Entrepreneurship is a unique and fascinating journey, but as founders know first-hand, it can be a challenging and lonely path.
That’s likely why many entrepreneurs encourage fellow business owners to network and find their community.
Business First asked a handful of budding local founders, recently featured as entrepreneurs under the age of 25, about their most sage advice for running a business and being a young entrepreneur.
Jonathan Wess, 24, TimeCapsule Family Connections LLC
He started his company in October 2018 as a guided video journal for innovators to record for their future selves or help to record a loved one’s story.
He’s had many mentors along the way. Ji-Hee Kim, a teacher of entrepreneurship at Canisius University, taught him that he’s the person in any given room that knows his business best.
“No matter how big it gets, I know how far we’ve come,” he said. “It’s helped me to do public speaking. I’m the only one who knows that path.”
And Kim challenged him. They debated and found middle ground. That showed Wess that as a founder he can be stuck in the weeds and can find ways to justify his business moves but he must determine if it's really the right decision for his startup.
Natan Weitzman, 21, Renova Space Inc.
He co-founded a cloud-based platform in March 2022 that aims to make remodeling and designing spaces more accessible.
His biggest piece of advice: Even the big guys started small, so just go for it. If you wait and hold back, you may never make a move.
“You cannot waste any time,” he said. “If you don’t do those small startups, you’ll never do those large corporations. So everything starts small. Don’t be afraid of that.”
Mariam Sadawi, 23, Hint Juice & Smoothie
She also encourages entrepreneurs to take that first step as she did with her organic juice company that started in January.
“Work on it. Build it,” she said. “Even if it’s between you and yourself.”
But then go and get feedback and network. People can help to validate or get you to tweak your idea.
Mia D'Amato, 24, Boho Basement
Her company upcycles pro sportswear and creates custom outfits, organically by focusing on what she likes.
“Trust your intuition,” she said. “I think kind of pulling off on my own and being an individual and doing what I know is going to work was always the plan.”
The same advice applies to growing a social media presence. Boho Basement has 53,000 Instagram followers and more than 66,000 TikTok followers. She's done that by being authentic, she said. The more you try to sell yourself and push a narrative that's not real, the less you'll grow, she said.
Daniel Chan, 19, and Dominic LaVigne, 22, co-founders, Exergi
When Dominic LaVigne brought on Daniel Chan as a co-founder, he evaluated his personal strengths and what tasks he needed to give up. Together, they started Exergi, which is developing a compact alternative to residential solar panels.
“You have to be willing to understand what you’re good at and be willing to fill in the gaps,” LaVigne said.
The pair also learned to trust each other to lead their respective parts of the business, Chan added.
They encourage entrepreneurs to focus on the human aspect of any endeavor. LaVigne, an engineer, said he finds it easy to see a problem and try to solve it. But the human component is making sure the idea is validated, that someone is willing to pay for the product or service because it solves a problem.
“People need to know, where they stand now, the likelihood of succeeding is like 0%,” Chan said. “Every time you put it out there, sell somebody on the idea, stress test it, you increase the likelihood.”
