Oh the joys. Starting up a new company is risky, risky, risky. I’m a cautious person by nature, and only take shrewdly calculated risks. If there is too much risk in a decision, I will lean toward the cautious side. The friend (SeFunmi Odemuyiwa) that is partnering with me on this project is a big risk taker. This can make life very interesting.
Things like funding. As a startup, there is very little capital to start with. We are pushing VC’s, but they generally wish to see some working demo. The project we are working is extremely complex and multi-faceted. This means we require a fair bit of work to get even basic groundwork in place. I (as the technical oversight) do not have the time (and frankly, for the complexities of some of these items, do not have the necessary coding skills) to produce a quality product (I believe in hiring the people with the most talent to do the best work). My partner is the business person, dealing with VC’s, target-base, and also is the person most effective at communicating our vision to potential lenders. In order to produce something we can take to the VC’s/lenders, we’ve paid a good chunk out of our own pockets.
Things like oversight and communication with the folks building our framework. Our designer(s) and coder(s) have different ways of communication, and different ideas of how to procede. Aligning their goals and sights with ours is at times a complex task. Compensation is another variance that is difficult to deal with as a startup.
Things like personal communication. Both my partner and I (and those working for us) work fulltime jobs, and are working on this as a side project for the time being. Time constraints are frequent, particularly as we both work different shifts, and do not live or work near each other.
Personal enthusiasm. This is mostly my personal struggle. Again, with risks that I can’t tell whether or not things will take off the way we hope, I tend to have a lot more skepticism than enthusiasm. I’m lucky to be working with a partner who by nature is very enthusiastic.
I’ll post updates on my blog as we progress. You may find it to be very relavent to you (or your business).
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