What's a mistake that you're happy you've made?
I like the concept of struggling well and learning from mistakes does make one stronger. But that does not mean that I’m happy about any of my mistakes. Quite the contrary: I hate making them and I wish I didn’t. That’s just not how the world works.
What motivated you to become an entrepreneur?
I liked working with my co-founders, I thought we might have a chance to make it big-time (definitely overconfident!) and I had very little to lose by trying. Only much later did I come to recognise the amazing privileges that come with (moderately) successful entrepreneurship like choosing one's own team, having no upward limits, being able to create 24/7 - these are what motivates me today.
What do you wish you had known 10 years ago?
How long-term starting and running a business is. The world is full of stories about fast success. But most entrepreneurial journeys can easily take a decade and more. I’d still have started down that path, but with less improvised life-decisions.
What do you do to maintain balance in your life?
I’m really not particularly good at that. Part of me is the constant struggle to let go whenever I feel that my work starts to overwhelm me (it does sometimes). Accepting that I may never be able to fully log off and rather being chill about that (on holiday, weekends, weird times…) has reduced the stress it causes to me and my environment a lot.
What book do you recommend the most?
"The Hard Thing about Hard Things" by Ben Horowitz. I think it’s one of the most honest and insightful accounts of a (successful) entrepreneurial struggle.
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Here’s More, From Other Founders Around the World
What’s an important guiding principle that informs the way you build and run your business?
One of our core values is experimentation. Rather than get stuck in arguing about what solution may best solve a problem or play to our ego, we focus on the smallest step we could possibly take to learn whether that’s true. It moves our minds away from thinking too big without sweating the small stuff and from getting stuck in discussions rather than actually doing something to understand the possible solutions better.
What should leaders understand about their own role and responsibility?
Your own time and energy is the most precious resource you have. Use it wisely, and learn what gives you energy, and what saps you. In the early years of building something, you need to throw a huge amount of time at it - and do many things you perhaps don’t like doing. But as you scale, it’s vital to take a step back and build a business that can grow rapidly beyond the time you put into it.
What shift in perspective has allowed you to see things differently?
It may sound simple, but realizing and truly understanding that we are all different and driven by different things has made a significant impact on me. This insight has changed the way I approach relationships and leadership.
What’s a guiding principle that informs the way you build and run your business?
One of our core values at Cozero is radical candor. It is the idea that the willingness to repeatedly enter uncomfortable situations to speak the truth benefits everyone in the long run. We believe that in order to grow and improve as an organization, we need to create an environment where our team is not afraid to challenge processes and decisions. Making this a core value guides us in difficult situations when it’s not clear which road to take.