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Why building a company as a young entrepreneur isn't for the faint of heart
by
AllOutNerdClan
https://www.newsweek.com/building-company-young-entrepreneur-isnt-faint-heart-opinion-1364624
Many people underestimate the EMOTIONAL TOLL building a company takes.
It's unpredictable to its core.
That's why a good jumping point to building a company is to have a regular job and start with your business as a "side project" instead of going all-in.
Going all-in at the very start can be traumatic.
I have a lot to say about this. I have been working as an indie developer since I graduated from university as a computer engineer. I worked on many freelance jobs then I created my business in age 25 (not very young but still early) and I am not sure whether I would do the same if I was young again. Let me explain the pros and cons from my perspective.
Pros;
Cons;
I can think of many more things to say here but there is no need to fill an article.
Perhaps younger entrepreneurs could get some insights from these, I would be glad. I am a person who always says “Doing something then regretting is better most of the time than not doing an regretting”.
In conclusion If you belive you can do it don’t give up before you try. Good luck all!
Nice list @Emrnl. I especially appreciated the point about emotional maturity. When I was in my early twenties I had an opportunity to cofound a small startup. It was amazing. But I wasn't emotionally resilient enough to weather the ups and downs. I was too much of a people pleaser and couldn't handle disappointing a client, or a day of poor sales -- which helped our business become successful, but took its toll on me emotionally. All of my self-worth was wrapped up in how my business was doing. Now, almost ten more years later, it is much easier for me to maintain my center through the ups and downs and to ride the inevitable waves.
Thanks for sharing your insights. I am glad someone is thinking the same way I do. I definitely agree with you @fleur_inthecity. Hopefully, we can learn from our mistakes and do better in the future just like you do against inevitable waves. :)
Yeah, it's grueling, no doubt about it. But it's better to start young IMO. Being an entrepreneur makes you think differently, and this way of thinking will help you to excel, no matter what you end up doing.
And the risk of starting a business gets higher and higher the older you get (mortgages, mouths to feed, etc. etc.). That's not to say that it's a bad idea to do it when you're older — on the contrary, I think becoming a founder can be the right call at any age. But it's easier when you're young and stupid. A lot of people never end up doing it because years when by and the risk eventually got too high.
Having a job in my early and mind 20s gave me the savings needed to start the WBE Space. Otherwise it would have been impossible fo rme
Cool they were building this on the side...given the initial signals for potential I'm not sure I would have made the same call - I think I would've gone all in, sooner.
Don't get me wrong, I'm impressed by anyone who builds a product that solves a problem they've incurred. But I encounter problems on a daily basis - there are so many times throughout the day where I think "oh, how annoying," or "I wish there was a quicker/easier/better way to do this." But I don't realize I'm doing it at that moment - it's a quick, passing thought, I never immediately think "I'm going to solve this!" How do you develop the ability to catch yourself in these moments? Or does this just mean I'm missing the entrepreneurial streak?
Haha - I can relate. I don't think it's always as obvious as "I'm going to solve this" though. There are tons of times that I think "how annoying": people walking too slowly who take up the entire sidewalk, for example - but there isn't an obvious solution and/or marketable product that would really work.
I think it's about making it a habit to (1) reflect and think about the problems you've encountered lately (regularly enough that you don't forget them), and (2) Find out whether anyone else has this issue too (if it's just a pet peeve of yours, you're unlikely to make any money from it...). In the article, he says:
"From there, we set out to speak with companies in the industry to understand what the experience was like from their end of the booking process. What we discovered was that no one had ever attempted to understand the problems the companies were facing and had never tried to solve them collaboratively with the companies."
That's how they knew they were onto something. Once you go through the process, you'll be able to identify whether you do or you don't have a problem worth solving. Hope this helps!
This is some great advice.
I keep a note on my phone for problems that I see in the world or that I regularly hear from people. It's rare that I actually pursue any one specific problem with a product ( as I've made about 200 entries on this note. Out of all of those, I've picked two to build a product around.
I think what's cool about it is that you start to develop more of an eye for problems and challenges. You gain the context for people's challenges in a specific field or persona, as well as cultivate empathy for others. It's a useful skill to have at a job too.