I think they mean join a company within 3 months of its founding, to max out shares/options.
Re:A Company of One
by foolswisdom on Monday September 04, 2023 @07:58PM
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As I read it, the working for someone else (a company) is the alternative, for the case in which you can't get profitable in 3 months.
Re:A Company of One
by HeyLaughingBoy on Monday September 04, 2023 @08:04PM
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The rationale behind the 3-month number is that most people will need an income by that time since savings will have run out. It's entirely possible to start a service-based business and be profitable from day 1.
Both the services companies I started were profitable within 8 weeks. (6 and 8 respectively.) One was sold 14 years later, the other is still going.
Services companies are very fast to get started, and very easy to make profitable.
Building a product company on the other hand...
From a look at the two books mentioned here, though, neither seem to clear that bar.
Zero to Sold is about FeedbackPanda, which took 2 years. (Still impressive.) And Company of One, from a skim, appears to focus on services businesses — totally reasonable to get to six-figure revenue and therefore seven-figure valuation, but not terribly interesting as product companies and fairly difficult to exit via a sale.
I'd love to see some case studies of the 3-month number. The more I think about it, the more possible it seems (with a fair bit of luck).