Hiroki Takeuchi

TL;DR

Hiroki Takeuchi, cofounder/CEO of GoCardless, shares four lessons from his journey: (1) your startup journey starts much earlier than you think, (2) avoid whiteboard ideas that seem theoretically great but aren’t something you would use, (3) focus on momentum — it’s better to start doing the wrong thing than to not start at all, and (4) be an emotional cockroach that can withstand extreme highs an

Key insights

• Hiroki’s entrepreneurial path began in his first week of university when he attended an Oxford Entrepreneurs meetup, not when he wrote code or agreed to start a business.
• An internship at Auctionmatic (a startup co-founded by Patrick) gave him hands-on experience with customer interviews, coding exposure, YC dinners, and living in a crowded apartment — all of which pro
• Whiteboard ideas — those conceived theoretically in big markets — are dangerous because they aren’t something the founders themselves would use; Group A failed for that reason.