I know a few things about business. Typified by over-paid bosses and their over-worked staff, I have experienced many of the workplaces that employ, engage and, of course pay, millions of people. However, I have recently become intrigued by entrepreneurs in early-stage startups. This curiosity led me to consider how easily commercial experience can translate into business success and whether a business mindset would works for me or against me.
And the best way to find out? To give it a go for ourselves!
The Difference Between Established Businesses and Startups
In the corporate world, many things are already in place. Customers are waiting, budgets are an entitlement ready to be negotiated, and work streams are handled by teams. This environment is vastly different from the world of startups where nothing is owned and nothing exists. It is not surprising, therefore, that modern-day entrepreneurs begin their journey by seeking investment: to gain access to funds that allow them to install operational assets and turn their ideas into business machines as quickly as possible.
But what happens when you have to start from scratch? When your resources are limited to what you can do with your own two hands - can you really succeed?
A friend once told me that starting a business is 1% idea and 99% execution. The suggestion that hard work and innovation can be more powerful than financial muscle sounds optimistic, especially when the goal is often to find that elusive 'gap in the market.' When we reframe the entrepreneurial question from “what can we do that no one else is doing” to “what can we do better than anyone else is doing,” a whole new raft of opportunities emerge.
Such a conclusion is liberating: freed from the barrier of exclusivity, we move from a position of limitation to a truly blank sheet. We do not have to be new or inventive, we simply have to be bold and ambitious.
Embracing the Challenge of Starting from Scratch
Feeling enlightened by this insightful observation and by extension morally empowered, I decided it was time to work on a dream of my own. I've spent years helping others build their dreams, and now I want to see if it's truly possible to create something from nothing. This decision led to the birth of Seeds & Dreams.
Starting Seeds & Dreams means diving headfirst into the challenges of entrepreneurship. There’s no pre-existing customer base, no pre-negotiated budgets, and no team to delegate tasks. Everything rests on our 4 shoulders, from conceptualizing the business to executing every detail. This journey will test every bit of our commercial experience and push the boundaries of our business mindset.
Launching Seeds & Dreams: A New Beginning
Starting this business is about more than just testing theories. It is an opportunity to execute values - personal values - in a way that cannot be achieved under the watchful eyes of managers, stakeholders or investors. It allows us to put our principles and standards first and build a business based on quality and delivery, free of ambiguity or interruption. We answer to our customers, not to our superiors.
For all our ambition and intention, this blog is a candid and honest perspective on the challenges we might have to face. Yes, we have business and commercial experience and yes we are fully confident that we have the ability to make the right decisions when they are required, but we are respectful of the unknown and our ability to recognise what is right and what is wrong when it really matters.
In summary, transitioning from a structured corporate environment to the unpredictable world of startups is both exciting and daunting. Through Seeds & Dreams, we aim to bring a dream to life, learning valuable lessons along the way. The ultimate test will be whether I am still writing about this adventure 12 months from now.
