3 Reasons Why Right Now Is the Best Time to Start Your Own Company

One of the biggest hesitations people considering jumping into entrepreneurship and first-time entrepreneurs have is the question of whether the time is right to start a company.

This question can be answered from a variety of angles, but the short answer is: it depends. This article will approach several different aspects of the topic, and allow you to make the best decision for yourself.

1. There is no “best” time to start a startup

People who ascribe to this way of thinking are likely fans of the expression “smooth seas don’t make good sailors”. Simply put, there is no perfect time to start a startup because starting your own company depends on a variety of factors including the present opportunity provided and your passion to jump in head first.

This “best” time wholly depends on the individual asking the question. There are a few general types people fall into:

● Risk averse: You tend to be more concerned with security and survival, and will tend to make choices that ensure you’ll have a stable source of income in the future.

● Risk tolerant: You tend to have more of a stomach for riskier situations, and are more willing to forego a stable source of income for the opportunity of freedom or a higher payout in the future.

Peter Thiel, in Zero to One, states “An entrepreneur cannot “diversify” herself: you cannot run dozens of companies at the same time and then hope that one of them works out well. Less obvious but just as important, an individual cannot diversify his own life by keeping dozens of equally possible careers in ready reserve. You should relentlessly focus on something you’re good at doing, but before that you must think hard about whether it will be valuable in the future.”

2. The Low-Risk Situation (During or Right After School)

The period during or right after graduating college is considered to be one of the best times to start a startup for a few reasons. The advantages of starting a startup right after college or during school stem from the fact that these entrepreneurs are:

1. In relatively low-risk situations, meaning they are likely healthy and don’t have families or large amounts of debt to take care of.

2. Equipped with a moderate, malleable skill-set: people who are still in school or recently graduated have likely acquired a set of skills that can help them in entrepreneurship, yet are still malleable and open to be adjusted to the specific challenges ahead.

3. Young and ambitious: this ambition often helps young entrepreneurs seek out much more experienced mentors that are willing to help and accelerate the learning journey.

Many first-time entrepreneurs who took the plunge right after college credit their entrepreneurial journey as being the best on-the-ground MBA that money can buy. For example, instead of getting a formal MBA, writer and entrepreneur Tim Ferriss saved $120,000 he then used to intelligently and strategically invest in various startups over the course of two years. The same concept can be applied to those seeking to start their own companies.

This path, however, is not without its disadvantages. Chances are you will likely spend most of your time learning not only how to start a startup, but as well as other pieces of business practices, management, and personal psychological balance. This provides a phenomenal educational opportunity, but it could make many of the structural components of starting a company more difficult. While entrepreneurs are praised for their flexibility and ability to adapt, there are still certain hard skills that must be learned to successfully execute on the challenges ahead of you.

3. The Higher-Risk Situation (Working for a While)

While several years in the workforce allows you to essentially learn a bunch of skills while getting paid, you’ll also likely find yourself in a much more different place in your life. The advantages of starting a startup after having worked for a while include:

1. Higher-level and solidified skill-set. Many entrepreneurs who started their own companies after working for a while have a combined skillset from skills learned on the job, as well as their learnings from outside materials such as books, podcasts, and documentaries.

2. Better understanding of the industry and how businesses work. A few years on the job will teach you everything from how to run a business to how businesses actually make money. This is especially true if you are working in an industry you want to innovate.

3. Larger network. Some major corporations even have internal innovation departments that could help sponsor or fund your idea provided you know the right people and can communicate the value.

4. Savings. Having money saved up to hold you over during the potentially tumultuous time of starting a startup can be a blessing. Business trip expenses and rent payments no longer become an extremely stressful thing to think about, and you can focus more of your brain power on the tasks at hand.

Entrepreneurs who have jumped out of the corporate world tend to describe themselves as feeling fairly isolated or removed from the entrepreneurial ecosystem. This could both pose as a benefit or disadvantage depending on the situation, but you must be aware of it.

Also, a sudden change in lifestyle could seem simple to make in theory, but in practice it proves much more difficult. Making the jump from a nice secure paycheck into a dark, or at best dimly lit, future can be unsettling for some. Those who have the tendency to be more risk tolerant might be able to stomach it, but those that are more risk averse could potentially decide to bail on their startup dreams.

Final Thoughts:

As you can see, there is a certain trade-off between being able to start a company at a low risk or highly qualified point. There are plenty of resources out there such as Sam Altman of YC Combinator’s How to Start a Startup class for modern entrepreneurial essentials and TeamTreeHouse to learn how to program.

Whatever stage of life you are in, starting a startup is not out of your reach. Once you’re ready to take the plunge, make sure you validate your business idea to make sure you’re working towards something that people will actually buy.