Succeeding After COVID: A Student Talk | Thomas Anglero

Mokrine till oyörde du truppo, i bäng i va andra motte männa. O noa har ossus hon att daren iten konkurrenssågonna för der ganz till sparsmål i chaten po Zoom. I denke, man skriver Zoom mit 3 U, fråvar kjällsikke bo, oder wa? Zoom, vi manta. O der beste sparsmålare, der winner also, ätt pair AirPods Pro. Sahar är de lyt och varre gu po sparsmåls ställinga. So, Thomas Anglero, f... Jan Tloven. Vas-y, go, Thomas Anglero.

I like the way you avoided using that F-word. Fantastic. Listen, you guys have been held on the whole night to this last presentation, and they asked me to come back and lift your spirits and really make you understand how amazing this time is for you. So hold on and let's do it.

This is all about you. Right now is all about you. Look at this time of COVID We've all been locked up. Nothing has happened. Everybody's isolated. The richest people in the world, nothing. They're stuck at home. Businesses are closing. Everything's collapsing. If they knew what they were doing, would this world be the way it is? All their ideas have failed.

It's your time. It is absolutely your time.

They're afraid, they're intimidated, and this is the moment for you to stand up. This is the moment you go, the hell with Yontolovin. I don't need to be like anybody else. I'm me. I'm going to stand up and rise. They don't know what's going on. All these businesses, I talk to CEOs every single day. They're going, my margins are being cut. I'm letting go of people. If they knew how to solve this problem, they would. So it's your moment. So let me give you 5 pieces of advice. 5 pieces of advice. Follow these 5 to help you lift yourself up. I understand in Norway you're not supposed to be, you know, "Ja, mobbing flinke, ja, mobbing bra gut." Okay, great, good. But is that going to make you stand up above the rest? Here's 5 pieces of advice.

Number 1: Say yes to everything.

Everything.

Somebody says, hey, listen, you know, there's something special about you. I want to put you on this project. Say yes. Somebody comes up to you and offers you something, say yes. You know, you guys are in college, you're 20-something years old, you're full of insecurity.

You know, the older you, the older you get, you get old like me, we got tons of insecurity. The only difference is we just go like this to hide our insecurity. But life is about insecurity. Listen, it's okay to be insecure. You have to say yes. Why do you have to say yes? Look at the other option. When you say no, listen, I'd like to give you an opportunity. Would you like to be on this project?

No.

What happens after the word no?

Nothing.

There's no next after no. The person comes and says, listen, would you like to go away with me on the weekend? Yes. Would you like to join this project? Yes. You're scared. You're intimidated. I don't know. I'm going to go away with him or her for the weekend. What's going to happen? I don't know. But there's something else. I'm going to join this project. I'm not competent. I don't think I'm smart enough. But there's more. There's options. There's possibilities. You have to say yes. I get it. You're insecure. I get it. You have self-doubt. We all do. But you have to say yes. The past is full of nos. The future is full of yes. Say yes. Open up every single door. You say, no, this is what happened.

That's not you. Got it? Advice number 2, don't hesitate. If someone asks you to be a part of this project, if someone asks you that, do you want to have this position?

If someone says, I like to go do this, you don't hesitate. You say yes. If you hesitate, think about it, Listen, would you like to be a part of this?

And you go, hmm, yamo tenkilit.

Does that instill confidence in me? Does that instill confidence in a person who's putting their neck out there, who wants to give you a huge opportunity? Life is not about hesitating. Right now, with all the things that are going on, we need people like you. We need you to stand up. You stand above the rest. Don't hesitate. Jump at everything. It's all about you. This is your moment. Do you understand? All the things we have, look at the oceans are a mess, the forest, everything's a mess. Stand up. Don't hesitate. Be proud. What's your story? Where are you from? Are you from some small town? Are you from a family? Things went really bad. This is your moment to stand up and don't hesitate. You jump at it. I, like I tell my kids, molest every opportunity.

