SOL: What does it take personally, in your opinion, to be the CEO of a start-up?

JH: The CEO of a start-up must be one part crazy, one part obstinate, but also one part visionary. So it's really a funny combination of somebody who has a vision, and is willing to suspend their rational self for a few years because any rational person looking at this would say, "How are you going to start this company and go against XYZ big operator, big gorillas?" But, of course, the CEO through their vision is able to suspend that rational self and say, "No, somehow this tiny little David will beat the Goliath," and more often than not that's what happens.

SOL: What's the worst part of being your own boss?

JH: The most challenging part is that you really have to prioritize your focus, because when you have a normal job and a boss, your priorities are pretty much set by that framework. But when you're your own boss, your real challenge is time, not money. A lot of entrepreneurs are obsessed by money and capital and "Do we have enough capital?" Time is actually the critical enemy, and that's what you have to focus on. I've seen so many entrepreneurs go astray when they decide that their Internet company, or their financial company, or whatever their start-up is, can do just one more thing and one more product or one more service as opposed to an almost death-ray focus on just one core area or product. I think lack of focus is what kills most start-ups or endeavors in large Fortune 500 companies, and it is only through focus that we are able to succeed and persevere. If we look at the monumental effort of the allies in World War II, they actually started behind in the war, but they had the ability to mobilize logistics and oil and they got support through an enormous focus, through the woman back on the home front who took the job of the man who went to war to logistics on the battlefield itself. So this is something where start-ups are like war: you need absolute focus, and those people who are their own boss and lack focus will not succeed in that environment.

SOL: What's the best part?

JH: The opportunity of being your own boss—and a lot of people don't even take advantage of this—is to really sit up every day and ask yourself: "If I were to start with a clean slate today, and put aside all my sunk costs of time and money over the past two years in whatever start-up I'm in or whatever endeavor I'm in, what would I do right now?" If you can truly ask yourself that question, you may be surprised what the answer is. The answer may not be just "Let’s move ahead with what we did yesterday." You have the opportunity to start a new track and say, "Hold on. Instead of going to the North Pole, we're going to the South Pole," and that might be the better way to go. It is those people who can get themselves out of their daily grind, and out of their daily rut, and lift up the periscope and say, "What is out on the horizon?" Those are people who will capture the vision and have a chance to get to that horizon line.