by Bill Clerico, guest blogger
Deciding to start a company is no small consideration. It requires vision, patience and confidence (or arrogance). When one has spent years working for someone else, receiving a steady paycheck in exchange for doing specific tasks, it can be downright daunting.
Last fall, I left the salary (and brutal hours) of an investment banking analyst for the life of an entrepreneur. With a partner and close friend, I am building WePay.com, a new type of online bank that looks and feels like a social network. The salary is gone, but the hours haven’t gotten much better.
There were more sacrifices to be made. I moved from the downtown Boston neighborhood of Beacon Hill to the much more “modest” suburb of Revere, MA. My credit card balance has seen better days. My weekend beverage of choice (Hendrick’s on the rocks) has been replaced by dollar drafts. I couldn’t be happier.
For me, the creative freedom of starting a company has far outweighed the sacrifices. I wake up every morning to work on a problem I am passionate about: making it easy for groups of people to collect and manage money. I was always “that guy” collecting the checks for ski trips and hounding people for their march madness pool money. When Rich and I are done, “that guy” will be obsolete.
Though I am still learning as I go, I’ve scraped together a few thoughts to impart to would-be entrepreneurs:
- Find an idea that you are truly and utterly passionate about. Some days, you’ll have nothing to cling to but that passion. If you don’t believe in the success of your business unconditionally, how can you expect someone else to?
- Find investors, alternate sources of income, or both. If your business won’t generate revenue right away, make sure you have some cash to pay the rent. These days, investors are hard to come by, but it might be worth checking out angelsoft.net for some ideas, or searching for entrepreneurial networking events on meetup.com. Think about skills you have that can help you make money. Can you help build websites? Tutor? Walk dogs? Craigslist.org can be a great resource to find odd jobs.
- Participate in the community. Find local events in your area, and join Twitter and other social networks online. The relationships you build in the both the real and virtual worlds will pay dividends in the form of customers, partners, investors and employees.
- Build a great team. Someone who claims to be good at anything is usually mediocre at everything. It’s a competitive world out there, and mediocre companies rarely do well. Give yourself an honest self-review, find your weaknesses, and find partners, employees or advisors that can help you overcome them.
The good news is that few people have the guts to strike out on their own, so the mere act of going for it sets you apart. And hey, if all else fails, you can always go get a job (though the title on your business card might take a hit).
Bill is the CEO of WePay.com, and maintains a personal blog at www.billclerico.com. He can be followed on Twitter at @billclerico and @wepay.
March 26th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Start-ups should get good financial controls in place by using web based accounting apps to maintain finances from the beginning.
April 3rd, 2009 at 9:51 am
[...] week the founder of WePay.com, Bill Clerico, wrote about the dedication that it takes to start a company. Recession be damned, he and cofounder Richie [...]