Astrid Scholz's advice for entrepreneurs: "Don't give up"

You may have heard this before when they wanted to encourage you in your entrepreneurial career. But having Astrid Scholz herself, in our TalkX, tell you “don’t give up” is quite remarkable, isn’t it?

“Don’t give up. Instead, be very, very patient and try to understand what’s against you.” Astrid Scholz, the co-founder of Zebras Unite (and quite a few other things we told you in this article), gave this advice to the 750+ people who watched the first TalkX of this Explorer edition. And it was not the only piece of advice, for sure!

There was a buzz of anticipation before the talk started, like minutes before your favourite band takes the stage. The best evidence? When Eileen Galván, Alumni Explorer and event’s host, asked the attendees to leave their questions in the chat on our Twitch channel, there was no way to stop the growing torrent.

Eileen quickly spurred on the audience, who kicked off the TalkX with Astrid Scholz by asking her a series of quick questions to get to know Astrid better. Thanks to this, we learned that this social entrepreneur’s favourite book is “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel García Márquez and that her favourite song is “Talkin’ about a revolution” by Tracy Chapman. She even ventured to define herself in three words: “I’m tall, curious and… old, at least for this audience”, Astrid answered with a laugh.

However, age differences mean nothing among entrepreneurs, especially when they are eager for tips that will prove helpful at the beginning of their careers. Of course, most of the questions focused on how to get funding, but some of them also targeted social entrepreneurship, as advocated by the zebra movement. And the two sides - capital and ethics - combine fascinatingly in Astrid’s top tips:

1. Don’t try to be someone completely new. When you start, imagine how to sell your product, service, or experience and expertise in specific fields. Fall in love with the sales process.
2. There are many ways to be an entrepreneur; you don’t always have to rely on venture capital. We were surprised to see how many people thought like Zebras Unite.
3. Fall in love with the problem.
4. The more investors you have, the more you lose control of your company.
5. Don’t assume that something new to you is unknown to others.

After talking about her biggest challenges (“I didn’t quite fit the mold of an entrepreneur: I was 40 when I started, with children and no experience. But most of us don’t fit the Silicon Valley model. You have to be patient”), of her biggest mistake (“I thought the market was ready for us, but it wasn’t. What did I do? I tried something different”) and even of the Imposter Syndrome (“We’ve all been there: take a deep breath. Find your partners. Stay humble”); Astrid chatted privately with 15 selected Explorers. In this Q&A session, the Explorers raised the same questions (but tailored to specific projects): how to choose the right partners, what mistakes to avoid, and, of course, where to get the much-desired funding. 

She showed the way by insisting on what she had already said before. She summed it perfectly in a single sentence that concentrates the whole zebra philosophy: “As an entrepreneur, you have a responsibility to the planet and the people you serve. Live up to that”.

Would you also like to have the opportunity to speak privately with the most prominent figures in entrepreneurship?