Just fucking start
Yes, you. Now go do it!
Last month I had a really interesting conversation with Ryan (founder of Rightblogger). It was about how we both run companies we could have never imagined ourselves running.
Not because what we do is grandiose. Far from it. It’s the randomness that struck us.
Five years ago, I never imagined running a privacy-friendly analytics business and a hosting service for UniFi Controllers (wtf even is that?).
The same goes for Ryan. He’s now running a platform to help bloggers get started and has an audience of 50K weekly readers.
We discussed how we got here and our stories were scarily similar, but basically boiled down to: Just fucking start doing something.
How I started doing something
I always imagined myself working at a big company. I did alright in school and followed the expected path. After high school, I went to university to study economics and did a master's in finance. I had no clue about finance, but sounded cool and everyone was doing a masters to set themselves up for adult life.
Then I interned at a finance company and hated it. I thought this couldn’t be it, so I started exploring other things. Soon, I fell into the startup rabbit hole.
I wanted to start a business, but had no idea whatsoever. So me and my best friends just started a business out of thin air. Our idea: To connect students (cause we were students) with companies for internships. No experience. No market validation. No product. No nothing.
We struggled but at least we started. There was no way back. We got ourselves on the founder track. The year was 2020.
Here is what followed in the next five years:
2020: Launched website in October 2019. Went fulltime in 2020. Got a little grant (30K) to get us going. Covid hit. No one was hiring interns. Got our first 10 customers after 6 months. Lived off $1500/mo.
2021: Struggled. Few months without salary. Luckily was still living at home. One co-founder left in August. Decided to give it one more shot for six months.
2022: Reached 100 customers. Moved to Amsterdam. Increased salaries to $2000/mo. Got stuck again. Business was taking a toll on me. Started meeting other founders for support and vibes.
2023: Decided to move on from the business. Met Adriaan from Simple Analytics. He liked what I did in my previous business. Asked to partner up. I became late co-founder in Simple Analytics.
2024: We got an office. Invited other interesting people to the office. Met Dries. He was working on UniFi hosting. Adriaan and I showed him what we did for Simple Analytics. He asked to partner up. I became co-founder of UniHosted.
2025: I now run two profitable and growing SaaS businesses that pay the bills (and a bit more).
This is a very very short recap of the last years. There is more to it, but I wanted to point out the chain of random events that got me here. I now run two profitable SaaS businesses because I started a random business with my best friends in 2020.
Today, I’m in a position I feel fortunate and thankful to be in. I wouldn’t be here without getting started.
Chain of random events
My story is a random chain of events. I was very lucky to meet Adriaan at startup drinks. I was even luckier he was actually looking for a co-founder. What are the odds?
How lucky was I to meet Dries? I got in touch with him because he was looking for an office desk.
You need luck. Successful founders often forget this, thinking their genius got them to where they are, but that's just part of the equation.
Luck feels random, like a lottery. Some people are just lucky, and some are not. But in entrepreneurship, luck isn’t completely random. You can skew the odds by increasing your “surface area” for luck.
Increase surface for luck
If there’s a little entrepreneurship spark deep down and you want to explore it, you need to start with something.
You need to start getting out there.
You need to start building something.
You need to start writing something.
Reading business books is just procrastinating. You need to create something.
Everyone has startup ideas, but few ever start. Actually starting something will set you apart and put you in the 1% bracket.
I met Adriaan and Dries because I created something and got out there. I got started with the internship business, made my way to Amsterdam, went to random events, posted on Twitter, and all that stuff.
Doing these things increased the odds of luck finding me.
How to get started
Now that we need to get the ball rolling, one blocker remains: How to actually get started?
I know you are already super busy. Zero time left in the day. Not everyone was a student like me with zero responsibilities who could do whatever they wanted. You maybe have kids, just bought a house with a mortgage, or are getting married soon.
Taking this into account, how can you still get started?
Since it’s about “just getting started” and nothing else, think about the smallest and easiest thing to start.
Let’s break down “smallest” and “easiest”:
Smallest: It needs to be so small that you could fit it in your life right away and make a habit out of it.
Easiest: This is very specific to who you are and what you like to do.
What feels like play to you, but work to others?
Think about it and focus on the first part. “What feels like play to do?”
Are you a fan of Pokemon? Start a Pokemon blog.
Are you into Fashion? Spin up a fashion Instagram account
Are you into wedding photography? Ask your friend to shoot their wedding photos for free.
Start doing something that comes natural to you. Something that you enjoy doing, even if you don’t get paid for it.
The reason for this is that you need to keep doing it. Luck won’t strike on your first day. You need to keep going at it before opportunities show up.
I struggled for three years before I finally found something that paid the bills. I kept going, because I really enjoyed the game of growing a business. I don’t care if it's internships, analytics, or hosting Unifi Controllers.
If you keep going doing something you love, opportunities will present itself. Then it’s up to you to seize the right one. If you do, you’ll find yourself in a completely random but happy place.
That’s it.
Now, just fucking start!
Cheers ✌️✌️
Iron
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Great post as always!