Answer the following first:
A/ Do you have a problem you are passionate about and want to solve for a set of customers?
B/ Do you have a group of people you genuinely want to work with and solve challenging problems?
Scenarios:๐
IF A=(YES) + B=(NO) โ Go find a co-founder that can complement your skillset.
IF A=(NO) + B=(YES) โ Figure out which problems you are passionate about as a group and what market segment you wish to serve... then interview players in that space and aim to find problems worth solving.
IF A=(NO) + B=(NO) โ go find a gig you feel you will be passionate about for a long time... change until you are happy. Meet awesome people, work on hard problems, and take notes.
IF A=(YES) + B=(YES) โ Proceed... ๐
Now that you figured that out time to do some simple calculations. As Dharmesh puts it:
1๏ธโฃ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐๐ธ: Look at the risk and your chances of succeeding...
2๏ธโฃ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ: Now, look at the potential of an outcome (is it a 10M company, 100M?)
3๏ธโฃ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐๐ธ/๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ: Do a simple risk-reward math. 10% of 1M & 10% of 100M are different.
4๏ธโฃ ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐
๐ถ๐บ๐ถ๐๐ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ๐บ: Finally, look at the proximity... why you? What's your affiliation with the problem or target market? How can you make a difference?
โ
Finally...
This is not meant to be an overkill. But starting your own company should not be something some influencer made you do it. You keep hearing 1% of successful stories, but there are also 90% you don't hear about. Or 9% that are struggling โreal hard.
We are all entrepreneurs if we decide to be. And before we make giant steps, we do need to run some probabilities in our head /or/ at least find something we are super passionate about /or/ at least have some extraordinary friends we can execute with in order to endure long hours and venture into the unknown.
Godspeed, fellow entrepreneurs! ๐