OpenSource Connections
Category: Uncategorized
Some deep little part of nearly everyone I know has that inner burning desire to start up their own company. They dont know what they want to do, how theyre going to do it, or even why they want to, but the desire is there. Most of it has to do with the notion of getting out of the day-to-day grind of the 9 6 to 5 11 job, the Dilbert boss, the monkey-like sycophantic coworkers whose seeming purpose in life is to say “yes” to requests as many times as possible during work hours. Theres also the dreams of making it big, getting rich quick, and living the life of luxury.
Similar aspirations drove us to start OSC. However, it wasnt a hasty decision, and weve learned some lessons along the way.
Have a backup source of income. The guys at ClearContext played poker on the side to pay the bills. Others have spouses who work and can afford to be a single income family. Others rode Enron to the top and got off at the right time. Unless you get some sympathetic angel to fund your income or you have an idea that is an immediate hit and provides revenue right away (which can be done if youve doing the on-the-side work for a while), youre not going to be cashing a paycheck for a while.
**Make sure that your partners all trust each other. ** Most startups are a slog. Most dont work. Theres a lot of sacrifice and a lot of risk involved. If youre adding to the risk and the stress by working with people you dont trust and believe in, then youre exponentially increasing the probability that youre going to be one of the majority of failures.
**Figure out your make or break timing. ** It can be mentally lucrative to think that prosperity is right around the corner. Dont be the Herbert Hoover of your startup. Its much easier to continue to sink time and money into a failure than it is to admit that it didnt work and its time to move on. Set that break point up front and stick to it. Learn your lessons to apply the next time rather than grind yourself into a bankrupt oblivion.
Network like your life depended on it. It does. Figuratively. The life of your company certainly does. Unless you happen to be the one in a million viral idea that catches on with the world, youre going to have to go out and find customers. The only way to do that is to pound pavement. The best idea in the world that sits in your head will always have an audience of one.
Yes, I was inspired to write this because theres a successful start-up out there which funded itself out of poker winnings, for which I am endlessly jealous, but it also caused me to think about how we ran for a while. If it werent for the things above, we would have been forced to take rash risks which would have most likely ended up with us being a failure and going back to real jobs.