Why haven't you started your startup yet?

Busting 5 common excuses holding you back!

“People often overestimate how much they need to start,
and people underestimate how much they need to succeed”
- Wayne Gretzky
- Michael Scott
- Jeroen Coelen

1. I should start working on my startup full-time from the start

Most of us have a job. It pays the bills. Not everyone can afford not to have an income for multiple months. That’s okay.

You can start by committing 8 hours a week to your business. Evening hours, weekends. The initial exploration phase allows that. Consider it a new passion project.

Pro-tip: Some companies allow you to reduce your contract to 32 hours a week. That could buy you an extra day. I would only do this if you have some initial traction.

Read more: What does early-stage traction look like?

2. I need funding to start

You don’t. If you just have a startup idea, first you should validate if there’s a market for it. I meet many founders who think they only need funding to build their solution.

False. If you require funding, you better have validated your customer, problem and solution concept before spending 50k on building a prototype.

Pro-tip: if you know you are going to need money to build a prototype, it doesn’t hurt to get a rough idea of the costs involved. But don’t let this stop you to do the other stuff.

Read more: How to do startup validation with my playbook

3. I need co-founders to start

You don’t need co-founders to start. You might need co-founders to succeed. Don’t let the lack of a co-founder stop you to start exploring your startup idea, i.e. talking to customers.

How are you going to find a co-founder if you are not talking to people? “I need a technical co-founder” - Sure, everyone does, so better start talking.

Pro-tip: Most co-founders are found via word of mouth, your personal network. There are co-founder dating platforms, although I hear mixed results. There are accelerator programs that allow solo founders to join, which can have great results.

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4. I need to write a business plan first

It’s always good to write down your ideas. However, business plans for startup ideas are overrated. Your dream business plan will not survive the first week of talking to customers.

Working on your business plan is not the same as working on your business. Working in that Google Doc might seem like you are making progress. The pages fill up, that looks like progress, right?

You are actually distracting yourself from the real work. That Google Doc will never tell you: this idea sucks.

Pro tip: timebox the amount of writing you do. Allow yourself to jot down ideas for two hours in one document. Then start working.

Read more: Watch out for that false sense of progress

5. If I start, I’m committing to this for 5 years

Sure, building a startup easily takes five years. However, most startups don’t last 5 years. And yes, you should be able to see yourself to work on this for 5 years.

However, that commitment might feel daunting. It helps to break it up. The odds are about 90% that 12 months from now, you are not working on it anymore.

Tell to yourself: For the next 6 months, I’m going to explore this idea. Not by writing a business plan, but by learning about what it takes to pull this off. At the end of these six months, I will reflect if I want to pull this off.

Pro tip: Make a list of criteria that you will use to evaluate your progress. What do you require to commit another 6 months to this startup idea?

Read more: How challenging goals increase performance