Yancey Strickler, a Blacksburg native and College of William and Mary alumnus, shared the lessons he learned as a co-founder of Kickstarter with 350 young professionals in Norfolk on Saturday.

“You will always care more than someone else does what happens,” Strickler said in answer to questions about starting a business at the Young Professionals Summit at Norfolk State University. The summit has been organized annually for the past three years by U.S. Sen. Mark Warner.

Only you can make the decisions and do the work for the niche you’ve carved out for yourself, Strickler explained. Hired help won’t have that passion.

Strickler’s biggest challenge was letting go of his beloved full-time day job to go all-in for Kickstarter.  He never wanted to be an entrepreneur. The music journalist’s dream was writing and he was editor-in-chief of a magazine. Yet, even though it seemed like online grassroots funding platform would be successful, Strickler had to face his insecurity. After feeling the relief of quitting, he wondered why he held on for two months, especially as it was a point of contention with the other founders.

Kickstarter leaders have learned to say no to keep their website simple and focused. Strickler said Kickstarter would never sell advertising that could clutter the site, and would never sell its data. It’s sticking to its arbitrary decision to take 5 percent of the proceeds to funded projects, which has kept the company in the black.

“Whatever you do is going to be an expansion of yourself, if you do it right,” Strickler said. “Don’t try to be what you think people want you to be … Just be a real person.”

Strickler imparted hope to the liberal arts majors in the crowd when he said he thought an English degree was more useful than a business degree.

“It teaches you how to think,” Strickler said. “I’m constantly challenged to find better ways to do things.”