In Super Founders, Ali Tamaseb writes that it takes an average of 5 years from initial funding to reach a billion-dollar valuation. Not all the companies in his dataset were software companies, but many were.

But what if you're not going for unicorn status?

It could take you as little as 2 years from launch to profitability. However, this depends on your experience in previous entrepreneurial efforts, your knowledge of the market, existing funds, whether you're taking a low- or no-code approach, and other factors.

Then there's Hofstadter's Law: "It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law."

Some companies took decades to become profitable. One reason for this is that very often, the founder pivots to a new idea or new market at some point. It can take a while to recognize that a business isn't doing well, or that it needs to change. Sometimes founders fall for the sunk cost fallacy. It's hard to let go of an idea you've spent so much time on.

It's especially hard when you're working by yourself because not only are you coding, but you're also:

• learning about the problem domain
• talking to potential customers to find out if there's a real problem you can solve
• doing all the marketing and advertising
• doing the accounting and all the other administrative tasks involved in running a business

Working with a partner isn't a guarantee of success because there may be disagreements that could halt progress. Your partner might not be as motivated as you are, which would be discouraging. If you and your partner depend on income from the business to pay your bills, that's less money you can spend on growing the business.

Be In Position to Seize Opportunities

Once you have your business idea, the next step is to develop a long-term plan. If it's going to take 10 or more years to build a successful business, why not look at what kind of world your business will mature into?

Develop foresight into what problems will exist 10 years from now so you can be in position to solve them. Key question: How can you solve problems now such that you'll be in position to solve the problems of the future?

Maybe you'll build a solution that improves over time or evolves just in time to solve a burning problem 10 years from now.

Deep tech will offer opportunities for those in position to grab them when they're developed. Anticipate the ways people will want to take advantage of deep tech like virtual and augmented reality, or the Internet of Things, then provide shovels for the gold diggers.

Personal Development

It might take you a long time just to build the mindset and discipline to stick to an idea and see it through. I spent years jumping from one idea to the next to shake off the shiny object syndrome that creates a pile of unfinished projects.

It's one thing to hear and accept the advice "pick one thing", and another to experience the damage not picking one thing does to your progress strongly enough for you to finally do it.

On the other hand, would you consider an unfinished attempt a business failure? If so, then maybe we should start and abandon more of them just to overcome the famed low probability of success. If 9 out of 10 businesses fail, then the faster we make 10 attempts, the faster we'll get to the one that succeeds. Chase all the shiny objects you see!

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