
Be kind. Most people that blame or humiliate you oftentimes do not intend to. They are simply anxious, angry about something else (like a raging pandemic) or haven’t slept or eaten well. It behooves you to communicate at a different level, by trying to understand what they are trying to communicate beneath the surface.

Be kind to yourself too. All of us have our idiosyncrasies. Don’t blame and shame yourself. Don’t generalise: I am bad at X. Think about most things in life as a learning process. Consider your problem from the perspective of somebody else. What would you advise a friend that would be in exactly the same position you’re in? Believe me, there are people out there that love you exactly the way you are. You should do too.

About the author

Samir Saberi has lived and breathed the startup scene for the last decade. He is currently a mentor to a number of startups and scale-ups and board member of the Dutch Startup Association. Previously, Samir was the Commercial Director of ScaleUpNation and a member of the founding team of TeachLeap (formerly StartupDelta) under the leadership of former EU commissioner Neelie Kroes. He advised Braventure on the growth of the Brabant startup ecosystem, managed a fast-growing SME company and served as strategy and growth consultant. Samir brings accordingly a deep network of relationships and ‘stories from the trenches’ in the tech community.

Samir is Writer in Residence at the Utrecht ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� Centre for Entrepreneurship. His ambition? To contribute to a better understanding of our entrepreneurial ecosystem so we can all learn and benefit.