Feb 25, 2014

This post is part of a series in which LinkedIn Influencers share the best advice they’ve ever received. Read all the posts here.

Trust Your Own Judgment, Not Consensus Opinions

Ten years ago this month, I founded my first company TravelPost.com a hotel review site. I was very fortunate to attract world-class investors and advisory board members, all of whom had different ideas on how to grow the business. After one particularly drawn-out board meeting, two of my investors pulled me aside to give me some advice Ill always remember:

As a founder, youll need to trust your own judgment and not rely on consensus opinions.

Lots of Cooks in a Startup Kitchen

As a first-time CEO and sole founder, I was passionate about my ideas, but having never been in this position before, I wanted frequent guidance and reassurance that I was doing the right thing. As a result, I was seeking advice too often, and from too many people. It became paralyzing one trusted advisor would suggest one thing, and another the complete opposite. And I started to feel like I had to get advice before making a decision.

As my investors told me: in entrepreneurship, theres a shortage of information but a wealth of opinions. Their advice helped inspire the confidence in me to make my own decisions even if they failed. They encouraged me to be bold and deliberate about what I wanted to do, and to stand my ground, even if others disagreed. They explained that they had invested in me not the idea, not the progress to date, but me as an individual. Their advice empowered me to move quickly, grew my confidence, and resulted in an solid outcome for the business.

Going With Your Gut

Later, I felt strongly that we should sell the business to SideStep, and stood my ground even though the board was interested in continuing as an independent company.

SideStep ended up selling to Kayak and this made the TravelPost deal great for our investors. Im glad I stuck to my guns, even though I was effectively turning my boards advice against them (though, hey, they did benefit in the long run!).

Starting HotelTonight, too, was a situation where I really had to trust my own instincts. The decision to found the company was unpopular with the DealBase board and angel investors, and I didnt have a lot of support at the start. But I thought it was a good idea and went for it.

Listen, Learn, and be Decisive

T his is certainly not to say I dont listen to or take others advice. Im surrounded by great people over a hundred HT team members, co-founders, amazing investors and a large pool of peers and advisors to call on. I highly value and rely on the advice and analysis of others when facing a choice. But, when need be, Im ready to be decisive. And I work to empower my team to think this way, too rather than try to make everyone happy all the time, move forward, accomplish and build.