Editor’s note: This article was first published in July 2013. The founders’ situations it describes, such as Lombardi’s 12 months alone and Hefter’s four years in his father’s basement, are as they stood in July 2013.
Starting an internet business has its advantages. You don’t need an office; you can do it from a bedroom or a basement. It takes hardly any investment, just time. But there is something that ends up burning out many entrepreneurs who are very clear about their business idea, and it is usually the psychological toll of loneliness. According to many entrepreneurs who one day took the plunge and launched their own startup, it may be the hardest part.
Matt Lombardi, founder of College Spun, says that a TV, five computer screens and an iPad are all he has seen all day, every day, for 12 months. He has a business partner, but he has never met him in person. They communicate by email and Skype.
Jonathan Hefter says he spent four years completely alone in his father’s basement while he shaped his idea, Neverware, and that at times the feeling became unbearable and he came close to throwing in the towel. Jonathan compares those first months to a little girl dressed as a ballerina whose dream is to dance professionally, even though on some days that dream seems very far away. But Jonathan stopped dressing up as a ballerina and became the real thing. Having overcome those obstacles, he is now living his dream.
“The advantage of going it alone is that if something goes wrong, you know it’s your fault,” Hefter says.
Many entrepreneurs have chosen to start up this way. Some have succeeded and others have failed, but they all agree that not having a group to contribute ideas or to share the ups and downs with can leave you demotivated at times. On top of that, the people around you don’t really know what you do for a living, and if you aren’t making any money yet, they all think you’re wasting your time.
That’s why many experts advise joining startup accelerators or coworking spaces, or failing that, building a network of friends in similar situations, but in person. You never know what ideas they might bring or what solutions other entrepreneurs have for your problem, and above all you’ll overcome the obstacle of loneliness.
Another common piece of advice is to find a co-founder: if one entrepreneur has one idea and another has a different one, you can work on both projects together and create the right synergies, although you always have to be careful about the partner you choose for your business.
Further reading
Featured image: Yury Primakov, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
