5 reasons why you shouldn’t launch your company
Entrepreneurship is a really cool status. Besides all the advantages it offers, it is also really cool to tell your friends that you created your own business. In fact, I’m very proud to tell people about it. But if you’re thinking about taking the jump, leaving the corporate world and putting your money, time & guts on the table, here a 5 reasons that should not be the reasons why you’re doing all of this.
1.Because you want to be your own boss.
Believe me, you will not. Your clients will. Whether you’re selling a B2C Product, or a B2B service, they are deciding. They are deciding what they are buying, and so what you are producing. Now sure, when you are Steve Jobs ruling Apple, it is easy to say things like “How do people know what they want if they haven’t tried it yet”. Meanwhile, 99% of businesses are not new concepts and people know (or are expecting) what they are buying when they are. You’re playing by their rules.
2.Because you want to get work done
Oh no you wont. You’re going to deal with money transactions, managing people, e-mail clients who haven’t paid, go to post office, go to the bank, set-up meetings… Everything you hate about corporations. Sure in a start-up way. We, at Big Kids, work in home-office & coworking places, have no meetings, and everyone is pretty much independant. But believe me, managing people in a big corporation, with no risk (financial or human ressources) and managing people when you are the CEO is not the same.
3. Because you want to make money.
Oh no you are not going to make any money. At least not for a couple of months or years. I created Big Kids in September 2013, and I am expecting (EXPECTING, not even sure) to get my first pay in February 2015. And of course, it will be 3 times lower than what I was paid at Gameloft or Atari. If you want your business to be substainable, you’ll re-inject everything you get the first year, to have a better second year.
4. Because you want better hours
Now sure you are managing yourself. You are officially working on a 9 to 5 basis. You are also in Home-office, so you’re not losing this 1-2 hours per day on the road. But when your paycheck is determined by YOUR work (or your team’s work), you’re much more worried. You’ll be thinking about your business, financial optimizations, product design, service amelioration…24/7. You’ll be dreaming about it, talking about it constantly (ask my friends), you’ll be working more than you ever worked.
5. Because you want to work with cool people
Oh guess what ? That friend of yours is adorable. He’s your coolest friends, has a huge network and great ideas. But he’s probably not the greatest person to have on board. I never thought when creating Big Kids, that I’ll be ending up working with a friend from High School with whom I lost track. Turns out, she’s particularly talented, motivated, and works really well. I love my friends. Really. But I’m not sure working with them would be a great idea. I tried it, and it didn’t turn out that well. You don’t say everything you want to say. You don’t have a good and clarified hierarchy. Work with good workers, not good friends.
The Good News
Despite all the negativity you can read in this article, I still created my company in 2013 and I’m still the happiest man in the world. Because when creating Big Kids, I actually did not “create a company”. I created something that would allow me to make cool projects, with talented people, and happy clients. I actually wanted to achieve something and move forward. Turned out, there’s a bunch of obstacles (a couple listed here), but once you pass all of these obstacles, it is one hell of a ride.
I learned all of this from creating Big Kids and I think it’s worth sharing. If you’re still here, it means you think so too, so please feel free to share this article.
