I've been mentoring startups for many years now. Thought I'd share some advice over a few posts that I always end up giving new entrepreneurs starting out. Here's one:
Do not quit your job! At least not right up front. You made up your mind to quit and start a company. Fantastic. My advice is not to quit your job to pursue your company full time until the last possible moment. While you are still working (and getting paid!) spend six months or so in the evenings planning. Get a team together, do your research, build a business plan, go another level deeper and get all of the detail of product development and the company administration planned out.
Build as much of your company as possible while someone else is footing the bill for your survival. I can't tell you how many times I've had this discussion and when I say this the founder hangs their head a little. My response – you quit your job already, didn't you? Founding a successful company is hard enough without putting the (unnecessary) added pressure of having to worry about survival money on the first day. Even if you've saved, why not use a continuing salary from your current job to get going.
More in future posts. Hope this helps some.
Posted by 505browser
5 Comments
This makes it more difficult in practice BUT has made me a better person.
Another experience, I would like to add. The time I decided myself for this strategy, I started facing a financial stretch. Tough one. Lack of Financial Discipline started to show up clearly.
Normal Accounting / Budgeting Gives up. Luckily, I found myself mentors, tools, guides which go beyond the still & stable living system & help into these adversities. A guide I’m Grateful for is The River Protocol by FinDiscipline.
Being in Job helps you easily become your initial investor too. Ofcourse with Financial Discipline.
This is very important! Well said! Setting up a business that is sustainable and brings in consistent money will take some time. I believe most people quit their jobs so that they focus entirely on building the business, so there’s pros and cons to this approach.
Some of us don’t have that luxury.
I was unemployed for 6 months with no job prospects in sight, so I started my own business. It was make or break for me. I just had to make the business work otherwise we would have to sell the family home.
This motivated me to work harder than ever before and I used it to give me the driver to succeed. I’m two years in and even though I’m not there yet, things are looking positive.
Sometimes you need to be dropped into the deep end of the pool to sink or swim, or forever play in the shallow end and never putting yourself out there.
Do you sell or teach courses? I’d love to buy or attend one.
I think it’s important to know yourself. If you can’t handle the stress then I think it’s a good advice to not to quit your job. But if you do, you get so much more time and possibility to make the product, tema etc. I quit my job and been doing my start up full time for 4 years without any salary and I don’t feel ”stressed” about it in that situation. I put all my life savings into it because I believe in this. If I would had a job and been doing this on the side i would not been so far I am today. So I think it’s a balance and you have to know yourself and your limits.