Entrepreneur Roallercoaster

There are millions of stories behind great inventions, businesses

and enterprises. Most of those stories start with a question:

Does it always have to be like this?

Or a statement

This is wrong It should be this way

Entrepreneurship means changing the way we think about what
is possible. It is having a clear vision of how life could be better, finding new ways to solve old problems. This is what entrepreneurs are: detectives of needs and desires in the market;
chefs who find a new and interesting way of mixing ingredients
or resources; jewelers who can grab a rock and transform it into
something valuable and unique. Basically, entrepreneurs are
agents in charge of change.
But, to actually make a change and consolidate an entrepreneurial project, there are several steps you need to go through.
Like a rollercoaster. It is not a linear ride still, one can go back
and forth through the different stages, and some people may
take more time than others in moving on to the next stage. The
entrepreneur rollercoaster is a wild ride with dramatic highs and
lows, but it is your choice to scream or enjoy the ride.

Buckle up and find out what the entrepreneur

experiences are along the way!

Entrepreneur Roallercoaster
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STAGE # 3

ACTION

STAGE # 6
STAGE # 4

Entrepreneurs ID

SUCCESSFUL
ENTREPRENEURSHIP

INFORMED
PESSIMISM

STAGE # 2

UNINFORMED
OPTIMISM
STAGE # 5
STAGE # 1

ILLUMINATION

CRISIS
OF MEANING

References

Entrepreneurs ID:

Last name

GRANIELLO PREZ
Name

EDUARDO
Date of birth

1973

In order to understand the different stages of entrepreneurship and

the general profile of entrepreneurs, we will be studying Eduardo
Graniello s roller-coaster ride (Endeavor, 2012: 103-123).

G203417GDS1946

Name: Eduardo Graniello Prez

Nickname: Guayo
Age: 41 years
Studies: Computing Systems Degree and Master in Business
Administration from the Tecnolgico de Monterrey University.
Place of birth: El Salvador
Family: Wife and four children
Hobbies: Music, basketball and parties
Favorite books: Good to Great from Jim Collins; Art of War from
Sun Tzu and The Little Prince from Antoine de Saint-Exupry.
Favorite movies: Shawshank Redemption, Rudy and The Usual
Suspects.
Three persons he admires: My wife because of her serenity, my mother because of her passion and my father for being
street smart.

Favorite place to travel: The beach.

How does he relax: With his kids
What did he want to do when he grew up? To own a factory.
What does he plan to do when he retires? Enjoy his family and
his friends; have some time for himself.
His vices: Work and parties.
What makes him laugh?: His kids and his friends.
Best strength: His Friendliness
Worst weakness: Being very emotional.
(Endeavor, 2012: 109)

Let us discover what his story is about.

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Stage # 1

Illumination

I want to be an
entrepreneur.
The first stage of the entrepreneurial journey is illumination. That
is what drives someone to get on the rollercoaster. At this stage,
the individual is undergoing an important realization that creating
a company, working for themselves, or being an entrepreneur is
something they are interested in doing (Startup Weekend, n.d.:
3). This is most likely where you are now.

The case
In 1994 Eduardo had just graduated from college in Monterrey,
Mxico and moved to the United States to improve his English.
His father had given him just enough economic support to finish college so, when he moved, he ended up washing cars and
waitering at a restaurant for six months in order to pay for his
classes. Without question, an experience I would live again
as he said, since those were the foundations for the life of hard
and constant work that awaited for him along his entrepreneurial
career.
When he returned to Monterrey, he started working at the nowadays non-existing business: MAS, where he learned about the
market of business intelligence solutions; the strategies directed to the creation and administration of knowledge through an

organizations data analysis. He worked there for five years; at

that time he discovered the importance of strengthening his
knowledge giving it to the communitys service.
Between 1996 and 1999, Eduardo studied a Master in Business
Administration at the Instituto Tecnolgico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), where he also started teaching. It
was then when Eduardos life gave a huge spin. He quit his job.
What he wanted was to transform organizations through services aiming at design and implementation for business strategy and process, human capital management and the correct
application of ICTs. He made that decision mainly because the
entrepreneur within himself knew that he was not going to accomplish his goal where he was currently working, and secondly
because by combining the effort and accomplishments he could
have in this new business, he would have a positive impact on
more people. (Endeavor, 2012: 113,114).

