What advice would you give your twenty-year-old self, and what should they ignore?
Recorded Iyinoluwa Aboyeji said elsewhere, not written here
Do a deep reflection on what exactly went wrong and write it down. Please don't do that lazy analysis where you just blame government, the economy, the markets, fundraising etc. It might have been a contributing factor and you should reflect that but please do that uncomfortably deep and introspective work of figuring out where *YOU* the founder went wrong.

Aboyeji's own verified LinkedIn account, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji on LinkedIn, 27 July 2024 source ↗

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Shinya Yamanaka Stem cell biologist; Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine, 2012
Well, I will bring this technology to clinics. I really want to help as many patients as possible. As you may know, I started my career as a surgeon 25 years ago. But it turned out that I am not talented as a surgeon
Recorded Adam Smith, Telephone interview recorded shortly after the prize announcement, October 2012, Nobel Prize Outreach, 1 October 2012 source ↗
Marina Abramović Performance artist
Spend your time on something meaningful. Not on parties, and not on taking it easy. That’s not good enough. […] When you’re young, you think: Let’s party, do drugs, drink, waste it all, right? But as you get older, you look at what you’ve accomplished. And when you get old, you’ve run out of time. You have to ask yourself: Why am I here? Can I contribute anything to humanity, to society, my work?
Recorded University Post, University of Copenhagen public talk, University Post (uniavisen.dk), University of Copenhagen source ↗
Sundar Pichai Chief executive of Alphabet and Google
So take the time to find the thing that excites you more than anything else in the world. Not the thing your parents want you to do. Or the thing that all your friends are doing. Or that society expects of you.
Recorded Dear Class of 2020 (YouTube), Google (The Keyword), 7 June 2020 source ↗
Rosa Parks Civil-rights activist
The advice I would give any young person is, first of all, to rid themselves of prejudice against other people and to be concerned about what they can do to help others. And of course, to get a good education, and take advantage of the opportunities that they have. In fact, there are more opportunities today than when I was young.
Recorded Academy of Achievement recorded interview, American Academy of Achievement, 2 June 1995 source ↗

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Question How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure? Failure & regret
Failure is the most likely outcome of entrepreneurship. Hence there is absolutely nothing wrong with failure. It is the default outcome. Success on the other hand is rare and unpredictable. Very few find it. However what can help entrepreneurs succeed is when an ecosystem learns from failure.
Recorded Aboyeji's own verified LinkedIn account, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji on LinkedIn, 5 January 2024 source ↗

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