This article is for student-entrepreneurs eager to getting their startup off-the-ground. I spent more than a year working on a startup project as a student at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL). I learned some valuable lessons that I hope can help other entrepreneurial-minded students move forward with their goals and ambitions.
Entrepreneurship always starts with an idea. But ideas don’t matter as much as we think initially. The sustained effort put in, the lessons from your journey, and ultimately, the lessons about you matter much more.
Launching a startup is a major initiative. More so, if it involves refusing or quitting a job. When I was starting, I was focused on having my ideas come to fruition. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into — thank goodness, because I wouldn’t have done it otherwise.
Entrepreneurship is one hell of a ride. A startup is a lot more than just ideas. A clear vision is crucial, in order to recruit a diverse team of A-players. But only by constantly putting yourself on the frontline, taking on responsibilities and showing the way forward, do you fully gain your team’s trust and confidence.
Here are some key lessons from my experience as a student-entrepreneur:
1. Embrace failure.
You’re going to fail. But it’s okay, because failing is part of life.
Elon Musk, one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our generation, said he thought SpaceX and Tesla would fail, but he was perfectly okay with that. When people asked me about the risks of failure, I would say that if I failed, I would happily go live in nature.
If you want to think like an entrepreneur, be prepared to fail. I came across a team of brilliant student-entrepreneurs who worked really hard on their project for far too long. They ended up disgusted by entrepreneurship when they decided to pull the plug. A shame, really, because startups are meant to be fun. Far too often, we hear epic stories of entrepreneurs who manage to pull out a win when things seem bleak, but we rarely hear about the countless others who don’t. When your startup has lost traction, admitting failure is probably one of the hardest but best things to do.
Embrace failure. You will admit defeat more easily when your startup is sinking. More importantly: you will try more, you will learn more and you will achieve more.
2. Communicate.
If you’re launching a startup, you want to spread the word out as much as possible because you never know who might provide you with crucial help down the road.
When adding team members, be aware that your team’s success depends on good communication throughout your startup. Not only do additional team members create significant communication overhead (see Brook’s Law below), but they can also pose a risk if that person does not fit in with the culture of the startup.
Brooks’ Law: a large team size represents significant overhead in terms of communication.
Treat your team like your family: you work for them, they don’t work for you. Be prepared to adapt to your team’s needs, and make sure that the people that you let in have both the capacity and the personality to work in a startup. One toxic person can be enough to ruin the fun. Losing team members is one of the worst things that can happen to a startup, because the workforce is so small.
3. Don’t think, act.
Overthinking is a classic time-wasting issue of inexperienced entrepreneurs. Avoid analysis paralysis by simplifying matters at hand. In this sense, recognising one-way and two-way door decisions can help.
One-way door decisions are decisions that you can’t easily reverse. These need to be done methodically, carefully, slowly, with great deliberation and consultation. Two-way door decisions, on the other hand, can be reversed. You can walk through the door, see if you like it, and if not go back. These decisions should be automated or delegated. Most decisions are two-way door decisions, so learn to make these as quickly as possible.
Overall, seek to develop habits that allow you to act and reflect effectively, while getting rid of bad ones too. Learn to say no, in order to focus on what you say yes to.
4. Listen carefully.
Just because you’re leading a startup, that doesn’t mean you’re always right.
Listen carefully to everyone around you: your team, your clients, your partners, your friends. Surround yourself with people who think differently. Encourage team members to generate and brainstorm new ideas. Cherish hearing things that make you feel uncomfortable.
Talk to clients. Put yourself in other people’s shoes. Learn to think about what you’re not thinking about. The truth may hurt, but a lack of truth will hurt even more in the long run.
Don’t fall in the trap of blindly following what other people say. Everyone likes to think they know a few things about business. Learn to notice people who speak out of vanity — they’re probably not the ones you should be following advice from or even arguing with. Read people from their emotions, rather than their words.
In the end, you must form your own opinions. Use the collective brain power of people around you to do most of the thinking — you’re just orchestrating.
5. Trust yourself.
Seek steady progress, rather than unrealistic ambitious goals.
There will always be things that you can’t control. When goals or expectations aren’t reached, keep an objective view to content yourself with steady progress. Don’t be too hard on yourself and on others — everyone is doing their best. Do it for long enough and eventually you will hit the lottery. Everyone gets lucky sometimes.
The definition of success is also highly subjective. Ultimately, the only one who can judge whether you’re being successful or not, is you. Believe in yourself. You’re capable of being whoever you set yourself out to be. Dream. Have faith.
Finally, leaders must have enough character to build trust. Without trust, you have no followers. Without followers, who do you lead? Start by trusting yourself. You will trust others more easily and others will trust you more too.
6. Improve your relationships.
Seek to improve your relationships, starting with the ones closest to you. When I started off my entrepreneurial journey, not only was I taking somewhat of a risk, I wanted to launch a cannabis startup. You can imagine that my parents weren’t totally up for it.
The road of a startup is long, you need to rely on other people’s enthusiasm to keep going. Get family and friends on board with your vision. Not only will it provide you with precious moral support, but more people will want to help you.
Entrepreneurship is like sports. When you lose, you have to be the first one back on your feet encouraging team members to continue, no matter how hard of a blow you may just have gone through. When things are bad, don’t give up. When things are great, be realistic.
Improving all of your relationships will help you lead with more empathy and spread positivity in your startup. Everyone will enjoy the ride a lot more.
7. Know yourself.
Some philosophical questions you should constantly ask yourself throughout your journey:
Who are you? Why do you do what you do? What’s the change that you would like to see in the world? Philosophy acts like a moral compass. Inquiring into your understanding of reality, knowledge, and how you should live will provide you with principles that can help you never feel lost in life again.
“Science is what you know. Philosophy is what you don’t know.”
Bertrand Russell
Regularly put time aside to relax and reflect. Build your character. Remember, you’re playing the long game, so strive to stay healthy in the long run. Calming your mind down will boost your creativity. My best ideas come while relaxing, not when I am desperately looking for them.
Final thoughts
To summarise, focus on yourself and the rest will follow. Sometimes you may have to be patient, but hard work pays off.
Many of the lessons that I learned, as well as several habits that I adopted, were inspired by Stoicism. Stoic principles provide useful and practical ways to find tranquility and improve one’s strengths of character. Some of the greatest leaders in history have followed Stoic philosophy.
Nonetheless, theory is never enough. Practice is just as important, because in the words of a great Stoic philosopher:
“That’s why the philosophers warn us not to be satisfied with mere learning, but to add practice and then training. For as time passes, we forget what we learned and end up doing the opposite, and hold opinions the opposite of what we should.”
Epictetus
