Find fast flowing rivers - and live on your own terms

Hi everyone,

In today’s newsletter we are deep-diving into the learnings of the Shameless Careers episode “How to Become an AI Entrepreneur”. A reminder: this episode features JJ who - after Google, McKinsey and leading the strategy division at an AI consultancy - launched an AI company building a copilot for private equity (if you haven’t watched it, you will still be able to follow the below). 

Here is what I have personally taken away from this interview, split into two parts - career lessons and entrepreneurship lessons (in case any of you wants to set up a cheeky AI business on the side… and grow it into an AI EMPIRE over time muhaha 😈). With that —

THREE CAREER LESSONS

Lesson 1. Get exposure to “fast flowing rivers” (in JJ’s case - to era-defining technologies, such as AI). 

My personal opinion - potentially controversial! - for your career success, it is much more important to be part of new, fast growing spaces (industries, product lines…) vs. personal brilliance. 

Being brilliant helps, but if you are in a space that’s mature and not growing (let alone stagnating!), chances are it is already very crowded (so it’s much harder to take responsibility/get more senior), there is less space for new commercial initiatives and not too many jobs going around internally or externally. The same applies for a niche you are picking when starting your own business - in mature, stagnating industries it’s much harder to break through established ways of working, unless you find an angle to disrupt the industry with new tech.

Meanwhile I’ve seen people MAKE CAREERS if they happen to be at the early stage of something that’s accelerating - tonnes of space to take ownership, tonnes of jobs to jump between and negotiate higher pay, tonnes of work to do. Also much better for your psyche - the vibe is usually much more entrepreneurial.

The risk? No one can tell you upfront if it’s a fast flowing river or a fad (i.e. something that looks like a growing space first, but then fizzles out and becomes a career risk). So it is still a bet that the space will be growing in the foreseeable future - but the rewards could be pretty impressive if you get it right.

Lesson 2. Optimise not just for the CV, but for the skills you need long term. When JJ moved from McKinsey to a less known AI consultancy his rationale was - “enough of collecting big brands on my CV, I now need to get hands-on experience in something that I can leverage long term”. 

The lesson here is - don’t just be tactical and optimise your career for what looks good on your CV. Think bigger - where do you strategically want to be? To get there, you will likely need a mix of brands - this always helps - and specific skills (which sometimes may mean working somewhere less known, but which can give you the right skillset for the long run). 

Lesson 3. Career implications of being a founder. I haven’t seen an entrepreneur who would regret jumping into entrepreneurship even if the venture fails (you have likely learned tonnes of things and had a go at creating something where you saw potential which, on its own, is super empowering). Still, it’s important to know what happens next if your business doesn’t work out and you need to look for a job. 

JJ made a point - that I have also heard before - that some recruiters and traditionally-minded companies may be suspicious of hiring ex-founders, thinking that they may eventually leave to build a new business or that they may not fit into a rigid hierarchical structure (because ex-founders are typically results-oriented doers and may find these environments quite stifling). Okay, that’s a risk. 

But on the flipside - as JJ said - there will be companies, e.g. smaller fast growing start ups or even established scale ups, where entrepreneurial experience and proactive doer-type personalities are really valued. Even at companies like Google - according to my other guest who worked there - entrepreneurial experience is a plus. This is great. And, btw, having spoken to ex-founders who had to go back to employment, I can tell you - they want to go back to THIS type of companies - vs. rigid hierarchical companies - anyway. 

THREE ENTREPRENEURSHIP LESSONS

Lesson 1. Don’t fall in love with your first idea - do TONNES of validation, talk to 100+ potential customers, do pre-sales, collect at least letters of intent (ideally more, make potential clients put their money where their mouth is) before starting to build a business. All of this could be better to do while you are still employed (if you have the time and legal ability to do so), because this validation may take time and a bunch of pivots.

Lesson 2. B2B is easier than B2C. B2C tech products may sound sexy, but they require massive scale, flawless product execution and expensive marketing. In the end - in JJ’s words - the app you’ve built either takes off or it doesn’t. B2B is easier - here it can be a solution that doesn’t look pretty (e.g. an API), but solves a problem a business is willing to pay for - you then secure a contract and you have money to continue. Still difficult - but MUCH easier than B2C.

Btw JJ also said that if you want to build an AI-powered tech business, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist or have a PhD if you’re not building foundational AI algorithms, but you really need to immerse yourself into what this technology can do and find a solid business application for it that you can sell. 

Lesson 3. Start with solving a NICHE problem that people will pay you for TOMORROW. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking “if I keep adding features to the software I’m building, people will eventually buy it” - you will just keep building, not making any money and will eventually run out of time. Pick a super-narrow niche that people will be ready to pay for tomorrow (which comes back to validation), build it, get paid, expand from there. Similarly with new features - get paid or get a commitment to pay from your customers before you spend time and resources building anything. 

*********

Before you go - during the interview JJ mentioned that it’s important not to tie your identity to the success of your business, but rather to treat the entrepreneurial venture as an experiment. It’s funny, because this is exactly the message I had in my last newsletter about working for big brands. Isn’t that crazy how obsessed our society is with success, that we constantly need to remind ourselves that our accomplishments don’t equal our self worth?

So here is a reminder: there are few things in life worth tying your identity to - success is not one of them. But living on your own terms, doing work you love and are proud of? That might be.

With that - until next time.

Be Shameless. 

Best,

Varia