Do not hesitate. Advice number 3: your individuality is everything.

You know those quirks that you have?

You know, some people have quirks, they go like this when they talk, right? Or you're into knitting.

I used to knit when I was in college. People look at me like, you knitted when you were in college? I knitted when I was in college, how would you like, right? Whatever makes you, you like to play the guitar, or you're into football, or you like to skateboard, whatever makes you you, that's your niche. That is what we need. That's what society—

embrace that.

We have enough people being like everybody else.

Do you want to be like everybody else? Who you are is what's going to make you shine above the rest, because that is what people are attracted to. People are going to find— you'll see you and say, God, there's something special about that person.

They're just glowing because you're doing your thing, whatever makes you, you. You're just a magnet.

Be you.

Don't go on Instagram and say, I want to be like her or him.

Whoever you are, whatever quirk, whatever thing you have, embrace it, show it, be it.

And it's just the most magnanimous thing. In Norway, it's easy.

Just be you. All right, next one, number 4. This is really important.

The law of plenty.

I love this.

How many times—

here, let's play with this.

Uh, how many of you guys, uh, how many of you guys bought Bitcoin 2, 3 years ago?

Raise your hand. Uh, probably none of you, right?

Okay, yeah, yeah, lying dogs. Okay, if you'd have bought Bitcoin, if you'd have bought Bitcoin 2 years ago, what are you doing on this show?

You would probably be in Bora Bora, right, having a good time on a yacht.

Listen, just because you miss out on opportunities, just because you're like, oh, I should invest in that stock, oh, I should have did this, oh, I should have did that—

don't have that mindset.

Let me tell you some huge advice.

There are so many more opportunities coming.

It's called the law of plenty. There is so much more. Do not spend time on regret and going, oh, I should have did this, I should have did that. Oh, that is so negative. You gotta flip it. Literally flip it and go, there's so much more coming. Seriously, it's like a drug having this thing because you don't miss anything. It's like, what's next? Having that mindset of what's next. Who else am I going to talk to? What are the teachers going to talk to me? What an opportunity. You saw all these amazing startups, all these people there. They are at the mindset, what's next, what's next, what's next, versus, oh man, Oh, leave it behind. Okay, last one, last one.

Hold on to it. Criticism is everything. We all hate criticism. I hate being criticized, but criticism is good. Think about it. We all want to talk to somebody famous or something. I would love to have a coffee with them, get some advice from them. And hear what they got to say. When somebody criticizes you, they're giving you advice. It may hurt, but it's advice. Criticism's good. Listen to the criticism you're getting from people. That's free life advice.

You got to flip it around. You got to flip around a lot of things in life, but criticism, I think, is one of the most powerful free things. That person who's criticizing you, they're using their time. They're literally looking at you thinking about you, comparing you to everybody else in the world, and then they criticize you. My God, look how much time they invested in you. Take that criticism, take that investment, and go, thank you, thank you very much.

They'll probably go, you're crazy.

That's okay.

Criticism is good. Criticism is free advice from the best in the world. Take those 5 things, turn your mindset around, This is your moment. We blew it.

The whole world's a mess.

If we—

if all these old people, all these CEOs wouldn't know what they're doing, we wouldn't be here. They have no experience. There's never been a pandemic before. Never been a pandemic before. So who has history? Who has the experience to say, I know what to do? No one. So why the hell— this is not your moment. Got it? This is your moment. There's no one else who has the answer, so why not you? Let me end on that one.

Why not you? With that, I'd like to take some questions and, uh, yeah, let's, let's keep on jamming. Is that okay?

Thank you so much, Thomas. Uh, we do have some questions from the audience, and the first one is, why is this the right time to start up?

First of all, there's never been so much money out there. I'm in meetings all day long, literally, and there's so much money floating around, and the money is floating around to invest in companies all over the world because everybody's looking for what is the next answer. Let me give you some guys some advice. There were some startups and people there, and I want to do some role-playing real quick. Not only is the right time And not only the right person, let me give you a scenario. You're in front of a bunch of investors, VCs, whatever, bankers, whatever, wealthy people. Who are they gonna invest in?

