JUMP! — How to Springboard From Corporate Professional to Start-up Founder
I’ve been writing previously about Covera.co, the InsurTech startup I’m building (click here to join our waitlist!). I’ve received tremendous support regarding the project but also plenty of messages from people curious about how they should approach transitioning from a professional career to the startup world. Here’s a collection of things that I’ve learned from my own experience.
Learning №1: Your “side project” is a pressure valve
Building a successful business requires your undivided attention. While working as a business lawyer, I had various side projects. Eventually, it became clear that my commitment to these ideas was inversely proportional to my happiness at work. When work was uninspiring, I would spend a few late night hours hashing out my “exit strategy”. For me, those whiteboard sessions were a release valve for the pressure I felt because of a more fundamental dissatisfaction with my primary work environment. The reality, however, was that as soon as work picked up, my side projects would be pushed to the back burner. As Julien Brault, a former journalist and current founder of the personal finance education hub Hardbacon.ca pointed out in a recent blog, “being a part time entrepreneur isn’t an option”.
Main Point: It’s a fun intellectual exercise to scratch out business ideas while you’re working a day job, but be mindful that if you want to make real progress on your business, total commitment will eventually be required.
Learning №2: Start building your network today
On more than one occasion, my former employer paid a whopping $700 for me to attend a cycling ride with executives of my city’s finance community. $150 industry cocktails were normal. $80 breakfasts and lunch-and-learns were happening weekly. If your current employer is willing to make networking opportunities available to you, you owe it to yourself and to your employer to maximize the value that you get out of these events. Don’t be another wallflower drinking wine in the corner. Get the attendance list ahead of time, make pre-contact with people you’d like to meet, take a few minutes to establish a personal connection during the evening, and then follow up afterward to build a meaningful relationship. The best kind of networking is the kind that leads to lasting friendships. Eytan Bensoussan, a McKinsey consultant turned founder of Ferst Digital, believes that networking doesn’t need to be an expensive exercise, rather, it has to be an authentic one. He recommends that you approach people you meet with the mindset of “how can I be helpful and actually deliver” rather than “how many business cards can I collect”.
Main point: If you take the time to build friendships with brilliant and experienced people, those relationships will follow you throughout the rest of your career. If and when you decide to launch a company, your network will be an incredibly helpful source of mentorship, counsel, partnership and even capital.
Learning №3: Learn modern company building methodologies
Back in the 80’s and 90’s, the standard way of building a business was to draft a business plan and bring it to investors or institutions to get capital. In 2016, conventional wisdom is that business plans take an enormous amount of time to produce and, because none of us have a crystal ball, are often wrong. In the startup world, your credibility will take a serious hit if you’re caught running around town with a 60+ page business plan. Modern approaches to business building reject business plans in favour of processes that emphasizes speed to market and continuous iteration. This change of thinking is generally referred to as lean startup and is described in detail in several places including this book. My friend Raphael Bouskila was an engineer and venture capital associate before co-founding the clean energy financing platform CoPower. He summarizes the Lean Startup approach as a business expression of the scientific method: “You have a hypothesis about the market, and your startup is a chance to test it. If your hypothesis is right, you have a business. Don’t build a business plan to convince external parties: but a business planning exercise is mandatory in order to set up the right hypothesis and the right experiment, and determine the right parameters of success”. We are really big believers in the lean startup process at Covera.
Main point: Use best practices when defining your business and be aware that best practices evolve over time.
Learning №4: De-risk your transition by getting your personal balance sheet in order.
If monthly expenses leave you with nothing leftover to save or invest, how will you absorb the short term pay cut you’ll take when launching a business? My buddy Phil Barrar, CEO & Founder of Mylo.ai, will be the first to tell you that over half of millennials have less than $1000 in their bank account. This isn’t the right place to dive into the depths of personal finance; there are plenty of tools (like Mylo) that you can use to get started and learn the basics (tip: cutting back on bottle service helps). The point I am making is that if you’re thinking of launching a business in the future, you should be taking steps to minimize the risk to your personal net-worth today.
Main point: You will feel freer to take career risks if you take the time to learn about personal finance and organize yourself accordingly.
Learning №5: You are going to need to re-brand yourself
If you don’t define your personal brand, others will do it for you. Mark Suster has a fantastic blog post on how he proactively managed his personal brand as he evolved from a technical expert to consultant, entrepreneur and finally venture capitalist. Alex Benjamin, CEO of the online lending platform Lendful, remembers that his personal rebranding - from banker to startup founder - was easier because he took steps to physically change his surroundings, “you need to get yourself out of an environment where everyone is wearing suits”. To an extent, this means letting go of the prestige and social signalling that is common in professional circles and doubling down on the fundamental skills that startups will value from day one.
There are a lot of benefits to having been toughened up by the corporate world. You’ve probably developed a healthy respect for how perception can matter as much, if not more, than substance. You’ve witnessed real life examples of how office politics can destroy value. You’ve learned how to read between the lines when it comes to formal and informal communications. None of these skills can be communicated on a CV, but people looking for top performers should understand and value these skills.
It will be easier to re-brand yourself if you can demonstrate a real interest in a particular industry or technology. This means something more than attending startup themed events hosted by some accounting firm, or working with startup clients in your professional role. You can set yourself apart with community involvement, independent publications, an active blog or twitter account, or a side project that has progressed past the concept phase and is actually earning revenue. Anything that you can use to differentiate yourself from the hoards of young people who, like you, have grown tired of the corporate grind.
Main Point: Re-brand yourself, but don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. If you’ve been through the corporate rat race, you’ve got skills and experience that will be helpful in a startup environment. Just be sure that your fundamentals are solid and that you’ve got experience that backs up your claim that “you’ve always wanted to start a business”.
Conclusion
The most remarkable thing about being a startup founder is that you have full agency over almost all decisions. However, that agency comes with total accountability and most founders will admit that it can be a lonely journey at times. The beauty is in embracing uncertainty and committing to the process and, for what it’s worth, I have never met a startup founder who regrets taking that first leap.
Scott
p.s. If you’re a startup founder who has transitioned from the corporate world, post your own insights in the comments below.
About the Author: Scott Loong is a reformed corporate lawyer and founder of Covera.co, a digital insurance brokerage that takes insurance renewals off of your to do list, forever. Support us by signing up to our waitlist.
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