My partner (Bob Smith) and I have been at this for two years. After we sold our last company, OneMade, Inc. to America Online, we stayed as long as we had to stay, (1 year + 1 day) and then went back into the hunt for the next thing. Next things are illusive. There are plenty of next thing illusions....no problem finding those. The trick is finding those next things that have "legs." Legs, in our book, are also illusive. We are interested in those trends that will lead to a product that people find enough value in that they are willing to pay for.
Payment, in a technology / media world, is equally hard to predict. Other entrepreneurs are comfortable in the really early stages of a technology/media experiment. We applaud them. Bob and I are not one of those people. We wait to see what we think might be sustainable. It is just who we are. We applaud those entrepreneurs who have the foresight...we just try to avoid becoming the roadkill of these visions.
It is actually quite easy to start pursuing the "new thing." As entrepreneurs with a long term conscience, we know we are strapping ourselves to the mast of a ship that will be crashing into plenty of waves. We have done this before, and plenty of people wind up counting on you. This is one of the most important decisions an entrepeneur can make. Before you are fully committed, ask yourself these questions:
1) Are you prepared to invest the next 5 years (at least) of your life to this particular effort?
2) Are you passionate enough about the path you are on...that you are ready to stay on the path...with little or no compensation? Chances are, you will have the opportunity to earn little or no compensation for a long time.
3) Are you passionate enough about the path...that you can inspire others to join you on a long (not just the short) term journey? Remember that the people you convince to join you will become your extended family. Do you believe in what you are doing strongly enough that you would try to convince a family member to join you? While this might not be a good idea, I am sure you get the point.
4) Are you passionate enough about the path...that you are ready to place the compensation needs of your team members, the foot soldiers in your mission, before you, at all times?
5) Are you ready to measure success by the success of your team members?
6) Are you afraid of failure? Have you thought through the specific ways you can fail in your effort? Have you visualized what it will be like to close up your start up business and let your early believer team members know that they should start pursuing something else? If you start thinking through the dark side of this whole business of starting something up, you just might just develop an even thicker skin necessary to survive.
7) Have you developed a survival plan to react to the ways you might fail? Try to avoid getting yourself painted into a corner.
There is certainly more to this than what we have said here...but it is a good place to start.
