As we’re fresh into the new year, many of us probably have resolutions we want to achieve or things we’d want to learn for the year.
For aspiring entrepreneurs or leaders trying to break out of stagnancy or an issue in your company, you may be looking for inspiration.
Hence, we compiled 8 recent entrepreneurial TEDx Talks you can check out in this list. These videos are all at most 12 months old.
These speakers are all sharing advice and insights from their experience which may be relevant to what you’re facing, which you could learn a thing or two from.
1. How I Became The Youngest Entrepreneur
15-year-old Tilak Mehta is the founder and CEO Papers N Parcels, a digital courier company that does one-day parcel delivery through Mumbai dabbawalas. Tilak was only 13 years old when he founded the company and became CEO.
Dictionary Time: Dabbawala is a 130-year-old service in Mumbai that delivers lunchboxes at very low cost and in an eco-friendly way via bikes and railway trains.
Harvard Business Review
The idea started when Tilak wanted to get his book delivered on the same day, but found out that the delivery cost was more than the book itself. He brought this courier business idea to his father and they started it under Tilak’s leadership and his father’s advisory.
Who’s it for: Aspiring young entrepreneurs like his age, or sceptics who are curious as to how young entrepreneurs can lead a business.
Duration: 15:23 minutes.
You can watch the talk here.
2. The New Secret Superpower For Entrepreneurs
David Asarnow is the founder and CEO of Business Nitrogen in the US, which helps businesses find ways to create value and profit. In his twenties, he built a US$45 million division for a company over five years.
He talked about the importance of collaboration for a business to be successful. He shared advice about not jumping off alone when you want to start a business, but to find and attract people to join you instead.
He gave examples of how this accelerates results and puts one way ahead of the competition compared to doing it alone.
Who’s it for: Entrepreneurs who find it hard to delegate tasks with trust in their startup, or entrepreneurs thinking of how to look for a team or collaborators.
Duration: 18:51 minutes.
You can watch the talk here.
3. Survival Tips for New Startup Entrepreneurs
Keshav Chintamani, is the founder and CEO of Tractonomy Robotics in Belgium, which builds autonomous robot carts to improve a supply chain’s efficiency.
Keshav shared some tips he learned from his startup journey, two of which I want to highlight:
- You might have a great idea but maybe nobody needs it. It might be too complex, too expensive, or impractical. Keshav went to different factories to find the common problem that all factories had, which he could help with.
- Don’t look for money from investors to create a prototype or do R&D. Work for other people instead and use your other talents to sell yourself first, then use that money you earned to create that prototype. Because it’s your hard-earned money, you’re likely to get your prototype right the first time.
Who’s it for: Aspiring entrepreneurs thinking of doing market validation, or entrepreneurs looking for investors to fund their R&D.
Duration: 13:43 minutes.
You can watch the talk here.
4. How To Create 600,000 Jobs In 6 Months In Afghanistan
Sanzar Kakar is the chairman of AHG (Afghanistan Holding Group), a business service group that provides taxation, accounting, auditing, and more. He also served as the Economic Advisor for the Afghanistan Investment Climate Facility.
The highlight of the talk was his explanation about being realistic regarding the sectors you should tap into when creating jobs for a nation. For example, he ruled out manufacturing, IT, agriculture, and mining in Afghanistan because of countries that have already dominated the export market for those like China and India.
Hence, he tapped into the local exchange of goods and services as a means to circulate cashflow around the country and give people jobs, which is how his services come into play.
Who’s it for: Entrepreneurs who are looking to solve national problems like widespread unemployment through service-providing technology.
Duration: 11:49.
You can watch the talk here.
5. Accountability Is A Love Language
Tafadzwa Bete Sasa is a coach and training facilitator in Zambia who founded GoalGetter Tribe. She has spoken in various notable forums such as the World Economic Forum on Africa meetings.
The highlight of her talk was about the importance of creating a space whereby the person who is accountable doesn’t feel personally attacked, otherwise the conversation will just be about defensiveness, justifying their actions, and continuing this cycle of low performance.
Who’s it for: Anyone in a managerial position who plans to hold an accountability conversation with results.
Duration: 12:13 minutes
You can watch the talk here.
6. From Scientist to Entrepreneur
James Hutchinson is the CEO of KiwiNet, a company that sells findings from academic and research institutes to startups that can create technology solutions out of the research.
He got the idea after realising that not much research reaches the general public. The highlight of his talk was the similarities he drew between science and entrepreneurship.
Both enrich peoples’ lives and solve problems in their own way but could not easily meet, so James found a way for both of them to leverage on each others’ strengths.
Who’s it for: Professionals in other fields like science who want to create a business out of selling research or tap into the startup ecosystem.
Duration: 16:39 minutes.
You can watch the talk here.
7. Management Lessons From Chinese Business & Philosophy
Fang Ruan is a management consultant and a co-leader of Boston Consulting Group Henderson Institute in China.
She shared about the unconventional management lessons she learnt from leaders like Miranda Qu, founder of Xiaohongshu, a popular e-commerce site in Shanghai.
The highlight of the talk was about how Chinese companies were now straying away from the typical Confucian practice of organising and regulating things.
Instead, they’re adopting the Taoism practice of letting things develop naturally. In essence, it’s about moving away from a controlling management style to one that’s more about supporting.
Who’s it for: CEOs who are looking for ways to pivot their management style.
Duration: 10:50 minutes.
You can watch the talk here.
8. When Are You Good Enough to Become an Industry Expert?
David Mitroff is a business growth speaker with a PhD in clinical psychology. He also teaches entrepreneurship and marketing courses in the University of California, Berkeley, and is a Google Mentor for the Google Launchpad Accelerator program.
Looking back at his personal journey, David shared how he didn’t want to wait for decades to become an industry expert in the stand-up comedy world. With his strategies, he was able to be recognised as one in 3 years instead.
The highlight of the talk was how nominating and endorsing other people in their niche help yourself gain the same in return.
Who’s it for: Entrepreneurs who are interested in being consultants, or are wondering when they can declare themselves an industry expert.
Duration: 12:38 minutes.
You can watch the talk here.
- You can read more TEDx Talk-related articles we’ve written here.
- You can read more listicles we’ve written here.
Featured Image Credit: Fang Ruan (left) by BCG / Tilak Mehta (right) by Business News Trends
