Guy Kawasaki and Jules Lund

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7th December, 2018

Pearls of entrepreneurial wisdom from Startup Grind Day One

On Thursday 6 December, entrepreneurs from all over the world descended on Melbourne’s Convention and Exhibition Centre for the first day of Startup Grind APAC Conference. The following is just a taste of the world-class knowledge being shared.

Shared via a series of brief but stimulating presentations, Startup Grind’s world-class speakers spoke openly about the challenges of creating and scaling a startup in today’s business environment.

Some of the common themes include the need for founders to seek help at every possible moment. Another thing to keep in mind: tech businesses still live or die based on the quality of the people working for them.

But there were many other gems for attendees along the way. We’ve curated a selection below.


Stand-out startup quotes from Day One


“You need an ability to step outside yourself – to be introspective and have self-awareness – because you need to maintain objectivity in the changing landscape of building a startup.” Elaine Stead, Investment Director, Bluesky Venture Capital.

READ: Elaine Stead on the path back after losing business confidence

“Look to solve a big problem, but don’t get fixated on the end solution.” – Tim Reed, CEO, MYOB.

“There are only two kinds of entrepreneurs: one is scared and the other is lying. If you’re not scared you’re stupid or a psychopath. You wanna appear like this big dog on the porch – fearless? … You and I know that’s total bullshit.” Guy Kawasaki, Chief Evangelist, Canva.

“What we see is that, in a lot of companies, people are buried by inbound work and communications and I like to say you either control your work or the work controls you.” – Andrew Filev, CEO and Founder, Wrike.

“It’s a great quality as a founder to say: ‘This is not where my strengths lie’. You need to be able to put your ego aside.” Ruud Hendricks, Co-founder, Startup Bootcamp.

“Sales fixes everything. You can talk about all the strategic partnerships, all the potential, all the patent-pending, curve-jumping, paradigm-shifting technology you have … all of that is meaningless. Sales fixes everything.” Guy Kawasaki, Chief Evangelist, Canva.

READ: Guy Kawasaki on the 10 mistakes entrepreneurs make

“Your relationship with a VC lasts longer than most marriages,” Elaine Stead, Investment Director, Bluesky Venture Capital.

 

Enjoyed these quotes and want to get some insight into what happened on Day Two? Read on for more.