Meet Steven Irvin | Entrepreneur and former Pro Volleyball Player

We had the good fortune of connecting with Steven Irvin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Steven, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
My thought process for starting my own business was really centered on two things: impact and potential. For impact, I am referring to more of a societal effect. Many people make good money working for great companies and maybe the company itself makes a big impact, but most employees’ impact is more internal within the company (which is great for them!). I would love to have a company that people know/learn about and can actually provide real value to them, offer them something that did not exist before without the new company.

The second is potential. Starting your own business is definitely high risk high reward, where there are no guarantees. I have always strived to be extremely successful, and I just did not think that would happen working a typical career climbing the promotion ladder. I sometimes look back and think that may have been the better route since it’s safer and offers more stability, but for the most part there really isn’t that big potential “exit” in the future. Even though a big exit is very rare for most startups, the fact that it’s a possibility is what really drives me as well.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
After college I went and played professional volleyball in Europe for three years and when I returned, I was thrown into the startup world working with my brother-in-law, but soon moved on to trying to start my own companies.

I am still not where I want to be professionally, and the brand/company is still early, even though I’ve been working on it for what seems like forever. Nothing has been easy at this point, from dealing with developer delays, figuring out best ways to market the app to get it into potential users’ hands, and of course trying to fundraise off just an idea with no all-star team or past successes to boast. I’d say the way I’ve overcome challenges has just been to keep trucking on. There are things that are out of my control, so my job is to do the best with the things I can control, and always be looking forward rather than dwell on the past.

I’ve definitely learned a lot of lessons, and really the only way to learn some of the most important lessons you learn only come from just “doing.” A lot of things make sense in theory, but you won’t know until you’ve tried it. One lesson for sure is even when things seem really pressed for time, there is likely time available to analyze the situation and wait on some decisions.

I would love the world to know that I really want to make a positive difference through my company bringing people together and creating closer relationships within friends. If this company becomes successful, I will continue building on that success and continuing to create things that make a difference in the world.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
That’s an interesting question and always a tough one to answer. I think if anyone was visiting me in Los Angeles I’d have to take them to a beach first of all. We have a ton of coastline here, and a great beach culture where we could also play some pick-up volleyball.

After the beach there are some great restaurants to eat out. If my friend wants something fast, I think HiHo burgers makes some of the best burgers in the country, even better than In N Out. If they were wanting to sit down, I think Meat on Ocean would be a great place as they have great food, great cocktails, and no corkage fee for wine!

After dinner could head down to Venice and check out some cool spots with live music and some very interesting people from all over!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d have to give a blanket shoutout to all the previous successful entrepreneurs that have blazed a trail that other ambitious individuals can hope to follow, and of course a shoutout to my family. My first round of fundraising was heavily filled by family and extended family, and I could not have done any of this without them. My dad especially has been very supportive and encouraging when I need it the most, and my life wouldn’t be the same without the added support of my in-laws as well! In fact, Blind’a more or less came to be off an idea my mother-in-law had talked with her friends about way back when.

Website: www.getblinda.com

Instagram: instagram.com/getblinda

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fourth-street-connections-inc/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/getblinda

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GetBlinda/