Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.” — Marie Curie
In July of 2018, Mike Thompson and I were invited to Berlin, Germany as one of 30 startups shortlisted by the leAD Sports Accelerator for in-person presentations and interviews out of over 400 applicants from over 60 countries. Our trip to the Selection Days was more like the classic movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
Flying out of Miami on Saturday to Brussels with a connecting flight to Berlin, we arrived 4 hours early only to be told that the Tui plane will not be taking off because it is still in Brussels with mechanical issues. We would leave next day. This would make it impossible to get to Berlin for our 9:15am Monday event at leAD.
Some text messages with leAD and furiously searching for alternative flight options resulted in additional financial support and a 1-way ticket to Madrid, a flight to Dusseldorf and a final flight to Berlin, arriving at 10:05pm.
We were relieved but disappointed to be in the air during the World Cup final where my team, France, would win 4–2.
The Madrid leg worked out. The Dusseldorf leg was perfect. Then came the bad news at 8pm, our Easyjet flight to Berlin was CANCELLED.
The single remaining flight to Berlin, more than 500km away, was overbooked and we were left with renting a car or taking a train. The train would leave at 11pm and take some 7 hours cutting it very close. Avis was the best option.
Off we drove after 10pm in a foreign country, driving for 5 and a 1/2 hours on the road in the middle of the night on the Autobahn. Mike and I practiced our 90 second pitch in between listening to Bob Marley songs, namely “Three Little Birds” aka “every little thing is gonna be alright.”
We dropped off the car at 3:15am and made it to the hotel at 3:45, going to sleep at 4am. We were at leAD for 9:05 am and no one could believe what we had gone through just to be there.
Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart or for those who want an easy road to success. You are not even guaranteed success and more likely to have a very hard path to failure.
The actions that you take to overcome the obstacles thrown in your way impact your chances of success and people recognize perseverance. Investors bet more on the jockey than on the horse and the entrepreneurs that demonstrate an ability to overcome challenges rather than sit and complain will always have a better chance of success.
Mike and I knew that getting into leAD could turbocharge the growth of RunLive, grow our network and open new business opportunities.
We had to get there.
Our return flight was also out of Berlin on Tuesday morning so we needed to get to Berlin anyway.
Showing up despite the obstacles proved that we were serious, resourceful and would do our best to make things happen regardless of who did or did not invest. The train was going forward no matter what so get on or catch it at the next stop.
What obstacles are you facing right now? Are you complaining or trying to solve them?
You are chasing a goal. How badly do you want it?
Stay tuned for more about our adventures and experiences during the accelerator program, including key lessons from the programme.
David Mullings is the Founder and CEO of Blue Mahoe Partners, a General Partner at Tessera Venture Partners and a cofounder of RunLive, a mobile running app with real-time matchmaking. RunLive was the only US-based startup selected for the 2018 cohort at the leAD Sports Accelerator in Berlin, Germany, founded by the three oldest grandsons of Adi Dassler, founder of Adidas.
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