The entrepreneurs vitals

Motivation level: High
Key personal skill: Proactivity
In order to be an entrepreneur first you must have the drive and
dedication to pursue a dream or a goal set before you. You need
to have initiative and be hard working. You have to work hard
and work long hours to make your business a success. You also
have to be able to react quickly to change so that you can take
advantage of opportunities that come your way and be able to
efficiently take care of any problems that may arise.
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Stage # 2

Uninformed Optimisim

This guy doesnt

have a clue what
he s in for.
Even though it is like being blinded, it is the first and most important stage to actually start an entrepreneurship journey: ambition. If you have it, you will go ahead and make it your fuel
through the ups and downs.
When one starts off as an entrepreneur, almost nothing is known.
Despite knowing thisthat what helps in success is unknown
and that the mortality rate of new ventures is frighteningly high,
a lot of us still become entrepreneurs. Perhaps, this is more true
about entrepreneurship than any other initiative one takes in life.
And no, it is not on account of any death wish; it is the thrill, the
joy of initiating, leading, guiding and participating in a journey
into the unknown and figuring out a whole lot of stuff that you
never knew before, of business, markets, people but, most of
all, about yourself (Nair, 2013).

The case
When Eduardo founded Intellego, he did not do a market research before starting the company. The objective of this new
business was not only to sell products to certain technology
firms - as I did as an employee at MAS -but to give clients a
solution through an integral service he explains.
When he started, he only followed his instincts, because he re-

ally thought that there was an opportunity in exploring through

the foundation of a company specialized in data, information
and contents for corporate market management and consultancy. This unconsciousness about the real market was the engine which motivated him to create Intellego in 1999 (Endeavor,
2012: 114).

The entrepreneurs vitals

Motivation level: High
Key personal skill: Self-confidence
Self-confidence is a key entrepreneurial trait. You have to be
crazy-sure your product or service is something the world needs
and that you can deliver it to overcome the naysayers, who will
always deride what the majority has yet to validate (Robinson,
2014).
Researchers define this trait as task-specific confidence. It is a
belief that turns the risk proposition around--youve conducted
enough research and have enough confidence that you can get
the job done that you ameliorate the risk (Robinson, 2014).
You have to have a lot of self-confidence. Be willing to take
a risk, but be conservative, says Jason Apfel, founder of FragranceNet.com, an e-commerce site for beauty products. Apfel
didnt know anything about the beauty world when he started
the company, but he believed he could create a solid website
to sell such products. I thought selling a commodity online at
the most competitive price would work, he says. His company
has outlasted well-funded competitors and sees $145 million in
annual sales (Robinson, 2014).
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Stage # 3

Action

I am creating.

for a second project. With that he was able to generate enough

income to cover the fixed costs of Intellego, to keep attracting
talent and financial impulse for new deals.

At this stage, entrepreneurs are learning how to share their ideas and attract support from other people. Individuals should
be seeking the right co-founders and team members, learning
how to evaluate the potential value of their idea, developing an
understanding of the problem they are solving (and who they
are solving it for), and discovering the tools and methodologies
needed to help manage progress, etc (Startup Weekend, n.d.:
4).

