In my 25 years as an entrepreneur, I've had the great fortune of being surrounded by incredible people and experiencing incredible things. I have the most extraordinary mentor in my Dad, Adrian Gluck, who is himself a successful entrepreneur. And I've learned other essential lessons from studying the business greats like Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, and Warren Buffett.
On my journey, business has shown me amazing successes and painful failures. I wouldn't change any of it. As Winston Churchill said, “Success is going from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” My enthusiasm endures and through it all I've evolved into the entrepreneur I am today - an empathetic, confident, focused leader who is determined to move the needle for humanity through my ventures.
As I've benefited tremendously from other people's generosity in helping me grow, it's only right that I pass it forward as best I can. I believe that one of the core responsibilities of every entrepreneur is to help others achieve their dreams too. So here I offer my fundamentals of business - some original and others adapted from the greats - that I've collected over the years and practice every day. They serve as my guiding light in the darkest of days and brightest of opportunities. I hope they can serve you too.
Follow your purpose.
Become expert at what you do.
Fall in love with failure. (Because it’s the only path to success.)
Do most things good enough, some things great enough, and only the few most vital things perfect enough.
Ship sooner than is comfortable.
Radiate positivity.
Exude passion.
Define a vision and don’t lose sight of it.
Become a master communicator.
Systematize everything.
Continuously improve.
Drive efficiency through systems and technology.
Create a truly differentiated offering.
Strike a balance between patience yet persistence.
Be a student of success.
Find the root cause of a problem and the solution will reveal itself.
Believe you can make big change.
Help better society along the way.
Create a compelling story.
Give first.
Act with gravitas.
Be the leader they need you to be.
Make evidence-based decisions.
Build a dream team of complements.
Be generous with equity, perks, and rewards.
Give your team the tools they need to succeed.
Build a company culture that inspires.
Foster an atmosphere of trust.
Collaborate on everything.
Empower one ultimate decision maker.
Don't let lawyers who’ve never built a business make business decisions.
Always be on the lookout for talent.
Organize, rinse, repeat.
Enjoy the journey.
Celebrate the wins.
Be sharper than having to lie.
Take vacation seriously.
Compartmentalize.
Make sure marketing leads to sales.
Plan for things to take 2-3 times longer than they should.
Don't let others' shortcomings hold you back.
Survive on cash flow, grow on profits.
Persist past the point of polite.
Always operate with empathy.
Praise often, correct immediately.
Hire slow, fire fast.
Find the right balance in everything.
Be bold.
Stay focused.
Practice perspective.
Don't let "reality" get in the way.
Embrace problems and master the art of solving them.
Pivot relentlessly.
Innovate always.
Protect your innovations.
Don't "sell", have genuine conversations.
Make the difference in the details.
Persevere.