Why aren't you an Entrepreneur?
You're intelligent, very well educated and ambitious. Moreover, you're young, single and have very few responsibilities in comparison to what you're going to have in a few years time. So why are you wasting your life fucking around in Excel for 18 hours a day and jumping through hoops for your MD?
This thought popped into my head earlier this week and refuses to leave. I think I've been kidding myself by saying that I need to spend time 'learning some real skills' or 'I'll wait until I'm older and wiser'. (It's also been inspired by a Banker who was telling me how he'd recently advised on a Secondary buy-out whereby the original founder had been allowed to take out £20m)
What's stopping us? Fear? How many times are we going to say to ourselves "I'll just wait until my Bonus comes in and then I'll do it"?
What was Patrick's (WSO) turning point?
Disclaimer: I know this shot doesn't apply to everyone, but I think it applies to alot.
No.. you're right, no need to
No.. you're right, no need to sugar coat it. It should apply to most. Let's face it the traditional paths are overvalued: there is always some other eager dude willing to work more hours for less money--as evidenced by many entry-level posts on this board.
As we've noticed the entre path, carving your own career etc whatever you want to call it, is a widely considered alternative by many--even post-mba professionals who did 2+2 type stints.
The flipside is that the 2+2 track provides distinguishable value by way of a real finance skillset, and that dropping out to start a venture-- if it fails and you need to come back to corporate america may not provide enough of a marketable resume. It is therefore imperative to think long and hard about whether your venture can produce results to show that this choice was lucrative enough to have made sense--and importantly, to help you distinguish yourself from the myriad of dudes who just couldn't hack it and are sitting at home but say they are actually inventing the next big thing...
No money, no idea, no clue
No money, no idea, no clue where to even start, and the industry I would want to pursue is very complex and takes a while to master.
After some experience as an IB analyst in my desired industry, I'd probably feel much more knowledgeable and confident, and might have some money saved up...but I'd still need an idea which is a massive hurdle, and the idea couldn't be too capital intensive (no desire to do an internet startup) given the meager savings of an analyst.
im out of capital. halfway
im out of capital. halfway done with a prototype
The reason most smart people
The reason most smart people aren't entrepreneurs is simple in my opinion: most people (smart or otherwise) are risk-averse.
For my aspiring Entrepreneurial Nomads, check out my blog.
yea good point on the capital
yea good point on the capital intensiveness/capital efficiency aspect, which is obv a given requirement cap investment be as low as possible for obv irr purposes..
econ wrote: The reason most
The reason most smart people aren't entrepreneurs is simple in my opinion: most people (smart or otherwise) are risk-averse.
Most societies in maturation and eventual decline tend to exhibit irrational risk-aversion
you will be more successful
you will be more successful as an investment banker than you will be as an entreprenuer. don't get it twisted... an OVERWHELMING majority of entreprenuers will FAIL. i can say with quite a bit of confidence that your company WILL NOT be the next facebook, whereas fucking around with excel for 18 hours will give you a $300k+ salary in your thirties (making you EXTREMELY successful, relatively speaking).
it would be foolish to take an entrepreneurial path without understanding the risks and what you are foregoing to be on that path. that shit is not for everyone.
Money Never Sleeps? More like Money Never SUCKS amirite?!?!?!?
sayandarula wrote: you will
you will be more successful as an investment banker than you will be as an entreprenuer. don't get it twisted... an OVERWHELMING majority of entreprenuers will FAIL. i can say with quite a bit of confidence that your company WILL NOT be the next facebook, whereas fucking around with excel for 18 hours will give you a $300k+ salary in your thirties (making you EXTREMELY successful, relatively speaking).
it would be foolish to take an entrepreneurial path without understanding the risks and what you are foregoing to be on that path. that shit is not for everyone.
The same can be said about prop trading. Then again, most consistently profitable traders who started out in their early 20s hit seven figures by their 30s.
I win here, I win there...
Bi-Winning
you will be more successful as an investment banker than you will be as an entreprenuer. don't get it twisted... an OVERWHELMING majority of entreprenuers will FAIL. i can say with quite a bit of confidence that your company WILL NOT be the next facebook, whereas fucking around with excel for 18 hours will give you a $300k+ salary in your thirties (making you EXTREMELY successful, relatively speaking). it would be foolish to take an entrepreneurial path without understanding the risks and what you are foregoing to be on that path. that shit is not for everyone.