In 2001, by means of a good friend, Eduardo sold his first project to the Federal Government. Besides the project in Mexico
City, he was invited to work in a project called The War Room,
from Mexican Presidencys Office. Thanks to what he learned
from that experience, he was offered a permanent job during the
implementation of the project. That made the Federal Government, Intellegos main client, starting to work with more robust
technologies. (Endeavor, 2012: 115)

The case

The entrepreneurs vitals

Always surrounded by people who helped him materialize his

entrepreneurial dream, Eduardo received help from a key ally
when starting: Antonio Donado, who was his teacher in college.
During the first year of operations in Intellego, he supported with
infrastructure, from offices to administrative and financial support. By the end of that period, Eduardo became totally independent and closed his first deal with the clothes division of
Famsa1, in Monterrey.
By getting in touch with another director at Famsa during the
implementation phase of the project, he managed to get a contract from the furniture division (the biggest one of the company)

Motivation level: High

Key personal skill: Street-smart

1 For more information about Famsa, we invite you to visit their website:
http://www.famsa.com/

Street-smart is the person who just gets it spontaneously.

Street-smart people know instinctually how customers buy and
how to excite them. They have a sixth sense for the competitors weaknesses. They spot opportunities that arent being met
and design products to meet those needs. It never occurs to
them to play by the same rules as everybody else; in fact, Im
not sure if they even know what the rules are. That fact leads
many of these people to be more street smart than those defined by convention (Suster, 2009).
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Stage # 4 Informed

Pessimism

This is not
working.

The entrepreneurs vitals

At this stage, the entrepreneur may experience a compromised
outlook and a slight decrease in motivation.

Reality sets in. The entrepreneur realizes his business idea isnt
perfect, or may not even be good.

Motivation level: Medium

Key personal skill: Tenacity

The case

Tenacity is probably the most important attribute in an entrepreneur. Its the person who never gives up who never accepts
no for an answer. The world is filled with doubters who say
that things cant be done and then pronounce after the fact that
they knew it all along. Look at Google. You think that anybody
really believed in 1999 that two young kids out of Stanford had a
shot at unseating Yahoo?, Excite, Ask Jeeves and Lycos? Yeah,
right. Trust me, whatever you want to build you will be told by
most VCs something like, Social networking has already been
done, Youll never get a telecom carrier deal done, or Bing
already has a product in this area. You will be told by the people you want to recruit that they are not sure about joining, by
a landlord that you will need a years deposit or by a potential
business development partner that he is too busy to work with
you, come back in 6 months. Starting a business is an ultramarathon. You have to be able to live with uncertainty and push
through a crucible of obstacles for years on end. This trait is
known by many names--perseverance, persistence, determination, commitment, resilience--but it is really just old-fashioned
stick-to-itiveness (Suster, 2009).

The business was going well, but in a pursuit for sustained

growth, Eduardo participated in the selection process of Endeavor Entrepreneurs in 2006. Each year, Endeavor analyses
hundreds of entrepreneurs with a high growth potential. So, he
went to the International Panel in Sao Paulo, Brazil, but he did
not end up selected as an Endeavor Entrepreneur. The reason?
His business model was not scalable (Endeavor, 2012: 115, 116).

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Stage # 5

Crisis of Meaning

Whats next? Why

me? Where do I go
from here?
This can also be called the startup stage. The entrepreneur has
set out with the right team, a clear problem they are addressing,
and a list of possible solutions. More specifically, startups exist
to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. Founders typically have a vision of a solution with a set of hypotheses
about how to achieve that vision. The startup phase also requires a more accurate portrayal of the reality of it. Many envision a life of luxury, meetings with investors, and endless fun. In
reality, the startup phase is likely to be one of the hardest times
in an entrepreneurs journey. Ask anyone who has been through
it; the startup phase is one of continual frustration, painstaking
hours, endless debates, and a time fraught with failure (Startup
Weekend, n.d.: 5,6).
At this point, the entrepreneur may take two possible ways:
1. Ride the entrepreneur rollercoaster and ask himself:

Can I use this stress for

something positive, like
growing my business?

