Why You Should Be in it For The Next Decade: LookBooker Founder Story

We chatted with Giorgia Rossi, Co-Founder of LookBooker, who gave us a glimpse into her life. She discusses how setting yourself a decade of commitment is what led to her success and what you need to know before you start a venture.

I remember the first moment in my life where I knew what the next 10 years would look like really clearly – it was the day that Renee and I sat down and committed to LookBooker. For everything that has been said, for every story that's been told about starting a company, the part of the journey that is not often spoken about is how long you should be prepared for that journey to take. The day we decided to quit our jobs as corporate management consultants and relocate to a different continent to start LookBooker was the first day in my adult life that I was committing to something for longer than 6 months and by longer, I mean 20 times longer. As a millennial, that kind of commitment didn't come easily but as a business partner, as the boss of a team, as the person building a company that's setting out to serve thousands (or millions) of clients, a ten year commitment is what the occasion calls for.

There's another reason the 10 year question "would I be prepared to dedicate the next decade of my life to this?" is important – it's a great way to test the durability of your vision and your commitment to it. No one successfully builds a company thinking they are going to be able to exit after a couple of years and no one successfully builds a big company, the size of company that appears in this blog, by thinking that the problem they are solving will be solved within a couple of years. There will always be more users to attract, there will always be more nuanced versions of the problem to solve and if you're lucky, there might even be some new problems to solve. If you don't think you'll need to dedicate the next decade to the problem you're solving then I'd encourage you to realign your expectations around what it takes to create impactful change or to soul search about whether the problem you are trying to solve is big and meaty enough to be worthy of your time.

When we started LookBooker, we set ourselves an ambitious challenge – to digitize the way that consumers search for, compare and book hair and beauty appointments online. Currently less than 1% of bookings are taken online and we knew that it would take many many years to work on the merchant side of our marketplace and set in motion the booking revolution in hair and beauty that other industries such as travel and hospitality have seen. In his book, The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz talks about "the struggle": where people ask you why you don't quit and you don't know the answer but you know there is a way. Your ability to spot that there is a next move, that there is a way is what will separate you as an entrepreneur from a dreamer. Sometimes your devotion to being in a decade long commitment is enough to give you the blind faith you need to arrive at the next move and to be bold enough to take it.

Setting yourself a decade of commitment will help you take a "long" view on the market opportunity you're tackling, it will help you be an inspiring leader and in those dark moments deep inside of the struggle it will remind you that not only are you up for the challenge it's what you signed up for. My advice is that when you think you have a billion dollar idea, when you're weighing up the pros and cons of jumping in and settling into your life as an entrepreneur, make sure you take a step back and ask yourself "is this something I'm excited to spend the next 10 years of my life on?" and ask the same commitment from the team mates, co-founders and investors that you bring into your vision.

Overview of LookBooker:

LookBooker is an online platform that is revolutionizing the way consumers book hair and beauty appointments. Search by service or curated neighborhood and then compare and instantly book an appointment 24-hours a day from any web or mobile device. By simplifying the process for female and male consumers and also offering streamlined booking solutions and online presence for salons, LookBooker is quickly becoming the leading aggregator of this space. Launched in 2013 by two former McKinsey & Company analysts, LookBooker is currently available in New York City and Singapore. For more information (or to book your next appointment!), visit www.lookbooker.co.

Special thanks to Giorgia Rossi, Co-Founder of LookBooker