In Living Proof, Adam von Gootkin explores the entrepreneurial lessons he has learned as the cofounder of Onyx Spirits Co., LLC. He believes that entrepreneurs must prioritize their independence and create positive, winning mindsets that manifest themselves into successful business ventures. He also discusses how the growth of technology has created opportunities and networks of resources that have made entrepreneurial success more achievable than ever before.
The author believes that:
- Learning valuable business lessons while working as an entrepreneur can be more impactful than learning from professors who have not run a business before.
- Believing in one’s mission, product, and goals is important in the face of doubters or opposition. Market research, passion, and business partnerships must drive an entrepreneur to be the best in the industry.
- Surrounding oneself with a diverse group of advisors from many industries can be critical to success. Knowing when a company should be run by expert managers instead of a founder can increase profitability.
- Setting goals and a path to achieve them requires an insatiable horizonmindset. This is the “grass is always greener” belief that will drive an entrepreneur to work harder and smarter to grow a business.
- When seeking startup capital, different investors come to the table with a variety of strengths and expectations. Entrepreneurs must be familiar with the many levels of investment and with the investors themselves.
- The best entrepreneurs create services and products that not only fill customers’ needs, but that fill them better than any other competitors in the marketplace.
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In Make Your Own Waves, Louis Patler explains that those starting their own businesses can learn a great deal from the rules followed by Big Wave surfers. Like surfers, successful entrepreneurs must have confidence and an understanding of their own unique strengths. They must prepare carefully and take calculated risks. Success comes from going all in. The marketplace, like the ocean, is unpredictable, so both innovators and surfers must constantly adjust to changing conditions. For those looking to move from start to startup, the surfers’ rules offer a strategic roadmap in 10 steps.
Gaining the interest of investors means gaining both their emotional involvement and financial confidence. The traditional methods such as idea-pitching and writing exhaustive business plans are weak approaches that can leave solid business ideas unfunded. In 
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