LLC Twitter and Instagram will have you believe that the only way to achieve success is through countless work hours and minimal rest and self-care time. The social media gurus would also attempt to convince you that entrepreneurship is this magical, stress-free journey toward economic freedom. That’s not the case.

There are many benefits to having a side hustle, grinding until you win, and having the autonomy of business ownership. However, most successful entrepreneurs would tell you that the growth journey isn’t entirely black and white. It is also filled with gray areas, as every business, person, and idea is nuanced.

And while LLC Twitter and Instagram provide some false sense of reality through meme culture, some universal truths exist that can help every aspiring business owner thrive. This is where Luke Cooper enters the chat.

Luke Cooper is the CEO and managing partner at Latimer Ventures, but his story starts well before that.

Cooper is a graduate of Syracuse Law School and a serial investor and entrepreneur. With work as a counsel for State Farm and as an investor and executive with other startups, Cooper has a range of business experience.

His most lucrative venture was being the founder and CEO of Fixt Inc., a “Saas-based mobile device repair web and mobile app that takes the hassle out of troubleshooting mobile device issues.”

The father of two was able to find success during the pandemic when he sold Fixt to Assurant in a deal worth more than 11x of the company’s revenue, according to an interview.

Today, along with being on several boards and serving as an advisor to multiple companies, he leads his VC firm.

Latimer Ventures has the aim of helping underrepresented entrepreneurs find success in their businesses.

“As one of the only VC-backed Black founders here [Baltimore, Maryland], it made me unique, but it also made it super difficult,” Cooper said in a statement to Technical.ly. “Even after a prior exit, I struggled to raise money, and it wasn’t always clear why. It’s frustrating to constantly get grilled 3x as much as the next person.”

While Cooper’s journey as a businessman is noteworthy, he admits there are some things he wished someone would’ve told him before becoming a CEO.

In a 2021 interview with Charlie Katz, Cooper was a part of the “Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became A CEO” series. In it, he explained his commitment to assisting BIPOC founders and CEOs while offering some insight on things he wished he knew that could help others navigate the entrepreneurial space.

  • Get a dog, get a therapist, invest in Crypto.
  • They love when they love you, they hate you when they hate you. Don’t try to please everyone.
  • Lean in deeply to feedback from the people that work around you, even when it’s not favorable. It’s ok to look for patterns here.
  • It’s ok to show up as your whole self… everyday.