If you're a teenager in Palo Alto launching an app, you know from the outset how you plan to finance your business.

To be a designer today is to be an entrepreneur. Whether you're a two-man operation in Shoreditch or a 3,000-person, vertically integrated brand, you need to have the wherewithal to run your business through investment, considering everything from start-up funds to your exit plan or what it takes to go public.

Once you start a business, you have to grow it and grow with it - starting a business is not just for Christmas.

Success begins at that magical moment when you declare to yourself, your friends, and the universe that you believe you can do something different.

You can still wear trousers and show off your ankles - which are a nice body part on everyone.

Having the positive belief that it will all be O.K. just means that you hustle and make it work because failure is not even an option in your own mind.