After losing his wife to cancer, Vivek Wadhwa, the founder of Vionix Biosciences, channeled his loss into a powerful mission. In a recent interview with TheStreet, he emphasized the importance of prioritizing purpose over profit when it comes to building your own company.
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Full Video Transcript Below:
CONWAY GITTENS: So this is your latest project as an entrepreneur. What's one thing you think every aspiring entrepreneur should keep in mind?
VIVEK WADHWA: Conway you have to do things for the right reason. You know, I'm 66 now. I had retired. I was teaching at Carnegie Mellon at Harvard Law School. And, you know, and I was on the speaking circuit. I've given all of that up because now my life's ambition is to prevent my I lost my wife to cancer. And that was my know, what caused me to give up everything and decide to focus on helping billions of people. You have to have a good purpose. It should not be about making money. The problem in Silicon Valley is it's all money, money, money, money, money. This is why I decided to move my R&D out of Silicon Valley. It has to be about purpose. It has to be about solving real problems of humanity. That's the advice I would give entrepreneurs, is focus on a real need and have a real purpose in your heart for why you're doing all of this.
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CONWAY GITTENS: And what other kind of advice would you give to someone looking to start their own company besides, I mean, I guess it's like passion. Yeah that is that the advice that you want. You want to give out.
CONWAY GITTENS: Yeah, it's passion. It's belief. It's solving real world problems. Don't jump on the next bandwagon just because everyone else is doing it right now. Everyone is. Silicon Valley seems to be coming up with another bizarre use of generative AI, for example. Why Because that's what the venture capitalists are funding and they're building more of the same stupid technologies which have no real purpose. I mean, they have no real need and that's the wrong way of doing things. Start off with trying to solve a real world problem and then get help from others who have done it before. Be open minded and bring on other people who have failed, who've succeeded and build with passion, with your heart.