Reasons for founding your first company

The choice to found your first business is often a deliberately radical alternative from traditional, corporate careers. You’re likely passing up job security and top salaries, in exchange for taking up an opportunity where you’re far more self-oriented, self-starting, and self-reliant.

Omar Ismail, CEO and founder of Web3 membership platform Temple, found he struggled to fit the ‘good employee’ mould. “If I strongly disagreed with the overall strategy, I struggled to stay quiet and get in line.” First working in investment banking, then in a Growth role at music startup Mixcloud, Omar quickly realised he craved a role where he’d be at the top level of strategic decision making. 

The desire to create something of your own is another big motivator. Shona Chalmers, co-founder of DIY startup Roomix, had always worked in venture design roles, including being part of the Founders Factory venture design team. She’d worked on a number of projects, building ideas from scratch—and that’s how the idea of Roomix came about. 

“I’d always worked on projects, working a couple of months at a time, but I was craving something longer that I could commit myself to and really get under the skin of,” Shona says. 

For Jurnee co-founder Tania Kefs, the inspiration to start her business actually came from experiences in her prior career. She was the first employee at Aircall (the cloud-based call centre software), and had witnessed the challenges the companies face when scaling, particularly around culture and work fulfillment. This is what led her to the idea for Jurnee, which is looking to transform virtual and in-person team experiences.    

Problem solving was also at the heart of Matt Kennedy’s decision to launch his first company. Across various positions, on the FF venture design team and as a corporate innovator, he had experiences building products to solve problems for consumers. He was looking to have a bigger impact and build something transformative. 

“To truly innovate you have to change the system that you’re operating in. That’s what led me to designing businesses rather than just products,” Matt says. He’s the founder of circular economy startup Again, building cleaning infrastructure for reusable packaging.

Being a first time founder—the challenges

The experience of being a first-time founder isn’t all positive. There are a number of challenges you’ll face on the first outing, which with the benefit of experience you may have avoided. 

The feeling of taking full ownership over a startup can be both exciting and overwhelming. “The success of the business is 100% intertwined with your success as a founder and an individual,” Shona says. This can be an amazing feeling, as good days feel rewarding. But this can often leave you feeling exposed, especially when taking on feedback or accepting failures. 

‘Imposter syndrome’, something many people face during their early days in any role, is also familiar for first-time founders. “It’s that feeling that I’ve never done this before, and now I’m a CEO,” Omar says, “Am I actually doing this right?” 

A great deal of uncertainty comes from the responsibility you carry as a founder. You are the number one decision maker at your company—and in the early days of a startup, there are countless decisions to be made. With experience, founders begin to understand the nature of these decisions, as well as how to prioritise them. But for first-time founders, this confidence doesn’t come as naturally. “There’s a discomfort in a situation where you aren’t 100% sure on something, but you are 100% responsible for it,” Matt says. 

This can throw up major feelings of doubt, especially when you don’t have teams or co-founders to validate your decisions. If that doubt builds up too much, it may even prevent you from acting or taking the risks that come with launching a startup.

Matt found that building Again through the FF venture studio gave him a buffer to make calculated decisions about the company. “We had the freedom and headspace to figure out where our niche was in the industry, and where we could add exponential value,” Matt says, avoiding the temptation to commercialise too early on, and seeing the direction of the company pivot significantly. 

Loneliness is another familiar feeling for first-time founders. Compared to being a part of teams, founders have to get used to working alone a lot of the time. 

For Tania, having access to external support and advice on these decisions was one of the top benefits of joining the Founders Factory accelerator, both through the team of operational experts, but also the vast network of founders (both on the accelerator and alumni). For first-time founders, it's a huge asset having someone close to you who has recently been through the same process and can give you insider tips on the industry. There are also numerous opportunities for collaboration, and even for getting your first users. 

Omar, currently building in the Venture Studio, agrees with this—”You’re never alone. You’ve got a huge team around you: really experienced and seasoned operators, as well as more junior people who have the time to really be there for you.”