My Worst Investment Ever Podcast
Business:Investing
BIO: Guillermo Cornejo is the CEO of Riders Share, the Airbnb of motorcycles he started while attending grad school at UCLA.
STORY: Guillermo had an insurance company handling claims for his customers. When he realized the insurance company had a 50% profit margin, he decided to start his own insurance business. This became a costly and challenging venture because he had no experience handling claims.
LEARNING: Don’t underestimate the value of experience.
“The startup path or raising capital is overrated.”Guillermo Cornejo
Guest profile
Guillermo Cornejo is the CEO of Riders Share, the Airbnb of motorcycles he started while attending grad school at UCLA. Before that, he worked in analytics roles for GM, Nissan, and Hyundai. He grew up in Peru and enjoys anything that makes your heart race.
Worst investment everGuillermo launched his company in 2018, and it grew immensely. The company booked over a million dollars in rentals within the first year. Guillermo was on top of the world.
The company was working with an insurance partner with pretty good rates but was providing terrible service to Guillermo’s customers. It took many months to handle the claims. When Guillermo looked at his company’s history of accidents and measured the cost of paid-out claims and how much he had paid the insurance company in premiums. He found the insurance company was making a 50% margin in profits. This got Guillermo thinking he should do it himself.
Guillermo raised some capital and used most of it to set up an insurance company. This was an expensive venture (millions of dollars). The more the company grew, the more bad customers it attracted—from risk-takers to fraudsters trying to steal his motorcycles. On top of that, he realized how difficult it was to handle claims, and just like the insurance partner, it took him months to pay out claims.
Lessons learnedDon’t overestimate your skills, abilities, and knowledge. Work with advisors and connect with more experienced people who have done it before. They will help you understand how much you don’t know and then try to fill that gap.
Guillermo’s recommendationsGuillermo recommends reading Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think, co-authored by a previous guest on our podcast, Anna Rosling Rönnlund.
No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsGuillermo’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to double his company revenues while remaining profitable.
[spp-transcript]
Connect with Guillermo Cornejo
Dave Collum – What Should the US Be Doing in Ukraine?
Bill Blain – Always Sell Fast in a Difficult Market
Jeroen Blokland – Know the Actual Business Outlook Before Investing
ISMS 8: Larry Swedroe – Are You Overconfident in Your Skills?
Brian Feroldi – Be Careful When Trading Options
Matt LeBris – Prepare for the Downs During the Uptime
Pim van Vliet – Just Because It’s Cheap Doesn’t Mean You Have to Buy It
ISMS 7: Financials, Cons. Disc., and Utilities Sectors Look Most Interesting
Logan Nathan – Your Supplier Is an Extension of Your Business, Not an Outsider
Louis-Vincent Gave – Your Success Comes Down to Portfolio Sizing
Adam Rosen – Build to Sell From the Start
ISMS 6: UK Looks Most Interesting Among the Top 5 Stock Markets
Terri Spath – Always Know When to Buy and When to Fold
Brett Martin – Fix Your Partnership or Quit It
Damon Pistulka – Be Careful of Concentration Risk
ISMS 5: How Rising Rates and Oil Prices Are Contributing to 6.4% Inflation in the US
Pia Singh – Mistakes Are Inevitable, So Be Prepared
Raghav Kapoor – Be on High Alert When You’re Doing Well
ISMS 4: Bond Yields Are Showing the Fed Has Won Its Battle Against Inflation
Praveen Kumar Rajbhar – Don’t Fall in Love with Your Own Ideas
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The emPOWERed Half Hour
U.S Property Podcast
Aligned Money Show
Dubai Property Podcast
The Ramsey Show
The Clark Howard Podcast