Morten Lund is as entrepreneurial as it gets. He has invested in more than 80 companies around the world, most famously Skype.
The first couple minutes of this video, a speech Lund gave about entrepreneurship at Le Web ‘08 in Paris, are rough going as they get the presentation set up. But the remaining 10 minutes are a gold mine of insight and inspiration.
It comes at a time when Lund has just failed badly. Really badly. Like, they’re-coming-to-take-my-house-away badly. He went “all-in” on a newspaper project that bombed, and lost 30 million euros as a result.
He’s not too bothered though. My favourite quote:
I started with nothing as a student [but] I probably had more fun [at that time] than I had last year when I was thinking about buying a private jet.
But the most valuable lesson I take away from his speech is this: An entrepreneur is someone who is more willing to fail at something that matters than to succeed at something that doesn’t.
I can only wish to care that little about the money. I would love to start my own business, but I don’t have any ideas that seem gold. One thing to take away from this is that sometimes even the normal ideas might just work. He has over 80 startups, so I am guessing you can try any idea and still survive. There still is the fear of losing everything, but if he can be happy losing that much money then I am sure I can.
Thanks for the video, it was helpful. It was motivational.
Thank you for sharing this interview. It’s refreshing to see someone like this with all the media frenzy on the economy right now. You have well educated CEOs, analysts, traders, etc. who easily find a way to blame everything but themselves of why Fortune 500 XYZ company is failing… attribution theory at its finest.
What I appreciate about Morten is his sheer honesty and transparency. He doesn’t care what others think about him and his recent failures… without these limiting beliefs and constrictions he is able to think big.
… and he is right, it is and will be one of the greatest times for entrepreneurs.
I can only wish to care that little about the money. I would love to start my own business, but I don’t have any ideas that seem gold. One thing to take away from this is that sometimes even the normal ideas might just work. He has over 80 startups, so I am guessing you can try any idea and still survive. There still is the fear of losing everything, but if he can be happy losing that much money then I am sure I can.
Thanks for the video, it was helpful. It was motivational.
I definitely love Morten’s attitude. It’s almost as if people in the crowd aren’t sure if they should laugh along with Morten.
@Philip – Here’s a thought: if you’re idea “sucks” start do it anyway, and you’ll probably stumble upon a better one. If you don’t start you run the risk of never discovering what you can only find out by doing (inspired by –> http://onstartups.com/home/tabid/3339/bid/7196/Video-from-Business-of-Software-Everything-I-Know-About-Startups.aspx).
[...] 30 Sleeps – Martin Lund on Entrepreneurship (Start at minute 2) [...]
Thank you for sharing this interview. It’s refreshing to see someone like this with all the media frenzy on the economy right now. You have well educated CEOs, analysts, traders, etc. who easily find a way to blame everything but themselves of why Fortune 500 XYZ company is failing… attribution theory at its finest.
What I appreciate about Morten is his sheer honesty and transparency. He doesn’t care what others think about him and his recent failures… without these limiting beliefs and constrictions he is able to think big.
… and he is right, it is and will be one of the greatest times for entrepreneurs.
[...] Found this gem from Brad Bollenbach of http://www.30sleeps.com. The full post can be found HERE. [...]
…very cool…but I don’t get what it has to with self discipline? Any thoughts on that?