I remember watching Andy Freire on TV and thinking ‘that guy really knows what being an entrepreneur is all about’. He is a very inspirational figure for me. I’ve read both of his books to date and they have helped me a lot.
‘What would you prefer? To be a senior manager at IBM/Accenture (any big company) or to be the owner of You-wouldnt-know-it Solutions (any small startup)’, this quote from his first book is great! If you know the answer to that question, you know whether you want to be an entrepreneur or not.
Even though it’s a lot of work, I still prefer to live this exciting entrepreneur life. Starting Aycron IT Solutions was the best decision I made in the last two years.
Actually, it was pretty easy to decide, because of the economic situation when we started and the group of highly-talented friends/engineers who joined me in this venture. Until now I have learned more than in any other job, running a business is so much work! (and since none of us had done that before, we had to learn or ‘die’ trying)
Luckily it’s been ten months since we started and we are still growing! We are still learning. We will always keep learning, which is what will continue making this venture the best professional experience in our lives (so far!)
This is what I’ve learned from starting an IT services company, after only ten months:
- You must trust your partners.
Sometimes you have to take agile decisions and move on. You can’t have a board meeting for every single decision. Each partner is responsible for an area, each partner makes little decisions that don’t affect the core business of our enterprise. We keep having many meetings, but now we focus only on the essential part of our business.
- You have to know what you are doing.
We know what we are doing. We are all Software Engineers with a strong base in Systems Engineering. We have the theory and the practice to construct great software (or only good enough software). We have read a lot about meeting clients needs, building custom solutions and best practices.
We have worked in varied industries with great people and not-so-great people, our experience has given us a great base to start this business. So, if you are going to start a business, make sure you know about the area you are getting into.
- You must be able to deliver on time and with the required quality.
I don’t know how, but you have to do it on time and it has to work as specified. It might cost you a little at the beginning, but you have to come up with real estimates and organize your teams so that those goals are met.
Word of advice, you should track your estimates, real effort and then start adjusting your estimates. Clients will complain, team members will complain, but if you explain they will understand.
- It’s all about people.
If you surround yourself with great minds, great things will happen.
Well, it’s not as easy as it sounds. You have to find ways to keep people motivated, excited about going to work. You have to care about people because they are the most important asset you have.
Projects, clients, money comes and goes, people stick around and make great environments for you to work with. If you keep a nice and healthy environment, people will stay. If you challenge your teams, people will stay. However, the only way to know this is through constant feedback. So, keep that in mind in your company.
Well, these last year I’ve confirmed that these areas are very important to our enterprise. We can’t be successful without taking all of this into account. In Aycron, we strive to create great work environments, to deliver on time, to keep Aycroners happy and to stay on top of the latest technologies.
It’s a never ending challenge that keeps us on our toes and learning new things everyday. I’m loving it so far and I’m trying to continue improving as an entrepreneur/IT professional, in order to continue growing with Aycron.
