I want to start a company but don't know how
Hi all, first time posting on here but have been a lurker for some time. I'm currently finishing up my bachelor's degree at a respected university (semi target) in the UK. I'm originally from North America. I have undertaken some internships in investment banking and private equity, all at very small boutique firms, and while I have enjoyed it and the learning process has been great, I have an idea for a company that I have been thinking about for some time now.
For some background, one of the small PE firms I interned for had me focus on this niche in the LMM space (will keep ambiguous but is a niche that falls under the SaaS umbrella). At first it was only sourcing but I was later involved in a deal process for a business within this sector and was engaged with management of our client when I came up with this business idea/service. I have also seen other smaller, early stage companies in this niche have somewhat related business models to my idea, but genuinely nothing that is exactly what my unique selling point of the service would be. I've ran some base projections/modelling for potential business model of my idea, and have acquired at least the preliminary finance/accounting background via multiple IB/PE internships to understand the basics of how this would work.
This is where it gets a bit tricky. I don't come from a technical background (I study a humanities subject, think Law/History), and while my businesses model is not one that necessitates an overly complex technical aspect for its foundation (concept is not dependent/reliant on increasingly progressive technologies like AI/LLM etc.), I of course need to partner with someone who has the baseline technical skills to build a platform, backend etc.
Another challenge is more or less a personal one, and I would love to hear opinions from those who have seen this move made/have made a move personally in a similar fashion. I'm currently in some recruiting processes for IB/PE in Ldn and the EU for both summer analyst and grad positions, and have a decent shot at landing something that would likely give a return offer. I also scored quite well on the GMAT which will almost assure me admission to a strong Msc Finance/MiM program in either the UK/EU, which was my original plan in my pursuit of an early career in finance or consulting. I also hold a training contract offer for a decently strong law firm in Ldn commencing in a few years (Silver Circle, start date can be pushed back). Frankly, I have enjoyed my time thus far as an ib/pe intern and both the stability and platform of starting a career at a bank or fund is attractive, both from a skill development and financial perspective. My most recent buyside internship was at a small growth equity shop and ge/vc investing is something I find quite interesting, partly because it gives me direct exposure to the startup ecosystem. But I can't ignore my thoughts of starting a business/service that I see as unique, even though I would need to take many steps in not only getting preliminary funding, but also partnering with people who bring essential skills to build the business.
Essentially, I have this business idea that I think could work, but have a) no idea how to find people to start it with, b) no idea how to get funded (particularly as someone coming from a non-technical background), and c) am weighing the risk of doing this right out of university vs. trying after 2-3 years in banking/consulting etc.
Any thoughts are helpful. Cheers
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