As CEO of Silvernest, Wendi Burkhardt is responsible for driving the company’s overall direction and strategic growth, as well as overseeing day-to-day operations. She boasts more than 25 years of technology experience working with venture startups, emerging technology companies, rapid-growth tech firms and Fortune 500 corporations. Her history also includes working with Home Instead, a $1 billion in-home, senior care corporation. She is a seasoned entrepreneur, as well as a mentor and coach to social ventures. Wendi holds a degree in International Trade & Finance from Louisiana State University, and has completed an executive education program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
When business started difficulties overcame:
“You cannot afford to wait until you have 100% of it right, you just can’t, time moves too quickly in startup environment, you have to make sure that you have enough information to make the decisions, get it to a point that you can decision very quickly, recognise that you may fail at that and that’s okay but have a backup plan”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
- The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses Book by Eric Ries
- The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level Book by Gay Hendricks
Favourite Quote:
None specific
Recommended Online Resources:
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Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“Just do it, if you’re sitting there with an idea that you cannot sleep at night because you’re thinking about it, if you believe in it without doubt and you know that you can handle the ups and downs of it, just do it. There will never be a perfect time, there will never be a time where everything is aligned absolutely correctly for you to do this”…[Listen for More]
More About Wendi Burkhardt:
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“If you want to think new thoughts that are different, then do what creative people do – get the problem reasonably clear and then refuse to look at any answers until you’ve thought the problem through carefully how you would do it, how you could slightly change the problem to be the correct one.” Richard Hamming
Other Quotes From the Chat with Wendi Burkhardt:
- “If you do do it, and you fail, you can always go back to doing what you were doing before”
- “One of the things that I’ve recognised in some of the successful entrepreneurs around me is they never doubted that they were going to build something fantastic, they never doubted it. You have moments where of course you have concerns or you’re nervous but ultimately I think it boils down to you believing beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are building something that is going to be wildly successful”
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