Glitz, glamour and free acai bowls. That’s the world of a startup founder right?
“Ummm, not exactly!” would be my response.
Having chatted to a few founders, here are a few things no one tells you.
1. It will dominate every moment of your life — you will think about your company all the time, I mean all the time. When out for dinner, on a date, in bed or with your family, your mind will be thinking about your startup. You will be so obsessed about it you will find it hard to engage in other things. It will change your life.
2. No one will care — while you will pretty much devote your entire brain capacity to your company, even your closest friends and family will not understand and it will seem like they don’t care. They won’t understand why your lifestyle has changed, working long hours when you set your own schedule, why you left your job, why you are different. Frankly, it was your choice, you are different, so don’t expect them to.
3. It is lonely — There is a study that shows the optimal number of co-founders is two. You need someone to talk to who understands and to offset you if you are feeling down one day. Three works but less well than two. Four is okay but not great. One is the worst so get a co-founder. Only other founders will be able to understand what you are going through. Also, try and find a group of founders to talk to if you can. It will help just to have someone to moan with. Join founderspayforward.com for some like minded souls.
4. It is hard, stressful and the odds are not in your favour — it’s going to be a lot harder than you think. As a general rule, it will take at least twice as long and you will need at least twice as much money as you think you will need. Your startup is top of your “to do” list but it is not top of anyone else’s in the world, so everything goes slowly. You need to be persistent but also patient. Remember, something like 80% of startups don’t make it to year two.
5. Avoid parasites — beware anyone that says they can help you for a cut of your company. Avoid any “advisor” if you can, avoid giving shares to anyone unless they earn them. You need those precious shares for your staff who will make or break the company in the future. Accept that people will let you down and not deliver what they say they will. Don’t take it personally though.
6. Do not scale too early — do not grow your team past more than 5–6 people until you have nailed your product market fit. Your chances of survival if you scale too early are exponentially worse.
7. It’s a people business — you’re a people business even if you are pure tech or produce an army of autonomous robots. Your business runs because the people you hired choose to do the right thing for the business. Treat them with respect. This is their career, their life, you have a duty to serve them. Treat them right. Give them autonomy but hold them accountable. You need to show leadership even if you don’t have the answers, they look to you. Your first hires must compliment you and cover your gaps. Hiring is hard.
8. Failure is not cool — contrary to the silicon valley rhetoric, failure is not the aim. What they mean is you need to experiment and test and adapt quickly. If something doesn’t work then cut your losses, don’t double down on failure. Be ruthless about this and you improve your chances of success greatly. This could be a product feature, a hire or even a customer. Be ruthless with your resources, the most precious is your time.
9. You need to define your personal success — you may have your company vision, mission, goals etc. all nailed down but why are YOU doing it? There can be many reasons that drive you personally that may be financial, emotional, related to past experiences etc.. Think about this and work out your own personal “why.” Make sure what you are doing is moving you towards it. This will help you when you are having a down day. If what you are doing is not moving you towards your goal then you need to re-evaluate -fast.
10. It’s the best thing you will ever do — Despite the challenges, few founders would trade places with their former corporate selves for anything. I spent 15 years in large companies and had many good experiences. That said, I learn more in a week that I did in a year there. If you love uncertainty, variety, making decisions with limited information but making a real difference then you will not look back, not even once.
When my children ask me what I do, I am proud to tell them the problem we are solving, the passionate team we are part of and difference we are making. That is my “why!” and it’s worth the stress, pay cut and unlimited challenges, but but I do realise it’s probably not for everyone.
Good luck. The world needs you.
