My brief history : co-founder of 3 "start-ups". One totally disappeared. The second one managed to get off the ground and pay the founders basic salary, but not beyond that. It's now in slow decline. I'm still involved just enough to collect the little salary I can from it. 3rd one is running for a couple of years, and feels like heading in the right direction, but it still seems some time before it can even pay basic salary to the founding team. Unless the hockey-stick growth suddenly hits.
None of those startups look like the kind that would make an 'exit' or get investment. More like a lifestyle-business. Which means shares are pretty meaningless and are unlikely to ever be. But a good reason to stick around is some level of independence and hopefully an ok salary some day (but that's not given).
My brief history : co-founder of 3 "start-ups". One totally disappeared. The second one managed to get off the ground and pay the founders basic salary, but not beyond that. It's now in slow decline. I'm still involved just enough to collect the little salary I can from it. 3rd one is running for a couple of years, and feels like heading in the right direction, but it still seems some time before it can even pay basic salary to the founding team. Unless the hockey-stick growth suddenly hits.
None of those startups look like the kind that would make an 'exit' or get investment. More like a lifestyle-business. Which means shares are pretty meaningless and are unlikely to ever be. But a good reason to stick around is some level of independence and hopefully an ok salary some day (but that's not given).
Any tips to help find the right direction?