7th Inning Stretch in your career?..I’m leaving my (safe) job for my (scary) start-up.
Ignyte has the great privilege to work with seasoned entrepreneurs in early stage companies. Early stage is not necessarily a startup but a company that is past prototyping, in-revenue and thinking through the strategies they’ll need to scale.
‘Seasoned’ in our mind refers to business leaders that have a lot of good and bad experiences, failures and successes. The resulting scar tissue sends a message that this leader can fight through adversity over and over again, has learned their strengths and weakness, and has learned how to find the focus essential to creating a valuable business. This may be a serial entrepreneur or serial intrapreneur.
Often we meet with experienced business leaders that are new to the entrepreneurial ecosystem. You may be one. Have you made a decision to transition from a mature company and take on the risks and rewards of a startup?
Maybe this is an age thing but Ignyte seems to be helping more and more make this transition. The risks for you are far different than those for the 20-somethings, which dominate Incubators and Accelerators around the globe. For you, your plans may include retirement implications, my wife or my husband’s interests, my kids college tuition, my mortgage, etc. The financial risks are major factors in your decisions.
Before you get mired in the financial risks, go back to that point buried in the middle. Your Spousal support is everything. It’s the beginning, middle and end of your decision. He or She needs to be 100% informed and behind the reasons that you want to jettison from a predictable job. It’s more scary for them, than for you. You have the benefit of drinking the Kool Aid and your heart that drives your passion. Your spouse sees that too, but they live in the black and white world. A world of financial security with risk aversion, not necessarily the potential rewards that you see. Meg Hirschberg has an interesting take on the topic of this emotional roller coaster with a clever book For Better or For Work, a Survival Guide for Entrepreneurs and Their Families. She describes the necessary tools you’ll want for making both your work and family a success.
You can do it, you can make the transition… make sure you are open to incorporating new tools and tactics into your arsenal.
Build well