Herrera’s background is in architecture. He started his career with the New York firm of Perkins Eastman and then worked as an architectural consultant for two years with WeWork, the largest U.S. co-working company. Midway through the WeWork experience, he returned to Delaware to launch the first of two Mill locations. He continues to participate in other real estate and development projects in and around Wilmington, including the renovation and management of Theatre N in the Nemours Building, development of Faire Café, Girard Craft & Cork and several residential apartment buildings.
Herrera took time from his work to share why he believes Delaware is the First State for innovators and what it takes to be successful.
I am just starting to figure this one out for myself. I have a bizarrely unique set of scars that have come from pursuing ventures I had no business pursuing. For me, it is always about the talent involved. If I have the right team in place to accomplish a particular idea, I almost always go for it. These days, I also factor in “time” as a major cost toward a new idea. I used to not value my personal time when deciding to pursue a new idea. I also factor in whether I am passionate about an idea or concept before pursuing it. There are ideas I’ve chased for financial gain only, and in almost every case I found that I really regretted doing those deals years later. I have never regretted the projects that I was passionate about and enjoyed doing. If you get that right, it feels less like a job and more like a fun project.