Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on Seattle 2.0, and imported to GeekWire as part of our acquisition of Seattle 2.0 and its archival content. For more background, see this post.
By Aaron Franklin
So you want to do a Startup, but you’re waiting for your big idea, the right partner, or the right timing. If you’ll be keeping your full-time job for a little while longer, here is how to take advantage of this time.
Write Down What Annoys You
It takes a very special idea to warrant sacrificing your full-time job, life savings, and years of your life. Before you even generate product ideas, start to notice pain points in your life. Dave McClure says to start a pitch with the problem, not the solution. Simon Sinek says that when you’re discussing a project, you should start with the why. The product you’re building needs to be born from a problem, so start with a list of pain points, and then see which ones you return to the most. Become conscious of opportunities as they spring up in your daily life, and turn complaining into potential business ideas. For each problem, brainstorm multiple solutions. In the end you’ll have a list of ideas directly connected to problems – resulting in more ideas to choose from, a better pitch, a better product, and better odds of succeeding.
Create an Escape Fund
I’m surprised that I meet so many would-be entrepreneurs thinking about raising money, but not putting their own money away. Delaying your startup and continuing to collect your paycheck is easy, so you may as well take advantage of the decision-making period. I didn’t realize until I left Microsoft that I could live off of 50% of my salary. If you’re still working, cut your expenses to the bare minimum anyways. This will prepare you for the bootstrapped life, and the money you save becomes your startup fund. If you can live off 50% of your salary for a year, you’ll have enough savings to live for a year. I recommend that anyone feeling stuck in their job or career start a one-year escape fund. Even if you don’t know how you will spend your year, you are guaranteed to learn a lot about yourself and what you really enjoy doing when you aren’t spending half of your waking life answering to someone else. Trust me: it’s worth sacrificing a few weekend trips and fancy meals now in exchange for a year to find work you truly love.
Find Independent Income
Don’t wait until you leave your job to build a network outside of the office where you work. In Seattle, there are a variety of regular events where you’ll meet people who want to get started, people who recently got started, and people who have succeeded. Even more important than meeting people is developing networking skills to meet new contacts and pitch what you’re working on. Networking does not come naturally to me, but after months of practice I’m starting to feel more comfortable – get started now. And don’t just stand in a circle with the people you know – challenge yourself to meet new people.
Get Started
Appreciate when you stand up at 5PM and go home. Appreciate weekends without work. Appreciate going out for a 3+ course meal. Appreciate uninterrupted quality time with your significant other. Appreciate new clothes. Appreciate your health insurance. Appreciate having an office to go. Appreciate the office supplies in the cabinet at work. Appreciate being able to complain about your boss. Appreciate and recognize that you are spoilt, and that life is going to get difficult for a while. A startup begins with sacrifices – are you ready?
