When to Start a Company

I was talking with an entrepreneur today whose previous company was shut down and now he’s working for another startup. His new company is doing pretty well but he’s growing restless. Naturally, we talked about if he was thinking about starting a new company as well as when’s the best time to start a company. My thoughts on when to start a company:

• Try to do it when living expenses are as low as possible (e.g. no mortgage, no kids, etc) so as to stretch out any savings or investment
• Look for a good idea in fast growing market with lots of opportunity, as opposed to requiring a perfect idea, regardless of market (I’ve found that markets are often more important than the original idea)
• Attempt to get customers to fund the development of the product, and use them as part of a customer-driven development process
• Seek awesome co-founders, and start as soon as the team is ready, if not sooner

It isn’t easy to start a company, but I’ve found that timing the market, with a product slightly ahead of the adoption curve, results in the best outcome. Good luck!