Sahar Hashemi OBE is best known as the founder of Coffee Republic, as well as a confectionery brand Skinny Candy. She is active in the world of entrepreneurialism and charity, and is an accomplished author, having written "Anyone can do it" about her journey from corporate lawyer to founding a successful chain of coffee shops, and a more recent book titled "Start Up Forever” helping large companies innovate.

In this conversation, we cover all topics related to being an entrepreneur, building a business, and what it means from a personal development point of view. We discuss some of the skills and mindsets that one needs, as well as how this impacts people in larger process-driven organizations looking to foster a more entrepreneurial mindset.

What Is Covered: 

• How entrepreneurialism drives resourcefulness and self-discovery
• Why people confuse entrepreneurs with inventors and what the difference is
• The ‘startup forever’ habits that can help large companies adopt an entrepreneurial mindset

Key Learnings and Takeaways: 

• The only way to give momentum to an entrepreneurial idea is to take it out of one’s head, make that first phone call, get a sample of it, try to price it and make the idea tangible in the physical world. 
• Five habits to foster entrepreneurial mindset: get rid of bureaucracy and processes; get out of the office; be clueless, curious, have an open mind; bootstrap and try your idea out on a small scale, and expect people to say no to your idea. 
• The only way to see how a company performs is to maintain the balance between the status quo and having certain systems and processes in place, but also giving people the freedom to break that status quo.   

Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: 

• Anyone Can Do It: Building Coffee Republic From Our Kitchen Table by Sahar Hashemi
• Start Up Forever by Sahar Hashemi
• Sahar Hashemi’s Website
• Connect with Sahar Hashemi on Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn
• When Big and Small Make Great with Brad Feld - OutsideVoices Podcast