The first time Tristan Walker remembers getting the entrepreneur spirit was when he was attending boarding school in Connecticut. He was somewhat of an enigma, really, because he was surrounded by affluent white students and he determined early that he could compete with them. His persistence and determination led him to convince Magic Johnson and others to help him raise $24 million to launch his own company.
An entrepreneur is born
It was while attending the Stanford University Graduate School of Business that Walker's determination and boldness paid off. He had an idea that would increase business for Twitter, and he approached them with it. They gave him an internship. He later became Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm. It was during his time at Andreessen Horowitz that he created his own company.
Walker founded San Francisco-based Walker & Company Brands in 2013. Walker & Company Brands makes "health and beauty simple for people of color. By September of 2013, he had raised more than $24 million to launch a new product called Bevel, a technologically advanced shaving system that solves the problem of pain and irritation of razor bumps from shaving. Walker plans to market the product through Target stores.
Advice from Walker
Walker shares some important advice for other rising entrepreneurs:
- Know what kind of business you want to develop: Walker specifically advises building a company that customers would be proud to support.
- Choose a product you know about: Be an expert on the product you want to produce. Make sure to identify a problem, know how your product will solve that problem, and understand why you are the only person that can solve it.
- Be persistent: Never give up.
- Create values: Identify what values are important to your company, and live by them.
Read more at www.ebony.com/career-finance/entrepreneur-tristan-walker-talks-about-taking-a-startup-from-0-to-100
For more information about Walker's company, visit www.walkerandcompany.com