11,000 lines of code.
17 different plug-ins to accomplish Rails magic.
About 1000 hours of work.
5 employees hired.
400 test boxes.
1 vacation in Mexico for a week to get away from it all.
1 kitten babysat, currently attacking my right hand.
Quite the summer.
I have not posted in a while, mostly because I needed a chance to distance the blog from the actual website (once it went live ... no need to show how the sausage is made), then I was very busy getting other things done. Now it is time to give a little thought to this experience. For that reason I'm not going to mention the company name on this blog post, but those who know me know what it is.
A review: when I graduated from Kellogg I decided to launch the company, but knew I'd only have 4 months to do it, because I knew I would run out of funds within 6 months and I had a job that started in October. I decided to charge ahead with the following plan:
Month 1: Do basic market research and start a prototype of the business (website plus infrastructure)
Month 2: Finish the prototype and show it to as many people as possible for feedback; refine it; do research into fundraising.
Month 3: Continue refinement and start recruiting a team to take over the business for me once I start work full time.
Month 4: Finish recruiting the team and transition it, while doing further refinement, and start marketing.
I am not as far as I wanted to be at this point, but I'm pretty much there. I have a team -- four people heavily dedicated to the business, two for equity and two for money -- along with a volunteer (my youngest brother). We are starting sales calls, and just had a great one. The business is largely in place. There is still a lot of work to be done -- we have to do about six months of recruiting customers, learning from them, and tweaking the business before we'll really be ready to scale. I have build a network of potential investors who know about the business and are interested in hearing more as we hit the next milestones. There is still a lot of risk involved, but the feedback we've gotten from potential customers has been strongly positive, so I am confident. I continue to believe that this idea is going to work very, very well.
So why am I starting work full time tomorrow? Because I needed 6-8 months to get to the point where I could do this full time, and I didn't have that. Until I get another source of income, I need to throw caution in the air, but not quite to the wind. I have found that most "real" entrepreneurs -- those who take real risks with their own lives -- are like me: they are not risk averse, but they set up solid, real plans with well-researched contingency. That is exactly what I am doing. I find that real entrepreneurs -- not those who had a good idea and got lucky in their 20's, but entrepreneurs who have founded multiple companies, have failed, and now have families and wisdom -- tend to agree with my approach. We will see if it pans out.
A few thoughts at the end of the summer:
1. To incoming Kellogg first years with dreams of entrepreneurship: do it. Right now. Take part in ideation sessions. Form groups. Ignore the clubs. Ignore your internship -- that should be dedicated to the start-up you're going to found. You have way more freedom than you realize.
2. To people deciding whether to get an MBA or start a business: do you have amazing business savvy and a great undergrad pedigree and degree? Then quit for three months and network like crazy as your full time job, then learn how to code, then form a team to identify a problem. Are you not sure about your business savvy? Learn how to code and get into a top-10 business school.
3. To my customers: you are going to get an amazing service. I know you are going to love it.
4. To my team: you are armed with a fantastic business idea and raw materials, including a service that is pretty much working. Sell like crazy. You are going to be rich. Congratulations. Now go!
Signed,
The Chairman of the Board (former President)
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