Repable co-founder Heather Anne Carson on the shock of moving from corporate to startup

As startups get more recognition outside of the insulated startup community, more people are leaving corporate for what they see as a more glamorous calling.

But as Repable co-founder Heather Anne Carson — who calls herself a “recovering publicist — will tell you, moving from a successful PR firm to become an entrepreneur was anything but glamorous.

“I’ve had lots of clients in the Toronto area, and I thought I’m going to get here, and the red carpet is going to roll out for me, and I’ll get funding super quickly and my new clients will line up,” Carson, who is originally from New Brunswick, told TechToronto. “That doesn’t happen because there are no shortcuts and I’m not special. What’s special is my product.”

She compared a lot of her experience in an agency to her new reality as a co-founder — in an agency, she was used to being an expert, but she realized that entrepreneurs can’t expect to know everything and be great every day.

“Eighty percent is better than not done, shipped is better than perfect, done is better than perfect,” said Carson. “One of the biggest lessons that I’ve learned is that I want to do things perfectly all the time, but sometimes you have to delegate to other people and that ‘good enough’ has to be good enough to get out the door.”

Watch the whole talk below:

Jessica Galang

Jessica Galang

Freelance tech writer. Former BetaKit News Editor.

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