On April 23rd, the Gallatin Business Club had the opportunity to host four incredible founders for their event Excelling in Entrepreneurship. The founders were Chris Stang, founder of The Infatuation a restaurant recommendation platform unlike any other; Samir Goel, founder of Esusu, a platform designed to empower users to better save, access capital, and build credit through community savings; Chris Chan, founder of TrueFacet, the leading digital luxury marketplace for jewelry and watches; and Derek Brown, founder of Exeq, an app that helps users track their spending with friends.

While the founders on the panel all had similar experiences in developing their own companies, each nonetheless brought unique points and ideas to the table—regarding startups and life in general.

Insights for leading a successful company:

• Hire slowly, fire fast. Don’t rush to onboard new employees at the risk of a poor fit down the line, and if you are experiencing issues with someone, maybe it is time to let them go. If someone is a problem now, they may very well be a problem later, too. Preserve the community dynamic and company culture at all costs.
• Give people agency over their work, but also hold them accountable to completing it properly. This will both help employees engage more deeply with their work and ensure that everyone’s contribution can be tracked.
• For CEOs of fast-growing companies, learn to delegate and trust others. At the very beginning of a company’s life, everyone will do everything. As the company grows, however, this will no longer be possible and the CEO will only weigh down their company by trying to be involved in too much.

Insight for leading a successful life:

• "Leaders are readers.” Everyone should read. End of story. Through a regular reading habit, one can learn about any subject they desire and in the process, enhance both their professional and personal lives.
• Be irrationally confident in yourself. There will always be those who doubt you, there is no need for you to doubt yourself as well. The most successful people in the world are those who believe not only in what they are working on, but also in themselves.
• Become excellent at time management and prioritize how you spend your time. There are only so many hours in the day, and one must be meticulous about how they want to spend them if they wish to be most successful.

This was the club’s final event of the semester, it served as a fantastic conclusion to a fantastic year, and GBC looks forward to starting up again in the fall.

This event received funding from the NYU Entrepreneurs Network Collaboration Fund. The Collaboration Fund provides grants to help promote entrepreneurship across NYU via cross-club collaboration. Applications are considered on a rolling basis and must be filed jointly by at least 2 clubs within the NYU Entrepreneurs Network. Read more about the NYU Entrepreneurs Network here and apply for the Collaboration Fund here.