Frederic Kerrest (Twitter, LinkedIn) grew up knowing he wanted to start a business of his own. In fact, he started when he was only eight years old. And while those first few attempts didn’t go so well, he eventually founded Okta — one of the most successful cloud services companies in Silicon Valley.

But the journey to get there wasn’t easy. Finding the right market, building a solid team, and learning how to listen to his customers, are just some of the struggles he faced — struggles every business owner has to face and overcome.

“Entrepreneurs are very eager and rightfully so. But you have to remember as an entrepreneur to under promise and over deliver — it's always going to work out better for you. We did not follow that lesson.”

Everyone dreams of success — of building something from scratch. Of having an impact. But building a successful company takes a lot of hard work, and there will always be setbacks along the way. You have to be willing to learn, unlearn, and relearn.

Listen to Frederic’s journey and learn how he overcame his struggles, and grew a business from nothing to a $1.5 billion IPO, and beyond.

Learn more about The Journey at mission.org/thejourney.

The Journey is sponsored by our friends at Salesforce Essentials. We use Salesforce Essentials every day and it’s part of our own business journey. Essentials combines sales and service tools in a single app to help small businesses win customers and keep them happy. See how Salesforce Essentials can help you be your best business at salesforce.com/thejourney.