When should you start a business?

WHEN? When should you take the first step to start your own venture? Is it the right moment for you to commit to your business idea and take risks to concretize it?

Starting a company and taking the plunge into the entrepreneurial world is not an easy step. As explained in one of our previous articles, launching your own start-up or, in general, choosing entrepreneurship rather than working for established companies, comes with risks and uncertainty. Moreover, entrepreneurship requires many capabilities and skills. In addition, this is usually a huge commitment in terms of time, energy, and sometimes money. Hence, the decision to start a venture represents an important step, and be sure that the timing is right is of great importance.

Wasserman (2012) identifies three different aspects that have to align in order to provide the best conditions to start a venture.

First, individuals who are willing to undertake an entrepreneurial journey and found their own venture should look at the market circumstances (Wasserman, 2012). This means that entrepreneurs, before taking the decision to found a venture, are advised to evaluate the opportunity that their idea represents. Questions such as "is the market favorable?", "are potential customers willing to pay for that at the moment?", or "is there a ticking clock or a first-mover advantage to start now?" should be taken into consideration. Overall, the objective is to define if the current circumstances are ideal to start a venture in a specific industry.

Second, entrepreneurs, before starting a venture, should take their career perspectives into account. Building a company from scratch, depending on the industry, can require many different skills. Therefore, ensuring that one has relevant work experience and/or academic background and skills is of great significance.

Third, the personal circumstances of an entrepreneur play a role in the decision to found a firm, specifically when to found. Aspects such as motivation, family and friends’ support, and financial situation, among others, are important to consider in order to decide when to take the first step of starting a company. 

Obviously, having favorable conditions and circumstances on all three levels (market, career, personal) is not common. This might in fact never happen, depending on the industry and the individuals. Therefore, taking the first step and venture on an entrepreneurial journey should not wait for the perfect alignment of the stars and all these circumstances. However, being aware of these different dimensions that play a role in deciding when to start a venture is going to be useful to future founders.

To the question "when to start a company", unfortunately, one can not provide an answer without taking into account many variables that are related to your personal situation and your idea. But using this framework could help you decide when to create your firm and whether to start your venture now or to wait. 

Remember, you shouldn't be afraid to fail, you should only be afraid of not trying. Sometimes, even if all circumstances are not favorable, life contingencies can make unlikely things happen and your idea could turn into one of the greatest entrepreneurial successes of all time.

Best,

Team Spark

References

Wasserman, N. (2012). The Founder’s Dilemma: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls, United States of America: Princeton University Press.