Harley Finkelstein, the grandson of Holocaust survivors and president of e-commerce platform Shopify, shared his insights and advice with the Aleph Institute community at a Zoom meeting.
In the 40 minute Q&A session, Harley discusses his path to success, his perspective on failure, and how he manages to maximize the 24 hours of his day. (Hint: He’s obsessed with lists.)
Highlighting his own career trajectory from selling t-shirts at age 17 to dominating the e-commerce market at 37, Harley explains that anyone can be a successful entrepreneur in modern times. “Most of the companies that we admire–Shopify, Meta, Google, Apple–the joke is that they started in someone’s garage. The reason that is an important lesson is because what you need today to start a great business is resourcefulness, not resources. You need creativity far more than you need capital.”
Harley says that the three qualities he looks for in a leader are curiosity, kindness and antifragility. He is a big believer in the power of mentors, and surrounds himself with a “personal board of directors” so that he can ask for advice on everything from family to business to philanthropy.
The Aleph Institute Speaker Series is an initiative that brings together unique trailblazers with the Aleph community, including staff, volunteers, family members of incarcerated individuals, formerly incarcerated individuals, and young adults struggling with addiction. Previous speakers include Sheryl Sandberg, Terry Kassel, Max Webb, Leon Cooperman, Mike Leven, Jared Grusd, Cheryl Saban and many other community leaders and activists.
Contact Aleph at [email protected] for more information on future events.
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Wow such a great program