I recently went one on one with with Genevieve Bellaire, founder and CEO of Realworld.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?

Genevieve: I’m a lawyer by background and started my career in the financial services industry. After I graduated from college, I went directly to graduate school, which meant that I entered the “real world” later than most of my peers. It wasn’t until I started working full-time that I realized that despite being blessed with amazing educational opportunities, I was actually underprepared for many decisions around my finances, health care, taxes, and living situation that I faced after graduation.

Feeling like I was essentially “failing at adulthood”, I began talking about the problem with colleagues, friends, and family and learned that I wasn’t alone in experiencing the pain points of “adulting.” I decided to launch Realworld as the solution.

Adam: How did you come up with your business idea? What advice do you have for others on how to come up with great ideas?

Genevieve: I’m a firm believer that there are a lot of ways to make an impact without needing to start a company, and if you are going to start a company, it needs to be a business idea that you are obsessed with – startups are too hard to come up with ideas for businesses that you might be interested in! All that is to say, I recommend drawing from your own personal experience – what problems do you have in your industry (or personally) and ask yourself whether the solutions out there address it?

I got obsessed with this problem space after experiencing it myself, and it’s that pay-it-forward element that really keeps me going. Knowing that this platform can save the next generation from all the pain I experienced when I was getting started motivates me and our team to move forward through all the ups and downs. We’re building the thing that everyone wishes they had when they were recent graduates!

Adam: How did you know your business idea was worth pursuing? What advice do you have on how to best test a business idea?

Genevieve: In the early days, I spent nearly six months validating this problem space by speaking with 1000+ college students, recent graduates, parents, employers, university administrators, to better understand the market and how people were currently solving this problem. The answer became clear: there was no solution – you just had to “figure it out”. 

I realized this was worth building when nearly everyone I spoke with about the concept said the same thing – “I wish I had that when I was younger”. As we have evolved our product experience, organic growth through word-of-mouth has been another signal that what we’re building resonates! 

Adam: What are the key steps you have taken to grow your business? What advice do you have for others on how to take their businesses to the next level?

Genevieve: The biggest lever for our business growth has been relentless focus on building a world-class product. To that end, while our focus on the problem has remained unchanged, our solution has evolved over the last few years. Initially focused on education, we built a course that provided a high-level overview of real world topics for colleges to distribute to their seniors and young alumni. The next step was creating a place for action - to take that information and put it to good use. And now we have built a mobile app where members can not only learn and act, but also engage with a community of young people going through the same life moment.

I would tell young entrepreneurs to focus on their product, but also spend time building a network of other founders, funders, operators, and advocates who they can turn to for advice at every turn. There’s no way to know what to do at every stage of a company’s lifecycle, so it’s key to have a personal board of people who have been there before and who have either been successful at it or who have made mistakes they can protect you from making in your own business.

Adam: What are your best sales and marketing tips?

Genevieve: It’s all about relationships! Take time to actually get to know and learn from partners, customers, and users of your product. It will help you better understand how to serve them (and likely make them want to work with you more!)

Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

Genevieve: The best leaders lead by example – that means small things like showing up on time, being focused on the task at hand, and giving credit where credit is due. It also means setting the tone for what is expected among others – exhibiting high integrity, humility, work ethic, and resilience. 

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading and managing teams?

Genevieve: Invest in your team, and also recognize that the best people will take the time to invest in themselves (reward that investment!). Set aside time to help identify skills that will help them improve their work, share your network to connect them with mentors who can help them understand the pathway they want to take, and balance giving them autonomy to make their own decisions (with your direction) and giving them the support they need to feel confident in those decisions. 

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders? \

Genevieve: I’ve learned that the most important traits to have when starting a business can be summed up in the “3 Rs” - Resilient, Resourceful, and Relentless. You have to be able to bounce back from (constant) adversity, operate with little resources across time, talent, and treasure, and to persevere through the many challenges that starting a company brings. Hearing ‘No’ is par for the course when it comes to entrepreneurship - so facing that head-on with a scrappy, flexible, and optimistic mindset is a huge part of striving for success. Just keep going.

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?

Genevieve: Surround yourself with smart, honest, and hardworking people, and you can make magic happen. 


Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.

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