There are plenty of reasons to not get involved in startups for very great reasons. However if you hear yourself saying these words every time you think of your idea you should start reconsidering.
I don’t have any money:
What you really mean is you are unsure if the idea is worth the effort. There is a huge financial risk regarding creating a startup not just in the realized losses but also in the opportunity cost. A fancy economics term meaning what you could have attained by doing something else. One of the legitimate reasons why you may avoid a startup is that you are independently wealthy. Think late career executives. Why should they waste time on such extreme uncertainty when they have cash on hand?
Besides you’ll never have enough money. Every startup, every business, every enterprise almost constantly runs into this situation (except for a small few who seem to not know what to spend their money on).
I don’t have time:
This is a classic. What it really means is you don’t think it’s important enough. You have time to eat (important), sleep (important) and your current job (important) but you just “don’t have enough time” to start that big dream because well you have friends to see, wine to drink, reality TV shows to watch. if you REALLY think you don’t have time then do a time audit for a regular week. See just how much time is eaten up in wasted tasks.
I’m too old:
This is in the same vein as I don’t have time. There are countless members of the founded amazing things club that had whole careers before they went on to a startup. Henry Ford, Nikola Tesla, James J. Hill. Just for starters. The trend in our current society tends to favor “up in comers” and “Seasoned Executives” but there is never a good age to start. If you see a problem and think of a good way to provide value to it then you should start whether too young or old.
What if I fail:
Worrying about failing in life is like worrying about death, both are going to happen.
Failure is a mindset. Because it’s defined specifically within the confines of the culture. To the American, the earliest conversation opener is “What do you do for a living”. This being such an early focus point for two strangers makes career failure a very poignant top of mind thought. But you shouldn’t be defining failure in the same terms that most people do. Because they are not the ones being creators. They are consumers.
If your company blows up, collapses in on itself. It’s not a failure. It’s a learning point. Everyone gets out alive. It’s the defining point between a winner and a champion. Overly focused on societal terms of success and failure will only force you to make goals that you will easilly achieve and therefore false patting on the back. You should be failing a steady number of your goals for growth because it’s the only way to challenge your limits.
I don’t have an idea:
While a lot of entrepreneurs have a creative and visionary as attributes not every founder has an idea right away or they start with a smaller concept and through execution they realize the real value that they can create.
If you don’t have an idea don’t sweat it. There are plenty of ways to search for a problem, navigate problem areas or to get a hold of people who have problems that need solving. The fastest is to start co-founder dating.
I can’t find a co-founder:
Or I can’t find a trustworthy/committed co-founder. Most problems around co-founding is either you are not getting yourself out there enough. You aren’t selling your skill set. You aren’t being assertive enough. You can chat with someone for twenty minutes but if you want to let them know you’re serious enough to join ask them out for coffee to hear more about their idea.
Think of your skills. Depending on what you have for skills you may truly have a difficult time finding a co-founder but difficult isn’t a can’t. It means you need to put more hours into it. Join events, competitions and networking platforms like Kivoke and Meetup
I’m too scared:
Everyone is scared. We stress and fret about a ton of things. Fear is a great thing. It helps us from buying expensive things we can’t afford, it helps us not die. It also can be debilitating. The biggest suggestion I can give you is to do something that gives you fear every day. It means you are experiencing discomfort. That you feel vulnerable.
Use fear as a motivator not as a means to roadblock you from getting to your goals.
I lack business skills:
Business is stupidly easy to learn. There is just a lot of it. Learn what you can on the job, while reading, while ‘failing’ and from coaches and mentors. When a skill doesn’t come easy to you ramp up to find an advisor, cofounder (if it’s a strong value proposition for your startup) or an employee as soon as you can.
But not having a skill is not a reason for not doing something. Take accountability for your actions.
I’m not an insider:
Just because you aren’t connected to someone well known is not a reason for not doing something. When pushing into an industry you are not familiar with you can mitigate this by either finding co-founders/advisors with deep connections or ignoring all practices and forging new ones. Will it take time? Sure, but if you are actually solving a problem new to the industry isn’t the reason you’ll be turned away.
It looks bad on a resume:
Yikes. If you are really that concerned with it being on a resume it means you aren’t serious about the venture. You are concerned about the value it can bring or you aren’t sure you’ll enjoy being an entrepreneur. While I’d challenge you to give your startup a go. You never know until you try and 1 year in a startup environment is worth 5-20 anywhere else.