Why you should take a Risk

Many senior multinational corporation (MNC) executives are making the leap from their comfortable corporate bearings into the start-up space – the examples, as it is, are many. The question is, why would they want to give up the stable life of consistent monthly salary, fully-stocked pantry, and permanent corner office space (with a view at that) to run around on the ground with entrepreneurs? The answer that Peter Yu gives in the aforementioned article is simply this: The experience. There is certainly nothing quite like the hectic start-up life to make one feel alive again.

Making A Difference

Being a cog in a huge corporate machine can get comfortable and, in time, deadly boring. As humans, we all want to feel like we’re making a difference in the world today, and it can be difficult to see the fruits of our labor in a big corporation. Going out on a limb and starting up a small business with few employees means that every action you take can mean life or death for your enterprise, and this ic certainly an exciting prospect.

The Profit-Motive

Similarly, while pushing paper around at the executive level can allow one to earn a comfortable living, it usually does not lead to great riches – only steady income. Being at the helm of your own business can either bring you huge profit margins if you make it big, or totally bust all your savings if you fail. The onus, again, is on your own hard work.

An All-Rounded Education

So much so for senior executives who have made it somewhere in life already, and probably have sufficient savings to fall back upon in hard times – what about fresh graduates?

Starting a business, or joining a start-up, might seem undesirable for many fresh graduates, especially in the face of lucrative job offers. Who would want to give money instead of making it, especially at such a young age?

However, from a long-term perspective, the experience gained in running a business certainly far outweighs the experience in working at the entry-level of a corporation. Rather than specializing in one aspect of a business, the start-up CEO has responsibility over every part of it, and because of that, learns far more about business than an executive ever would.

In this sense, starting a business provides the fresh graduate with an all-rounded education that cannot be found as an employee in the corporate world.