Last week I took part in the World Economic Forum’s “Summer Davos” in Dalian, China.

In a recent article on CNN (that you can read here), James Schiro, group chief executive officer of Zurich Financial Services, is quoted as saying that there is a feeling boardrooms that you can “combine being risk-free with innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit. That’s impossible.”

And I couldn’t agree more.

Risk-taking is what makes an entrepreneur. I was in a safe, senior management position at Cisco Systems, the market leader of the time when I saw an chance to become my own boss. My decision to start out on my own raised more than just a few eyebrows.

I didn’t have the inside scoop, or a huge financial support – quite the opposite, in fact – but what I did have was instinct and ambition. Sure, looking back I might have done a few things differently in early days, but it was a steep learning curve and I have benefitted from the many lessons.

Risk-taking got the ball rolling for Joyo.com and continues to keep it snowballing at DHgate.

A good article on smart risk-taking can be found here, but the best advice I can give you is to trust your own judgment.