> I don't think that working at a startup tells you anything about starting one. You're better off listening to entrepreneurship podcast, audiobooks, youtube, ycombinator blogposts, etc.
As someone who has started 6 companies and runs a business as a tech partner for startups, I can tell you that you have it exactly backwards.
There is a huge industry of people giving entrepreneurship advice, and almost all of it is a distraction from learning and practicing the actual skills required. The least effective people I meet are the ones who can't stop reading VC blogs, podcasts, and books.
Starting a successful company is mostly two things: 1) breaking free of analysis paralysis, and 2) excellent social skills.
Great social skills result in warm leads for customers, an ability to recruit (and lead) a great team, and -- if necessary -- closing a funding round quickly.
People who spend a lot of time consuming info about starting a company are typically people who are too risk averse for entrepreneurship, which is fine! Entrepreneurship is expensive gambling, statistically speaking. If there were a way to guarantee success, VCs would make good returns (they don't) and book authors would be out starting companies instead of writing books.
As someone who has started 6 companies and runs a business as a tech partner for startups, I can tell you that you have it exactly backwards.
There is a huge industry of people giving entrepreneurship advice, and almost all of it is a distraction from learning and practicing the actual skills required. The least effective people I meet are the ones who can't stop reading VC blogs, podcasts, and books.
Starting a successful company is mostly two things: 1) breaking free of analysis paralysis, and 2) excellent social skills.
Great social skills result in warm leads for customers, an ability to recruit (and lead) a great team, and -- if necessary -- closing a funding round quickly.
People who spend a lot of time consuming info about starting a company are typically people who are too risk averse for entrepreneurship, which is fine! Entrepreneurship is expensive gambling, statistically speaking. If there were a way to guarantee success, VCs would make good returns (they don't) and book authors would be out starting companies instead of writing books.