We’re halfway through the application window for the New Entrepreneurs Foundation intake of 2012 and it’s been great to meet so many young, enthusiastic, budding entrepreneurs over the past couple of weeks. The quality’s been consistently high and I’ve been impressed that so many applicants have thrown caution to the wind and pressed ahead with bringing their business ideas to fruition.
It’s a reminder that there’s probably never an ideal time to launch a startup... it’s better just to get on with it. Almost all of these people could have waited – perhaps until after they’d graduated, done an MBA, or built up some more commercial experience.
There will always be reasons why it might be wise to hold off a while longer. But being young is one good reason to take the plunge right away: you have energy, creativity, ambition and a fresh perspective. And most importantly you don’t have huge responsibilities in life, so if it all goes massively wrong you can dust yourself off and carry on.
Naturally lots of young people feel they need a helping hand in becoming an entrepreneur (which incidentally is one of the main reasons the New Entrepreneurs Foundation was set up). But in any case the lesson seems to be that there’s no time like the present. Carpe diem!
