like my dad and is one of my heroes. He was a guy who he was a printing foreman in New York City. He worked really hard for his family, switching jobs to make more money. That translated to his kids and how we were brought up. He also had this immense thirst for knowledge. When he was in his late ‘60s, my uncle got him a computer and he learned how to use it. He wrote a book, got a scanner started scanning photos, and starting making a monthly family newsletter. He was on Facebook. He died when he was 95. He was fearless about learning. That’s something that I think has really impacted me, just being fearless, not being afraid of challenges, of trying to work really hard but also continue to learn and be my best me.
X: What’s your biggest failure as an entrepreneur?
JR: My biggest failure is with one of the startups I was part of; it was my first startup. This was 10 years ago, a startup in Brazil that was focused on developing sugarcane ethanol projects. Just knowing when to pull the plug … we didn’t have the financial means necessary and we didn’t really have the right team dynamic to continue to go forward. I had a lot in the company, both in terms of my own financial resources as well as others’, and kept at it because I felt this obligation to work hard for the folks who trusted me with their money.
When I found that this was no longer a viable path forward, instead of having access to mentors to help tell me, time to hit the button and shut this thing down, I think I stayed an extra six months. And you know six months when you’re boot-strapping a startup is a lot. And we were doing so internationally, which just put even more of a strain on resources. I didn’t know what I didn’t know and I didn’t necessarily have all the resources to figure out how to solve for certain problems. My approach was work hard and work through it and I didn’t know how to skate that one. I had partner issues, and things weren’t working, but I didn’t know how to pull the plug for myself. That was a big lesson; there was a big opportunity cost for me.
