Key things to know as an entrepreneur

Things I'm glad I did:

• I've taken the view to invest in myself since I was a little girl; it came from my parents' high expectations of me. So I've treated myself as an investment opportunity, and I'm reaping the return on early investment now.
• I moved to Paris when I was 21 years old to find my way in the world. Paris taught me to be resilient, persistent, and how to dress.
• I decided to leave my job in investment banking to set up First Tuesday (my first company); many people tried to stop me. I'm glad I listened to myself instead.

Things I wish I had done differently:

• There are a couple of people I hired too quickly who weren't meant to work at Ariadne.
• Corporate architecture dictates future success in a business, and I wish I had known that at the beginning of First Tuesday; I created a situation where I put in the money, network, strategy and time, but was a minority shareholder.
• We had a contract with Skype in December 2003 to advise it on business development where our fees could be taken in equity; I wish I had enforced the clause. We had well over £500,000 of fees, which would have been worth a lot more.

Julie Meyer is the founder and chief executive officer of Ariadne Capital, managing partner of the Ariadne Capital Entrepreneurs Fund and founder of Entrepreneur Country.