Making the Move from Corporate to Startup
Making the Move from Corporate to Startup

It’s been building for a while, the longing to go back to being your own boss, being accountable for the decisions you take and making it happen for your company rather than someone else’s. But you’re on the wrong side of 45 and you’re married with three kids — this is high risk. So many peers have done it or are thinking about it.

Now that I’ve made the leap from Big 4 professional services firm to startup, I thought I’d share my thoughts.

Of course, the first person to hear all about this was my husband. We talked a lot about passion and purpose in what you do. You can be very passionate about a thing you love doing, but if you’re not doing it with a purpose in mind, then that passion can wane quite quickly. So, you have to have both. My passion is helping founders, my purpose is to build successful businesses. He got it completely, so with his full support, I kicked off my quest.

Here’s my advice for 40 and 50 somethings thinking of making the move:

1) Talk to your partner, if you don’t have their full backing, perhaps you need to re-evaluate.

2) Talk to your friends that have made the move from corporate to entrepreneur and also the ones that went back again!

3) Talk (and listen) to a career coach. Work out how you’re going to get to where you want to be.

4) Don’t worry if it’s not right for you or just doesn’t work out. Always have a few fall-back positions just in case.

5) Plan for your finances, in advance. How will you (and your Partner) make it work for your family?

6) Find your Co-founders! Use and expand your network. I met my co-founder at a colleague’s leaving do a few years ago.

7) Some people will think you’re crazy. Listen to them and then do what’s right for you.

8) Build a small network of trusted people who know your plans and can support and advise you.

9) Lean on your friends when you need to. This is a tough decision.

10) Thank all the other people who’ve supported you on the journey. And then pay it forward.

So what’s next for me? Well, I’m going to be building new ventures for Upside. We find talented hard-working people who want to become founders of their own businesses and over the course of up to 5 years develop them by giving them a personalised learning plan that includes time spent working in our consultancy, Upside Projects and time spent working in our ventures. When they’re ready, Upside Ventures will seed their start-up.

I hope someone who’s considering this, but doesn’t know where to start, finds it useful.
['Amanda Dickens']
['Venture Builder', 'Careers', 'Age', 'Corporate', 'Startup']