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w<strong>as</strong> important and the picture on the front of the<br />
magazine w<strong>as</strong> a woman in a pinstripe suit. What<br />
h<strong>as</strong>n’t changed is working hard and having a good<br />
accountant and being smart and having good ide<strong>as</strong>.<br />
Olga — <strong>The</strong> p<strong>as</strong>sion idea is still very<br />
strong in the USA<br />
Gilbert — <strong>The</strong>y can afford to be p<strong>as</strong>sionate<br />
because they have 10 million in their back pocket<br />
Roald — It’s better to be p<strong>as</strong>sionate but<br />
it is no substitute for hard work. But it is being<br />
sold <strong>as</strong> dope: “p<strong>as</strong>sion is the only thing you<br />
need,” but it isn’t like that.<br />
Gilbert — Toon, are you p<strong>as</strong>sionate about<br />
data and company records, really?<br />
Toon — (laughs) no, but I am p<strong>as</strong>sionate<br />
about disrupting an industry and making the<br />
data e<strong>as</strong>ier to access.<br />
Roald — We shouldn’t forget that p<strong>as</strong>sion<br />
comes from p<strong>as</strong>sio, the latin for suffering,<br />
entrepreneurs should know that…<br />
<strong>The</strong> start-up special<br />
Juggling balls with stamina: Towards the<br />
end we became philosophical<br />
Gilbert — As an old guy, <strong>as</strong> its advice for<br />
young people… advice is e<strong>as</strong>y to give. You kind<br />
of have to make mistakes and advice becomes<br />
experience. What Toon h<strong>as</strong> said about juggling<br />
five balls (doing too many things at once), they<br />
shouldn’t do that. You go through this cycle<br />
where you drop balls and you keep dropping<br />
them until you hit financial ruin and then refocus<br />
your efforts to find one thing you can<br />
synthesise p<strong>as</strong>sion for and then you go for that.<br />
Simon — It’s true, but there are stories we<br />
all know where entrepreneurs stay in a start<br />
up where the original vision will never be<br />
achieved, but shouldn’t they see the signals and<br />
leave?<br />
Toon — It’s what you cling on to, you can’t tell<br />
your children to go and live elsewhere. Its hard<br />
to say goodbye to something you founded.<br />
Gilbert — You are also morally beholden to<br />
your users<br />
Simon — And your shareholders<br />
Olga — You may not generate c<strong>as</strong>h for twothree<br />
years but if you manage to build a brand<br />
it can work, but it takes so long…<br />
Simon — <strong>The</strong> cruel part of this, is some start<br />
ups take longer than the entrepreneurs can<br />
handle. I’ve experienced that kind of burn out<br />
before. You just don’t know in advance when<br />
that will happen.<br />
Leo — You also don’t know how long it<br />
will take to build your start up, its a question<br />
of stamina.<br />
73<br />
Olga Slavkina (@funkybizbabe) w<strong>as</strong><br />
born in Latvia, and educated in the US<br />
and Spain, she is a brand and marketing<br />
strategy expert b<strong>as</strong>ed in Brussels.<br />
She founded SCHMOOZY FOX which<br />
specialises in consumer-focused<br />
branding<br />
Gilbert West (@blueclock) is<br />
Scottish and founded SearchCog<br />
that builds reporting tools helping<br />
organisations make smart decisions<br />
about how to improve their website<br />
content b<strong>as</strong>ed on what their customers<br />
really want.<br />
Roald Sieberath (@roald) is a<br />
Belgian entrepreneur, <strong>as</strong> well <strong>as</strong><br />
founding Medianet and Winbox in the<br />
late 90s he h<strong>as</strong> brought to market<br />
several innovations (some patentpending)<br />
and is presently a program<br />
manager for the Microsoft Innovation<br />
Center and a board member of<br />
OpenERP.<br />
Toon Vanagt (@toon) is a Belgian<br />
internet entrepreneur and technology<br />
consultant. In 1999 he founded C<strong>as</strong>ius.<br />
Today the C<strong>as</strong>ius technology platform<br />
is the leading online marketplace in<br />
Benelux to connect consumers with prescreened<br />
residential contractors and<br />
home service professionals. Toon is also<br />
a co-founder of Data.be<br />
Simon McDermott (@simonmc)<br />
is an Irish entrepreneur who co-founded<br />
Attentio in 2004. In 2011 he left and<br />
is now a non-executive director<br />
of Jam Publishing, owns a new<br />
media consultancy company and is<br />
collaborating with two entrepreneurs on<br />
new start up F<strong>as</strong>hionTracer.com<br />
Leo Exter (@leoexter) is a Moscow<br />
born marketer and entrepreneur.<br />
He founded WeStartUp, a community<br />
of entrepreneurs, mentors and investors<br />
– westartup.eu and is an organiser of<br />
Start Up Weekend Brussels.
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