There’s a feeling you have before you start your first venture. It tends to build over time. For me, it started with a sense that there had to be more to life than what I was doing and I had a real desire to back myself and take control of my life. It didn’t take me long to realise I wanted to set up my own company. But then the next question is ”what?” and “with whom?”.

Whilst you’re in that phase of really wanting to set up a company but not knowing what, it’s quite dangerous. You are, what investors might call, an entrepreneur on heat. You get increasingly desparate to set something up. You’re so keen to jump at something that there’s a risk that you jump for the sake of jumping rather than because you’ve got the right idea. The main risk here is that you jump too early.

There are three things that I would recommend for people in this position.

First, focus on people rather than the idea. A start-up is a combination of what you’re trying to achieve and who you’re working with. Any investment will be as much based on who you’re doing it with as the idea itself. And finding someone to do a start-up with is tough. But as soon as you do, you have someone to help work on your ideas with. You can absolutely find a team before you find an idea. It’s not easy but the key thing is to make sure you have a shared outlook but a complimentary skill-set. There is no point in two management consultants forming a team. But if you get a strategy consultant, a developer and an online marketeer, then you’re talking! To find these people, the best place to start is to throw yourself into the start-up scene. Go to Open Coffeeand any other meet up that sounds interesting. 

Second, seek external sources of validation and listen to them. Run the idea past as many people as you can. Don’t worry about people stealing it. Just share and learn. If you don’t share it, the idea won’t go anywhere. And then once you have shared it, listen hard to the feedback and adapt it. Everyone will have a different viewpoint but the more people you speak to, the more of a consensus you’ll get. One of the reasons that having to raise money is useful is because it forces you through this process.

Third, jump … but remain very flexible. In reality, you probably won’t have the killer idea before you set out on your first start-up (as much as you might think you do) but that’s not to say that you can’t adapt your idea as you go along to become a killer idea. There’s a heck of a learning process in running a start-up and so long as you remain flexible you can adapt as you learn. It’s an old cliche, but most successful businesses that are sold or IPO look nothing like the original business plan. And most early investors would much prefer you to be flexible than to stick to an early plan.

In reality I think it’s very difficult not to be an “entrepreneur on heat” before your first venture. The main thing is to jump and start learning. The number of people that say to me “Oh, I’d love to set up a company but I just don’t have an idea” is ridiculous.  These people will struggle to ever become entrepreneurs. The key thing is to start preparing to jump before you’ve got the idea. Get the people you’d like to work with lined up, start getting involved with the start-up scene, look into spaces and companies and just talk to as many people about it as you can. Some people might call you an entrepreneur on heat, but it’s that passion that will see you through to success.

Photo courtesy of Flickr: trekkandy 

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