Atlanta Innovator, Ricky Hunter, Joins The Hatchery for Might Could Podcast
Ricky Hunter may not have been born an entrepreneur, but he sure did get started young. From his early teen lawn care business to working with multiple start-ups, to teaching entrepreneurship at Comcast's incubator, The Farm, to his current role with Carvana, Ricky has always been working at the edge of innovation.
All of that experience and wisdom were on display for participants in the live recording of Might Could: Stories of Innovation in the ATL, a new podcast from The Hatchery, Emory Center for Innovation. Ricky shared that one of the most important tasks of an innovator is the ability to manage their own ego. This is a careful balancing act because, on the one hand, innovators must have almost irrational confidence in their idea in order to keep working at a vision that people won't fully understand but, on the other hand, they have to be receptive to feedback, input, and evidence from the people we are working with. From Ricky's perspective, processes like Lean Startup can help with that ego management because they encourage innovators to focus on what really matters (the evidence that you are creating something of value to your stakeholders) instead of big flashy milestones like appearing in media spots or raising funding, which may not actually be signals of sustainable success.
There was so much to this conversation, including an amazing book recommendation list! You can hear this and other episodes of Might Could by following the feed on Spotify. To participate in the next Might Could live recording, sign up for The Hatchery's newsletter.
To learn more about The Hatchery visit Hatchery.emory.edu or email The Hatchery staff at thehatchery@emory.edu. The Hatchery is a unit of Emory University Academic Innovation.