If you want to be a founder, here is one way to start nowStart Today
Start Today
If you have not read Aaron Batalion’s thoughts on preparing to be a VC, go ahead and take a look!
If you want to be a VC, thoughts on one way to start now.
My Lightspeed partner Jeremy Liew recently wrote If you know what you want to be in the future, start being it now. He…medium.com
I have always thought that you should never found a company unless you are passionate about your idea and are ready to take that leap of faith that the tech culture calls entrepreneurship.
I still really believe in that idea — don’t go throwing bullshit out into the world (there already is plenty of it). But what should you be doing to prepare for your future career?
If you want to be a doctor, you go to college, study biology, and then go to medical school. If you want to be an architect, you study architecture. And if you want to be a plumber, you go out and learn how to be a plumber. Along the way — you may try and get an internship to better understand the job…But what if you know that in the future you want to start your own thing and become a famed entrepreneur? You do not know what the company will be or even where you want to do it — but you think entrepreneurship is the right track for you?
Great. Now what should you be doing today to best prepare yourself for the future?
You can take all the entrepreneurship courses online and major in entrepreneurship and read the Lean Startup and watch Shark Tank on TV — those are all good things to do. But nothing like that is comparable to starting your very own company. As a spectator, you are able to absorb information but you don’t grow as quickly. You don’t get that emotional toll — the hustle — the grind — the pain sweat and tears: things that real entrepreneurs need. You see a lot of first time founders fail not because of competition (Justin Kan) or not because their idea is bad — but rather because they cannot handle the struggle of building something from zero.
So here is one way to “become a founder” TODAY
The most important skill a founder can have is the ability to be accountable over a long period of time. What I mean by that is that the best founders are able to execute consistently and constantly improve. There is no reason that you cannot start building that skill right now, doing something you probably already do in your own life — at any scale.
Here are some examples
Let’s start with me…I blog and write a lot (every single day). I am able to treat these blog posts just like I am building a company (hear me out) just on a micro scale. I have to come up with an idea (founders do that), I have to plan that idea, then I execute, and then I ship it to readers (customers). I do that every single day. And I track my metrics and am constantly improving. I am accountable in that I do it every single day — and I don’t let any excuse get in my way of delivering.
Another example: going to the gym. My dad goes to the gym every single day (with one rest day a week). I can’t remember a time where he missed this routine. Anyways — let’s think of this like a company. My dad comes up with an idea for what workout he wants to do. Then he executes. And tracks his results — constantly striving to grow.
Cooking: You want to start eating healthy — perfect — this is a great practice company. You come up with recipes (ideas), plan them out, execute, cook for yourself and maybe others (customers). Receive feedback. And repeat.
The Goal: Find something in your life that you do on a regular enough basis and start making yourself accountable TODAY. While it is not as good as going off the deep-end and starting your own company — it is a great way to simulate accountability.
I’d love to hear what little things you find!
Woah. You read the whole thing! Thank you so much. I’d really appreciate if you shared this with a friend!
Let’s continue this conversation
twitter — @jrdngonen
email — jordangonen@wustl.edu
By jordangonen on June 7, 2016.
Exported from Medium on February 17, 2018.