Words of Wisdom from Travis Kalanick

by Scott Edward Walker on October 6th, 2018

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Each week, we share a favorite video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.  This week, we present Travis Kalanick, a brilliant entrepreneur and the co-founder and former CEO of Uber.

In this interesting presentation from a few years back, Travis shares some solid “lessons” for founders and entrepreneurs (starting at the 11:01 mark), including the following:

• When fundraising, “preemption is bad” – i.e., “create a process and get multiple [investors] involved – that’s the only way to protect yourself.”
• “VC’s tend to kill founding CEO’s.”
• “CEO’s that survive are CEO’s… There are forces all around you to take you out; and the ones who survive, are the ones who are supposed to be there.”
• The phrase “fake it til you make it” is “bullshit.”  “You’re lying to yourself and everyone around you.”
• “Fear is the disease. Hustle is the antidote… What are you scared of? Go hustle and get it done.”
• “Don’t think just because you have money in your company’s bank account that you’re somehow successful – because you’re not.”

I hope you enjoy it.  Cheers, Scott