Startup or desk job

You have a job that pays well and a group of colleagues that you like. You get good projects, career progression opportunities in time, a good life. Why would you contemplate building a startup. That is the question I face from friends and colleagues. I do get encouragement, often from unexpected sources. There is my housemate Harold who thinks having your own firm could be vastly more satisfying IF you can be successful. Some have told me it is entirely worth having a go at the 5 million jackpot even if you fail. Were it not for the big IFs. How many businesses in India end up folded leaving their founders in bankruptcy. You can lose your family jewels if not your shirt. Money making is never risk free. But it still seems enticing, given I worked at a desk job for four years after 5 years of a gruelling PhD program. Desk jobs are awesome because you end up making some powerful contacts and get a few prominent firms on your resume but then there is often the issue of what you can own. Interestingly enough, I find my cousin, about 10 years my junior, in the same situation. A graduate of the London Metropolitan University, he is embarking on a biotechnology production unit. My uncle and aunt have been practicing doctors for the last 20 years and they have some finance to offer. But how to get it all working is the question. Among the few things I like about this young fellow is that he is also spending more of his time and money pursuing hobbies now that he has made up his mind not to study further. Done with one stage and on with another, a little bit of fun in the interregnum. His latest acquisition is a billiards table. I could use that when back home. We have another common project - to claim a share of our ancestral property. My grandfather left a huge haveli of which half would be shared between four brothers including my father who is the eldest. But all of it is in the name of the second eldest who has been handling the family business. It is for our generation to negotiate a fair deal for the two doctor families since our seniors are not interested in getting into an argument. That is another project.