If you decide to venture and actually ride the entrepreneur rollercoaster, you have reached the stage of discovery. You want
to learn. This step captures the phase in which an individual
begins to connect with like-minded entrepreneurs, mentors or
experts in the field of interest. Identifying with others who also
challenge the traditional notions of success and acknowledge
the potential hazards that lie ahead, is often all that is needed
for the entrepreneur to tackle the path that he hopes to pursue
(Startup Weekend, n.d.: 5).
2. Crash and burn. The entrepreneur will ask himself:

Do I have passion
to keep going?
Will I be forced out
by circumstances
beyond my control?
This is where entrepreneurs are in great danger, because they
might feel totally disappointed about not achieving what they
expected. Therefore, there are some crucial facts that you need
to remember in order to avoid getting to this stage:
You need to remember that the next big idea, the next
best thing is actually something that is already there but
need a better version of it. Therefore, creativity is a must.

What can I learn from

this and how can I make it
through these rough times?

Do not ride the rollercoaster for the wrong reasons. Do not

create a business thinking that someone will buy it right away.
You will need to work on it for several years, make it flourish
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Stage # 5

Crisis of Meaning

and get important results. Then, you might be able to sell it.
When the time comes, you will consider if selling is your best
option, or not. But this should not be the sole purpose of starting a business. You need something stronger that will make
you hold on in the difficult moments of your rollercoaster.
Most of the times people think that all they have is an amazing idea and all they need is money for it. In reality, all the
greatest companies of the last ten years had already started the business and grew traction. And then they got the
investors. A mere idea does not get you money. It is the
aspiration to actually have traction that shows investors
as well as yourself that you are actually on to something.
Be open to change. Take the blinders off. Look around and
do not be afraid to take unusual directions, because that is
where you might find promising opportunities. Do not get
obsessed with your idea.

The case
Eduardo decided to put himself together after being rejected
and continued his ride on the rollercoaster. He gathered information and feedback which helped him design an action plan
to make his business model scalable. He evaluated and revised
internal processes and the basic structure of the company, for
which he hired an external auditor. If he wanted an exponential
growth, he had to transform Intellego. The answer was in the integration of his young talent, with experienced talent. He started
seeking for this experts who could help him broaden his solution
portfolio and develop new markets.

By that time, at a family meeting, Eduardo accidentally met the

chilean Felipe Labb, who became interested in Eduardos project as soon as he heard that it was related to technology, since
Felipe was then working as the Commercial Director of HewlettPackard (HP) Mxico after having worked for that company for
18 years.
They continued with informal chats during weekend reunions.
Eduardo had the confidence to ask Felipe to participate as a
consultant for Intellego. Even though he refused - to avoid any
conflict of interests between companies -, he accepted informal
invitations to lunch providing him with some advice.
They found out, that Intellego had no structural organization
whatsoever; it was a company growing with no defined course.
Felipe gave some tips that really worked for Eduardo, which also
excited Felipe and interested him even more in the project. After
one year of feedback, Eduardo saw in Felipe not only a good
mentor, but a potential partner who could come to Intellego,
bringing along the structure needed by everybody in the company including Eduardo. With this in mind, he formally invited
him to become part of the company.
When he got this proposal, an entrepreneurial spark inside Felipe lit up, stopping to reflect upon his answer. It was not an
easy decision, considering that at the age of 42, being provider
of a family of five (himself, his wife and three kids), giving up the
security of the corporation he was currently working on might
have looked like something crazy. Finally, in 2008 he quit HP and
became business partner of Intellego to define and implement
the commercial strategy. (Endeavor, 2012: 115-117)
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Stage # 5

Crisis of Meaning

The entrepreneurs vitals

At this stage, the entrepreneur may experience a compromised
outlook and a slight decrease in motivation.

neral of my husband, I thought maybe I should give up, get a job

and be a mom. (Robinson, 2014).

Motivation level: Medium. Danger! It may decrease to a low

level.

This is where the ultimate entrepreneurial test takes place, on

the mental battlefield. You can go with the fear and quit, or push
through it. I said no; this idea is going to work, Blashack Strahan says. We have the power to control our thoughts. When
we commit mentally, our action follows. She made a conscious
decision to push through the fear. Her company had sales in
2012 of $98 million.

Key personal skill: Opportunity focus and purpose.

