If you have worked at a large corporation for most of your career, and if you decide to be your own boss before you turn 50, go for it. Timing is everything. You might not get another chance.
The CEO of a start-up must be confident of the future. Keep this in your mind because it will happen to you. You leave your office on the executive floor of the corporate headquarters and walk to the corner office to submit your resignation. Your footsteps are muffled by the Persian carpet that runs past the dark mahogany paneling stretching up to the white vaulted ceiling with crystal chandeliers spaced out every twenty feet. You know the measurements because you once paced it out waiting to see the CEO about your budget being cut. You also know you’re top ten on the succession list, but you’re a long shot to be the CEO here.
Keep this in your mind because it will happen to you. You’ve decided. You leave your office on the executive floor of the corporate headquarters and walk to the corner office to submit your resignation. Your footsteps are muffled by the Persian carpet that runs past the dark mahogany paneling stretching up to the white vaulted ceiling with crystal chandeliers spaced out every twenty feet. You know the measurements because you once paced it out waiting to see the CEO about your budget being cut. You also know you’re top ten on the succession list, but you’re a long shot to be the CEO here.
Deed done, you walk back down to your office, you wonder if the look on the CEO’s face was genuine surprise or relief. Never mind, you’re on your way.
You arrive in your new office and gulp. The only marble you see are the ancient urinals in the men’s room. The ceiling tiles in the lobby are sagging with brown streaks from a water leak above. There are no trappings of power, just the opposite. Your desk is a sheet of plywood on saw horses and your chair is an empty Heineken beer keg with a pillow that some homeless guy downstairs sold you for a buck. The only glory you will get is building your dreams into something successful. You’re the CEO, so go for it.
You are a special breed of cat. Because in addition to all business lessons you have learned, you now also know where to put out the garbage, where the light switches are and how to add paper the copy machine. You know there is no point in grousing about it, there’s no one to hear you.
Start-up hard facts to keep in mind:
- Becoming the CEO has captured your imagination, your passion, consumes all your waking hours, terrific. If your first motivation is to get rich, you’ll most likely fail.
- No matter what you have been told or what you are telling yourself, know for a fact that what you are building will take longer and cost more than you forecasted.
- Nine out of ten start-ups fail within the first two years.
- Unless you are self-funding, you will need to take your tin cup and prostrate yourself in front of investors. This will begin with your friends and relatives.
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