The last year has not been good for employment. Although March posted the highest job growth since December 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate is still 4.3%, and the labor participation rate—the number of people who are working or looking for jobs—is at a five-year low of 61.9%. And jobs are still being cut. Outplacement and coaching firm Challenger, Grey & Christmas reported 60,620 jobs were eliminated in March, with about a quarter of those because of AI.

Aside from all of the job cuts, it’s been an uncertain time to be in business. Tariffs, new government policies, war in the Middle East, and an AI-driven technology revolution have scattered the hand every business has been dealt, making it hard to see what’s coming next.

That all adds up to one thing: More people embracing entrepreneurship. A December survey by Intuit QuickBooks found that 33% of U.S. adults plan to start a business or side hustle in 2026—a 94% year-over-year increase. And more than two-thirds of these aspiring entrepreneurs felt a sense of urgency to get their business going this year.

Entrepreneurship is healthy for any economy, but it takes more than just an idea to start a business. This week, the Forbes CEO newsletter will be dedicated to advice and best practices for today’s newest business leaders. I talked to Michael Seckler, CEO of HR software platform Justworks and previous founder of two other companies, as well as Zak Hemraj, cofounder and CEO of RFP response software firm Loopio, who says mentorship has been a vital ingredient to his success.

This is the published version of Forbes’ CEO newsletter, which offers the latest news for today’s and tomorrow’s business leaders and decision makers. Click here to get it delivered to your inbox every week.

Justworks is a platform designed for small businesses’ HR needs, so Michael Seckler routinely talks to new entrepreneurs. He was once one himself, starting SaaS company Employease in 1996 (acquired by ADP in 2006) and investment management firm Euclidean Technologies in 2008. Times of disruption and upheaval often lead to a boom in entrepreneurship, Seckler said.

But make no mistake, starting a business from nothing is a challenge, no matter what AI disruption or external forces abound.

“It’s always harder to see what’s never been before, which is the new industries, the new companies, the new jobs,” Seckler said.

Even if a new entrepreneur was a successful C-suite executive, starting a business is difficult. Sure, a former top-tier CFO can handle finances easily, but what about marketing? Technology? Strategy and vision? Hiring? Legal issues? Seckler said that can be overwhelming to a new entrepreneur: Realizing you—and just you—own the entire domain of your business.

And the way to get through it, he said, is keep on going.

“Probably the most important skill that people need to bring is a certain amount of grit and resilience, because this stuff is hard for everyone,” Seckler said. “A lot of people find that it’s harder than they expected, and then they stop.”

Zak Hemraj started Loopio in 2014 with two friends after seeing how complicated it is for companies to respond to RFPs. They had software-building expertise and knowledge about the RFP response process, and they saw there was a space in the market for their idea.

Today, Loopio is used by 20% of the Fortune 500, with about 1,700 customers total and 260 global employees. Hemraj said one of the things that made all this possible was the fact that he had two other cofounders to work with.

“I honestly don’t think that we could have done it individually,” he said. “I think with the fact that all three of us were at a similar stage of life, and we were almost co-mentoring each other at that point, inspiring each other to take that entrepreneurial leap.”

Starting a business is a strange exercise, Hemraj said, because every day he’s doing brand new things. And he said he’s needed to have people around him who give him advice, help him manage different situations, provide feedback on new ideas, and just listen to what he has to say. For several years, he worked with a CEO coach who is a former CEO. He’s also part of a CEO forum group made up of six business leaders who meet together once a quarter.

Aside from his cofounders, Hemraj also has found quality advice and counsel from another source close to his company: investors.

“They just bring pattern recognition to the table,” he said. “If we have 10, 20 portfolio companies that we’re investing in and we see these patterns of behavior or challenges,” they can offer wisdom and advice.

Both Seckler and Hemraj said people pose the greatest opportunity and challenge for an entrepreneur.

Seckler said that a company’s early relationships can be wind in your sails—or a self-inflicted wound. Relationships with cofounders, early employees, investors and your first clients or customers all need to align with the company you’re building. The entrepreneur needs to be clear with their values and the direction the company should go. Investors who are not in sync with that, or early customers who want several customized features you weren’t interested in building, may not be worth the money, he said.

If your company sticks to the track you had in mind, you will be proud of what it’s doing as it grows in scale and revenues, Seckler said.

“That’s important because as the entrepreneur, if you’re energized and proud of what you’re building, your enthusiasm and your grit and resilience as things go through these cycles of hard and wonderful, it’s going to be much greater,” Seckler said. “But it’s hard to put those things—the foundation—in after the fact.”

