Before You Start
The honest version of a first year is rarely told, and rarely tidy
Public stories of businesses begin at the success. People who are about to start, or are in their own first year, usually want the earlier part: what the first month looked like, when the first money came, when they nearly stopped. This is a session built around one founder telling that account, without a script, and answering questions.
Explore this page6 sections
Advice about starting is mostly written by people who no longer remember it.
Business books and talks cover strategy, growth and funding. The first year is often described afterwards in a sentence or two, with the difficulty smoothed out. People standing at the beginning want the opposite: the specifics of the first months, including the ones that went nowhere.
This is a conversation format, not a performance. One founder, a few years into a business that is still running, is asked to describe their own first year plainly. They are asked to be candid rather than inspiring, and are not asked to offer lessons.
Nobody on the platform is selling a course, a service or a funding route, and what is said is one person's experience, not a method.
What the speaker is asked to describe
24 topics across 6 areas. The same questions for each speaker, so that different years can be compared.
Before the First DayHow it began.4
- What the business was meant to be at the start
- What they were doing before, and why they left it or kept it
- What they had saved, and what they thought they needed
- What they told their family, and how it was received
The First Three MonthsSetting up, and the first customer.4
- What they did first, and what they wish they had done first
- How they found the first customer
- What they spent money on, and what they regret
- What the days actually looked like
Months Four to NineThe middle, which is where many stories go quiet.4
- What changed from the plan
- How income compared with what they expected
- The hardest month, and what happened in it
- Who they turned to for advice, and whether it helped
Money and HouseholdThe side that does not appear on a profile.4
- How they paid themselves, if they did
- What the household went without
- How they managed late payments or slow months
- When they first felt the business was paying its way, if they did
Doubts and Turning PointsWhen it could have gone another way.4
- When they nearly stopped, and why they did not
- A decision that changed things, for better or worse
- A piece of advice they ignored, or wish they had
- What they changed about the business, and what they kept
Months Ten to Twelve and AfterLooking back.4
- What the business looked like at the end of the year
- What they would do differently, and what they would repeat
- What they would tell someone starting tomorrow
- What they have not worked out yet
Who speaks
- Founders a few years into a business that is still running
- People who left a job to start, and people who started on the side
- Founders from different sectors, cities and scales
- People who began alone and people who began with a partner
- People whose first year went differently from what they had planned
What participants leave with
- A real first year to compare with their own plan
- Answers to their own questions
- A sense of timing: when things happen, and what is normal
- A few questions they had not thought to ask
- A way to contact the speaker, where the speaker offers one
How the session runs
One founder describes their first year for about thirty minutes, following the questions above. A host asks follow-ups, and then the room asks questions for the remaining time. The group is kept small so that people can describe their own situation. The speaker talks about their own experience, and nothing they say is presented as advice for anyone else. Evening or weekend sessions, in person or online.
What your students leave with
- A month-by-month account of a real first year, from the person who lived it
- A realistic sense of how long things took, and what the money looked like
- An understanding of what the founder worried about, and what actually mattered
- Answers to your own questions from somebody a few years ahead
- A sense of what is ordinary in a first year, and what is not
- A person you may follow up with, if the speaker is willing
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
Hear the first year from someone who has been through it.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.