"Stick to your values. Build a good culture. Money follows naturally."
As a private investor, Ali Soudi is actively seeking early-stage entrepreneurs and businesses. He is passionate about identifying ventures with promising ideas and visionary founders.
Ali believes in providing more than just financial capital; but offering strategic guidance and mentorship to help these startups navigate the challenges of early growth.
By collaborating with passionate individuals and businesses, he wants to provide the necessary resources and expertise to help them thrive and achieve their goals.
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Table of Contents
Let’s start off with a little introduction for our readers. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and ARENA Capital?
Ali Soudi: My name is Ali Soudi, and I am an entrepreneur, private investor, and director of ARENA Capital & Consultancy, a venture capital and advisory firm, within the sales and marketing industry.
ARENA is a family-run consultancy and venture capital group. Managing the family personal group of companies, we also look to acquire and consult a portfolio of aspiring brands to optimize their potential for growth.
Our vision at ARENA, is to bring prosperity and a life of abundance, to every individual and business we come across. As a private investor, I also actively seek early-stage entrepreneurs and businesses to provide financial capital, and offer strategic guidance and mentorship to.
How did your journey to entrepreneurship begin? / when did you realize this was what you wanted to do?
Ali Soudi: My journey started from the age of 13 when I began working in my dad’s glass engraving factory. I was eager to enter the world of business straight away and make my mark on the world, so I dropped out of education after 12th grade.
Without a university degree, I started working in the family-run consultancy business at 18, focusing on sales and cold calling.
From this I learned a lot about human behavior and the power of persuasion. I was successfully closing deals with 90% of the clients I booked consultations with. This sparked my passion for business.
What challenges did you have to overcome at the beginning of your journey?
Ali Soudi: I was thrown straight into sales when I first started working. Learning to work with people and developing sales skills were the primary requirements.
Going into a team of 50 people, teamwork skills were so integral. Having a team around you will get you further, compared to being an individual. At the start of my career, I wanted to take on everything myself. By relinquishing responsibility to others and giving tasks to a team, will motivate and drive my team to grow.
Now I understand the importance of culture building, being values driven and instilling good work ethic in a team. Team culture is important as it brings everyone in alignment.
How did the concept of ARENA Capital come about?
Ali Soudi: The concept of ARENA came from our company, Be Unique, a creative and digital marketing strategy firm.
I started off as a marketer for digital services at Be Unique, and this progressed into investment consultancy. We transitioned from the digital side to the investment side.
What do you do to ensure your business is successful? / What strategies do you employ when marketing your services?
Ali Soudi: By keeping my team and clients as a first priority. If you invest in your team, then they will be loyal and want the best for your clients. By exceeding clients’ expectations as a priority, everything else will fall into place. 99% of my clients come as recommendations and referrals.
This way, ARENA Capital grows organically and attracts good clients that have similar ethics and values to existing clients. Birds of a feather flock together.
Is there anything in particular you look for when deciding to make an investment?
Ali Soudi: Yes several things – the owner, their drive, the company’s dynamic, how they all work together, and feedback from clients on the standards of work. It is also important for the company to have a vision for growth. Profitability is secondary.
What do you believe to be the most important qualities of a successful entrepreneur? / What sets a successful entrepreneur apart from unsuccessful ones?
Ali Soudi: Drive, consistency, self-motivation, discipline and being able to handle and accept the fact that failure is normal.
A successful entrepreneur will be one that goes in expecting fires. Also, not forgetting the bigger picture, always looking ahead and focusing on what really matters.
What are some typical mistakes that early entrepreneurs make, and how can they overcome these?
Ali Soudi: Being too self conscious of your own brand can be a downfall. What you should really focus on is what clients want and prioritizing that first. Overcome this mistake by asking yourself better questions.
For example, ‘what can I do today to exceed my clients expectations?’ Or ‘what can I do to increase my business immediately?’ It is important to take immediate action.
Other mistakes are tasks that are urgent but not important. Tasks should be important and not urgent. People tend to do tasks that are urgent but not important first, and a lot of those tasks can be delegated.
Finally, stubbornness, in the sense that they’ve got an idea and will stick with it, but will not be resilient to change. It is important to be flexible and open minded that not every idea may work.
A successful entrepreneur will accept the failure, and should be willing to adapt and grow accordingly. The world is constantly changing and ever evolving so we must always be up to date with the latest trends. Be a trendsetter.
What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned from running a business?
Ali Soudi: Never sacrifice your values for money. Money will come automatically if you instill the right values and culture within your team and clients.
Putting people first, having the right dynamic to be both a friend, manager and colleague when needed. It’s important to have the ability for your team to feel comfortable sharing with you.
And finally, do you have your own personal mantra or a favorite quote to motivate yourself during tough times?
Ali Soudi: Being an entrepreneur can be quite lonely, as you can sometimes feel like you are in this alone. One quote I think about is ‘The bottom of the valley never provides the clearest view’ – if you’re at a low point, everything is quite hazy.
If at one particular point you are feeling low, or that there are constant issues, it is important to not think from that perspective, you’ve got to come out of that and then you’ll realize that everything is actually going in your favour.
To end on a more positive note, happiness is a choice – at the end of the day it is so important to love and enjoy the process. Happiness is a journey, not the destination. Live in the moment.
Ali Soudi, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Ali Soudi for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Ali Soudi or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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