Barry Nalls (FD, Tuesday, Week 2)
founders-dilemmasyear-two"When am I ready to found a company?" is an incredibly hard question to answer.
Argument for waiting: Gaining experience increases domain expertise, leadership skills, credibility, and self-confidence (maybe).
Argument for founding ASAP: But I can learn all these things on the job! I learn quickly, and I know a lot about myself!
Counterargument: Everyone thinks they learn quickly and know a lot about themselves. People are notoriously bad judges of themselves.
Barry Nalls' contention: Don't ever start a company without sales experience. Don't start a company straight out of business school.
Also, you know you're going to take a hit when the case protagonist --- who has been sitting in on the class discussion --- opens his personal monologue with, "Where's Colin?"
I still think there are inherent challenges for new enterprises with hyper-sales-oriented founders. A summer at athena taught me that you need to pick your client commitments wisely.