Entrepreneurship is best learned through hands-on experience

Entrepreneurship is best learned through hands-on experience. Don’t let your ideas get stuck in your head - take action! 

Start with small ventures. In high school, I sold turtles, and playstation portables. My college dorm room was full of factory overstock Abercrombie polos. My desk was cluttered with USC basketball tickets. 

Embrace failure and learn from your mistakes. I lost $10k in a wire transfer scam selling the playstation portables, but I learned the importance of developing trust with your business counterpart. I lost 50% of the investment into USC basketball tickets, but I learned how to sell a product that people do not find valuable. I did this for 16 weeks in a row in the streets of LA, when everyone was giving me dirty looks. 

Dream big. My first venture backed company rideOS had a vision to build a next-gen traffic control system for self-driving vehicles, even before there was a fully self-driving vehicle on the road. Learnings from my prior ventures helped us to recruit a team, fundraise, and close our first contract. We raised $34M to turn this vision into reality. 

Surround yourself with people you enjoy working with. Those that share your values and passion for what you are building. Remember, the entrepreneur journey is about enjoying the ride. 

Start small, embrace failure, learn from mistakes, dream big, and enjoy the journey - this is the essence of entrepreneurship. 

(This is part of an ongoing series about the inner workings of startups, M&A, leadership, and culture. For regular updates, subscribe to justinho.substack.com)