Are they gonna invest in this individual?

Good afternoon, my name is Thomas Anglero and I have a, my company does this and this. Let me show you this PowerPoint. Yes, we do this and we do this. Or do they invest in this individual? Hi, my name is Thomas Anglero.

My idea is it. It's going to make you rich. Forget about the Mercedes you have. You could buy the company Mercedes. My idea is next level. Do you understand where I'm going to take you? My idea solves hunger. My idea solves this. My idea is that.

Or yes, slide number 3 shows that we have a slope going up the hockey puck curve. We're going to make a lot of money.

This is your moment. But when you grab a hold of your moment, you know, the whole reason why this session is called F Jan Tlovin is that I don't mean no disrespect to Niantic.

Do I do this? I can't stand it.

Nothing disrespect to Norway, but it's your moment. Do you understand? There's never been in this time, because we're all stuck, we all— nothing was solved. No solution figured out the pandemic. Every company took a loss, except for IT companies. They got to still sell tons of stuff, right? L Shop made a billion US dollars.

Holy crap, right?

Because it's all everybody, webcams, we all need new webcams.

This is your moment because all the stars have lined up and all you got to do is say, this is me. I hope that's okay answer.

Yes, thank you. I think, I think we'll take another question. Have you regretted saying yes to something?

No, no, hell no.

Never.

Every time I eat a piece of chocolate.

Um, listen, no, because look, I said when you say yes, it— the next thing that happens with yes is I can— I'm gonna make a left, I'm gonna make a right, I'm gonna go up, I'm gonna go down. Yes opens up everything.

You don't— why would you live with that point of view? Even the question— the reason I pause on that question is that that means that you're hesitating. You're going, I'm not going to do this because if I say yes, this may happen and that may happen. Okay, say no. Nothing is going to happen. So what— so I don't even understand the question. So you're actually saying— the question really saying is nothing versus endless possibilities.

Right?

Regret?

No, I don't regret taking a chance. I don't regret a damn thing.

Say yes, say yes.

And if it's not the right decision, you tell the person, you know what, I went for it.

This ain't working out.

This is— let me give you an example. Perfect. Be very concrete.

I got a scholarship to play college basketball out of high school.

I grew up in the US, New York, blah, blah, blah.

I said yes to that scholarship.

I went to the school and I dropped out right in the middle of the first or second semester. Right in the middle, I'm a college dropout, okay? Why did I drop out? Because all of the Black people in the lunchroom sat at one table and the rest of the school was white and the two did not ever communicate. They made fun of each other. I came into lunchroom one day, I looked and all my Black friends said, Thomas, come sit over here, don't sit with the white people.

And all my white friends, hey, come over here, Thomas, don't sit with the Black people.

I took my lunch tray, I put it back, And I took the next Greyhound bus back to New York City, back home.

That wasn't a regret.

That was a life lesson I had to have. Everything's a life lesson. I said yes to that opportunity. That did not turn out the way. Ended up being a college dropout, went back, got my engineering degree, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

But it was a life lesson.

It's okay.

I took the chance.

What am I going to say, no to a college scholarship and not play basketball and not do something amazing? Of course you say yes. No regret. No, no, not at all.

Thanks. Uh, okay, so next question here is, do you, do you remember a specific experience of where you wish that you have done something differently? If you were to do it over, what would you change?

Oh my God, these people putting me on my spot. Um, I would have done something completely differently. Oh man, damn, should I go completely real?

That would be great.

