Any Entrepreneurs Here?
Title says it all.
Entrepreneurs of this forum, I'd like to here about you and your stories. How did you start out? What made you go out on your own? What industry are you in? How is your enterprise doing now?
I'm not limiting this to one industry. You could be in anything from tech to real estate to semiconductors to porno stores to search funds, you name it.
I know this is a rare breed of people, so if you know someone who went out on their own, feel free to pitch in.
I've started to feel a lack of fulfillment in my life lately, and I'm hoping to hear some interesting stories...
It's all about capital. Without capital, you're dead on the runway. You could have the most insanely ridiculous world-altering product or service ever conceived that's going to change the world(!!!!), but if you can't convince capitalists to provide capital, you're dead in the water. Such is my struggle with my product. Ya know, the tough thing about angel investment is what Jesus pointed out in the Bible--no prophet is accepted in his own hometown.
Capital isn't the issue - you need product demand.
I'm a supply-sider. It's difficult to create demand without supply, especially if your product doesn't even exist on the mental radar and is in a brand new industry. Capital is key.
I’m a landlord. Nothing ground breaking. I do all the plumbing, carpentry, electrical and HVAC. Keeps me busy and I enjoy it. I renovate properties in my free time.
I became an entrepreneur in 2010.
Old thread, but what do you do?
In 2010 I got out of management consulting and corporate finance and started a design company specializing in financial modeling and art design. I had one client for financial modeling and a couple clients in modern art design.
After this, I started to despise the sales side of making art and mainly focused on building up inventory, so I have a good number of pieces now.
In 2013-2014 I spent time in Canada with my church and worked as a lumberjack as well as in construction and also collecting maple sap (16,000 gallons).
Then in 2015 I played poker full time until I thought I should do something more beneficial for society, so went into neuroscience research in 2016.
After that I went back into corporate life for a short time doing automotive analytics.
Then before Covid I started some more LLCs that I plan to build up over time.
Now I spend a lot of time caregiving and being there for my family. I still play poker as a side hustle and may crank out some large modern art pieces again at some point, but I don’t have an art studio at the moment so cleanup is a real pain.
Really though, if I had not gone the entrepreneurial route, I would likely be locked into a city and not able to help with my family. Also, my siblings are locked into marriage and different cities, so it is very inconvenient for them to help out, even though we all fly for free in the family. Seeing my Mom is the highlight of my day. She is a very special positive spirit in this world. Both her and my Dad live in senior living, but my Dad lives in an independent living situation, while she is locked in - in Alzheimer's/Dementia care.
I didn't really care much about family in my 20s, but when it came to either me helping with care or no one, I stepped in to help in my 30s. It was really the best decision I have ever made. Family is everything. I can't believe how selfish I was in my 20s, just doing my own thing. I had no idea. I guess I had to mature a little bit.
Capital is important. But most important is you have to be able to build relationships and sell. Selling is key. Your capital will run out if you can't sell.
I run 2 businesses. One on my own. HNW advisory
2nd is in telecom’s space
prior exp little under 2 years IB coverage
I'm curious to hear the story of your transition from IB -> entrepreneurship if you're open to sharing.
Transition was smooth. I'd place it more on the "who you know" side of things and obviously luck.
Prior to IB I was dual degree finance + engineering from a target. Left and went to top coverage group in teleco's as that was my niche in undergrad studies (electrical eng.)
Grew up in the Silicon Valley born and raised and met the right people along the way through family friends mutual connects. Took an interest to my story and seed my first venture in form of a search fund with 2 other partners. Acquired the semi's company, now run as owner operator in a ~10 year roll-up.
HNW advisory I chalk it up completely to luck and being around right people right time. Uncle was early worker at a now public teleco firm, and I was put in touch with the founder. I manage much more of their high tough finance needs that are more relatable to someone like myself (26 yrs old) than say a traditional wealth manager (think succession, inheritance planning etc). I only run this portion about ~5 hours a week. Not a big chunk of my time but it does outsize my total income annually now.
I just raised money to buy 3 income producing websites. Might roll them for some capital to buy some multifamily (small 4 units) or might buy more websites. Not sure yet.
How much income are they producing?
Interesting, would love to hear a little more. Like what types of websites are these and what is your involvement with them now? Are you actively involved with the operations, updates, etc. or is it more hands-off?
They are basically platform sites not dissimilar to bizbuysell. They selling either websites or Facebook pages (i know i didn't believe this was a viable business either). I get a percentage of the sales. Very little operating i would have to do. I'm on boarding now and I retained the seller as a consultant for 60 days. Already have new business in the pipeline.
