Who came up with this word anyways? It took me a long time to be able to pronounce this right - hello... English is already difficult enough!
The ENT program at USFSP - I love the mindset it has given me, and how it actually challenges me, makes me do some self evaluation, and ask why I do what I do. I appreciate the people that run the program, and their incredible support. I don't know if anything prepares you 100% to start your own business like actually starting it, but having their support, guidance, lessons, and expertise is huge!
Working on my startup right now looks like obscene amounts of time on my laptop doing research. I have many questions and over-analyze my ideas, the path I'm taking to accomplish certain things. It's like I take a step forward, fall flat on my face, get up, take a step back, and do it all over again. And then it feels like it is crazy lonely at times, because I'm so caught up in my own mind and questions, that I think no one could possibly think like that - who would be crazy enough! I think that's why we're all so into the networking events, its nice to validate each other's craziness. And when you have a beer in hand it somehow feels even better - we can put our guard down, stop thinking for a minute, and just be with like-minded people.
Recently I had to prepare a document for a meeting with a possible capital and development partner and their engineers + electronics partners. I had to send them a summary of what I've done and my idea, etc. The thought of the meeting alone was intimidating, there were so many things to think about, from documents, to NDAs, knowing my stuff, being able to explain it, getting there on time, and being put on the spot in front of people I didn't know but want to work with.
So I put myself in their shoes and thought they wouldn't be interested in reading my ramblings like the ones I write here, but instead something succinct. I put a one pager together, sent it and get a call from the lady arranging the meeting saying how impressed they were with what I put together. YES! I pat myself in the back and continued to get ready for the meeting.
The following days I spent creating this presentation and obsessing over the details. I get to the meeting and the first sentence out of the person whose decision weighs the most completely invalidates everything I spent days preparing, without him even knowing. And in my mind I slapped my face and thought "why in the world did I waste my time with this?! I already knew this wasn't going to be part of the product but I couldn't let go of my initial idea even though I knew our advantage was that it didn't have this piece of tech like all the others out there but it looked so great and I just wanted to show it off!!!" I do a lot of run-ons when I think.Anyways, the meeting went great, and it was exactly what I needed.
These are the lessons that are shaping my thoughts. I love the mistakes, the community, the constant challenge and excitement that comes from it. I love I get to do what I do - and I am not making a cent on this yet! That's when I know that no matter how crazy, lonely, kinda dumb, inadequate, challenged, intimidated and scared I feel at times, it beats every single shitty job I've had in the past. Every job that diminished you down to a simple working bee, that broke down creativity with bureaucracy, every 5 am job to deal with self-righteous and spoiled people who don't know what's to work for what you have, every miserably boring job that turns your mind to process less than a cat does during the day, and every company that only cares about money but not people or the world. It is the chance to make a difference, to do what I love, and in the end, hopefully solve real problems.
This - is why I love entrepreneurship.