Of course, of course. Uh, yeah, um, this is, this is advice for all the guys out there, I guess. Um, you know, I was dating my wife and, uh, being a normal young guy with a lot of muscle, at least back then or whatever, I was seeing a lot of women at the same time. That's a regret I have. I think when you truly love someone, love them. Really, really love them. Life is too short to be stupid. Love the people you love. When you're in front of someone and they mean the world to you, tell them. Embrace them. I think love is truly the most powerful thing. You can't be wasted. And that moment that you have that feeling, your toes are curling up and your stomach's rumbling, your fingers are cold, go all in. That was stupid. Being real. That's a real answer. Thank you.

We'll take another one.

He goes, "Thank you." See, that type of answer. That's what you'll see.

Real cool. All right, go ahead.

Well said. How do you criticize those you work with?

Oh, how do I criticize the people I work with? That's really simple. I hear something really stupid, "What an idiot. Listen, I think you could do better." That's the answer. Criticism, you know, in reality, you should never criticize anybody, bottom line, right? You could think people are stupid, people give a stupid answer, whatever, but then you look at it from that perspective, that's the best they can do in that moment, they're doing their best, and then you try to help them along the way. So the short answer is don't criticize anybody, eliminate that from your personality, it's not good. Everybody's truly trying their best, and if there is somebody like in your project team and, you know, in class you have a project you're doing together and there's always one person who's goofing off, put them in the corner, right? Don't criticize. Just say, okay, that's you, fine, we'll do this thing, but yo, get over there, stay over there, and now I know who you are. And then they have to spend the rest of their life trying to crawl back into everybody else's good graces and having credibility.

They lost credibility.

Never lose credibility. Be you all the time, right? So don't criticize.

Love.

That's a good answer.

Next one. Go, go. I love this.

So next question is What is the most essential element of starting up something on your own?

Be all in. Are you— when I had a startup, my last startup I have, I launched 2, 3 startups and I had a rule for myself and that was that I wouldn't eat my first meal in a day until I did something innovative, something that nobody had ever done before. And there was a lot of days it went to 3, 4 o'clock in the afternoon before I had my first meal of the day. My advice to do a startup is you have to go absolutely all in.

It's not something, oh, there's no higgly or being in bedrift.

It's not higgly. Your startup is the birth of your baby, your dream. You're giving birth to your idea. That no one else understands. No one else is gonna believe you. You're the first person to have this wonderful idea and now you gotta convince the world.

This is not fun. You have got to be completely, utterly fascinated, obsessed with your idea. If you're gonna do a startup, if you're in a startup and you're not at that state of mind, this is fun, oh, we're gonna make a lot of money, you're done, you're completely done.

At least the old statistic in the US was you had, you, what, between 5 to 7, you have to have failed 5 to 7 startups before you make any money. It's not about the money. You do a startup because you cannot breathe until you bring your idea to life. This thing has got to be born. Ask my wife, I keep talking about it, poor woman's gonna kill me when she sees me.

Ask my wife, I had wonderful jobs, high-paying jobs, wake up at 4:30 in the morning, I nudge her, and then she goes, no, Thomas, ufomai.

She's Norwegian, so she's always talking Norwegian to me.

And she goes, no, nein, nein, nein, nein, ikke ien.

I quit the job because I had to give birth to this idea. Go all in. I mean, seriously. And then that idea has a chance, and then that baby has a chance to have a wonderful life. It's not fun, but it's worth it.

How much have luck to do with success?

How much does luck? Okay, so look, luck has to do a lot of things, right? But in my world, what I think it comes down to is, it's not luck that I kept on trying. So it's really a math equation, right? You keep on trying, you keep on saying yes, and as you say yes to this and yes to that and yes to that, things begin to happen. Is that luck or is that persistence, right?

So a lot of people say, oh, you got to get lucky. Elon Musk got lucky. What— let me tell you the Elon Musk story that nobody really tells.

I keep it really short.

Nobody knows that when Elon Musk, early, early Tesla days, right?

Forget the PayPal days.

That's what— do you ever notice that you see pictures?

Go on Google, type in the word PayPal, because Elon Musk founded PayPal.

