Summary of the book Nada Easy, by Tallis Gomes » Portal Insights

Nada Easy is written by Tallis Gomes and addresses, in practical conversations, the entrepreneurial scenario in Brazil. The backdrop of the narrative, as expected, is Easy Taxi. The application, created by him, revolutionized the taxi industry.

Before talking about the work itself, it is worth remembering that Tallis Gomes was elected one of the most innovative young people in Brazil, Entrepreneur of the Year for two consecutive years at LIDE, by João Doria, and considered by Galileu magazine one of the 25 most influential people of the Brazilian internet.

What is “Nothing Easy” about?

In the book Nada Easy, the prodigy develops a step-by-step guide on how to put entrepreneurship into practice, with all its pains and delights. Anyone who is thinking about opening a new business, or needs to hone their entrepreneurial streak, can see the work as a practical guide to opening, scaling and managing a startup in the country that is considered, by the author, as “a country of bureaucracy and interest rates gigantic.”

Throughout the book, Tallis shares ideas that emerged from his own experiences, mainly at the helm of Easy Taxi. He talks about the possibility of growing from below – and with knowledge of the facts. The author comes from a humble family and has always had a difficult background. This is where the phrase “rock saved my life” comes from.

Believing that the greatest fuel for founders of companies with growth potential is obsession with the problem, he narrates the beginning of his obstinate journey. The desire to play Nirvana in a religious school, when he was younger, was a problem that Tallis worked hard to solve. But to do so, you had to buy a battery. The money for the instrument came from cell phone sales through Mercado Livre – which, at the time, had just been launched.

Tallis says that, from sales pitches, he learned to generate confidence in what he said. Thus, from this time, he says he brought enormous lessons, such as the ability to negotiate.

It's not easy to come up with a viable idea

Tallis Gomes was responsible for taking Easy Taxi to more than 35 countries and, even so, he assumes that Brazil is one of the most difficult countries to operate in the world. Delving deeper into these difficulties, he addresses a pain point for many entrepreneurs: having a viable idea.

There are many people with great ideas, but who face enormous difficulty in making them viable and creating great businesses. It is for them that Tallis gives the advice: think about business opportunities when thinking about problems that have not yet been resolved.

Tallis himself, for example, sets his example. Before Easy Taxi, he was marketing manager at Ortobom. There, he realized that going out to buy a mattress was a problem for many people – and suggested what culminated in the creation of the company's first e-commerce.

Easy Taxi also emerged in a similar context: the young man could not find a taxi when he needed the service in an emergency situation.

Thus, the author provides a step-by-step guide to developing a good idea, indicating, for example, the first contact with the market, to size it up and understand whether the idea is worth it. In addition, he also explains about Canvas and the importance of understanding the value proposition, seeing the balance between costs and revenue and other details like that.

Getting the idea off paper

In another part of Nada Easy, Tallis Gomes gives tips and advice for transforming an idea into a product. The first of these is to build the MVP, or Minimum Viable Product, that allows you to solve part of the problem at a low price while maintaining the focus on discovering your own needs. At this initial moment, according to him, it is worth following the maxim: done is better than perfect.

Throughout the work, the author gives practical tips for recruiting the ideal people for the team, suggesting three behavioral points to analyze during the recruitment phase:

1. Intelligence or learning capacity, which is more important than experience;
2. Engagement with a cause and alignment with the mission, since an intelligent but unwilling person will not solve the problem;
3. Independence to work and make deliveries.

And he emphasizes: at the start of a company, people are needed who are willing to “roll up their sleeves” to make it happen.

Climbing the business world

In the book, Tallis Gomes also talks about investors as a way to get money for your startup. One of his tips is to send emails to investors individually, introducing yourself and revealing your proposal.

The author also gives tips on how to scale your business based on the process experienced by Easy Taxi. The company initially invested in good contact with taxi drivers, for example.

The suggestions reach the creative plane, as Tallis talks about seeking accelerated growth for the company through data analysis and testing using the growth hacking methodology.

In this context, it recommends applications and websites that can help with the strategy and also collect data, such as Google Trends.

Finally, Tallis Gomes talks about the moment to let the startup go; if it is successful, it will be sold at some point. This is the cycle of scalable businesses in real life. And the more your idea is worth, at this point in its trajectory, the more you will know that you made a difference.

For more information about business and marketing, check out our other content and reviews. See also: Digital Marketing In Practice, by Paulo Faustino.

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