Being the Youngest in the Room: A Week of Learning, Purpose and Opportunity

Last week was full of really interesting conversations, empowering talks and opportunities to learn from people who have already achieved some incredible things in business.

One of the events I attended was Together for Business, hosted by Growth Platform. The event was centred around the Liverpool business ecosystem and how businesses, organisations and individuals across the city region can come together, learn from one another and build on what we already have to create something even greater for the Liverpool City Region.

As soon as I walked in, I could tell it was going to be an insightful event. The room was already full of conversations, with people catching up, making new connections and sharing ideas.

When the event started, I randomly ended up sitting next to Jamie Crummie, co-founder of Too Good To Go.

We briefly introduced ourselves and had a conversation, but at that point, I didn't fully understand what Too Good To Go was or the journey Jamie had been on.

Then he got on stage.

That was a bit of a lightbulb moment for me. I remember thinking, wow, I was just sitting next to this guy and had no idea!

Jamie's talk was definitely one of the highlights of the event for me. He shared some really interesting insights into his journey of building Too Good To Go, including how one of the first businesses he worked with was a buffet.

But what stood out to me most was how openly he spoke about the reality of the journey.

It wasn't smooth sailing

Something I took away from Jamie's talk was that building something successful isn't always smooth sailing.

I think social media can sometimes give us a completely different impression. We see successful founders, growing businesses, investment announcements and companies making millions, but we don't always see everything that happened before they reached that point.

We don't see all the failures, the people who said no, the ideas that didn't work or the moments when someone probably questioned whether they should carry on.

Jamie spoke about the fact that things will fail, and something not working straight away doesn't necessarily mean it will never work.

That really stood out to me.

One potential client might not like your service or want to work with you. That doesn't mean the next person will say the same thing.

An idea might not work for one client, but that same idea could go on to work for hundreds or thousands of others.

For me, one of the biggest perspectives I took from Jamie's talk was to work towards something bigger and don't give up at the first hurdle.

Money isn't always the goal

Another principle from Jamie's talk that really stuck with me was the purpose behind why Too Good To Go exists in the first place.

He had a vision of tackling food waste on a large scale.

Food waste is something most of us probably contribute to in some way. We buy too much, restaurants prepare food that doesn't get sold, and perfectly good food can end up being thrown away.

Jamie saw that problem and, through his passion for doing something about it, helped create a business that tackles it.

I found that really inspiring because it shows that building a business doesn't always have to start with the question, "How can I make money?"

Sometimes it starts with, "What problem do I care about enough to try to solve?"

Something Jamie said summed that up perfectly for me:

"Money is not the goal. Money is the outcome."

That line stuck with me.

When you focus on solving a real problem and creating something that genuinely provides value to people, commercial success can become an outcome of doing that well rather than being the only reason you started.

Looking at what Too Good To Go has become, you can see how powerful having that bigger purpose can be.

It's also something that made me think about what we're building ourselves. I want the things we create to have meaning behind them. Of course, every business needs to make money to survive and grow, but there should also be a reason for what you're building and the people you're trying to help.

Being the youngest person in the room

Thursday brought another completely different experience when I attended the MIB finalists Drinks Event.

Walking into that room was slightly daunting because I was probably the youngest person there.

But once I started speaking to people, that feeling quickly changed.

The room was full of professionals from completely different backgrounds and sectors. I spoke with people from larger organisations, founders, people involved with charities and others doing some really interesting work across their industries.

Those conversations were probably the most valuable part of the evening for me.

I got to hear different perspectives and learn from people with far more experience than me, but I also had the opportunity to tell them about the exciting things we're working on at GoodShip*, including our AI Activator.

Being younger or having less experience can sometimes make you question whether you belong in certain rooms.

But I think I've started looking at it differently.

Instead of thinking, "I'm the youngest person here," I can think, "How much can I learn from the people in this room?"

And at the same time, I can share what I'm working on and hopefully bring a different perspective to the conversation too.

That's something I want to do more of.

Speak to people outside of my usual circle. Ask questions. Listen to people's experiences. Tell people what we're building. And take something useful away from every conversation.

The MIB event also reminded me just how many interesting people and organisations we have around us. From businesses and large organisations to founders and charities, there are people working on some genuinely meaningful things.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone come together again for the awards on 15th October, and I hope all of the finalists have an amazing night.

What I'm taking into this week

Looking back, the biggest lesson from last week wasn't really about either event individually.

It was about purpose, people and perspective.

Jamie's story reminded me to think about why we're building something in the first place, rather than only thinking about what it could become financially.

Together for Business reminded me how much we can learn when Liverpool's business community comes together.

And the MIB finalists' get-together reminded me not to be intimidated by being the youngest person in the room, but to see it as an opportunity to learn from people I wouldn't normally get the chance to speak to.

I'm still early in my journey. I'm going to make mistakes, some ideas won't work and I'm sure I'll hear plenty of "no's".

But that's part of it.

Build something you believe in. Solve problems that matter. Learn from the people around you. And don't let the first "no" stop you from finding the eventual "yes".