The world of venture capitalists is generally perceived as being extremely cut-throat, where everyone is out for him or herself.
However, amid this sea of sharks, Luke Lazarus is giving back to the community that helped him make his fortune.
Instead of earning more and more money, more than he could possibly ever spend, Lazarus is helping new entrepreneurs realize their dreams and set their fledgling companies up so that they will be attractive to venture capitalists.
It’s the world he knows well, and he is committed to sharing his knowledge with the next generation of business owners.
About Luke Lazarus
Lazarus is a born entrepreneur. He started his first company at age eight, before going on to earn his MBA from Melbourne Business School in Australia.
He worked the next 10 years creating four separate companies from scratch, developing them and eventually selling them for profit.
By age 35, he had enough money to retire and spend the rest of his life at leisure, should he choose to do so. Instead, he chose to give back and help new entrepreneurs avoid some of the mistakes he made along the way.
The Luke Lazarus Business Philosophy
Luke Lazarus has built his success on the premise that as a business owner, you can’t excel at every aspect of the enterprise.
For example, you may be good at marketing and developing your brand, but mediocre at accounting, social media or dealing with employee issues.
He maintains that far from being a weakness, asking for help and finding the right people to work with you is a strength and the sign of a good, realistic entrepreneur.
He encourages the business owners he works with to carefully access their own skills, strengths and weaknesses and fill in the areas that need help with the best people available…and to do this early in the start-up process.
Lazarus works with people who are looking to start a business from the ground up. He works with them on building their brand, marketing, finding and using good marketing channels and developing strong customer relationships.
Plus, he helps to make sure that the entrepreneur doesn’t get overwhelmed, as can often happen when launching a new company. He gives new business owners that sounding board that prevents them from second-guessing themselves and muddling the trajectory of their business.
He stresses the importance of building an emotional relationship between owners and customers and that creating a bond between the business owner and his or her customers will help them stay with the company as it grows.
When asked what the most important piece of advice he could give new business start-up owners, Lazarus replied: “They should invest as much time and energy as possible in clarifying their vision before they invest money.”
He continued by saying: “This is especially important when teaming up with a business partner because competing visions or ideas about how to implement a business plan can tank a business before it has a true chance to get off the ground.”
Luke Lazarus Consulting, based in Melbourne, is always looking for new entrepreneurs and new start-up businesses to work with. He can be reached via lukelazarusconsulting.com.
