Wisdom Wednesday: Founders Edition – Cynthia Del'Aria, CEO/ Co-Founder, Precursa
In this month’s Founders Edition Wisdom Wednesday, we chatted with Cynthia Del’Aria, serial entrepreneur and most recently, CEO and Co-Founder of Precursa. Precursaisa data-driven early-stage startup platform that is a founder's partner on their entrepreneurial roadmap to success.
Cynthia is a dynamic and passionate entrepreneur and we were so excited to sit down with her. Check out the full interview below or on IGTV Here!
Can you Share Your Founders Story?
Cynthia has started and sold many companies over the years. Her founder's story began when she was 15 years old, she started a tech company and sold it to a major competitor 4 years later. She started her second company a few years after that and sold that one 4 years later as part of a strategic acquisition. She’s now founded or consulted with hundreds of tech companies and knows how to dig into an idea and find the gold, the thing a future customer cannot live without.
After working with many founders she saw a common theme, many entrepreneurs would work on their product or service for years without testing the market to ensure it was viable and so, she created Precursato solve for this!
What advice would you give to yourself on Day 1 of starting your business?
“If I could go back to my very first company when I was 15, I’d tell myself to learn more about personal finances.” Early on, she had great success in her career and wished she would’ve taken the time to learn about how to be smart with personal finances.
Additionally, she emphasizes the importance of, “Making sure your why is big enough.” Having worked with many entrepreneurs and having been in this world for a long time, she has learned that there are going to be hard days and easy days and when the why is big enough, that’s where the magic happens.
“Entrepreneurs are everything, they’re the lifeblood of progress, they’re the creators, they’re the innovators,” it’s her purpose and job to help these creators so the tide of 90% of startups failing, starts to shift.
What are your biggest goals for this year + how do you plan to celebrate when you hit them?
Like many of the entrepreneurs we’ve chatted with Cynthia has been actively working on celebrating the wins. “I struggle with celebration.” She’s learned that it’s not just the big things that need to be celebrated, some days are really tough but we always get through them. The reason we aren’t celebrating the big wins is because we're not celebrating the small wins. “When we stack all the (small and big) things that is what makes us brilliant, it shifts everything, I’m training myself to celebrate small and big along the way.”
How do you define work-life balance?
“I’m probably not the healthiest with balance, but when I do have the opportunity, I fully disconnect, it may not be that you have a lot of time to disconnect but when you do consider it sacred.”
She shared, “when you blend work and life and everything together you’re not actually taking
downtime, take that downtime. You have to honor and trust and make that a sacred space.”
Favorite sip + snack? (Favorite wine, other alcohol or non-alcoholic beverage and pairing!)
A good single malt scotch, with a charcuterie plate if she’s drinking and if not, a club soda and lime with chocolate-covered raisins. Cheers to that!
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