Should I start a company? Two experts reveal how to do it – and the advantages of founding a company

Should I start a company? Two experts explain the benefits of founding a company

To start a business or not? Just do it or rather let it be? Many people ponder an idea for a long time that they would like to implement – but then don’t dare to take the decisive step. For Philipp Herkelmann, General Manager Germany & Partner at Talent-Investor Entrepreneur First, the matter is clear: “Just do it.” (Also read:

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Even if not everyone has to be a founder and not every foundation is a success, Herkelmann sees immense advantages in founding a company. “You hardly have the opportunity to increase your own efficiency anywhere else,” he says. “In a corporation everyone is just a small cog that cannot move much, but as a founder you have the opportunity to initiate great things.”

Founder learn a lot about themselves

In addition, a start-up offers the chance to learn a lot about yourself and to acquire skills in a wide variety of areas: “Founders almost always tell me that they have personally developed very positively,” says the General Manager. When you start a company, you don’t just work in a specialized area, as you might do in a large company. “Founders are generalists and specialists at the same time – or become so at the latest when they are founded,” says Herkelmann.

Technical understanding or a vision alone is not enough – if you want to successfully found a company, you should at least have a basic understanding of all relevant areas, for example from purchasing to accounting. If you start a business correctly, you become competent in many different areas, says the expert. “Of course, regardless of that, it makes sense to team up with several people who are well versed in the different areas.” (Also interesting: Jeff Bezos has donated $100 million, but is still far behind other billionaires)

Founders have a large network

The most common obstacle that Herkelmann perceives when founding a company in Germany is Fear. “Many people prefer the security that a permanent job gives them,” he says. “But I believe that this is only an apparent certainty: who guarantees that this company or this job will still exist in 15 years?” Especially with a view to the future, he doubts that many jobs will continue to exist in their current form for a very long time. “We have gigantic upheavals and disruptions ahead of us, for example through digitization. We are only now feeling the beginnings of it.”