I’ll be speaking toward the end of February on transitioning to entrepreneurship and what to expect. The presentation will be turned into an ~15 part blog post series that I’ll start writing today.

So … where to begin … well at the beginning of course. I like to use mind maps and find for a visual learner like myself mind maps are a great way to remember a presentation. This post will give a bit of an overview of the mind map. Basically the presentation flows clockwise around the mind map; A bit about me (in green), THE Leap (in red), Being an Entrepreneur (in yellow) and Entrepreneur test (in grey).

What qualifies me to speak on the topic? Well to start with I have personally made the transition and have many lessons learned for others thinking about taking the leap. I have worked for a variety of technology companies, large ones then going to progressively smaller companies until venturing fourth on my own. I kind of migrated toward entrepreneurship and then decided to jump right in. More on this in a future post.
The first part (in red) of the mind map highlites the leap to entrepreneurship and the associated mental challenges … this is perhaps the biggest adjustment for most people moving from employee to entrepreneur.

Transitioning from being an employee to an entrepreneur is a huge leap and a significant challenge for someone that has spent their career in a large enterprise or government. As an employee (the larger the company the more appropriate) your domain knowledge is a thin deep vertical slice … as an entrepreneur you need a very broad horizontal base of knowledge with domain spikes. This is a huge paradigm shift. Perhaps the most significant challenge is the mental change associated with this vertical to horizontal knowledge transition where you are your own boss and free from the 9 to 5 routine. On the surface being your own boss and freedom sounds great but, there are challenges too.

The second part of the presentation (in yellow) deals with what it is like to be an entrepreneur, how to prepare, planning and then execution. Then of course there is what to expect as you are going through the process of starting your business. Ian draws much of his insights from the experience in starting up TheCodeFactory and the many bumps in the road along the way and of course the many small victories too.

Finally, (in grey) How do you know if you have the entrepreneurial right stuff. Ian has a very simple 3 step process to see if you might be suited to the entrepreneurial life.

Next post a bit more on my experience transitioning from employee to entrepreneur.

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This concept is likely tightly correlated to the Pareto principle. Basically 20% of your effort accounts for 80% of the result. Consider learning how to use a new software application. Usually acquiring that minimum level of knowledge (20% of the functionality) that provides access to 80% of the capability you need. Afterwards you learn those other functions as need arises … which usually means digging into the help files and acquiring that more difficult to obtain knowledge.

Let’s now apply the Pareto principle to knowledge required to run your business. The BIG stuff that covers 80% of what you need to run the business (the none core stuff) takes 20% of the effort to learn and add value to your business. However, the core part of your business … that 20% that makes up your domain specific knowledge probably requires 80% of the effort to learn. Those thin deep slices of knowledge.

Why is that?
Lets revisit an old blog post “The Learning Leap” and overlay that with the core part or domain specific knowledge and overlay that with the Pareto Principle. The initial (1st time) knowledge acquisition is broad and shallow. With each successive leap the knowledge acquired becomes narrower and deeper. It is those deep narrow slices of knowledge that only time and experience can provide. Each slice of knowledge requires roughly the same amount of time to learn; however, those thin, deep narrow slices of domain specific knowledge are probably the most valuable.

The thin deep domain specific knowledge, while it can take years to acquire can often be taught relatively easily. This is a key concept in why mentorship is valuable to first time entrepreneurs working with a more experienced mentor.

Ian Graham

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