How To Bootstrap a Company While Still Working a Full-time Job

At 1M/1M, we’re formalizing the process of ‘bootstrapping with a paycheck’ actively, in recognition of the fact that in many parts of the world, there isn’t much of a seed capital eco-system. Thus, somewhere between 6-24 months of bootstrapping while holding on to a full-time job is a reasonable option for many aspiring entrepreneurs.In fact, I would go so far as to say that most aspiring entrepreneurs ought to start their entrepreneurial journey while sitting inside a corporate umbrella. Especially for technical people, it allows for the enhancing of their technical skills, while also developing the bricks needed to build a venture.

One thing you will find, however, that no incubator will be willing to work with you until you have quit your job. As such, we’ve decided that at One Million by One Million, we will support aspiring entrepreneurs while they line up their ducks and start putting together their ventures, without requiring that they quit their jobs.

What we recommend to those trying to learn the basics of startups are the following:

(1) Every week, we host Free Public Roundtables online on Thursdays at 8am Pacific Time. These are Webex calls, and you can attend the sessions from anywhere in the world to get some free mentoring, as well as to simmer in a community of entrepreneurs. You will learn a LOT just by attending the sessions and listening to the pitches and the discussions. If the time slot clashes with your other work related activities, you can listen to the roundtable recordings on YouTube [Channel: 1M1MRoundtables]

(2) We also recommend that you join the 1M/1M premium program and go through the curriculum. It will take you about 50-60 hours to get through the core curriculum, and you can do it at your own pace – say 5-6 hours a week. In 10 weeks, you will have got the basics down. Invest another 30-50 hours on one or more elective module, which aligns with your area of interest. Assume, that would take you another 6-10 weeks. In less than six months, you will be in a much stronger position as far as your understanding of entrepreneurship is concerned, and you will learn how to put one foot before the other.

(3) Pay attention to the case studies: you not only learn, you get inspired.

(4) Attend or listen to the private roundtables as part of the premium program. Again, you simmer with other entrepreneurs, learn from their journeys, get inspired by their progress, and find the confidence and support to launch your own venture. These happen on Wednesdays and 8am Pacific. All recordings are available.

(5) Through this process, we are sure that you are going to have an idea or two come together that you feel passionate about. Start working on validating it, following the 1M/1M Validation Methodology that you will learn in the curriculum.

Once you have a validated business, you can leave your current job, and get going full-time with the venture.

We even have instances of entrepreneurs who have bootstrapped with a paycheck to profitability, and then left their jobs. [Read: Bootstrapping With A Paycheck]

Hope this gives you a blueprint on how to strategize about your entrepreneurial journey, wherever you are in the world.

Related reading:

How to Navigate India’s Seed Capital Gap

Bootstrapping with a Paycheck: DudaMobile CEO Itai Sadan