Sahar Hashemi: Unlocking Startup Culture in Big Business

Written by Jennifer Tucker | Oct 29, 2024 9:54:41 AM

At Oslo Business Forum, Sahar revealed how to infuse a fresh, entrepreneurial spirit into your company to ensure resilience, adaptability, and the capability to continuously evolve in the face of change.

The Entrepreneurial Mindset: Available to All of Us
Why is it that when we think of courageous leaders, we immediately think of entrepreneurs? We ask ourselves where they get their passion and drive, how they get their ideas, how they convince others to come on the journey, and how they deal with failure and face fear.

Sahar Hashemi is the co-founder of Coffee Republic and author of Anyone Can Do It, the UK's second-highest-selling book on entrepreneurship ever. Her story is an inspirational tale of how she stopped "thinking about it" and "did it."

"It's actually none of that," said Sahar. "Entrepreneurs are no different than the rest of us, and I'm living proof of that."

We tend to put entrepreneurs on a pedestal. We associate their mindset with agility and resilience and speculate on where those traits came from. Are they created by the financial rewards that come from starting a business? Is it a special chromosome that entrepreneurs are born with?

Sahar never believed she was entrepreneurial. As a former lawyer, she has always been averse to risk and never felt like an adrenaline junkie. "And yet, somehow, I've tapped into that entrepreneurial energy," she said. "Somehow, I've found it within me."

It turns out that energy is in all of us.

"The entrepreneurial mindset is not an abstract mindset change."

Igniting the Spark of Entrepreneurship
Sahar's experience as an entrepreneur taught her the mindset comes from the process. It's the journey that makes an entrepreneur—not a personality trait. Taking an idea and turning it into reality requires you to do things differently. "Having to hustle switches on the entrepreneurial mindset," Sahar said.

For Sahar, it started with a trip to New York that changed her life. One morning, she was looking for coffee and stumbled upon a new coffee shop. She observed an incredible coffee menu unlike any she'd ever seen and ordered a skinny latte. "I loved the idea of starting my morning here," she said.

When Sahar returned to London, she was dismayed that she couldn't find anything like the coffee shop she'd experienced in New York. "That was the first flame of entrepreneurship in me," she said.

She didn't set out to disrupt the market or become the fastest-growing company in the UK. "All I had was a personal problem. I wanted a skinny latte every morning."

"I started. I got the flow going."

We all get ideas, but too often, we overthink it. The difference for Sahar was that she took a baby step.

Navigating Growth Without Losing the Entrepreneurial Spirit
Sahar started Coffee Republic with her brother. As they began their journey, they were clueless about the work they were going to go into. They knew nothing and had nothing. They weren't in possession of time, money, or resources. They didn't know anything about customer service, training, or raising capital—let alone coffee. They had to problem-solve everything.

"Somehow, everything we didn't have clicked something on in my brain," Sahar said. "It made me problem solve the same way we problem solve outside—in a human way."

It turned out that these "didn't haves" weren't obstacles. They were fuel.

Balancing Structure with a Startup Mentality
As companies grow, the entrepreneurial spirit can fade due to bureaucracy and rigid, siloed thinking. Sahar stressed the importance of retaining a startup mindset, even in larger organizations, to remain innovative and adaptable.

Coffee Republic grew to 110 stores in 5 years. Everyone in the company felt how precious that startup spirit was. But as soon as the company got bigger, the organizational structure they felt compelled to create began to suffocate that spirit. "It's like pouring cold water over that passion," said Sahar.

Sahar felt the spark extinguish when silos started going up, experimentation stopped, and the "can-do" attitude changed. She decided to hand the company over to professionals. But her departure was accompanied by a sense of emptiness. She's determined to empower other leaders with an innovative mindset now because, she said, "A startup mindset is actually our only insurance policy in choppy waters."

In order to check their mindset, Sahar encourages leaders to ask themselves several questions:

- Have I disconnected from my customers or the end user? When did I last see or feel a customer?
- Is my work becoming transactional?
- Have we set up so many internal structures that we're unaware of the outside world?
- Am I becoming defensive when people criticize me?
- Am I overplanning in a world that has already shifted overnight?

So, what can you do if you pose these questions to yourself and discover you've lost that entrepreneurial feeling? It may be trite to say an entrepreneurial mindset is all about the customer, but in a way, it is. However, Sahar revealed that the obsession isn't about them—it's about you. When you put yourself in the shoes of your customers, clients, or other stakeholders, you reignite the feeling. "It's about getting the spark back," Sahar said.

Attacking Obstacles to an Entrepreneurial Mindset
Sahar encouraged leaders at Oslo Business Forum to acknowledge five common obstacles that impede an entrepreneurial mindset—and then get rid of them:

1. Attack overplanning. Stop trying to identify what's next. All the whiteboarding in the world will not help you predict the future.

2. Attack bureaucracy. Stop relying on "this is how we've always done it," and abandon your defensiveness in the face of criticism.

3. Attack perfectionism. You can't wait for all of the answers before you start. You must start small.

4. Attack your "work face." Bring your whole self to work, leading with empathy and courage.

5. Attack fear. Don't allow fear to sneak into your thinking, quietly persuading you it's safer to stick to the status quo. Maybe the quo lost its status ages ago.

Leap and the Net Will Appear
Once we abolish the patterns that have gotten in the way of an entrepreneurial mindset, it's time to take action. And while this requires tremendous courage, it also has the potential to yield tremendous rewards. "When you take the leap, something really powerful happens," Sahar said. "Your self-belief grows."

Self-belief is not about affirmations in the mirror. It's evidence based. Once you show yourself that you can do it, you've proved who you really are and what you're made of. Sahar said, "My motto in life is, 'leap and the net will appear.'"

Sahar concluded with this request to leaders: no matter what position you're in or what title you have, start playing with an entrepreneurial mindset. "It's never too early for this, and it's certainly never too late," she said.

Key Points

Sahar Hashemi is the co-founder of Coffee Republic and author of the best-selling book Anyone Can Do It. She helps leader learn how to infuse an entrepreneurial spirit into their companies to continuously evolve in the face of change.
Anyone can access an entrepreneurial mindset. It's not a certain personality trait but rather a willingness to take action to solve a problem.
Most entrepreneurial journeys start with small, incremental steps. This process activates the entrepreneurial mindset and can turn challenges into fuel.
As companies grow, the entrepreneurial spirit can fade due to bureaucracy and rigid, siloed thinking. A startup mindset can help large organizations remain innovative and adaptable.
Five common obstacles can hinder an entrepreneurial mindset: overplanning, perfectionism, bureaucracy, wearing a "work face," and fear. Leaders must dismantle these barriers to ignite innovation.
Sahar's motto, "Leap and the net will appear," highlights the importance of courageous action. Self-belief grows through experience; each small success builds your confidence and resilience.

Questions to Consider

Have you created enough space for an entrepreneurial mindset to grow in your company, or is it being stifled by bureaucracy and silos?
What small steps can you take today to foster a more innovative, entrepreneurial culture?
How are you addressing the obstacles that get in the way of entrepreneurial thinking, such as fear, perfectionism, or bureaucracy?
Are you courageous enough to "take the leap" in your leadership, even when the outcome isn't certain?

Invest in your leadership growth and sign up for Oslo Business Forum 2025 today. Headling leadership visionary Simon Sinek the 10th edition of OBF is going to be epic!

View full post