Today, more and more engineers are striking out on their own and launching new businesses. The organizations these budding entrepreneurs are founding tend to be clustered around the IT and mobile technology fields which are growing fast. Polling data suggests that these new entrepreneurs are mostly driven by a desire to improve conditions within their working environment. What follows is a brief overview of six important tips engineers and engineering students can use to help them succeed as entrepreneurs.
From the First Flight
Engineering students looking to jump into a start-up situation with both feet ought to know that their first order of business must include the adoption of a discipline of entrepreneurship. This means getting comfortable with risk as quickly as possible as it will be the one constant they can rely on.
Understand the Market
Everybody loves cool, new ideas as well as new technologies, but what of the market for these things? Before committing the time, money and other resources to a project, first assess that project’s commercial viability.
Stay in School
Recent industry research gives rise to the thinking that having an advanced degree in a subject like engineering might actually be more useful to the entrepreneur than an MBA. In fact, the conclusion of one industry white paper included this one stunning fact. New start-up firms are three more likely to be headed up by a founder possessing a specialized degree than an MBA degree from some traditional business school. Getting a master’s in electrical engineering can help prepare you for the skills you need to reach your goals. No matter what field of engineering you are in, getting a specialized degree is an important step to success.
Inventing the Future is Your Job
Ongoing innovation is crucial to success in any new start-up. Happily, engineering is foundational in much of today’s innovative technologies. Tomorrow’s entrepreneurs must always remember and pay heed to this truth.
Be Flexible and Patient
Engineers can be brilliant people that sometimes fall into the habit of resisting change when setting out on a chosen path. They may also be given to discounting the value of certain soft skills such as visionary thinking and extensibility. These are two very important qualities that history’s greatest entrepreneurs possessed in abundance.
Understand How Funding Works
Outside funding can have out-sized influence on a project. This can causes loss of control and pressure to deliver before one is truly ready. Funding is fuel to start-up firms and properly deployed funding can quickly accelerate growth. Used incorrectly, money will destroy a firm and the professional relationships within it. One crucial rule one needs to commit to memory is that the power of money cuts both ways.
Increasing doubts about the value of investing the staggering sums needed to obtain a business degree has propelled a creative trend. This trend has people seeking advanced training in the technical arts as an alternative prerequisite for the furtherance of a career as a self-employed industrialist.