Episodi 4
Samson: how to turn weaknesses into strengths
The myth
Samson embodies the myth of the strong man, capable of destroying temples and defeating entire armies with just the power of his arm. A beast of a man, seemingly unstoppable, but with a weakness: his hair, which had to remain intact by divine design. But Delilah, a seductive Philistine woman, without weapons or physical strength, defeated him. Samson fell into the snares of love and revealed to her the secret of his mysterious power. Delilah cut his hair while he slept, taking away all his strength.
The guest
Christian Rodríguez, entrepreneur, author of the book ‘Despegar’, president of Mutter Ventures and founder of the company ByHours, a platform for renting hotel rooms by the hour in different cities around the world such as Madrid, Barcelona, Dubai or Mexico City, among others. He will be talking with Xavier Dumont, head of Barcelona Activa’s entrepreneurship services, about the challenges, confidence and self-knowledge of people who decide to start up a new project.
Christian Rodríguez, entrepreneur, author of the book ‘Despegar’, president of Mutter Ventures and founder of the company ByHours, a platform for renting hotel rooms by the hour in different cities around the world such as Madrid, Barcelona, Dubai or Mexico City, among others. He will be talking with Xavier Dumont, head of Barcelona Activa’s entrepreneurship services, about the challenges, confidence and self-knowledge of people who decide to start up a new project.
‘You’re in a universe where you have to constantly be selling excitement and the future’.
‘You have to get up in the morning and think - it’s worth doing what I’m doing’.
‘The concept of serial entrepreneurship is an issue that many of us are experiencing. When you are very young, your concern is based on leading projects yourself’.
‘The beginnings for all entrepreneurs are very similar, and it’s easy to believe that you have had the best idea in the world. That’s a mistake, thinking that your idea is unbeatable, because there’s a long way between the initial idea and the end’.
‘You need to be aware of your shortcomings and not forget them. We should be constantly carrying out a SWOT’.
The emotional journey of starting up
One of the keys to starting up a business is emotional management, which is the most complicated part of the whole process. Being on the verge of failure, knowing how to manage an investor's anxiety or removing a loved one from the process of starting up - these are some of the situations you may have to deal with. Therefore, a good entrepreneur should be able to:
- Keep things in perspective and maintain the balance between falling in love with the project and self-criticism
- Go to sleep peacefully, thinking you are doing your best
- Keep ahead of events
- Be a sincere, realistic, honest and generous person
- Know your shortcomings and surround yourselves with people who have virtues