This evening’s Young Univ Summer Drinks was an exciting opportunity to hear from William Reeve, who hosted us at the Goodlord offices, and Avin Rabheru. The event was the cherry on top of a property-oriented day for me. I had put in an offer on a house as a first-time buyer. This emotional drama was in the context of my work at a legal property tech start-up.

So, I was delighted to find that neither William, Goodlord CEO nor Avin Rabheru, Housekeep CEO, wanted to talk about housing. Instead, both entrepreneurs discussed their varied path-breaking careers in an informal “fireside” chat. They characterised entrepreneurs as storytellers, before proving themselves and regaling us with their first steps into the uncertain world. They continued to remind us, you need a special “something” (or a craziness) to choose the path which is a gamble and won’t add up on a spreadsheet. At one point, they asked the audience, “How many here would start their own business?” I was surprised that only two others raised their hands. Yet, William and Avin were not. Both were familiar with insincere encouragement from colleagues and friends, who thought starting a business was a terrible idea.

After hearing about the interesting companies they’ve started, their shared drive to win and problem solve, to out-think and out-work the competition, hopefully, more of the Young Univites will take the risk and leave the well-trodden path of law and consulting careers.

Both William and Avin were keenly people-focussed, so the evening finished with a lively networking session. A huge thanks to the organisers and to Avin and William. As one of the people who raised their hand, I left the event feeling inspired. I look forward to hearing more from Univ’s entrepreneurs.