Ross Baird is the founder of Village Capital, which invests in seed-stage companies solving global challenges worldwide through a unique peer review model. Ross developed the Village Capital concept in 2009, and has led the development of programs worldwide. Before launching Village Capital, he worked with First Light Ventures, a seed fund focused on impact investments. Follow him @rossbaird.
Who is your hero? (In business, life, or both.)
My grandfather. He grew up working in a hardware store in an immigrant’s neighborhood in Indiana, worked himself through college as a basketball player, and through hard work and ingenuity built an amazing career and even greater family. He become the head coach of Duke basketball and took the school to three Final Four championships in 10 years. He recruited kids like him from small towns across the country who otherwise didn’t have a shot.
What’s the single best piece of business advice that helped shape who you are as an entrepreneur today, and why?
Plan for the organization you want to be, not the organization you can afford today. If money, resources, and partners were no object, what could you be beyond your wildest dreams?
The most unorthodox piece of advice I have received was from my first boss, former Georgia Governor Roy Barnes: “Don’t ignore the people who seem weird or crazy. They’re the ones who really care.” Our best and closest partners have been called crazy by more than one person.
What’s the biggest mistake you ever made in your business, and what did you learn from it that others can learn from too?
Approaching my business from a position of scarcity (“What can we afford to do? What value do we need to capture?”) rather than a position of abundance (“What value can we create for other people?”)
What do you do during the first hour of your business day and why?
Each night, I send an email to myself with first three priorities for the next day and try and get through them before I do anything else. If you win the morning, you win the day.
What’s your best financial/cash-flow related tip for entrepreneurs just getting started?
Spend each dollar as if it were your last. And get really good at working on buses and uncomfortable plane flights. If you need to travel, this can really save you.
Quick: What’s ONE thing you recommend ALL aspiring or current entrepreneurs do right now to take their biz to the next level?
The best way to network is to give. You should aim to have one goal for every meeting you approach. How can you best help the other person reach their dreams? If you’re successful, you can do anything you want.
