Join another startup before starting your own

You’ll learn on someone else’s dime, acquiring a playbook you can use, and even improve upon.

Building a startup is like climbing a mountain. Familiarize yourself with the terrain before you embark.

An environment to observe, experiment, and make mistakes

Before diving in headfirst with an idea of your own, you have to remember that a successful company rides on much more than a brilliant idea. The journey is long and arduous, and there are so many instances in which a company can either succeed or fail.

A company might fail due to founders who don’t communicate, not enough funding, too much funding, product distractions, over hiring, culture issues, neglecting user needs, and beyond. The list goes on and on. Ideally, you’ll find a startup that actually excels at nearly all of the above, so you can learn by example.

Observation is a powerful thing and joining the right startup will be an invaluable window into the workings of a great company. Hopefully, you can walk away with things to emulate when you bring your own idea to life.

You might meet your co-founder and first hires

In the earliest stages, a company is only as promising as its founding team. One of the best ways to build that team is through a network…