The same can be said about prop trading. Then again, most consistently profitable traders who started out in their early 20s hit seven figures by their 30s.
to add to this, the accumulation of experience from both prop trading and serial entrepreneurship has value. While you may fail at first, productively failing and constantly improving will render upward sloping benefits. The problem here, as the penguin-avatar dude mentioned is that in your first or second or third or fourth venture you may fail. That attitude is status quo, and people are afraid their failure wont be valued in the marketplace as good experience because as a society we don't believe in productive failure. Because we are risk averse as fuck because our demographics are aging and driving risk aversion even further.
I am very entrepreneurial
I am very entrepreneurial person and plan on starting on my own hedge fund. I've taken the first steps by acquiring my RIA designation and acquired an auditor for my track record with the small amount of funds I was able to raise.
Unlike other industries, in the investment management requires a few years of track record and some experience at a bigger firm to build credibility (and maybe a CFA). It's a tough sell to raise money as someone in your early 20's with no experience. Once I have more of a trading record as an RIA/with client money and/or experience on Wall Street, then I will have chance to brach off. Until then, working for an Ibank or mutual/hedge fund as a research analyst or trader is an excellent way to learn and improve both my credibility and investing skills.
Rant: For me this is a new
Rant:
For me this is a new brainer. Not trying to knock starting your own company, but it's just not economically pheasible (sp?) for a lot of kids comming out of school with debt or zero dollars.
I'd say if you're a brilliant engineer or uber creative self starter since you where young, then yes go for it. But lets face it, most of us aren't, moreover, most of us (myself included) are fucking retards despite 3.8 GPA's and what have you comming out of school. I didn't realize how clueless I was until I started banking, that's just me.
For me, I figured if I started a company out of school I'd likely spin my wheels for 2.5 years with a probable outcome of a failed knock of some stupid social site. Go look at TechStars track record of their incubated companies, ~75 companies funded 2 acquisitions and ~<30-40% unfunded. I think VC's and TechCrunchers are too fucking high and mighty, and def sluff off the downsides of starting a company/very quick to knock any other post grad job that isn't starting your own company.
I took a class my last semester at college via our law school and it was taught by a really prominent startup attorney and venture capitalist. Really opened my eyes as to the business of VC and start up companies. They paint a picture that VC and entrepreneurship is some big benevolent crusade. It's not, it's a business like any other and VC's know this full well. Also, a ton of kids in the class where all amped up on starting their own company, but during candid conversations disclosed they just wanted to start a company as a path to become a VC. Fucking bullshit. You know who's going to be a VC? People who are really fucking good at making making money or have a shit tone of money (Ashton Kutcher anyone?) not some broke dumb fuck law grad who started OodleMyDoodle.com and only noteworthy exit was folding up 3 failed startups (harsh, but it happens, 10x more than not). Starting a business isn't a fucking joke, not a loveable loser Disney movie, I've seen plenty of extremely talented comp sci grads and startup junkies go absolutely nowhere with really cool biz plans. VC's and entrepreneurs my give off the aura of being care free and fully satisfied with life but just from personally knowing very sucessful individuals in both arenas can see that they're just fucking cold blooded and money hungry as your Dbag hitter MD at XX ibank.
A good time start a company in my opinion is when you know your potential companies space inside and out, i.e. how you can make it work (at least on paper) financially, not only where to get the money for it but 3-4 niche investors that you could call up personally that would seriously consider your exec sum after a 20 min phone call/email, a specific targeted potential clientel universe, a detailed results driven/substantiated internal biz plan/"road-map", and a realistic liquidity event at 5-10 years. Is this a slamdunk biz model? No, def not. But it's much more realistic to this way.
DurbanDiMangus wrote: econ
The reason most smart people aren't entrepreneurs is simple in my opinion: most people (smart or otherwise) are risk-averse.
