“Learning to put things into perspective helps a lot in decision-making”

ENTREPRENEUR: Why would a serial entrepreneur like you agree to write a book?

Christian Rodríguez: Because after many years of undertaking you realize that although there is no prescribed path that guarantees success, there are many milestones in the entrepreneurial phase where it is good if someone explains what sensations you going through That is the aim of the book. It’s not a self-help book or a guide to what you need to do, but a compendium of how you’ll be feeling at this stage.

EMP.: Do you really think a book can help with that?

CR: I think so. Just like when you start a project, the vision of people who are experts in the product, in the industry you work in and the opinion of the first customers help to improve a project by reading a book that specific phases and sensations from those who will pass you can be very helpful. I’m not saying to be successful, I’m saying to fail less.

EMP.: And is the experience of a startup entrepreneur also useful for entrepreneurs in the real economy?

CR: Yes, because the aim of the book is to help the entrepreneur understand how he can feel at different stages. It’s something very transversal. It does not try to treat each of the points concretely, but to give a layer of sensitivity and above all to highlight each of the problems that it may have in the choices it makes.

EMP.: Besides running your own business, you work as a consultant for Hawkers. Is it easier to give advice than to run your own business?

CR: It’s something that flows back. In the end, you convert knowledge in some companies into others, you convert experience in some industries into others, and you transport contacts from some areas into others. One of the keys to joining these councils is that your vision is no longer just that of a consultant. In the end it is what you recommend or the vision you give because you have lived it before and right in your own skin. Logically, it’s very easy to give advice when you’re not responsible for the project, but it’s much easier to give advice when you were also responsible for the project. And that creates a very interesting symbiosis and thus contributes to a variable of credibility, of experience, which makes different companies want to be with you.

EMP.: And what would you say is the best piece of advice you’ve received?

CR: Best of all, nothing is ever as serious as you make it out to be. That’s why you have to be able to put things into perspective, which helps a lot in making decisions. Also about good communication skills. Communication is transversal in all areas: discussions with suppliers, with your partner, with your team or with your investors. And you have to make sure that everything you say is really perceived as you think it, because often what matters is not what you think you are saying, but what the other person understands.