Hemraj said the biggest challenges he’s seen are all people related.

“People are the greatest leverage of an organization,” he said. “That’s where you can get the most step function change, and growth in your business. It’s also the things that keep CEOs up at night: The right people in the right seats at the right time.”

When issues with people—or any other issues—are disturbing Hemraj’s rest, he goes to a mentor.

“There’s an emotional personal side to being a CEO and to scaling an organization where it is lonely at the top,” he said. “I know it’s a bit cliché to say, but there are unique challenges that a CEO faces that you can’t really talk to your team about. You can’t really always talk to your cofounders about. You can’t always talk to your investors about. And so I think those kinds of interpersonal dynamics that one goes through, when trying to lead an organization, and every day provide direction and provide energy and provide leadership can take a toll.”

Hemraj’s CEO forum group and his former CEO coach are people he turns to when faced with these kinds of big issues. But it’s not just calling these people when there’s something specific on his mind. Formalized scheduled engagement with mentors is key. When Hemraj had weekly check-in calls with his CEO coach, he said he sometimes didn’t realize how much he needed to talk until the conversation was underway.

Hemraj isn’t just sharing his issues and challenges with mentors, he also plays an active role in mentoring other CEOs. He’s been an investor in promising startups, as well as a confidante to other young entrepreneurs—including some who left Loopio to start their own companies. He also speaks on business panels and attends networking events to meet entrepreneurs who might need a sounding board and advisor.

Here’s Hemraj’s advice for finding or being a mentor:

Find someone who’s been a CEO before, not someone who’s just a professional coach, somebody who’s been a CEO, held the seat, understands the challenges. [Someone who] has gone on to dedicate their life to helping other CEOs.

If you find a peer group, make sure those peer groups are also in a similar industry, similar kind of role, et cetera.

If you’re looking for a formal mentor, the sweet spot is really someone who’s two to four years ahead of you. I find they’re not so disconnected from the challenges that you’re facing today, but they’re far enough ahead from a scale perspective.

Go to [investors] and say, “I’m looking for maybe a board seat or an advisor role, and if you have any earlier stage companies in your portfolio, I’m open to one or two opportunities.” If you do that with some level of consistency, those opportunities do come back—especially if you genuinely add value, those things come up all the time.

Get involved in your local industry community: speaking, being on panels, being there at events and networking. Even just putting your story out there. If your story is engaging or it’s relevant to somebody, chances are they’ll make that connection.

Many people dream of running their own show and leading their own businesses to success. But the business world is tough. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, roughly one in five businesses fail in their first year. But, Seckler said, that isn’t a reason not to try.

“I think that creative destruction has always been a constant and will continue to be,” he said.

Here is Seckler’s advice for entrepreneurial success:

People misconstrue risk. It often inhibits people from pursuing something that they might have dreamed of because, ‘What if I fail?’ But what I have seen is that those folks that go towards the energy that they feel and pursue a business, even if it doesn't work out exactly how they anticipated, beautiful things come from that. People tend to overestimate the risk of doing these things. More folks would be better off if they could get themselves comfortable with the idea of taking these leaps.

These foundational decisions [are important]: Do you have a cofounder or not? Who are they? Do you raise money or not? Who from? Who’s going to be your first customers? And are they really aligned to your aspirations and work on mission, vision, values, foundational aspects? I cannot emphasize enough how they echo throughout eternity. You get those four things right, you’re building on a foundation where you can build to the moon. You get any one of those four things really wrong, then it may not matter because your foundation won’t support much.

Investment advisory firm Wendel promoted Harper Mates as the new chief executive officer of Wendel North America. Mates most recently worked as managing director for the company and she succeeds Adam Reinmann, who is retiring.

Workplace technology provider Xerox promoted Louie Pastor as its new chief executive officer, effective March 30. Pastor previously worked as the company’s president and chief operating officer and he succeeds Steve Bandrowczak.

Cleanup and restoration services provider Servpro promoted John Sooker as its new chief executive officer. Sooker joined the firm in 2010 and most recently worked as the company’s president and chief operating officer. He succeeds Brett T. Ponton.

It can be hard to pull your business plan together when you’re staring at a blank computer screen, but ChatGPT can help. Here are five prompts to workshop and refine your business plan with a chatbot.

Entrepreneurship can be a good path for anyone, but women are turning to it more and more as their corporate paths stall. Nearly half of new companies are started by women, who own 40.6% of all firms. Here are some things that could make them more successful.

Which company reportedly filed for its long-awaited IPO last week?

See if you got the answer right here.

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