00004. How Steli Efti Started as a 17-Year-Old Entrepreneur And Eventually Built a Multi-Million Dollar CRM Software Company

On today's episode of Gritty Founder, I talk with Steli Efti about his journey as an entrepreneur. Steli talks about the importance of persistence, being able to pivot, and taking small steps consistently when building a product.

Steli Efti is the co-founder and CEO of Close. He's Silicon Valley's most prominent sales hustler, a YC alumni, advisor to several startups and entrepreneurs and the author of "The Ultimate Startup Guide To Outbound Sales".

Some Questions I Ask Steli:

- How did you learn about entrepreneurship? (5:21)
- At what point did you decide you had an idea you wanted to pursue? (14:07)
- What was the most important lesson you learned from building a product? (26:14)
- How many companies did you call before deciding this was something you were definitely going to pursue? (42:57)
- How did you guys decide you were going to build software to enable everything that you wanted to do? (50:37)

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

- About Steli's childhood and how he became an entrepreneur (1:52)
- How Steli started his first business (14:16)
- When Steli learned money wasn't as important or fulfilling as he thought (18:47)
- About the second business Steli started, which was a dvd rental chain similar to Redbox (19:53)
- About Steli's third company which was an online educational platform (23:50)
- Why Steli's third company failed and the importance of taking small steps consistently when building a product (26:25)
- How Steli founded the company Close.io (35:28)
- How Close.io pivoted multiple times to become the company it is today (37:06)
- The importance of choosing how you react to the cards you're drawn in life (1:04:14)

Connect with Steli Efti:

Twitter
Close

Also Mentioned on This Show…

Steli's favorite quote:

"The problem is you think you have time."

Steli's book recommendations:

Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn
The PayPal Wars by Eric M. Jackson