For the last three to four months, I have been building a new company. I got introduced to a few entrepreneurs local to my area who had an idea for a business in the esports space. They needed someone technical to come on board for the vision and execute the product. That became me.
It’s been a fast few months. The experience has been fun and difficult. Life is a series of tradeoffs in the practical. I’m surprised that I even have time today to write about all this. Who doesn’t love a pleasant surprise? I thought I’d share a few of the lessons I’ve learned along the way in building this business, I hope they are helpful in either encouraging or dissuading others from taking this route.
- It takes a certain temperament to build a business - the dynamic, multi-domain environment is fun for some, a nightmare for others. I’ve met plenty of people who want to collect a steady paycheck and who don’t want the risk that comes with being a business person. That’s ok, it’s not for everyone. There does seem to be an inbuilt drive required for it though.
- You need a good team - No one person can do everything. You need a team whose strengths complement the others. Not only that, you need a team whose strengths cover the gamut of strengths that are needed to be successful, or else things will fall through the cracks and you’ll have a harder time.
- Put everything in writing - contracts, procedures, conversations, etc. Have a record, it will pay off.
- Execution is paramount - the world is full of great ideas, less so of execution. There’s probably some kid out there who invented the internet in his head but never built anything with computers or networks. Did he really invent the internet? No, and that kid’s name is Al Gore. Ideas in the business world that aren’t implemented in some way don’t exist.
- Life is full of tradeoffs, pick yours - building a business will take consistent effort. You’ll likely need to say no to other activities in your life, or reduce your time commitment to them. Family and your health should come first, after that other things are negotiable. Just be prepared to make tradeoff decisions.
- It can be very rewarding - buidling something new, having your customer derive value from it, and constantly improving through feedback is a process that’s worth a lot just by itself, apart from the money you make.
I’ve intentionally left out the real details for what we’re building, simply because I’m not at liberty to talk about it yet. Hopefully someday that will change. We are currently undergoing a pivot that was initiated through a ton of iteration and market research. The broader market conditions are also at play as we build this business. Our goal has been to receive an injection of capital from VC sources to be able to scale up significantly. We’re in a dry season of funding though. The high interest rate, pessimistic environment has helped the checks dry up, and that’s even given the massive network we have been building.
I figure the key is consistency, like anything else. Either the market responds or it doesn’t. What’s in our control is continuing to build, iterate, and improve. This way we give the idea the chance it needs to take flight. Or it becomes a failed experiment, and we move on to the next opportunity. The new year brings new beginnings and new outlooks, but our game plan remains the same.