After years of watching Shark Tank from my couch, I am excited to dive into the tank as a Guest Shark for the Season 11 premiere!

“We can’t do everything. Let’s prioritize and do a few things really well.”

I’m so thankful for this advice and countless other lessons from KIND Snacks’ outgoing COO & President John Leahy over our 9 year partnership. John was a particularly good partner because he recognized that ideas and creativity are important – indeed vital – to the business, so he didn’t dismiss all my crazy ideas outright. He just helped filter the creativity and ensure discipline to identify one “wild” pursuit that we were equipped to handle at a time. Though John is retiring this year, I know his advice will endure at KIND. I can’t stop my brain from waking me at 3am with an idea, nor do I want to. What I do is surround myself with smart partners that can help me filter and operationalize them. https://bit.ly/2C7qx8s

Back when I was an undergrad at Trinity University I started a watch company called Da’Leky Times. It taught me a ton about business and retail merchandising that has helped me throughout my career. This week, I got to revisit my old campus and meet the next generation of Trinity entrepreneurs, including three first year students with a non-profit venture to use art to help people with disabilities and a senior who launched a cold brew coffee company. I can’t wait to see where their journeys take them after graduation.

I loved comparing notes on the highs and lows of  entrepreneurship with one of the best – Ron Shaich, founder of Panera Bread. We found so many parallels in our journeys.

My team jokingly refers to my curiosity and many questions as the ‘Mexican Inquisition.’ Here, Entrepreneur Magazine got to turn the tables and ask me 20 questions.

20 Questions With Daniel Lubetzky

#WhatWeNeedToSucceed: A Letter to the Next President on Behalf of Women Entrepreneur

Elizabeth Gore, Dell EIR Elizabeth Gore, Dell EIR 1 Nov 2016
#WhatWeNeedToSucceed

Nov. 1, 2016

To: Secretary Hillary Clinton / Mr. Donald Trump

Dear Madam Secretary / Mr. Trump:

We write to you today on behalf of our nation’s leading innovators, entrepreneurs and influencers regarding one of the largest untapped economic and social opportunities in our country – women entrepreneurs. If women and men participated equally in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, the United States’ GDP could rise by $30 billion.

While women are starting businesses twice as fast as men, they face unique challenges, including experiencing disproportionately high failure rates, receiving only seven percent of venture capital and being represented in only seven percent of media stories. Through leadership and sound public policy, our country can benefit from the economic and social opportunity women entrepreneurs cultivate.

Over the last month, top business leaders – from enterprise CEOs to leading entrepreneurs – developed a set of policy and leadership recommendations that we believe will help women entrepreneurs start and scale businesses. Our suggestions for the necessary elements for success for women entrepreneurs focus on access to capital, expanding and supporting networks and markets, and addressing the changing face of business through technology.

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I was fortunate to have the opportunity to get to know Pamela Hartigan over close to two decades, and at every turn I noticed her commitment to excellence and her wonderful warmth and positive energy.  I am sharing Sally Osberg’s words below as a fit tribute to an extraordinary leader in the social entrepreneurship world.

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Kudos to my friend Wes Moore. His thoughts about fostering empathy, about social entrepreneurship, about not being too quick to praise or condemn others, and about the definition of manliness all are spot on how we feel society could be dramatically improved if we adopted these mindsets and ways of life.

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