Entrepreneurship advice from ‘Flash Boys’ star Brad Katsuyama

“You have to have a core
belief that what you’re trying to do is real,” said Brad
Katsuyama, pictured.
Business
Insider/Jessica Tyler

• Brad Katsuyama, CEO of IEX and the star of Michael
  Lewis book “Flash
  Boys,” spoke on Tuesday at Business Insider’s IGNITION 2018
  conference.
• Katsuyama said successful entrepreneurship
  means having experienced the problems you’re trying to
  solve.
• He was a trader for years and felt there was a need for
  an alternative exchange that would prevent predatory
  trading.
• Katsuyama said, “In the lowest possible moments, where
  possibly you’re even doubting yourself, you have to have a core
  belief that what you’re trying to do is real.”

Brad Katsuyama has one “critical” piece of advice for other
entrepreneurs: “You have to have experienced the problems that
you’re trying to solve.”

Katsuyama is the CEO of upstart stock exchange IEX, and is best
known as the star of Michael Lewis’ 2014 bestseller, “Flash
Boys.”

At Business Insider’s IGNITION conference in New York Tuesday,
Katsuyama said, “If you’re doing something controversial, there’s
going to be a lot of people fighting against you. In the lowest
possible moments, where possibly you’re even doubting yourself,
you have to have a core belief that what you’re trying to do is
real. It’s a problem that needs to be solved.”

Katsuyama added, “When your back’s against the wall, you have to
firmly believe that, or you’re never going to make it through.”

IEX was born out of Katsuyama’s experience as a trader at Royal
Bank of Canada: He founded the company in 2012 as a new exchange
that would prevent the predatory trading that took place on
traditional US exchanges.

In September 2018, IEX snagged its first listing from Nasdaq,
Business Insider’s
Frank Chaparro reported.

“I lived the story,” Katsuyama said of the “Flash Boys” plot.
“Never for a second have I doubted what I lived through.”

Katsuyama’s memory of his experiences as a trader kept him going
through the ups and downs of launching IEX.

Read more:
IEX CEO Brad Katsuyama talks about life after ‘Flash Boys’ and
how he’s taking on the New York Stock Exchange and
Nasdaq

Some other successful entrepreneurs have similar advice. Neil
Blumenthal, CEO of Warby Parker said the best way to
discover a solid business idea is to write down your
frustrations every day.

Interestingly, Blumenthal also said that many entrepreneurs
“needed to live a little and experience a little bit of life to
identify where there are problems that need solving.”

As for Katsuyama, he said, “At the end of the day, when no one
believes in your idea, you have to be the one who believes in
it.”