Will Weinraub and ‘The Number’

I just had a great Google Hangout with Will Weinraub. He’s an entrepreneur in Miami and we chatted about his background and his company.

Will said a lot of things that made me really think, and one line in particular was awesome: “Once I had a certain amount of money in the bank, I vowed to start my company–and, I did.” In other words, Will had a “launching-point number” in his head (out of respect for him, I’m not printing the actual number he told me).

You may have heard people talk about “the number” at which point they’ll retire. But, I’ve never heard someone do the opposite: think about the level of personal savings they’d need before they launched.

Makes me want to write this: what’s your launching-point number? If you’ve ever thought about starting a company, what’s holding you back–and, what can you do in 2014 to take that next step towards entrepreneurship?

Will, it was great to chat with you. You’re doing the right thing and thanks for reaching out to connect!

2 thoughts on “Will Weinraub and ‘The Number’

  1. The number depends on what you are trying to launch.

    A lot of wantrepreneurs hold back because they think they need an app.

    You don’t need to have an app to launch, unless your business depends on it.

    You can take orders offline. I wrote a post about it http://www.tomordonez.com/blog/2013/03/24/startup-patterns-you-can-take-orders-offline/.

    Write a business plan and do some financial estimates.

    How much money do you need each month for the following 12 months?

    How much do you need to sell each month?

    If you have 6 months worth then you could launch. If it doesn’t work then you have some runway to find a job.

    A rough estimate number?

    If your current salary is $120K to make math easy. You need $12K each month to pay your own salary.

    If you are technical then you have all day all week to build the product.

    If you are non technical then you need more money to pay for the product. Say $20K-to$40K for an MVP app. 3 months worth. Say $12k per month. Which is about the salary of a developer.

    If you are non technical and don’t need an app then you can sell your business proposition offline. For $12K you need to be your own marketing, sales bizdev, customer service. You are doing the job of 4 people for $12K not so bad.

    What’s holding wantrepreneurs?

    * Mortgage, married with kids…risk
    * They are comfortable with their current job
    * They think they need an app
    * They don’t have people skills
    * They are not technical
    * They lack confidence.

    Here are some recommendations:

    Build your confidence by being in front of people. Go to a bar and sing at the karaoke. You sing really bad? Even better.

    Build your people skills. Work on the weekends in a mall. You could be the person giving away food samples. Or work at one of those little kiosks. Those that stalk you while you are walking around the mall. You could be that person. Excellent way to build your people skills, sales skills, hustle skills, required for a wantrepreneur.

    Network a lot. Get advice from technical people. From sales people. From marketing people.

    1. Wow, insanely thoughtful. I particularly love the following:

      Build your confidence by being in front of people. Go to a bar and sing at the karaoke. You sing really bad? Even better.

      Build your people skills. Work on the weekends in a mall. You could be the person giving away food samples. Or work at one of those little kiosks. Those that stalk you while you are walking around the mall. You could be that person. Excellent way to build your people skills, sales skills, hustle skills, required for a wantrepreneur.

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