Michael Belkin had a lot of sage advice for the aspiring entrepreneurs who came to his Rose dinner conversation. As a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who has received funding from renowned investors such as Peter Thiel, Mr. Belkin had an interesting story and perspective to share.

As he told us about the evolution of his own company, Distinc.tt, which is now a LGBT social networking site, Mr. Belkin stressed the importance of being able to adapt one’s company and business plan. His own company went through many iterations (it was previously modeled more like Tinder) before arriving at one that became successful. He emphasized that finding what works requires trial and error to determine what customers are willing to pay for and to find markets in which the company can excel. He also stressed that pivots should be seen as exciting new opportunities as opposed to recognition that the prior product/strategy was a failure. Often entrepreneurs obsess over what went wrong or feel personally offended that the initial product was not well-received.

Mr. Belkin also told us how he started out as a single founder of his company but in retrospect wishes he had had a business partner from the very beginning. He explained that it is important to have someone who is invested in the idea and the company as much as you are and to endure the difficulties of starting a business together.

In response to students’ questions about who to have as a business partner, Mr. Belkin suggested choosing a good friend who you know you get along with. After all, you will be spending all day, every day with that person. You need to respect them and believe that they are smarter than you are. Otherwise, you will always need to get your way in disagreements and won’t be able to gain from their ideas. One insightful comment Mr. Belkin made was to contrast a business partner from a romantic significant other. When business partners fight, they must hash it out and come to a conclusion. There is no “agreeing to disagree” or ignoring the issue. Decisions need to be made and one of the partners must necessarily win out over the other. In this regard, working with a business partner is more difficult than any other relation

Finally, Mr. Belkin spoke about the importance of having at least basic technical skills. Although he was an AEM major at Cornell, he took programming courses while in business school because he realized that they are a fundamental part of being a successful tech founder, especially in Silicon Valley.