Increasing numbers of graduates are setting up their own businesses. Is youth and enthusiasm all you need, or should you get a few years of experience under your belt before striking out on your own?
“Generation Y”, as they are often referred to, are an entrepreneurial bunch. With a plethora of technology at their fingertips, grand ideas and a desire to change the traditional workplace model, many of them have chosen to strike out on their own rather than taking roles within a company.
Obviously, a great idea and a lot of hard work are essential elements of every startup, but should you take your time and gain experience in your chosen market before jumping in headfirst? Or do the fearlessness, passion and freedom that come with youth give you exactly what you need to make your business a success?
Start as soon as you can: you can learn as you go and you have nothing to lose, says Filipa Neto, managing director of Chic by Choice.
“My first experience of starting a business was at the age of 21, as co-founder of a fashion startup, after winning the biggest entrepreneurship competition in my country. For me, it was about challenging myself to develop something other women would love, pursuing two of my passions (e-commerce and fashion) and inspiring others to take that same risk and chase their dream job.
Was it bad to start at 21? Not at all, it was the best thing I ever did because it showed me that if you are going to fail, you should fail fast, fail young (and start again). It’s never a real failure, it’s an important lesson.
By the age of 23, after only two years, I had performed nine or ten different roles within the company: from product management, human resources management, marketing and partnerships to accounting. For me, it’s not about age, it’s about relevant experience, the more diverse, the better. I eventually left my first startup and started Chic by Choice.
Startups give you the opportunity to learn the most valuable business lessons out there. Startups are not smaller versions of larger companies, they are something very different. You are not performing the same tasks for years, waiting for a promotion; instead, you are performing several different roles per day. This means that two to four years at a startup isn’t comparable to the equivalent time spent in a large company.
So your experience of working within a company won’t necessarily prepare you for the challenges you’ll face when you start your own company. It’s also worth remembering that you can also be really good at your job but still not be an entrepreneur.
I have a three-skill motto: preparation, persistence and no fear of failure. Preparation can come from everywhere. Firstly, you need to realise that in your 20s you don’t know everything. Chances of success are higher if you surrounded yourself with the knowledge and wisdom that comes from different mentors with different experiences and different skills. You might be surprised to find out how many high-profile businesspeople are willing to help you achieve your potential and discover your strengths. Those mentors are the ones who will help you through the bad days and teach you that nothing comes without persistence.
And finally, in your early 20s, without the pressure of a mortgage, marriage or children, you will be more willing to take risks and focus on your startup.”
Building expertise and experience first make the odds and speed of success much greater, argues Emma Sinclair, co-founder of Enterprise Jungle and Wakeman Road.
“I started out working at McDonalds when I was 16. At university I worked in bars, on the till at Virgin Megastore, in a wedding shop, did some waitressing, got a job in a call centre and got paid internships in finance. So by the time I started my career in banking at 21, I’d done all sorts.
My father always advocated the benefits of working for other people before attempting to start a business and with the benefit of experience, I entirely concur.
Working for others, often doing jobs I didn’t much enjoy, gave me discipline and focus. I gained a strong work ethic which meant I have never been afraid to roll up my sleeves and get stuck in. I think it made me a good employee and later, a good boss.
All too often I hear people refuse to do something because it is “not part of their job spec”. I simply can’t relate to that. Whether it was cleaning toilets at McDonalds or a doing a late night office stint, these roles taught me that if you want to get ahead, you need to do whatever it takes to get the job done – and I still apply that principal today.
I learnt the value of money, respect for peers and management, teamwork, how to handle customers, and sales skills. I learnt to listen as much as talk, time management, the importance of presentation skills and acquired an emerging network of advisors and friends across a broad spectrum of sectors and geographies long before anyone had heard of LinkedIn.
There should be no barriers to starting a business: Not education, not gender, not background. The majority of old rules have been ripped up, thankfully and I truly believe anything is possible. That said, I firmly believe we shouldn’t run before we can walk. Lessons in real time failure can be useful but they can also be costly.
By tempering passion, creativity and raw determination with experience and expertise earned at the sharp end (whether in shaping one’s attitude to work or becoming a genuine expert in a specialist field) the odds and speed of success become much more attractive and the journey potentially less painful. Business is often about assessing risk and reward. Personally I think if risks can be avoided by working smart, bigger and better rewards will follow.”
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