The advice given to someone who wants to be a founder, 99 times out of 100, would be to do something that was not starting a company:
- “Become a consultant to learn about business”
- “Join a big tech company to find an idea”
- “Do a PhD to develop some novel technology”
- “Complete an MBA to develop your ‘network’”
This well meaning advice is pernicious for two reasons.
First, it traps exceptional potential founders in corporate careers.
Corporate careers are designed to be traps, particularly for high performers. The dopamine hit of the next promotion, alongside a large salary that entrenches a lifestyle you quickly become accustomed to, means you don’t leave. Most people want to, yet most people won’t.
Weirdly, you might find you don’t even want to leave. Working in a corporate changes your preferences. This is the mimetic trap and mimesis is hard to resist. Without intentionally seeking out a counter-status quo peer group you will adopt the aspirations of those around you (even if you know that won’t make you happy).
Second, the experience you gain from taking a traditional career path is less relevant to becoming a founder. You can learn 100x more about founding a startup by actually doing it, rather than working in an employee role.
If you wanted to be a world class surgeon, you wouldn’t focus on honing your skills as a primary care physician. But potential founders see the best training ground for entrepreneurship as joining a big tech corp, or becoming a management consultant. There are some transferable professional skills you will gain from taking this route, but you need to examine the opportunity cost of the time taken to learn them. I would bet that you can learn the same skills (alongside other more relevant skills) faster by founding a startup.
If you want to be a founder one day, the best advice is to found now. Read more about the Founding Career Path here.
If you want to follow a founding career path, check out Entrepreneur First.