By Segun Adeyanju
Shanaz Hemmati, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of ZenBusiness, says two essential skills – perseverance and adaptability, make the biggest difference between business success and failure.
Speaking with CNBC Make It, Hemmati, a veteran of two multibillion-dollar startups, emphasized that entrepreneurs must be prepared for challenges and constant learning.
“First, [it’s] understanding that it’s hard, it’s not easy to build a successful business,” she said. “It takes perseverance. It takes work. It takes constant learning.”
She added that founders must also be willing to change strategies when things are not working.
“Being able to, or being willing to, change if something is not working, [doing it] very quickly and trying different things… that is a big difference between those who do succeed versus those who don’t.”
Founded in 2017, ZenBusiness, an AI-driven software company that helps first-time entrepreneurs handle regulatory processes – was valued at $1.7 billion in 2021. Before ZenBusiness, Hemmati and her co-founder, Ross Buhrdorf, served as executives at HomeAway, acquired by Expedia for $3.9 billion in 2015.
Hemmati’s insights align with views shared by other global business leaders, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who told Stanford University students in 2024 that “greatness comes from character,” and that character is forged through “pain and suffering.”
Hemmati encouraged entrepreneurs not to view setbacks as failure but as opportunities for growth. “Don’t ever think of it as a failure. Think about everything that you learn… once you’re an entrepreneur, you’re an entrepreneur for your whole life.”
She explained that successful founders must balance perseverance with adaptability knowing when to persist and when to pivot.
During crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, she noted, adaptability became a survival skill for many companies.
“Every business can expect to have up and down times,” Hemmati said. “But successful leaders recognize when something is truly not working and start thinking through what needs to change.”
Her advice to startups: act fast, learn quickly, and don’t wait for perfect solutions.
“If you’re thinking about it, probably others are too,” she warned. “So the sooner you act, the faster you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t.”
