Renee Fry is the Co-Founder and CEO of Gentreo, an on-line software provider with a mission to provide affordable, accessible and easy-to-use estate planning tools for everyone. Renee has led and helped start multiple companies, served in the Massachusetts government cabinet as head of Business and Technology and is a graduate of Harvard Business School.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
Renee’s Mom
When business started difficulties overcame:
“When you start a business, you have to figure out where the money is. You can have a great idea ; it might be a fantastic idea no one has come up with but you have to find cash. Cash is king… You have to understand from a family perspective can you make this work? Can you give up one salary so that one person can go and do what their dream might be? Or if you are single, can you afford this to be able to do this on your own? Because things always take longer, truly remember that… Things probably do take twice as long as you think they are going to take and the world changes around you as you are building out your ideas”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
- Extreme Productivity: Boost Your Results, Reduce Your Hours Book by Robert C. Pozen
- Remote, Inc.: How to Thrive at Work . . . Wherever You Are Book by Robert C. Pozen and Alexandra Samuel
Favourite Quote:
“Only Handle it Once – The OHIO principal”
Recommended Online Resources:
Y Combinator – created a new model for funding early-stage start-ups Twice a year they invest in a large number of start-ups
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“Do it, try it, get going. Those are the things that to many people spend too much time asking questions, planning… Put something out there, try it out see what’s working, see what’s not working… When I say do it it’s more get product, get going and make sure that people have something to try out, and that you get your name out there as well”…[Listen for More]
More About Renee Fry:
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“It’s not your salary that makes you rich, it’s your spending habits.” Charles A. Jaffe
Other Quotes From the Chat with Renee Fry:
- “There is ups and there’s downs and you need to be prepared for that and how you are going to deal with that… How will you deal with that”?
- “As we on board people make people understand that young companies are different than working for very large companies… And the need to accept that and be excited about that”
- “Vision… You have to know where you are going. And you have to have metrics to count things because if you don’t have metrics and you just feel things you will not be successful. You have to be able to say how many things did I do today? Am I following my goals? Am I really working toward the things that I set out in my top objectives? And so, things really need to be measured ”
- “start-ups aren’t just about oh I have an idea now I go and build this… It’s like how do you set out a roadmap? How do you achieve this? How do you get to the next step? What do you need to do to make sure that you are setting objectives and accomplishing those in a timely manner…? Those are critical to being successful.”
- “As an entrepreneur you don’t have time to go. and revisit things and I can almost guarantee you probably won’t go and revisit things because 17 to challenges will come up in 12 minutes that you need to deal with. So, if you can handle things once, get it done. Whether or not you like to do it just get it done ”
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