If I Started Over as an Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship has taught me more about life than I could have ever imagined. How to build relationships, frugality, dealing with stress, being able to sell, finding time to relax, and many more lessons.
Being an entrepreneur is incredibly exciting since every day is different and I constantly have to tackle problems and find solutions — while being underfunded and understaffed. On the contrary, it can be lonely but every moment and adventure entrepreneurship has taken me, has absolutely been worth it.
After college, I dove right into entrepreneurship despite $100k in student loans. Incredibly risky but the threat of time and scarcity are causing me to work much harder.
There is no job in the world I would rather have.
Go Corporate for Two Years
If you know me, this is incredibly tough to say. If you join a corporation you will learn how organizations work, be a part of a team, meet tough deadlines, find new tools to implement, gain experience, and build a network.
Two years will be enough to help develop your skill set and learn valuable knowledge for building a company. Of course, you can stay more than two years, but I think two years is plenty.
Another reason the two years is valuable is to help pay off student loans, while also giving you a bit of money to bootstrap your startup.
The reason why I did not do this is that I did not want to become a “Corporate Sellout,” a lot of my corporate friends seemed bored, and could not stand the idea of working for someone else. I wanted to have a say in my own future. That achievement is underway, but definitely took longer than expected.
Fail fast
Early on I was incredibly inexperienced and I often waited for responses from advisers or friends to see what I should be doing next. A year later, I learned the best way to get an answer is to fail fast, learn from it, implement what you learn, and repeat.
Receiving help is certainly nice but you cannot wait for others to move you forward all the time. Most of the time you will learn more failing than if the answer was handed to you.
If I had to answer the problem [X+Y = 2] and someone told me what [X+Y] is, what did I learn? Nothing. If I struggle to figure out [X+Y] I will not only learn how to solve the problem, but be able to accelerate my learning curve and solve a similar problem much more quickly in the future.
One last note on failure: Having lived in Boston, and now San Francisco, there is a massive stigma around failure. In Boston, failing was perceived as your inability to succeed. In San Francisco, people want to know what you learned. The latter is much better for innovation.
Find Advisers and Mentors
Being a first-generation college student from Rhode Island who is interested in Entrepreneurship, I grew up without much mentorship. Now I realize how valuable this relationship is and make sure to advise a handful of people every year.
The best people to advise you are one of two people: someone who is in your industry and has a lot of experience, or someone who is an entrepreneur in any stage and is approximately one year ahead of you.
This means that if you received your seed funding, seek advice from someone who recently secured their Series A. By doing this you are now learning what it takes to achieve your goals within one or two years.
It is incredibly important to find people who are brutally honest and give constructive feedback. Most entrepreneurs want to have people who act as cheerleaders and support them. While helpful, it can hold you back.
You need someone who is going to challenge you. The only way you will progress towards working to the best of your ability is through struggle. Struggle is key for personal growth.
Overall, you do not have the answer to every question and it is important to have people you can go to and ask questions at any time. Currently, my startup has over 45 (non-compensated) advisers who give advice on topics ranging from financials to selling to strategy.
Outsourcing
When building your startup money is important, but time is equally — if not more — important.
Thankfully, we had a family and friends round of about $20k. This allowed us to outsource some of the tasks we either did not have time for or would rather have an expert do.
The most recent example is our pro-forma financial statement. I understand financial statements and can read them quite well, but constructing them can be difficult and our model is complex.
Therefore, I decided to outsource this task to a company called Paro. We spoke on the phone, I described my needs and an ideal candidate, and they sourced financial analysts with me.
It took roughly 2 days to speak with candidates and sign an agreement. Then, it took less than 20 hours to build my entire 5-year forecast. The freelancer took an approach far different than what I had in mind.
The financials were far too important for me to mess around with and it was important to outsource this work. Of course, I helped prepare the necessary information, and the freelancer made it into a financial story.
There are also many freelance websites to help entrepreneurs, such as Fiverr. If you do not have the funds, negotiate a deal. Pay it over 6 or more months, over your services in exchange, or start consulting yourself. There is always a way.
Closing Notes
Entrepreneurship will always be a risky move but one that is absolutely worth taking. It requires more commitment, energy, and hustle than any 9–5 job will ever demand. Entrepreneurship is emotionally draining, full of highs and lows, but is one of the most rewarding jobs you will ever have.
There are other things I would have done differently, but these were the most pressing. I would love to read comments that state what you would do differently, or what is stopping you from becoming an entrepreneur!
Brendan is a Co-Founder and CEO of Shelfie Challenge, which creates fundraising multimedia campaigns for nonprofits. For any questions or suggestions on the blog or Shelfie, please contact him: brendan@shelfiechallenge.com or on Twitter @barbatobrendan.