This classic trait is the definition of risk-taking--the ability to
withstand the fear of uncertainty and potential failure. It all boils
down to being able to successfully manage fear, notes Michael
Sherrod, entrepreneur-in-residence at the Neeley School of
Business at Texas Christian University (Robinson, 2014).
He sees the ability to control fear as the most important trait of
all. Fear of humiliation, fear of missing payroll, running out of
cash, bankruptcy, the list goes on.
Jill Blashack Strahan knows the fear factor. The founder and
CEO of Tastefully Simple1, a direct-sales company for gifts and
easy-to-make meals, remembers the calls to her bank when
she was three months overdue on her mortgage. That fear that
I would lose my house almost controlled me, says Blashack
Strahan, who also had to overcome the deaths of her brother
and then her husband shortly afterward. The night after the fu-

While many would feel powerless in the face of such adversity,

the entrepreneur looks at the situation and knows he has some
control over the outcome, says Jonathan Alpert, a psychotherapist and author of Be Fearless: Change Your Life in 28 Days
(Robinson, 2014).
Remember, fear is your worst enemy. Risk is your best friend.
Insomnia will become your best friend too.
Purpose is making a difference and making a dent. What drives
you? What motivates you? What actually makes you want to put
the pieces together?.

1 For more information about Tastefully Simple, visit their website: https://
www.tastefullysimple.com/

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Stage # 6

Successfull Entrepreneurship

Yes! I did it
Meh! The rollercoaster wasnt so
bad. I have many amazing business ideas! Maybe Ill ride again.
This is the stage where the entrepreneur reaches a sustained
success. However, he should not be too confident about riding
out all of the highs and lows, since he will face them again with
every business venture he takes on.

Based on his entrepreneurial journey so far, Eduardo shared the

following advice:
Never stop dreaming. And when you undertake an enterprise, believe it, it can be done. But to assure the success,
first look for mentorship to build the necessary foundations
- and not the roof - that accompany that dream of yours.
(Endeavor, 2012: 117, 121).

The entrepreneurs vitals

The case

Motivation level: High

Key personal skill: Passion

Together, Eduardo and Felipe managed to get the company operating not only in Mexico, but also in Brazil, Chile, Colombia
and the United States. Also, they did not focus in providing services to public institutions. Today they count among their clients
Grupo Bimbo, Chedraui, Grupo Presidente, Televisa, Cablevisin and Banamex; some of the biggest private companies in
Mexico. In total they sum more than 300 clients.
This multiplying effect caused their sales rates to increase 250%
from 2008 to 2009.

One of the defining traits of entrepreneurship is the ability to

spot an opportunity and imagine something where others have
not. Entrepreneurs have a curiosity that identifies overlooked
niches and puts them at the forefront of innovation and emerging fields. They imagine another world and have the ability to
communicate that vision effectively to investors, customers and
staff (Robinson 2014). You will need vision to keep your business growing and engage people in it.

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References
Endeavor. (2012) Emprendedores Endeavor. La nueva cara de Mxico IV. Editorial Mapas: Mxico.
Hauser, David. (2010) The Entrepreneur Rollercoaster.
Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKocnAS345U
Nair, Chandu. (2013) My entrepreneurial journey.
Available at http://www.livemint.com/Companies/DqLRiHqBvBmnFsdbnofrEM/My-entrepreneurial-journey.html?ref=also_read
Robinson, Joe. (2014) The 7 Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs. Entrepreneur.
Available at http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230350
Startup Weekend. (n.d.) The Entrepreneurs Journey.
Available at http://startupweekend.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2012/12/SW-White-Paper-Entrepreneurs-Journey.pdf
Suster. (2009) What makes an entrepreneur (2/11)- Street smarts. Both Sides.
Available at http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/12/16/what-makes-an-entrepreneur-210-street-smarts/
Suster. (2009) What makes an entrepreneur (1/11)- Tenacity. Both Sides.
Available at http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/12/15/what-makes-an-entrepreneur-111-tenacity/

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