Significant Career Lesson From An Entrepreneur At An Early Stage Start Up
Jorrel emphasizes the importance of "getting very comfortable making as many mistakes as possible as early as possible," as mistakes made later can be exponentially more costly, especially in the context of building a new business where mistakes with "customer a hundred" can escalate to million-dollar problems. This lesson, learned early in their career, has profoundly shaped their approach to building and moving forward.
Entrepreneurship, Start-up, Mentorship, Mistake Management, Early Career Development
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Jorrel Sto Tomas
Entrepreneur, Founder
Early Stage Start Up
UC Berkeley
N/A
Economics, Political Science, American Studies
Technology
Business Strategy
Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School
Video Highlights
1. Embrace making mistakes early: Getting comfortable with making mistakes, especially early on, can be highly beneficial in your career.
2. Mistakes cost more as you progress: As you advance in your career, the cost of mistakes increases, whether in terms of time or money.
3. Controlled environments for early mistakes: Intentionally creating controlled environments to make mistakes early can prevent significant losses later on.
Transcript
What's one lesson you've learned that's proven significant in your career?
There's more than one lesson, but the one that has probably benefited me the most in my career so far has just been getting very comfortable making as many mistakes as possible, as early as possible.
One of the first jobs I had out of college, I had a mentor. Well, one of my bosses was also kind of a mentor to me, and she allowed me to make as many mistakes as possible during my onboarding.
Because once it's game time, those mistakes actually cost you and the business money. As you progress, whether you're in the field yourself or just in your career in general, the mistakes you make cost more and more, whether it's time or money.
So, making mistakes early and in more controlled environments is probably going to be the most helpful thing. I always try to do that in any new business I start. I try to make those mistakes with customer number one or customer number two. If you make those mistakes with customer a hundred, it can easily go from a few thousand dollar mistake to a few million.
That's something I learned very early on, which has been tremendous in the way that I move and build.