It takes three years to build a business
jacquesmattheij.com
It takes three years to build a business
1–10 of 74 posts
Re: It takes three years to build a business
#2You're right, and this doesn't just apply to I.T. Startups. My step father (who is 70 years old, and still on the board of 6 companies) used to always say to us kids it takes "2 years" to start a company. In the article it says you break even somewhere through year two, which I think is what my father was referring to.
My own experience this seems likely too, I started my own startup about 6 months ago,( solo founder, I'm doing it all myself) and extrapolating my current customer base, and success rate, I think I will break even and then continue to grow organically at the 1.5 year mark.
On a side note here's some stats to keep you new founders going (just a little positive news to add to the mix):
- I'm a solo founder, you can do it too! It's less common, but I have determination like you wouldn't believe, I am up every morning at 4am to go for a run before I put in 3 hours of coding before leaving for my day job.
- I have invested about 500 pounds so far for the cost of the domain and hosting, that's my total expenditure (excluding my time coding it) I have made about 7000 pounds so far, in the last few months with my first customers etc.
- I consider my 'break even' part, to be when I can pay myself a 50,000 pound a year salary and can live comfortably , I think this will be about the 1.5 year mark as stated above.
Keep going all you solo founders, you can do it!
Re: It takes three years to build a business
#3I almost agree I actually think it takes three years to build an entrepreneur. My thoughts in more detail here: http://swombat.com/2011/10/14/three-years-business (not going to repost it in full, since it's quite lengthy).
Re: It takes three years to build a business
#4Re: It takes three years to build a business
#5I think it was freakonomics that said it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert...which is pretty much 3 years full time. Could this be a universal law?
Re: It takes three years to build a business
#6You're right, and this doesn't just apply to I.T. Startups. My step father (who is 70 years old, and still on the board of 6 companies) used to always say to us kids it takes "2 years" to start a company. In the article it says you break even somewhere through year two, which I think is what my father was referring to. My own experience this seems likely too, I started my own startup about 6 months ago,( solo founder…
Great comment, and I wish you well. Getting up that early each morning shows real determination, and frankly it's not something I ever thought of. I’ve been trying to do evenings for years now, but there is always too many distractions so I think you are onto something.
Re: It takes three years to build a business
#7You're right, and this doesn't just apply to I.T. Startups. My step father (who is 70 years old, and still on the board of 6 companies) used to always say to us kids it takes "2 years" to start a company. In the article it says you break even somewhere through year two, which I think is what my father was referring to. My own experience this seems likely too, I started my own startup about 6 months ago,( solo founder…
> I am up every morning at 4am to go for a run before I put in 3 hours of coding before leaving for my day job.
That is a great tip. I am struggling with coding in the evenings and on busy weekends. My day job is less demanding coding wise, but by the evening I don't have the energy to code more.
Re: It takes three years to build a business
#8You're right, and this doesn't just apply to I.T. Startups. My step father (who is 70 years old, and still on the board of 6 companies) used to always say to us kids it takes "2 years" to start a company. In the article it says you break even somewhere through year two, which I think is what my father was referring to. My own experience this seems likely too, I started my own startup about 6 months ago,( solo founder…
Great comment, and I wish you well. Getting up that early each morning shows real determination, and frankly it's not something I ever thought of. I’ve been trying to do evenings for years now, but there is always too many distractions so I think you are onto something.
yeah, my brain works really well after the run because it's full of fresh blood and oxygen. Seriously mate, 20 minutes of work in the morning after a run is better than 2 hours of work in the evening when I'm tired ... no exaggeration.
I hate running and exercise in general, but I promised myself I would do anything to get my company going, and anything includes things I dont want to do, so I force myself :)
Bonus points: Since I started running 6 or so months ago I have lost 28kg!
Re: It takes three years to build a business
#9I think it was freakonomics that said it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert...which is pretty much 3 years full time. Could this be a universal law?
Think you meant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outliers_%28book%29 .. at appx 40 hours per week, that's more like 5 years.. which is same as a PhD, black-belt etc.
Re: It takes three years to build a business
#10You're right, and this doesn't just apply to I.T. Startups. My step father (who is 70 years old, and still on the board of 6 companies) used to always say to us kids it takes "2 years" to start a company. In the article it says you break even somewhere through year two, which I think is what my father was referring to. My own experience this seems likely too, I started my own startup about 6 months ago,( solo founder…
I'll chime in with the others in saying that the morning thing is a great idea. I've been trying to do evening coding for a while but end up just not having the energy. I put in my best hours of the day at work and coming home to work by myself on a project often just doesn't pan out. Switching this around, I can put in time for myself first then head into work and keep going for the remainder of the work day.