If you feel that you’ll earn enough in 2 years and then you’ll start a startup, that’s not gonna happen. You’ll never earn enough (it’s the human psyche; ask Warren Buffett if he has earned enough). For you to start working on your dream project - passion, food, and shelter are all you need.
If you feel that you’ll settle down in life first, and then you’ll start a startup, that’s not gonna happen. Life doesn’t give you time to settle down; there is always more life. You settle down when you are dead. A startup is a roller coaster experience, so better start a startup when you are not settled.
If you feel that you want to give yourself some time so that you can learn enough and read enough for a startup, then keep learning and reading, startup not gonna happen[1]. You can never learn enough for a startup unless you are working on your startup. Reading books/ blogs/articles/essays for 1 year is equivalent to working in your startup for 1 day.
If you think you will think of an Awesome Idea first and then you'll startup, that's not gonna happen. There are no awesome ideas. All ideas for startups look small, niche, and not-great at first. They shape up to be a great idea on the way. So if you’re not already on the way, then it's not gonna happen.
If you're working for some giant company that pays you enough and you dream that you'll get out one day, then that's not gonna happen. Decent pay in a giant organization will make you comfortable, lazy, and a coward. Forget that startup; keep pleasing people for your next promotion or salary hike. Or be courageous and give shape to your idea.
When you start making how-to-climb-the-ladder plans in your current organization, but you feel that you'll think about (or focus on) the startup in parallel, that's not gonna happen. You don't do a startup in parallel. Either you do a startup, or you don’t but never ‘in parallel’. It’s a full-time job. It's 247. Maybe not 247 work but 24*7 focus and dedication for sure.
When time flies, you'll not see it fleeting. When it’ll be 2 years and then 5 and then 10 years, you'll not even realize it. Time flies. It’s going on now. It’s now or never.
If a startup is your want and not your need, you won’t start one.
[1] Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking. – Albert Einstein[back]
PS: This post was originally posted on hoodasaurabh.blogspot.com