Should You Start a Startup?
Types of people best suited to be startup founders
- Have resilience.
- Ok to have motivations such as wanting to make money, or simply out of curiosity to learn what its like to found a startup.
- Be genuinely interested in the problem you are solving, and enjoy working with the people you partner up with.
- Start by asking yourself “What do I have to lose?” What is the worst case scenario? Can you live with that? It takes at least a year to figure out if an idea is viable, which means going a year without a salary. Is that something you can absorb financially?
- Factor this into the worst case scenario: You will learn a lot from starting a company. This experience is more valuable than anything you can gain working for someone else. Startup founders often end up leading entire product divisions due to their strong experience. Starting a startup can really improve your career opportunities.
How to prepare to be a Startup founder in the future
- You’ll want two things: an idea, and a co-founder. Don’t think of these as two separate tasks. Brainstorm with your co-founder from the get go.
- If you’re struggling to find people to discuss ideas with, you need to change your environment. The best environment is working at a startup.
- If you ever say to yourself “Huh.. It would be cool if someone build X” - That’s the moment to stop and consider can you build an MVP over a weekend?
- You’ll need the skills to build products. If you are not a programmer, learn how to. Or, resort to finding a technical co-founder.
- Better to build a product that a few people love, than one a lot of people are indifferent towards.
Essential Reading: How to Get Startup Ideas by Paul Graham.
At its best, starting a startup is merely an ulterior motive for curiosity. And you'll do it best if you introduce the ulterior motive toward the end of the process.