I got them for less than 50k.
Last 3 yrs around 190k/yr to owner.
You talk about yourself in the 3rd person?
Sorry owner in this instance means the seller. I guess I'm the owner now.
I wouldn't call this going out on my own, but I coded and designed an EdTech app. I'm looking to apply for accelerators soon. I spent a long time debating between making it free, and rather selling it to entire schools. I decided to go with the latter. I am doing a pilot of the app next month with one school for free, and plan to use data to sell it to other schools. The thing about my app is that the educational content is aligned to actual standards within this subject, so it's not just generic educational content. I figured worst case, I have something for my resume.
Bootstrapped two consumer brands, then reinvested the proceeds into a few minority equity deals that generated strong returns. Subsequently used those funds to execute a few turnarounds.
We are still very small as a firm and our strategy doesn't support much capacity yet as I need to scale our team/get the right people in. Will probably raise a small fund soon that we can comfortably deploy & realize 35% - 40% IRR for investors to make fund II much larger/easier and avoid boo boos...
First step is wrapping up the company I'm currently running end-to-end though. Getting close.
That sounds so cool. How did you even get started in this space?
Rental properties.
I bought a couple units which I renovated throughout university and now manage while in IB. Scratches my entrepreneurial itch and it's something that i'm interested so could be considered a 'hobby' that beats the returns of the market any day of the week.
meme stocks babe, it's what i do
Co-founder of a high-tech startup.
Just got the prototype built last week. Will be performing A/B testing and finding a solid product-market fit this summer. Will be looking to onboard 2-3 engineers in the fall. (We are about 8 months old.)
Will probably start pitching to VCs mid-winter. Have already declined a few VC term sheets, because we did not want to work with them (and we wanted to raise at a higher valuation).
Currently in an accelerator with a decent reputation in the region. Also won a pitch competition.
I was in the same boat as you sort of. I decided my freshman year of college I would rather work for myself for 80 hours a week on my own terms than work in finance on someone else's. However, I am still very passionate about finance.
If you are looking for resources I found these books helpful.
MIT's take on startups https://www.amazon.com/Disciplined-Entrepreneurship-Steps-Successful-St…
Stanford's take on startups https://www.amazon.com/Startup-Owners-Manual-Step-Step/dp/B08B6DX1FY/re…
I personally prefer MIT's book, but both are amazing.
I've got a company just about ready to go (prototype complete, website 95% built). How do you even get in front of VCs to reject them? I genuinely don't even know that process.
They reached out to us. We are not really trying to raise from dogshit tier VCs with no exits.
You should read venture deals and start building a network. A strong network is pretty important when raising.
https://www.amazon.com/Venture-Deals-Smarter-Lawyer-Capitalist-dp-11195…
What field is this company in?
I'm pretty sure it's literally easier than fuck these days. You can pitch your startup in like one of two dozen Clubhouse rooms if you want, and they'll actually invest. Or you can send in a proposal to twitter pages of top VCs. or just fill out forms on like Y Combinator or something.
Out of curiosity what is your product? Would you be willing to share/ talk about it more?
Pinging m_1 as he may be able to offer some insight.
This is a forum with *smart* but overwhelmingly risk averse lemmings. Outside of a handful of people in RE, you aren't going to find a single long-term poster that quit their PE gig for entrepreneurship. It's sad. I wish it was different, because alot of you are actually very bright.
agreed
To be fair, the median person in PE is doing much better than the median person in an entrepreneurial endeavor. The vast majority of startups and new businesses fail, now of course there are sectors where your chance of failing is drastically lower (i.e. multifamily RE turnaround w/ high cap).
lets pool our resources together and create a business with a WSO syndicate
whaddya say fellas
Eaque ut possimus et officia. Autem non sequi rerum dolor incidunt. Dolorem consequuntur illum occaecati occaecati non consequatur veniam recusandae. Numquam perspiciatis quas ipsum eaque illo aut omnis odit.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Eius occaecati hic qui natus sed est. Nulla cum animi occaecati hic. Cumque sequi dignissimos voluptatem. Laudantium dolor corporis dicta illo molestiae. Eos facere aut voluptatem sed doloremque sunt. Incidunt assumenda dolores mollitia. Ipsum a laudantium sint quaerat soluta.
Ut quia repellat ut facere molestiae. Repellat aut quia nesciunt nihil blanditiis. Suscipit sed sapiente autem.