Daniel McQuade has successfully founded three companies, the latest being a DTC platform. Described as a “Thought Leader, Visionary, Innovator and a Misfit,” he has traveled globally lecturing and teaching innovation/entrepreneurship in emerging economies for the Columbia Business School. Recently asked why at his age, why another start-up…”I’m not finished yet!”
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
- Steve Jobs Co-founder of AppleSteve Wozniak Co-founder of Apple
- William S. Knudsen
- Raymond Laurence – Roger Williams Foods in New England
When business started difficulties overcame:
“This is my fourth start-up. The first one was like getting an MBA because I need so many mistakes… that was the cattle company the beef company… and not understanding all of the pieces that needed to work together and I lacked the knowledge needed and I lacked the skill set and I found that I was working in a silo. When you work in a silo you are not communicating, you are not seeing what’s outside of that or asking for help and recognising your weaknesses and acknowledging them fast. And that was the biggest mistake I made there”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers Book by Ben Horowitz
- Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts Book by Brené Brown
- The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz Book by Erik Larson
Also mentioned:
- Freedom’s Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II Book by Arthur Herman
Favourite Quote:
- “To move into the lead means making an attack requiring fierceness and confidence, but fear must play some part in the last stage, when no relaxation is possible and all discretion is thrown to the winds.” Roger Bannister
- “dare to be different” Raymond Laurence
Recommended Online Resources:
- Fast Company is the world’s leading progressive business media brand, with a unique editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, and design
- Bloomberg delivers business and markets news, data, analysis, and video to the world, featuring stories from Businessweek and Bloomberg News
- Quartz — Global business news and insights. Quartz is a guide to the new global economy for people in business who are excited by change. They cover business, economics, markets, finance, technology, science, design, and fashion
- Morning Brew – The daily email newsletter covering the latest news from Wall St to Silicon Valley Informative, witty, and everything you need to start your day
- Google Alerts – Monitor the Web for interesting new content. Google Alerts is a content change detection and notification service, offered by the search engine company Google. The service sends emails to the user when it finds new results—such as web pages, newspaper articles, blogs, or scientific research—that match the user’s search term.
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“Understand that this is a journey that passion alone is not going to get you through. There is peaks and valleys is why did I do this. But you are going to go through those and they are learning. You want to minimise the downside risk absolutely. But just understand this is a journey. There is going to be days you are just going to shake your head and say why did I do this. But there is going to be days when you are going to be so happy. The second thing I would do is seek out expertise. Smart people find smart people. That is the difference between successful people and people who aren’t… Three don’t be in a silo, stick your head out there, ask questions. If you don’t know ask, even if you know or you think you know ask. The fourth thing, don’t risk all of your own money. A lot of entrepreneurs do that… You have got an 85 percent chance of failure here. You can have some of your risk, you have got to have skin in the game, a lot of it but it shouldn’t be all you. The last thing I would say is build something that people want. That’s the key thing you’ve got to do. If you are not doing that you don’t have a business. And don’t fear failure, it should push you forward”…[Listen for More]
More About Daniel McQuade:
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“Learn to light a candle in the darkest moments of someone’s life. Be the light that helps others see; it is what gives life its deepest significance.” Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
Other Quotes From the Chat with Daniel McQuade:
- “The learning curve for me especially if you are going into a business vertical that you know you are a very good part of it just keep learning. That’s the difficulty, you think you know everything”
- “I think one of the biggest secrets of success is being open to listening and learning. We don’t know everything….”
- “So that’s what we got to look at, your business today. How is it going to change? What are your customers? Are they ageing? Are the new ones coming in? Do we have the right products? What kind of technology, what kind of data, what kind of analytics are you looking at that’s happening in real-time?”
- “a brand is built for your customer it’s not built for you… Make sure that you understand who your customer is and what’s the trigger for that customer and build it for them. And that’s the thing that will absolutely help you get to success faster”
- “I am a consumer of information”
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