Being entrepreneurial with Kirby Porter

📝 Kirby Porter isn’t just any C-suite exec: She was named Unrivaled’s CBO at just 27 years old, after a career that spanned working for corporate and venture capital firms, launching her own podcast, and founding a startup called New Game Labs. At Unrivaled, she’s responsible for crafting how the league shows up in the world — and making sure more of the world gets to see it.

💡 The takeaways: Porter said that having an entrepreneurial mindset doesn’t only mean starting a company or a side hustle. You can view your own career as a startup, and you’re the founder. That means having a vision or a mission, but it also means being realistic about “who you are, what you’re good at, and what you can do today to move the ball forward.” Her advice:

• Don’t wait until you’re in the C-suite to take action. Be proactive about the things you can control right now — figure out who you can reach out to, what you can learn, and what you can share about yourself. In other words, go on offense in your career.

• Founders and entrepreneurs have common traits: They think big, identify opportunities, take action, and are very passionate (or even obsessive) about what they’re doing. You can do that in any role or job — or in finding your new one.

• Think beyond your job description. Set a goal to reinvent what your job will be by the time you leave it. Always be learning, and find ways to take action and improve.

🎤 The mic drop moment: “The fun part of entrepreneurship is starting. It’s fun to start things, right?... It’s not fun when you have to be consistent when it’s working, but also when it’s not working.” Persistence and consistency are key.