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He had it all. A six figure income, a Managing Director title at one of the largest e-commerce companies in the world, business class tickets for his overseas trips, and all the other perks that come along with corporate life. But after 20 years of living the corporate dream, Elias Ghanem wanted to get off a path he knew was good to be on the “other side of the equation.” For many years, he was part of a big story—the story of PayPal and previously of Visa—but nonetheless a small part of that story. To fulfill his self-esteem and ambitions, Elias knew he needed to create a story of his own.

During his last years with PayPal, Elias worked closely with many entrepreneurs. “I have always been amazed by the feelings these entrepreneurs gave me—the excitement and the willingness to change the world. And I always looked at them with some kind of jealousy and thought: Wow, if they can do it, maybe I can do it, too.” For him, the “give back” feeling was itching him and he wanted to do something for his native region and for the entrepreneurial community in the Middle East. But even though the idea was always on his mind, he never had the guts to make the jump—until he reached a moment in his personal life and career where he thought it was now or never. “You can call it a mid-life crisis,” he says jokingly.

And so, on October 10, 2013, Elias Ghanem cleared his desk at PayPal and set off to launch Telr, a multi-currency payment gateway that also offers cash management facilities to enable SMEs to kick-start their online business.

On the first day as an entrepreneur, Elias realized that his business cards, his desk, his computer, and even his phone were not waiting for him neatly in an office, as was the case in all his previous jobs. When he set out to buy the office supplies he needed, he had to remind himself that he was on a limited budget. “In corporate life, you ask for resources but you don’t see the bill. If you are short of budget, but can justify the need, you can always get more budgets,” reflects Elias as he compares the two lives.

But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. “Having to pay attention to the budget makes you more responsible and way more hands on and way more engaged in the day-to-day business because you know the direct impact,” says Elias.

Next, Elias needed to build a team. Throughout his professional career, he fully relied on the whole structure of the HR department to get him the right resources he needed. His job was limited to raising an ask, interviewing the short listed candidates and giving the final Ok. “Corporate life runs on an existing infrastructure. As an entrepreneur, you are everybody. If you need to hire somebody, it’s your job to go from A to Z, from putting the job description, to hunting, screening, interviewing, and even to writing the contract,” exclaims Elias.

The ride on the entrepreneurship roller coaster did not come without sacrifices. Before deciding to leave PayPal and launch Telr, Elias sat down with his wife and four kids living in Lebanon to explain that for the coming 12 months, they would be seeing less of him as he spends most of his time building Telr in Dubai. “At the end of the day, it is our company that we are building here, and this comes with personal sacrifices.”

Despite the sacrifices, the long hours, and the new way of life, Elias never regrets his decision. “It is a very intense way of life, and the intensity takes a toll on your brain and body,” he says. He admits that entrepreneurship comes with high risk—you will be jobless at any time if you couldn’t materialize your idea—but with it also comes high excitement. And this is very alluring to Elias. “In corporate life, you live on the next promotion. With your startup, the upside could be phenomenal in terms of valuation of your company.” 

Learning the skill of entrepreneurship

Being an ex-senior executive has given Elias a better sense of judgment and clarity of the industry, but to Elias’s surprise, the skills he has built over his career were not sufficient for venturing into the entrepreneurship arena. “The first three months after my corporate life were tough. It’s like when you change sports. You would have some muscles that are very good for the soccer game, but are not the same for swimming. My goal now is to become a really good swimmer, and building new muscles is very tough and exhausting,” states Elias.

According to Elias, the 5 main skills that every entrepreneur should learn, hone, and excel at are: 

1) Flexibility—When you hire someone, you can’t give them a specific title and a specific job description. Because you are a small team, every person you add to this team must be flexible and able to multitask. 

2) Risk-taking—You don’t want to enter the entrepreneurial life for the stability of it. You want to be part of it for the willingness to take risk and see the upside. 

3) Evolution—nothing is set in stone. “I have been running Telr for more than 6 months, and the business model has evolved massively every day,” says Elias.

4) Willingness to promote your business—at the end of the day, an entrepreneur can’t rely on the brand’s strength to sell it. It’s self-marketing. “Every single day,” recounts Elias, “I talk about Telr to someone.” 

5) Being strict on the spending criteria—every dollar you spend is coming from a limited pot. You need to have crazy thinking, but very strict spending.

Two dangers to watch out for

Elias has been an entrepreneur for less than a year, but his journey has already taught him two main things: First, you need to be at least two in the team. “I have met many CEOs who run their startup solo—this is very dangerous,” states Elias. “I have been lucky to meet Sirish Kumar. He has different skills but we share the same objective.” Sirish, also an ex-PayPal, is currently the co-founder and CFO at Telr. Sirish takes care of anything related to numbers, while Elias takes care of strategy, sales and business development. The second danger to watch out for when you manage your startup, according to Elias, is self-funding. “You are very limited by the money you have, and unless you are a Rockefeller, your ambitions cannot materialize. When you have investors on board, they come and they bring with them their network, their experience, their mentorship, and more opportunities,” he concludes.