5 Questions For Founders with Tomy Lorsch

Growing from Abundance, Curiosity, and Compassion

The first 15 years or so of my professional career were driven by the need for survival, based on my experience as a three-time immigrant — I moved from Argentina to Germany, then to Spain, and finally to California in the United States. I was just surviving as an immigrant, constantly rebuilding my life in new countries.

So when I started my first company, it was all about making money while doing things that were fun and intellectually challenging. There wasn’t really a deep, meaningful sense of having a mission. I was even working with corporations creating products which, in many cases, were problematic for a sustainable way of life. My newest venture came after the realization that I could actually use my entrepreneurial power, energy and drive to work on problems I think are important.

I started to invest with a lens of peacebuilding and created a social impact venture capital that focuses on peace technologies — both for inner peace and outer peace. With this, I was able to merge my personal interests with the needs of the planet, helping humans be more at peace with themselves and in their relationship with nature and the environment.

One thing I wish I had known was how important it is to have a support-system that includes personal, business and peer aspects. It can be designed in many ways and have different elements, and I personally had a more introspective focus. I am from Argentina where there is a culture of psychotherapy — everyone goes to weekly therapy without any stigma related to mental health or why you’re going — so I carry this culture with me, and have always had a therapist.

On the business side, it took me many years until I realized how important it is to have a system of support that includes someone who is older and wiser than you, someone who can provide guidance. This can both be a mentor and a leadership or business coach. In particular, I wish I had known about the benefits of having a peer support group. It took me eight years into my journey as a founder before I discovered the forum method.

So when I first started my business, I didn’t have all those things — I didn’t have a mentor, a coach, or a peer support group. I am pretty sure I would have avoided many mistakes and suffering if I had the proper system of support that every founder needs.

I think it’s a combination of things: having a thirst for learning new things, a deep curiosity, and the need to create. At the beginning, it also came from a place of anxiety and boredom.

As a child, I remember complaining pretty much 24/7 that I was bored. I didn’t know until I was much older that what I was feeling was actually anxiety. That’s why I think it’s important to be aware of whether you’re doing something just because you’re bored and anxious, or because it’s truly meaningful to you, because the latter is sustainable while the former isn’t. In my case, at this stage of my career, I am driven by being of service to other entrepreneurs and to the missions that are meaningful to me.

This may sound cliché, but a mindset of growth and abundance is important. There is always going to be someone doing it better than you. When we compare ourselves to others, we forget what’s unique about us. It’s crucial to know that there is enough for everyone, and that when you write your own story from a place of originality, you can build a company that is unique.

I often tell this story about a German company called Rocket Internet, which created a copycat factory of Silicon Valley startups. If a company like Twitter or Airbnb launches, Rocket Internet would quickly replicate the business model and launch it in 25 languages before the original US company was even ready to go international. I remember thinking you can copy a business model, but you cannot copy the culture or story of a company — you can’t copy the reason why Airbnb was created, or their understanding of the problem they are trying to solve. And that gives them a head start.

I therefore think the mindset that’s critical would be knowing that every human and every company is unique, and that being the first is not important. There are so many cases of companies that were the first creating an industry, but then came someone who built something similar two or three years later and became the dominant player.

My wife.

She’s been instrumental in helping me make many decisions from a place of compassion, for both myself and for others. Everything is uncertain — even whether we’re going to be alive tomorrow is uncertain. It’s not about minimizing uncertainty or having more control, but it’s about knowing what you can control.

There is a list of things you can control: you can control what you eat, how much you sleep, the kind of people you surround yourself with, etc. In my case, having an anchor person that’s going to be there for you and be a source of compassion is important for navigating those uncertain times.

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