Posted Under: Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Our Heroes

Next in the “Our Heroes” series is Arjun Dev Arora, former Investment Banker and Corporate Executive who comes from a family of entrepreneurs and although he always dreamt of building his own company, he wasn’t quite sure of the what, when, and how details which made him a bit apprehensive on the commitment to start a new business. Let’s talk to him and find out how he broke out of the apprehension and the 9to5 jail…

DD: Who are you and what kind of corporate job were you at?

ADA: My name is Arjun Dev Arora and I am the CEO of ReTargeter, and online advertising technology startup focused on ReTargeting. Prior to this, I was the Head of Biz Dev for Yahoo! Real Estate, and I was in investment banking at Jefferies Broadview before that.

DD: What made you leave the job? When did you realize that you wanted to be an entrepreneur & why?

ADA: I left Yahoo! because I felt like I was ready to start my own business.  Entrepreneurship is in my blood, my grandfather was an entrepreneur, my dad was an entrepreneur, my little brother’s an entrepreneur – starting my own company was something that I’ve always wanted to do.  Structural changes at Yahoo! encouraged me to leave and pursue my goal of starting my own company, but actually realizing the opportunity in the ReTargeting field at Yahoo! pushed me to act on my dreams.  I knew that I could develop my own product based around this awesome technology.

DD: What did you do to break the corporate jail? How did you prepare for the employee to entrepreneur transition?

ADA: Starting ReTargeter was something that I had been ready for all along, but it was just a matter of doing it.  The preparation was mental, so it was a matter of “OK, I’ll commit to this,” and then doing it. To get ready, I read a lot of books and talked to as many people as I could.  The UC Berkeley network definitely helped me get in touch with a lot of entrepreneurs.  I mostly read books around personal psychology, as opposed to books about business — I was focused more around understanding the power within myself, and understanding and appreciating how to work with people and how to motivate people to do what they need to do.

DD: What are your suggestions for aspiring entrepreneurs?

ADA: My suggestion for aspiring entrepreneurs – Just do it.  You need to act, so just do it.

DD: How are you doing and how do you feel now?

ADA: I’m doing well, feeling great, and am excited to continue to grow ReTargeter.

DD: Ladies & gentlemen, this was Arjun Dev Arora, the CEO and Founder of ReTargeter. Let me borrow his (or Nike’s) phrase – “Just Do It” however, that’s not to say go in and quit your job tomorrow, rather take action and keep moving. For Arjun, it was about about understanding himself so the Personal Psychology books helped. For you? If you’re an aspiring artist, sign up for art classes; an aspiring cook, sign up for culinary classes; aspiring entrepreneur, make an appointment with a banker to better understand your own financials and credit situation first and plan accordingly. The point is to stop procrastinating and take action. So, when are you going to DO IT?

Success to all!