The point in time when baby birds leave the nest is the evolutionary tradeoff between parents, who want their babies to leave as early as possible, and baby birds, who want to leave as late as possible.

All things considered the life of a baby bird is pretty damn harsh. Only weeks after forcing your way into this reality, pushing your way out of the comfy safety of your egg you will have to watch your brothers and sisters jump either to their glory or their doom. 

This for me is pretty much what it’s like deciding when and if to start a business.

The first leap - Too soon or too late. Both Suck.

For those baby birds, like entrepreneurs, It’s a scary situation. Birds instinctively know they have no choice but to leap. If they stay they will die. Their parents will not bring them worms forever and predators are sure to find them eventually so their options are rather limited. Stay and die or leave and maybe die.

For me the day I chose to try and fly is burned on my memory. I was sitting in my comfy corporate chair with all the security of a full time job. I had the feeling of not only wanting to leave the corporate nest but the confidence that I wouldn't have the floor to fear. 

At the time I had two small children and a wife to support, but I also had confidence in what I believed to be true about the industry. 

Knowing when to jump.

A lot of people looking to start their own business ask me “how did you know you were ready to take the plunge?”. It was no easy decision but if you take a look at my background there isn’t a point of view I haven’t worked in around the financial services industry, and that vantage gave me a great advantage. Same goes for the other founders of 11:FS.

We’ve been client side, product heavy, worked with customers and delivered in a corporate environment. We’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly side of financial services not just with those who provide services to the end customer but everyone throughout that value chain.

So back in 2016 we had a pretty deep holistic view of what’s broken, and our frustrations brought us together to bring about positive change. I had total confidence in our work ethic. We might not always get everything right but we 100% would not quit and hit the floor. 

My wings had developed enough I thought.

A leap of faith and judgement, but mainly of effort. 

Startups have become fetishised. Pictures of Elon Musk or Steve Jobs have made anyone with a turtleneck think they might be able to change the world which is mostly, sadly not true.

Startups mostly fail. It is a sad reality that no matter how good your idea is, nearly 80% of startups fail in the first 24 months.

Focusing first on how you do not become this statistic is very sensible in the same way that the birds have to focus first on figuring out how to fly.

If you believed the stats and fear others failures then you would never ever start a company. It’s too hard, too risky and you’ve too much to lose. Both in terms of financially but also reputationally.

But like baby birds the fear of hitting the ground is what kept us motivated. We were never going to make it if we didn’t even take the risk to start with. 

After all, knowledge is only 10% of the battle. The 90% in that first leap of faith is all about effort. When a baby bird jumps from the nest they don't conserve energy, they don't “see how it goes” or “give it a go”. They flap their f*#king wings as hard as they can to ensure they don't hit the ground. Death and failure are very motivating for birds in the same way being made bankrupt and reputational damage is for founders.

Learning on the way down.

Flying or falling? The only difference is the ending. Think about that sentence for a second. There is so much truth in there.

For what can look like success for a while can turn out to be someone, or a company for that matter, actually failing.

The best advice I would give to anyone starting out to build a company is do like baby birds do and that's learn by doing. People are too fluffy nowadays about learning their craft academically, getting years and years of education without having ever spoken to a customer. It’s like reading about basketball but never having bounced a ball, and then trying to teach others to play. It doesn't work.

In order for a company to be successful you need to bring together talent that has taken that journey down in the trenches so they know what bad and good looks like. 

As humans we take a lot of risks. We make a lot of choices. It’s scary. But staying the same is as good as moving backwards sometimes. 

Bringing together people that are restless with different lenses of experience, who have earned their wings with the war wounds to prove it, will not only create the best environment within a company, but will also best serve the needs of the industry as an entirety.

Do not fear the floor; Respect it.

So if you're looking to start your own company. Make sure you know the industry. Make sure you know yourself. Make sure you know your co-founders really really well. 

Most of all though make sure you don’t fear the floor but respect it. If you're ready then don't overthink it. Take the leap. 

I have a saying that's been on my twitter bio for over 3 years now and that is “I'm always falling forwards.” It is a saying of mine and to be honest something I both say to myself and to others a lot.

In life you always have a choice. Choose to do or not to do. I choose to fall into something and fail making something happen rather than fail to never try. 

I will die on the floor over die in the empty nest every time. But that is just me.