What A CEO At Ivy Flip Wishes They Had Known Before Entering Entrepreneurship
Charles, CEO of Ivy Flip, advises aspiring entrepreneurs to prioritize "99% focus on the now, 1% focused about the future," emphasizing the importance of present execution over future fantasies. The interview also reveals a valuable lesson in self-compassion, suggesting that the same supportive language offered to a struggling friend should be extended to oneself during inevitable setbacks in the less structured world of entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship, Startup Management, Overcoming Challenges, Resilience, Leadership
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Charles Chy
CEO
Ivy Flip
University of Pittsburgh
n/a
Philosophy
Technology
Business Strategy
Pell Grant Recipient, Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Focus on the present, allocating 99% of your energy to current tasks and only 1% to future planning. Effective execution in the present moment is crucial for achieving future goals.
2. Embrace a problem-solving approach that involves taking action rather than overthinking. Starting work on a problem often reveals solutions unexpectedly.
3. Be kind to yourself. Entrepreneurship is less structured than traditional careers; therefore, it's essential to be forgiving when setbacks occur and to maintain a positive self-dialogue to keep moving forward.
Transcript
What have you learned about starting your own company that you wish someone had told you before you started?
If you had asked me when I was 20 where I thought I'd be at 30, I would have said probably on a yacht in the middle of the Caribbean Ocean, just enjoying my life because I'd already made it. But life didn't pan out like that.
As entrepreneurs, I think we are dreamers. Instead of looking at what is, we envision what could be and try to bridge the gap between the present and the future. It's really important, though, to not get so caught up in what could be that you forget about the reality of where you are today.
What I've learned over time is you have to stay 99% focused on the now and 1% focused on the future. It's hard enough as it is to be successful and get to that future. If you don't give every ounce of energy and focus into making the most of your situation today, you'll never get to that future.
It's very easy to think about what's going to happen in the future from an "ivory tower" perspective. But there's a lot you don't know. There's only so much information and only so far reasoning can take you about different situations and counterfactuals you'll encounter.
If you don't have an answer to a problem today, the way to solve it is not by sitting down and thinking about it or dreaming about the future. You just start working on it, and you'd be surprised how many answers reveal themselves. You didn't actively pursue them, and you didn't have to spend hours consulting people; it just works out.
It's kind of like if you have a list of 10 things to do and you're really busy; ultimately, you get done what you need to get done. The stuff that's not important just sits on the side. It prioritizes itself in a way. So, keeping an execution focus on the present is really, really important.
Don't get so caught up in what's going to be or what's going to happen in the future. Focus on the now and connect the dots there.
Another thing I would say is be kind to yourself. I don't know about traditional careers because I've never had a job like that, but I imagine there's a structure to it, a ladder you climb, and rules of the game. The better you are at understanding those rules, the faster you can climb.
Entrepreneurship isn't totally without structure. Compared to even 10 years ago, there's a lot more information, more resources, and more best practices in terms of how things are done. Starting a startup is a fairly known quantity now. At the same time, it's less structured than a traditional career path, so things aren't always going to go your way.
That's the reality of starting a company. You can't be so hard on yourself and unforgiving when things go wrong that you forget to get up, brush it off, and keep moving forward.
Being a little more forgiving and talking to yourself in a gentler way is helpful. A good exercise for this is when you're having negative thoughts and saying them to yourself, like "I failed" or "I wasn't good enough," imagine you were talking to another person, one of your good friends.
If a friend told you about their successes and failures with a startup they were working on, how would you talk to them? Would you be so caustic? If you wouldn't, then perhaps your judgment of yourself is not calibrated. It's not coming from a helpful place that will move you forward but from a darker psychological place.