Today's Entrepreneur: Richard Rygg

It is the hiring and firing process that makes or breaks a company

Today's Entrepreneur is Richard Rygg, co-founder and chief product guy at HipGeo. According to his VEQ, Richard is a thought leader and is good at product management and fund raising.

Vator’s community is the home to entrepreneurs who embrace their passion and follow their dreams. Our profiles allow members to express themselves by sharing their interests, lessons learned, as well as bits and pieces of their roller-coaster journey.

These profiles give entrepreneurs an opportunity to showcase themselves and tell their story. So if you are an entrepreneur, a serial entrepreneur, or even an aspiring entrepreneur, we'd like to hear from you.

I am a(n):
Entrepreneur

Companies I've founded or co-founded:
KIKO.com, iChange.com, CallandTellThem.com, The Music Door, HipGeo.com

Companies I've invested in:
KIKO.com, iChange.com, Xurex.com, CallandTellThem.com, Heartland Research Technologies, Breakthrough.com, HipGeo.com

Startups I worked for:
AOL, GeoCities, iChange.com, CallandTellThem.com, HipGeo.com

If you are an entrepreneur, why?
I can't help it. It's my nature.

My favorite startups:
HipGeo.com, Instagram, Square, DropBox, Machinima, Groupon, Flipboard, Blockboard

What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?
Fund raising is most frustrating. Building something that fills a person's need is most rewarding.

What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs make?
One of most valuable entrepreneurial skills is the ability to hire great people, and it is the hiring and firing process that makes or breaks a company.

What are the top three lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?
Hire the best people you can. Fail fast. Innovate on a hunch, perfect with information and feedback. (Bonus tip from GeoCities: There was a direct relationship between the closeness of a deadline and the odor in the engineering cubicles.)

What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
What do you mean? An African or European swallow?

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