Work First, Then Start Your Business

[bestill]

During an interview with Tori Nichel, clothing designer and company founder, I asked her:

Do you recommend to individuals interested in started their own business, that they begin by working for a company similar to the one they intend to start?

"Yes, I absolutely recommend individuals interested in starting their own business to apprentice at similar companies first. Learn from other’s mistakes and make a few mistakes on someone else’s dime in the learning process. The biggest mistake I see people make is not having enough on the job training and experience and business ac cum to sustain their business."


What are everyone's thoughts on that? I believe its necessary to learn from others and get the experience you personally need to succeed. Unless you have an innovation like Facebook, then I think it's important to hold off, learn more at a job and then pursue your dreams. It decreases the chance of failure.

[Future of Edu]

I think in some cases it is neccesary. Depends on the industry or chosen field. In my case it doesnt really apply. I had experience in the IT industry but in a completely different field then my chosen business. So I had no direct experience when starting it. Innovative ideas can apply to existing product solutions. I guess it just depends on your knowledge and ability to adapt and take change. Everyone is different. To most I would make the same suggestion. There are the few that will succeed no matter what though.

Enjoy Life,
Nick

[akula]

During an interview with Tori Nichel, clothing designer and company founder, I asked her:

Do you recommend to individuals interested in started their own business, that they begin by working for a company similar to the one they intend to start?

"Yes, I absolutely recommend individuals interested in starting their own business to apprentice at similar companies first. Learn from other’s mistakes and make a few mistakes on someone else’s dime in the learning process. The biggest mistake I see people make is not having enough on the job training and experience and business ac cum to sustain their business."


What are everyone's thoughts on that? I believe its necessary to learn from others and get the experience you personally need to succeed. Unless you have an innovation like Facebook, then I think it's important to hold off, learn more at a job and then pursue your dreams. It decreases the chance of failure.

it depends on the situation (i.e. some people start hobby businesses outside of their professional training etc) but in a general sense, yes i agree, evidence shows that there is a positive correlation between a founder's cv and successful venture outcomes. that said, there are also plenty of instances where founders with stellar corporate cv's produce completely dismal startup failures

for these reasons (and consinstent with research in this area), i've found that start up success is largely a product of randomness. luck is the great equaliser when it comes to entrepreneurship...luck ensures that success comes both to experienced and inexperienced founders in equal parts...as a consequence of this fact, really, one of the core skills for entrepreneurs is to utilise the role of luck in business by developing the skill to summarily quit unsuccessful start up attempts and move on to the next opportunity

the more shots an entrepreneur has at jackpot over their career, the less the probability of them walking away with nothing at the end of the day..and inversely, there's nothing more tragic than seeing a founder ploughing away at some opportunity for ten years straight because they don't have the head space to quit something that's going no where

...and that's some of the issues relevant to startup success in a nutshell...corporate experience is important, but experience in going through the startup process multiple times is probably more so crucial

yay 5,100th post

[The Stealthy One]

Congrats, Daniel!

[bestill]

it depends on the situation (i.e. some people start hobby businesses outside of their professional training etc) but in a general sense, yes i agree, evidence shows that there is a positive correlation between a founder's cv and successful venture outcomes. that said, there are also plenty of instances where founders with stellar corporate cv's produce completely dismal startup failures

for these reasons (and consinstent with research in this area), i've found that start up success is largely a product of randomness. luck is the great equaliser when it comes to entrepreneurship...luck ensures that success comes both to experienced and inexperienced founders in equal parts...as a consequence of this fact, really, one of the core skills for entrepreneurs is to utilise the role of luck in business by developing the skill to summarily quit unsuccessful start up attempts and move on to the next opportunity

the more shots an entrepreneur has at jackpot over their career, the less the probability of them walking away with nothing at the end of the day..and inversely, there's nothing more tragic than seeing a founder ploughing away at some opportunity for ten years straight because they don't have the head space to quit something that's going no where

...and that's some of the issues relevant to startup success in a nutshell...corporate experience is important, but experience in going through the startup process multiple times is probably more so crucial

yay 5,100th post

Great points. What I mean, is that someone interested in becoming an entrepreneur, before starting up right away, try and work at a company similar to what you are looking to start or in a similar industry. This way you can learn from others mistakes. Ask all the questions you want and treat it as your experiment.

I agree with your point about going through the startup process being very learning. I know it to be very expensive as well!

[akula]

Great points. What I mean, is that someone interested in becoming an entrepreneur, before starting up right away, try and work at a company similar to what you are looking to start or in a similar industry. This way you can learn from others mistakes. Ask all the questions you want and treat it as your experiment.

I agree with your point about going through the startup process being very learning. I know it to be very expensive as well!

yeah absolutely...workplace experience and professionalism are vital for positive venture outcomes because professionalism is a necessity for functioning startup businesses

workplace experience affords many advantages to entrepreneurs in the form of resources like cofounders, finance, equipment, referrals, industry credibility, insider information etc...but more than that workplace experience teaches young entrepreneurs a degree of professionalism...and professionalism goes hand in hand with effectiveness...

...unfortunately, it's been on too many occasions that i've met young entrepreneurs with interesting ideas but who lacked the professionalism to commercialise their ventures...at any rate, really, we could go on and on about this issue but the consensus would probably be the same no matter what way you look at it..

[Cucumber Marketing]

Completely agree! This way you will gain experience and, in some cases, your potential clientele

[manofinfluence1]

This greatly depends on the individual making that decision. If you have the resources, the skills and you are pretty sure that you have what it takes to do it on your own, I will definitely take the risk. Working on a company will create limits of what one can do.

[solutions111]

Try starting out with the resources you have now spending the least possable to get started. as you outgrow your resources then think about expansion

[Alexishost]

yea, that's one way to start.

At least you have goal and dream to work in to.

That help most of us keep motivated

[OnePriceSites]

No doubt! I have had a few clients in the past start businesses they new NOTHING about. Maybe at the most got some limited franchise training. They ended up hating the business and selling at a huge loss. Just because you like coffee does not mean you will like owning a coffee shop!