Entrepreneurshit. The Blog Post on What It’s Really Like.
- Thread starter ayzo
- Start date
For some reason I feel like I've read the same article from him before.
I think it's a good read if you intend on creating that kind of business. Everyone has different experiences though, and most people around here aren't building businesses on the whole "18 month vc cash roadmap we need $1bn valuation in 5 years or we're fucked" kinda thing.
Building a business organically is by no means easy, but it comes with a lot less stress - simply because you have cashflow to support what you are doing. You're not racing from fund raising to fund raising hoping you don't run out of cash inbetween, but building a product/service that people want/need, providing it, getting paid to do it, and expanding with your profits.
I think it's a good read if you intend on creating that kind of business. Everyone has different experiences though, and most people around here aren't building businesses on the whole "18 month vc cash roadmap we need $1bn valuation in 5 years or we're fucked" kinda thing.
Building a business organically is by no means easy, but it comes with a lot less stress - simply because you have cashflow to support what you are doing. You're not racing from fund raising to fund raising hoping you don't run out of cash inbetween, but building a product/service that people want/need, providing it, getting paid to do it, and expanding with your profits.
I think he means a business that runs on a positive cashflow basis and doesn't rely on outside investment to generate profitability at critical mass.
I have never taken investor money, although maybe one day I will (have a good idea for that business model) and I found the article a very good read.
Even if you're not dealing with the people funding you, the grind, the stress, the fragility of early stage business when trying to recruit quality employees, that's all pretty common.
good read....i am halfway through our build now...and half way through my money
my stress level is high...i totally get what he is saying, but its a bit different.
I am using my own money, he got investor money.
Im going to announce my one project here soon, i will need to contact the mods to make sure it goes smoothly.
he didnt mention enough about panic attacks
my stress level is high...i totally get what he is saying, but its a bit different.
I am using my own money, he got investor money.
Im going to announce my one project here soon, i will need to contact the mods to make sure it goes smoothly.
he didnt mention enough about panic attacks
Yeah definitely, for sure. The nice thing about not taking investment though is that you remain in control. You don't have to employ a team within the next few months to please investors and piss blood for several months hoping you can create enough traction to get your next round done, or fail. It's much more stressful having someone else to answer to, and knowing if the cash runs out you're fucked. You're always working to a runway of cash. At least with positive cash flow you can scale down a bit if things aren't growing as fast as you expect, and be more flexible.
There's lots of different types of entrepreneurship in the end, from the glorified 9-5'ers doing project work, to the guy that sets up a local restaurant and works 100 hour weeks to the guys raising tens of millions in venture capital and globetrotting and the 40-something guy whose had a corporate life and gone off and set a consultancy up with his work buddies.
I took an angel investment last year, and burned through it with my partner over ~12 months. We made significant changes to the business model during that period, made lots of mistakes and no matter what we tried we could not get enough traction to peak investor interest at the end of it to go to the next level. I went through a lot of what he experienced minus the employees. The constant lying to family members and friends that everything was going well, getting up every morning and powering through because you knew you had to, and the feelings of isolation that come with the whole experience. When things didn't go to plan not only did I feel like I was letting myself down, but the investors too. I feel much better about losing my own money than someone else who has put their faith in me.
Since then I've been doing agency work, along with a couple of my own projects which don't require the same level of investment, and whilst I'm still working hard - it's a very different level of stress. I find I only have myself to answer to, I'm not full of guilt when I take a morning off to get my car fixed and I feel like I have much more freedom to achieve what I want to achieve.
I'm only working with contractors though, so not yet had to deal with employees - so there's still plenty of room for my experience to change, of course.
I think it's important that people don't have the image of entrepreneurship being some happy golf filled road or a way of escaping doing work, but that people shouldn't be discouraged by particular individual experiences like Mark's, either.
I know several start-up founders who have had an awesome time through and through - they've grown year-to-year and one of them has since taken VC funding just to scale up their model. They both grew organically though for several years.