If you guys don't know, type in Elon Musk PayPal and look at the images and pictures. He's almost bald. He went bald, he stressed out so much when he launched PayPal. When he did Tesla, the early days, like 1 year into him owning Tesla and everything, it was 11:30. At midnight, Tesla was bankrupt, totally gone. At 11:30, he had called everybody, there was no more, there was no one else to call, and he's looking at the clock, he's got 30 minutes until he's gone. He took all his money from PayPal, put it all into Tesla. There was no possibility, no nothing. It's a quarter to— Elon Musk, a quarter to 12 midnight, his whole life is gone. What is Elon Musk doing at a quarter to midnight at this time? The true story is, and this is from Elon Musk, he was— left hand was on the sofa, he was on his knees throwing up on his carpet in front of his sofa. Everything he gave, he put everything into it, every— all his money, all his time, all his dream.

5 minutes to midnight, the phone rang, he said, and it was an investor who just said, you got your money. 5 minutes to midnight.

It was—

we were 5 minutes from never seeing Tesla, for seeing the electric revolution, for seeing the whole everything that ever come from it, from, from Elon, from Tesla, from the innovation. 5 minutes. But it took him his entire life.

It took his commitment, took his money, it took his love, it took his passion.

And he came within 5 minutes of nothing ever happening.

You know how close the world would have changed?

5 minutes.

You got to be all in.

I think this is a powerful story. It keeps me in check.

That's a really good story. I did not know that. But I think we're going to take one last question. This might be a tricky one, but what are some common misconceptions people have? How can we combat these misconceptions and communicate more efficiently?

Well, that's an easy one actually. The biggest one that people have is that weakness is embarrassing, that being a soft person is embarrassing, that it's not going to get you anywhere. That's complete bullshit. I think, I think, I love talking about love. The older I get, look, I'm an engineer, I have patents and done startups and all that stuff. And I'm supposed to be a tech nerd, I should have PowerPoints.

You put all that stuff together and life is all about love.

It really is. It's all about communication. It's all about looking by somebody's eye. It's all about touching somebody's shoulder at the right moment. You wanna do business, you wanna make a lot of money, love people. Listen to them. Right now, because of COVID Everyone's hurting. I started a podcast, you know, and I was talking to these CEOs, and I would just ask them, how are you doing? What's going on with you and your kids? And they were like, you know, nobody asks me. I'm a CEO. I'm, you know, Mr. Important or Miss Important. Nobody asks me about me. Who you are, that soft side of you, you know that part of you that when you're alone at home and no one can see you and you cry and you think these soft thoughts, you're like, no, whatever.

That's the most beautiful part of you, and you got to bring that out.

I love talking about this. It's all about the soft stuff, because looking at an Excel spreadsheet and talking about numbers and, oh, I'm so damn smart—

anybody could do that. I'll pay something. I could go online and pay somebody $5 from India who has, who has 5 PhDs to do that. That's not impressive. The fact that you're smart is not impressive.

How much do you know you? How much are you connected to you? And then are you willing to connect to me? And when we connect, when we connect, then magic happens. Because in the business world, no one's going to do business with you unless they trust you. So how do you build trust? You build trust by connecting. And how do you connect? Let me see who you are. Let me see your vulnerabilities. Who are you? And then people reciprocate and they show who they are. And all of a sudden you connect. That, you know, those intangibles, those things when you have a conversation, like, just something about that person, I just like them. There's something about them. The world is yours. That is the most important part of you. Embrace it. Look at the past. Look at the whole pre-COVID thing. Man, you know, everybody's like, I got this, and all of them—

look what happened.

Today, whether you're white, Black, green, rich, poor, Jewish, Protestant, Catholic, We're all the same place. And what does the world need right now? And Stuart Klemm, you can sense, we all need a hug. So the answer to your question is that soft, beautiful side of you is what's going to make the difference for you. That's as real as I can get.

I think everybody here could need a hug as well. Thank you so much, Thomas.

Thank you, thank you. Have a beautiful— thank you very much.

Take care.