Tag: When to start a startup

5 Reasons to start a business in your 20s and 30s

If you’re in your 20s or 30s, and thought of entrepreneurship has entered your mind, don’t write it off as a pipe dream. Dig into some research, explore your ideas and make the most of your youth by pouring your energy into a business.

Almost all of us think about starting a business at some point. The thought enters our minds when we come up with an ingenious way to stop an ice cream cone from dripping. Or we get a job and realize we want more control over our work. Or we hear about the multi-billionaires of the world and start fantasizing about making our own riches.

Whatever your own motivation, if you’re going to start a business, there’s an ideal time to do it — while you’re still in your 20s and 30s. Why is that?

1. Long-term potential returns

Imagine for a moment that you’ve built a successful business. It’s profitable and stable and generates a nice six-figure salary for you. Assume that this setup can continue indefinitely and that you enjoy the work. Wouldn’t you want to reap the accompanying rewards for as long as possible?

If so, start your business as early as possible. Yes, it’s an optimistic scenario, but an achievable one, even if it takes you two or three tries to build a successful enterprise. The bottom line is, the more time you can spend as an entrepreneur, the better long-term returns you’re going to see.

2. Risk tolerance

Let’s face it: Not all startups are going to make it. You need to be realistic, regardless of your age. Starting a business demands a lot of up-front investment, in both time and money, and you’ll bear significant risk, in both your finances and your current or “backup” career.

Just as happens in the financial markets, the younger you are, the better you’re going to be able to tolerate that risk. You’ll have fewer responsibilities, fewer commitments and much more time to make up any losses you incur. Therefore, starting a business as early as possible mitigates your potential losses.



3. Energy and motivation

It takes a lot of work to run a startup, too. Don’t forget that. Though not written in stone, the general rule is that younger professionals have more energy, motivation and enthusiasm than their elders.

Maybe you’ll be a youthful spirit for the next several decades, but the thing is, you can’t know for sure. What seems like a solid “maybe” idea now may become a “no way” idea in 10 years; and the work you throw yourself into now may be work you’ll avoid at all costs next decade. Every year, your energy and motivation will decline. Take advantage of these personal assets while you have them.

4. Adaptability

Younger people tend to be more adaptable. Part of the reason is that they’ve had a shorter amount of time to be exposed to the norms and rules of the professional world, and are less committed to those entrenched ideals.

An even larger part of the reason is our unique technological age; we face major technological disruptions on a regular basis, and the only way for companies to survive is to adapt and integrate these new technologies.

In your 20s and 30s, you’ll stand a better chance of recognizing and incorporating these new technologies quickly; and as you get older, the rate of development for these technologies will grow even faster. So, start a business while you’re more nimble, and you’ll be able to brave ever-more volatile waters.

5. Serial entrepreneurship

Most entrepreneurs who truly love entrepreneurship end up starting multiple businesses, becoming serial entrepreneurs in their own right. It’s as if they were born to be entrepreneurs. And, for the most part, every new business these young people start is better than the last, thanks to their founders’ previous experience, growing list of contacts and broader perspective.

Also Read: 10 Ways to become a millionaire in your 20s

Starting your first business when you’re in your 20s or 30s sets you up for a longer period of time to start even more businesses; essentially, you’re maximizing the potential experience you can gain, and greatly increasing the number of businesses you can start. Don’t throw away that potential by waiting around. If you need help getting started, grab this eBook.

None of these reasons is meant to imply that you can start a business only when you’re in your 20s and 30s, or that if you’re in your 40s or over, you’ve missed the boat. On the contrary, older entrepreneurs often carry more experience and decision-making abilities and are extremely capable of building effective businesses.

However, the unique blend of advantages that younger adults have makes this phase of life a highly strategic time to start up a business.

If you’re in your 20s or 30s, and the thought of entrepreneurship has entered your mind more than once, don’t write it off as a pipe dream. Dig into some research, explore your ideas and make the most of your youth by pouring your energy into a business. No matter how things turn out, you’ll be glad you did.

This article was originally published in Entrepreneur.com

Image Credits: djtest.bvaccel.com



When to start a startup?

When to start a startup? You really have to look within.

What do entrepreneurs, astronauts and artists have in common, other than they begin with syllable ‘Ah’.
Take astronauts. Some moments are indelibly imprinted in our minds. I remember the space shuttle Challenger launch in 1986, the excitement and anticipation leading up to the launch and 73 secs into the flight the somber disbelief and grief over its explosion. The loss of the young teacher Christa McAuliffe felt deeply personal.

“Sometimes, when we reach for the stars, we fall short. But we must pick ourselves up again and press on despite the pain,” Regan said in addressing in the aftermath, a quote that hugely influenced me all my life. There were other lessons too. The commission which looked into the disaster concluded, “For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations”. That again has been one of my guiding principles throughout my career. The accident, tragic as it was, is used as a case study for various topics, engineering ethics, dangers of group thinking, decision structures, client intimidation, topics that are relevant even today for startups and their management teams to contemplate, but that is another blog for another time.

Let’s spend some more time on astronauts. Many kids dream of being astronaut. Have you ever wonder about the odds of being selected? In 2013, for example, more than 6,000 people applied for NASA, but only eight individuals were selected. That’s 0.1% selection rate. We, the VCs are more accommodating. I believe on an average VCs invest in 2–3% of the companies they review, slightly better for startups to take off. Kelly Slack, a psychologist who sits on the astronaut selection panel once said, “It’s challenging to pick astronauts for a lot of reasons, primarily because we are predicting behavior so far in the future”. Also, the job the astronauts are selected for is probably not going to be the job they have by the time they fly. Sounds familiar to me. It is challenging to pick entrepreneurs for a lot of reasons, primarily because returns depend on predicting behavior based on future pivoting and the selected entrepreneurs will have to do a different job than what they have done to date. They have to lead an enterprise in order for mission landing, i.e, landing a unicorn for the VCs and themselves.

