For most of us entrepreneurs, the desire to setup your very own venture sets in early often in school, high school or college. For some other sit may set in during early working life at the onset of a career. In either case, the very ‘idea’ of building your venture is like an ‘itch’ that won’t go away easily even if you are still pursuing your education or decided to opt for something a little more ‘safe’ like a job. You can try and rationalize with yourself saying “I can’t startup now….while I’m still studying or while I have a full time job to work”, but the truth is, if you have been bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, you can’t fight it! The thought will keep coming back to you, telling you that you have to give it a go and pursue your idea.
Luckily with the emergence of strong support networks for the venture community like Grow VC, there is really no better time than now for first time entrepreneurs to “go for it!” whether they are still in the middle of their college courses or engaged with a job they don’t want to let go off for financial security reasons. The biggest hurdle for student entrepreneurs and employed professionals who would love to take the leap into founding their own companies has been time and support. Building a startup from scratch takes tremendous effort, plenty of time, the right people, sufficient funds and things that just seem so far out of reach for student entrepreneurs. Things that make it seem like you have to pick between being a student or being an entrepreneur. Things that make it seem like you can either be an employee or an entrepreneur at any one time and they can’t be done in parallel.
This is where turning to a community which can offer the support and additional bandwidth required comes to the rescue. Better still, you can access the support of all these people from behind your laptop or PC which is far simpler than networking the traditional way and takes up less time. A student with a startup idea can use the community to:
- A. Find mentors who would help them get things right the first time, guide them, help fine tune their pitches and business plans extending their experience to a new generation of first-time entrepreneurs
- B. Find the right people to form the startup team from amongst a community of experts be it in legal matters, marketing, sales, technology, development and other areas who are willing to offer their services of for cash or equity through the service investment model. While hiring may not be an immediate option, the service equity model throws open the opportunity to have an ace team without large funds to get the startup going.
- C. Use the crowdfunding model to attract investors and members in the community to acquire funding. This model is not just a cost effective means of seeking angel investments financially, but can be done with less of a fuss. No running around to investor offices, making presentations and other activities which are time consuming.
It’s the ideal environment for the first time entrepreneur who could use the support of others to get their venture up and running. Have you been thinking about a startup idea you would like to execute on but can’t quit your job till things start rolling? Are your education commitments holding you back from getting your dream venture off the drawing board? There’s a community which can support you out there offering solutions and help. Sign up! Use it!
