A Year (actually decades) in Flux for a Budding Entrepreneur
It’s been a year since I quit my job and started on my own. Here is the bitter truth about wading into the sea of entrepreneurship one year in, with a glance back at two decades that made last year.
Entrepreneurship\ urge to make ones own wake were not novel or overnight urges that came to me. It was a gradual build. A conflicting tale of caution and risk taking. A tale where the urge was constantly guarded as a motivation than an immediate cave in. It all started as a young school boy first having the curiosity of a geek being amazed by the shiny new desktop his father has brought, and then having a life altering book placed near him.
I was excited and utterly curious the first time I faced a computer way back in 1996. I wanted to know everything! Like a child I wanted to break it and make it. However, it was not a toy, my father had brought it to do his Msc assignments and I happen to be eager to have time with the new machine. It was the story repeated with almost everyone in my generation: The first few hours spent with my father showing me the basic ropes on handling the machine with DOS commands and how to find the games in Windows. Then the next decades where I help(rather irritably) my father troubleshoot and operate many other intricate operations of the machine. Still at this stage it was just a shiny fun and exciting piece of electronics to have. I had already started dabbling in programing and written some small applications for my own purposes (like an address book, a more to impress the lads: interactive Mortal Kombat III guide). Yet, these were just hobbies, fun time. Just having the satisfaction of creating something with your own authorship. This rapidly changed with one fateful encounter.
It is no surprise to anyone, that the people we encounter will change us even by a small scale. For every interaction and experience little or insignificant as they may seem, forms a part of an aggregate that will affect us. Sometimes, these encounters does not have to be in person. The definitive encounter in my life happened indirectly through a book. My brother being a student of economics and commerce were interested in the business leaders of the day. A few names were “trending” at the time, one being Bill Gates. In his interest he had brought a book outlining the rise of Microsoft and its co-founder Bill Gates. I had a habit of devouring any book whose first few pages were interesting. With my new found awe of programing and software, I read through it savouring every single page. At the end of which a little vision had been planted in my head. A vision to work on software solutions. What was a hobby turned into a serious career goal. I was an engineer at heart, but what I learned from reading the book was that utilising and selling solutions based on technology was way more fun and rewarding.
So did I want to start a company right away? No. I had a vision for a company but I was also a realist. I am no Bill Gates. If to refer to some modern references: I am no Mark Zuckerberg either. I had the desire, but no intention of starting a software company soon after school. Self doubt? I always wondered if it was self doubt. I know it is not. For I wanted to offer something good. What I do know is, thinking of starting a software company on your own with little capital, no formal knowledge or unknowing what the market truly desired is risky and foolish than brave. Instead I chose to continue my studies formally into the field of computer studies and eventually enter into a 8–5 software engineer job.
Industry experience and to see how a business organizes itself around delivering quality and critical software for enterprises was a revelation. You become an insignificant cog wheel in large organization, no matter what influence you have locally. However, an observant cog wheel could learn, gain insights and develop tools/skill sets for an eventual exit into the sea of entrepreneurship.
What’s the most important skill set to have at sea? Navigation. If entrepreneurship is the sea, your vision and goals is your reference points. They are your guiding stars. Navigation itself is a very tedious and hard task. The trick is, if you do run aground: identity the error in navigation and get back at sea. Don’t simply give up.
The sea could also become a tempest. Entrepreneurship is also like that. It is always not about working in cafes or open spaces. It’s not always about being the master of your own time and tide. It is a challenging and often stressful way to live. However, it's the challenges that keeps people hooked. Like caffeine that you want more and more. This is the same for me. It has not been an easy journey but I learn something awesome everyday.
That is probably the single most astonishing fact about leaving a 8–5 job. You suddenly have these doors open that challenge you, that makes you learn and work harder than before. I have learned a lot while on the job. However, being detached from an organization, and starting to define ones own, has taught me so much it is incomparable to the experience gained on the job. A word of caution though: I do not mean that the experience gained on the job is insignificant. The reality is I probably learned a lot of things easier due to the time in the industry.
When I started, the first challenge was to stick to my vision. Admittedly I lost the plot early. My idea was to build a product fast and start marketing it and building followers. Instead, I found my self helping out other projects, companies to build products in a consultative capacity. I was playing the role of an architect and PM for building others ideas and my business started to evolve around that. It was unplanned, a detour and distraction. However, it is not something I regret. The circumstances had me building a network of visionaries, implementers and investors, which was an awesome experience in it self. I met extraordinary people with ideas and a drive to change the digital experience for Sri Lankans. I met people running development/design crews here in Sri Lanka that have claim to a brilliant talent pool. Suddenly, the paths I could take were a lot.
Having a lot of paths it self is a problem. All roads might lead to Rome, but some might be better not taken at all.
Here lies the first challenge and only challenge for entrepreneurship. You need to pull back and refocus. Redefine the vision and goals to new circumstances and opportunities. I want to narrow down again the scope of operations and start building a focus on production. To this end, ironically, thanks to my earlier distractions, I have a network of partners that could help me in making that a reality.
So await, some awesomeness is coming your way :)… probably.. 😏
