The best advice I ever got

Laurel Touby founded mediabistro.com in 1993 as a vehicle to host media salons. She sold it in 2007 for $23 million. Today, she's is an investor in early-stage startups and continues to host parties to bring founders and funders together.

Best advice:

It was more of a command. Bill Ackman, who now runs Pershing Square Hedge Fund, and who was one of my early investors at mediabistro.com, said, "You have to sell for $33 million, or this won't have been a good investment for your investors."

At the time, mediabistro.com was just starting out and had $30,000 in sales. I couldn't imagine achieving such a multiple. But, Bill saw something in me that I didn't know to look for in myself. And because of his belief, I aimed higher.