Again, NASA looks for intelligence, adaptability, physical condition, mental endurance, education in their astronauts, and it runs extensive tests to get data to decide on each candidate. On the other hand a VC also looks for the same traits in an entrepreneur but runs no tests and usually has limited time to make the decision.
Artists are a different breed, compared to astronauts. A typical astronaut is methodical, time bound, left brained, the kind of person who would draw a check list and adhere to it to the last. A typical artist on the other hand tends to be impulsive, tends to muse, rather than by the clock, right brained and the kind of person who would let his instincts guide him rather than a check list. Again, astronauts tend to be team players, systematic, and like to have as much clarity in communication as possible and reduce all the uncertainty that is humanly possible. Artists tend to be individualistic, they seek and thrive in chaos, communicate in metaphors and seek and find hidden meanings in ordinary objects. These qualities might be daunting to some, but it’s these qualities that help them be creative, inspire them to explore new territories, and push the boundaries, and find out new things.

What about entrepreneurs? In my view, entrepreneurs need to be both astronauts and artists. They need both precision and creativity. When it comes to having a vision, when it comes to coming up with a product or a service that even customers don’t know they want, they need to be like artists. And when it comes to execution, turning that vision into a product or a service that a customer is willing to pay, they need to be like astronauts — systematic, precise and methodical.

Both are demanding, and both are exciting. I know something about this. I have spent last two decades on two sides of the table, about a decade as an Entrepreneur and another as a Venture Capitalist. That affords me to have a perspective through personal experience.

A recent evening, while stuck in Bangalore I wondered how does the journey of an entrepreneur start. How does an entrepreneur decide when to take the plunge? Is he a technician — following a precise path, or is he an artist — guided by his passion and instincts? Do they wait till they reach certain age, or have a certain amount in the bank balance, or wait for ideal business environment, or wait till they put together the perfect team, or once they move to a perfect location?

Age is no longer a factor, it might actually favor the young. The stories of young entrepreneurs abound. Bill Gates was still a student at Harvard when he decided to drop out and start Microsoft Similarly, Mark Zuckerberg was just 20, when he dropped out of college to start Facebook. Old age shouldn’t deter you either. Gordon Bowker was 51 when he co-founded Starbucks, although it was really Howard Schultz, CEO, who really created the Starbucks we know today. Ferdinand Porsche was 56 when he founded Porsche. We have great examples in our own back yard, Bhavish Aggarwal, founder of Ola Cabs, Kunal Bahl of Snapdeal, Ritesh Agarwal of Oyo Rooms all started in their 20’s.



Your bank balance doesn’t matter. Entrepreneurs don’t wait to have a million dollars in their bank account before they start up. Rather, they startup so they can have a billion dollars in their bank account soon. One of the defining images of startups — that they are started in garage — also underlines the fact that many entrepreneurs aren’t exactly flush with cash when they start up. They make do with whatever resources they have. They borrow from friends and family. They do their planning not in board rooms, but in their dorm rooms, they conduct interviews not in corner offices but in cafes. They stretch their limited resources to the fullest, and think of innovative ways to find some.

Twenty five or thirty years ago, entrepreneurs in India didn’t have it easy. They had to wait for months to get a telephone line, Forex was hard to come by, it was too complex to import computers and computer parts, and India didn’t have the same reputation it has today. Yet, it didn’t stop entrepreneurs to start up, and build iconic companies. Today, it’s a different story. India might be ranked 130 in the ease of doing business — a list that World Bank publishes based on criteria such as how easy it is to start a business, getting credit, paying taxes etc. but it’s the second fastest growing startup country. Prime minister Narendra Modi slogan Startup India, Standup India reverberates across the country. Entrepreneurship is in the air everywhere. You just have to go to any campus and you see this clearly.

Similarly, entrepreneurs don’t wait for the best team to assemble before they start up. Entrepreneurs don’t have the luxury to wait. Entrepreneurs just start up. Their vision, passion and momentum attract great people — and eventually they end up with the dream team.

They don’t wait for the perfect business plan either. Don’t get me wrong. Business plans are important. Without one, you have no business to be in business. But, there is nothing like the perfect business plan. A plan is just a plan, and it changes whenever it meets the reality. These can be small, and sometimes a complete pivot. The team behind Twitter were building a podcast service when the entry of Apple into the segment changed everything. They quickly pivoted and the result was Twitter.

So, when to start a startup? You really have to look within. Do you feel the burning desire to become an entrepreneur? Do you have a vision that consumes you? Do you want to change the world with your work? Do you spend your days and nights thinking about starting up, as if you are madly in love with the idea? Do you have the confidence to find your way in the world? Are you good at failing and quickly recovering, facing rejection, facing your doubts? Are you an optimist? Do you feel the flow of adrenaline when you think of the things you can achieve as an entrepreneur, the problems you can solve, the challenges you can take on, the passion you can kindle in others? Then you are ready for starting up. Detailed business plans, money, team — they are all important. But as an entrepreneur the most important quality you have to have is that all consuming passion to become an entrepreneur.

If you have it, what are you waiting for? Get into the game. Today. Now!

Author: Vani Kola

Vani Kola is a Managing Director at Kalaari Capital, based in Bangalore, India. Her leadership at Kalaari centers around her commitment to the development of entrepreneurs and her conviction that Indian companies are poised to become global players. Vani brings 22 years of Silicon Valley experience as a founder of successful companies to her role as a mentor and enabler of startup companies in India. She serves on several company boards and speaks widely on entrepreneurship and leadership.

This article was originally published in Medium

Image credit: www.browngirlfromboston.com