Wattpad founder Allen Lau has come a long way from working out of a basement before squeezing an 11-person in a 200 square feet space; today, Lau leads of a company of 110 people at Yonge and Wellington, and is on the way to creating the next Disney.
But Lau wasn’t born with every single skill required to build a successful company. He showed up at TechToronto to talk about the evolution of the entrepreneur – which includes idea, prototype, product, company, and business. “I’ve yet to meet a single person that, when he or she started the company, possesses the skills that I talk about,” Lau said, alluding to writing the code, designing and building the product, and figuring out finances.
While being focused on their product and trying to secure funding, entrepreneurs all of sudden find that they also have to become good managers and strong leaders for their team. Entrepreneurship can be glamorous, but it’s also a challenging, lifelong learning experience. “The best product that you want to build is not necessarily the product, the best product you want to build is yourself,” Lau said.
Watch Lau’s talk below: