WERKIN with Eric Collins: 3 tips on how to be a great entrepreneur
Text updated 4 May, 2021
In season one of the #WERKINwith podcast, Hayley Sudbury spoke with Impact X Capital CEO and host of Channel 4’s new show The Money Maker, Eric Collins.
Throughout the episode Eric speaks to Hayley about diversity, inclusion, and what makes a good entrepreneur. As a serial entrepreneur who has served on boards and in the C-Suite of fast growth technology companies since 2001, Eric knows plenty about what characteristics make a great businessperson.
Here are three takeaways on entrepreneurship from the podcast.
What’s Eric’s self-professed superpower?
We like to ask guests what their superpower is. It’s a good way to see what they consider a defining and essential trait that has helped them become the person they are. It also gives us insight into what they value in themselves, and therefore others.
“My superpower is not what most people would consider a superpower – it's the willingness to toil and grit. You know, to just keep grinding away. And not to just do it for a little while, it's been decades now. I really think there's something to be said for people who take on a task and toil through and keep on keeping on.” Eric says.
The value of toil and grit is often overlooked, but often hard work is likely to outperform talent. Being able to push through the difficult, or boring, tasks is critical.
What does success really mean to Eric?
“I think success is taking failure, taking adversity and challenge (particularly in an entrepreneurial space), learning from it and doing something extraordinary with that knowledge.” Eric says.
Of course, in start-up and innovation-focussed areas failure is more readily seen as part of the process. Colleagues and backers are aware that being on the front of a sector means learning on the go. Eric acknowledges this as a privilege, but wherever possible he says that “to fail miserably and be able to say you learned from it and there's something else you can do to actually to turn it around, and then turning it around, shows real entrepreneurial grit. I think it's one of the most valuable traits of a great entrepreneur.”
What's the key element in creating a valuable company?
Eric says “there are lots and lots of great ideas, and you've got to assume that if you have a great idea, there are 100 people working on that same idea someplace else.” However, this shouldn’t discourage us, as success here isn’t just about execution.
“I think the most important thing outside of execution and ability, is the team you assemble. Having been in four or five entrepreneurial ventures at a senior level, I'm more and more persuaded that the thing that differentiates those who really succeed and those who do okay, is to do with the team assembled in order to address problems and how that team actually deals with problems. Because it's all about problem solving.” Eric says.
To learn more from this episode of #WERKINwith, you can listen and subscribe via all good podcast platforms. You can also follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to keep up with our latest guests and more.