Most societies in maturation and eventual decline tend to exhibit irrational risk-aversion
Who's to say it's irrational? I desperately want to be an entrepreneur, but I still see where my "opponents" are coming from. I might wind up busting my ass for $30K/year, over and over again and never really have a moderately successful business. Meanwhile, my friends and current co-workers will be working 40 - 50 hour weeks and making six-figures 5 - 10 years from now. Once you factor in the added fear of failure and stress of being your own boss, and combine that with the opportunity cost discussed above, I'm not sure they're all that irrational.
For my aspiring Entrepreneurial Nomads, check out my blog.
econ wrote: DurbanDiMangus
The reason most smart people aren't entrepreneurs is simple in my opinion: most people (smart or otherwise) are risk-averse.
Most societies in maturation and eventual decline tend to exhibit irrational risk-aversion
Who's to say it's irrational? I desperately want to be an entrepreneur, but I still see where my "opponents" are coming from. I might wind up busting my ass for $30K/year, over and over again and never really have a moderately successful business. Meanwhile, my friends and current co-workers will be working 40 - 50 hour weeks and making six-figures 5 - 10 years from now. Once you factor in the added fear of failure and stress of being your own boss, and combine that with the opportunity cost discussed above, I'm not sure they're all that irrational.
It's irrational to be as risk-averse as we are, collectively devaluing productive failure. productive failure is a good thing, as you can learn and continuously improve. From your posts you seem like a smart dude and I think if you joined a startup and got to wear many hats that experience would be massively accretive to your goal of one day launching a business that will create tremendous wealth for you, likely in excess of traditional paths, but you have to have a market, a product, a capital base, domain expertise (etc etc etc), and have to be very systematic about learning from that experience and making it seem valuable to others.
@ stringerbell--i hear you. And yes on the "high and mighty and downplaying risks" naive enthusiasm of startups--you're right. But the reality is, no one is putting risk capital against innovation, r&d, and other societally valuable projects like VCs (corporate or LP owned) and super-angels and university research deps. No one. Where would we be today if this kind of intelligent risk taking was not part of the very moral and socioeconomic fiber of our country, a cultural disposition that undoubtedly values productive failure that you can learn from. We would not be the kind of economic superpower we are today. That's why entrepreneurship is a priceless asset that we must invigorate, and that's why we should all have some entre experience in our careers--both for ourselves and for innovation's sake...
Because if I stay the course
Because if I stay the course I'll be just fine
I've done start-ups and I
I've done start-ups and I could have made decent money, but to be an entrepreneur in the sector I want to be in; I need the connections and training of banking/VC. I want to be a Cleantech entrepreneur but at this point I only have the ability to create service/retail/web 2.0 businesses. That's why I need the mindless excel and long hours and sketch work-life balance. That doesn't apply to everyone, but for me it's an unfortunate necessity.
"Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to become the means by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of other men. Blood, whips and guns or dollars."
If you want to be an
Stringer Bell
Check out my WSO Blog
Stringer Bell wrote: For me
For my aspiring Entrepreneurial Nomads, check out my blog.
.
sayandarula wrote: you will
Money Never Sleeps? More like Money Never SUCKS amirite?!?!?!?
think I'll chime in here
WSO Conference 2013
Private Certified User Chat
the main issue with
The hardest part is having
leveredarb wrote: the main
A lot of you guys are looking
txjustin wrote: A lot of you
Great question and awesome
adapt or die wrote: nailed it
^^^Absolutely! I'd rather
Straight out of college, you
It is better to be vaguely right than exactly wrong - JMK
Hey guys, I just wanted to
See my WSO Blog
The best way to dip your toe
Life in general is a pretty
Long time reader of this site
http://blogs.forbes.com/tomio
I think its necessary to note
looking for that pick-me-up to power through an all-nighter?
txjustin wrote: A lot of you
For my aspiring Entrepreneurial Nomads, check out my blog.
It is incredibly difficult to
baddebt88 wrote: For
For my aspiring Entrepreneurial Nomads, check out my blog.
Networking doesn't mean
I went from Banking->HF and
fuck entrepreneurship.
Extremely relevant to
Head of Metal Website: www.headofmetal.com
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Going from college straight
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Guest1655 wrote: fuck
"Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to become the means by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of other men. Blood, whips and guns or dollars."
Guest1655 wrote: fuck
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You are still an
Independent Gestion
Guest1655 wrote: Independent
"Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to become the means by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of other men. Blood, whips and guns or dollars."