Hey Sindre,
(I accidentally clicked No--I thought the poll was about introducing a lower age limit for people starting businesses.).
There are some things I'd like to tell you:
1. It's
absolutely the
best possible time for you to start your first business. You're young, you probably don't need to cover your own expenses yet, you don't have to support your family, this is the best age for starting a business! I'm 24. I've started my business at 21 after having two day jobs for 2.5 years. I have made
lots of mistakes since then and I'm
glad they're the past and I'd be
extremely sad if I had to start out only now! I'm doing pretty fine now and it is quite possible that I'm going to reach my financial and other goals well before the age of 30.
2. Your idea sounds like an internet startup. You might be interested in the
Paul Graham's essays,
Y Combinator or, in Europe,
SeedCamp and the
OpenCoffee Club.
3. Regarding your idea: I think there are many similar services out there already. I'm not saying it's a bad idea. Actually, as I see, a startup is much more about the execution and
not dying and not the idea anyways. I am not sure I'd spend my time working on this idea
in its current phase UNLESS it has something unique to offer (unique selling point). Quoting Steve from
2 Mental Blocks to Making Money:
Quote:
Too often that shell remains hollow, containing nothing but recycled and rehashed ideas that can readily be found elsewhere. There’s no innovation or risk-taking. Hundreds of others are already doing a better job performing essentially the same service you’re trying to perform. Your service is comparatively useless. It just isn’t needed. You’re trying to milk a system instead of using that system to provide real substance.
By focusing on trying to get money, you’re missing the point. The point is to provide value to others. This means serving people in a way they aren’t already being served, in a manner that aligns with your unique creative self-expression. Share what only you can share. Express what only you can express in the way that only you can express it.
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4. Regarding webskills. I think startups generally fall into 3 categories and you need at least one of them:
a) startups with tons of money behind them might ignore their webskills (see myspace)
b) startups with lots of in-depth technical knowledge (facebook, youtube, netvibes)
c) startups with great UI design skills (
wufoo)
BUT if you go into this for gaining experience, learning how to build large websites, how to operate a business and you are willing to stick to the idea and not die and not give up, I'd say go for it!
The most important thing though:
not knowing the how doesn't mean you shouldn't go for it. Follow your intuition and don't try to rationalize everything. Forget "reality". It just doesn't exist and everybody's reality is different. Go for what you want in your life
because you never know how it will turn out.
P.S. Actually, me being a
web business owner, working on
several web startups, being a
trance producer and
DJ and almost the same age, I'd be glad to keep in touch with you. If you're interested, drop me a line, you can find my e-mail address at the top of my
blog.