Build businesses rooted in service and values, Will Smith tells Web Summit Qatar

Actor, musician and entrepreneur Will Smith offered invaluable insight into navigating the future of business, urging Web Summit Qatar 2025 attendees to build ventures rooted in service and align their values with their work.

In a conversation with best-selling author Jay Shetty, Smith shared views gleaned from his experience navigating the entertainment industry and the business world as founder of Westbrook, a venture company dedicated to supporting established and emerging talent across various media platforms.

He addressed the challenges of transitioning from acting to film production and entrepreneurship, citing the importance of embracing fear and humility.
“You’ll never be rid of fear ... don’t try to not be scared,” Smith said.

“It’s terrifying to start a business, to leave a job, to start something else,” he continued. “The relationship with learning how to relax into fear and lean into the unknown, and to not need it to be perfect ... is a really huge part of transitioning.”

Smith underlined the need to adopt a “beginner’s mind”, particularly when embarking on new ventures.

“Humble down and go back to beginner’s mind, first time you’re learning something new,” he elaborated. “Be a child asking all of the questions ... the worst thing you can do is pretend like you know when you don’t know.”

“It is much better to accept not knowing and lean into not knowing,” Smith stressed.

About his evolving definition of success, he said that his initial focus on being “number one” has shifted towards a deeper understanding of service and impact.

“What I discovered is there’s nothing above seeing something you’ve created, seeing something you’ve done, help another person,” he said, citing the profound impact of films like The Pursuit of Happyness on viewers struggling with adversity.

Smith said that integrating a service-oriented mindset into business from the outset is crucial.

“Work-life balance is impossible if you don’t align your values,” he said.

“It’s about not having one set of values at work and a different set at home,” Smith continued.

“You need to understand that everybody’s having a hard time,” he said. “The reason we’re making the business has to be to make life better for all of us.”

He offered a set of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, acknowledging the demanding nature of building a successful business.

“You have to love it cause you’re gonna be doing it for 19 hours a day for three years just to get it started,” Smith said. “You have to love what you do.”

The Hollywood legend also encouraged resilience in the face of setbacks, urging attendees to “get comfortable with things dying” and embracing failure as a stepping stone to success.

“My experience has been you don’t succeed to the top, you fail to the top, you fail, you fail, you fail, then boom! You get it,” Smith said.

In his first-ever visit to Qatar, he described the country as “beautiful and peaceful” and remarked on the distinct “energy of the future” he felt.
“I love it here, this is fantastic,” Smith said of Qatar.

“As an artist, that is extremely exciting to me, to be in a place that’s bubbling with anticipation of creating a future,” he added. “I salute all of you here in that energy and in that space of creating not just the tomorrow for Qatar and the Middle East, but the future of our planet.”