Initiative · Entrepreneurship
The most expensive mistakes in a business are made before it starts.
Founders a few years in describe what they wish they had known before they began — what to test, what to register, what it cost, when to leave the job — for people who are planning a business or living through its first year.
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Advice for founders is mostly written for businesses that already exist.
Almost everything on offer to entrepreneurs assumes a running business with customers, staff and revenue. The person who is still deciding — or who registered three months ago and is not sure what to do first — is expected to find their own way.
That is exactly when the costly decisions are made. Incorporating before there is a customer. Spending on a website, an office and a logo. Leaving a job with four months of savings. Taking a partner without a written agreement. Founders describe all of these, and all of them were avoidable.
So this is for the stage before the others apply.
Who this is for
- People with a business idea and a job
- People who have just started and are in their first year
- Students and recent graduates who are serious about starting something
- Founders a few years in who remember what they got wrong
A session may cover
- Testing whether anybody will pay, before building anything
- Finding the first customer
- What it really costs, including what you live on
- Leaving a job: when, and with how much saved
- What to register, and what can wait
- Choosing a partner, and writing it down
- Pricing for the first time
- The first-year mistakes founders would avoid
The format
One or two founders describe their own first year, plainly, and then answer questions. Small groups, so people can bring their own plan. This is not a pitch event, an investor meeting or an incubator, and nobody is selling a service to the room.
Also available on request
9 further topics in this area. Tell us which fit your group and we will find the right person for it.
- Testing an Idea Before You Build It
- Finding Your First Customer
- What It Really Costs to Start
- Leaving a Job to Start a Business
- What to Register, and When
- Choosing a Co-Founder
- Pricing for the First Time
- First-Year Mistakes Founders Would Avoid
- My First Year in Business
What you should come away with
- A way to test demand before spending money
- A realistic first-year budget, including what you live on
- Clarity on what must be registered now and what can wait
- A view on leaving a job, from people who did and people who did not
- A short list of the first-year mistakes worth avoiding
- A founder a few years ahead to ask afterwards
Who runs them
Sessions are run by people who do the work
Practitioners, not trainers. Nobody here is paid to speak.
Scheduled
Nothing scheduled yet
This one is not in the calendar yet
It runs when a college, company or community asks for it. That is usually how the first one gets scheduled.
How GullyFuture works
What each side brings
Most sessions are free for participants. Institutions provide the group and a suitable space. Contributors give their time and experience. GullyFuture shapes the format, coordinates the people and documents what happened.
Bring this to your group
Tell us:
- Who the participants are
- Their current stage
- Approximate group size
- City and institution or organisation
- What you want them to understand or practise
- Preferred timing
Contribute
You do not need to be famous or senior. You need relevant experience, the willingness to speak honestly, and respect for the no-selling rule.
You can contribute as a speaker, mentor, interviewer, reviewer, facilitator, host, partner or volunteer.
Contribute your experienceWhat we record
Counted from what happened, never estimated.
- Sessions completed
- Participants reached
- Contributors involved
- Practice or feedback activities completed
- Participant usefulness feedback
- Follow-up actions and resources provided
- Participants who later return as contributors
Participation is free for students and individual participants unless a programme says otherwise. Speakers may explain their work, but a session is never a sales pitch.
Come with the plan you have, however rough.
Join a Before You Start session.