It has been almost three months since I decided to quit my job and bet on building something of my own instead. I could have just as easily stayed, or gone straight for an MBA and skipped the uncertainty altogether. The first step I took was to appear for the GMAT, where I scored in the 99th percentile, mostly so that if this whole thing fell apart, I'd have a real application to file instead of an unexplained gap on my resume. For, like software, backup is essential, and even the most experienced people amongst us, make the mistake of ignoring it.
Tomorrow, I make my first bid for a project, from my prospective clients. The company is a start-up, but each guy in there has an impeccable track record in the domain. My presentations are almost ready, along with the costing and time estimations. I'd spent the past week reading up on scope-based estimation and how small agencies actually price fixed-bid work, since I'd never had to cost my own time before, only a salary someone else set. Yet it is scary to go and talk to them tomorrow.
Besides the driving force behind this decision to chase this particular client came from a quite unexpected source. A few days ago, I was snooping around youtube and I came across Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford commencement speech. The part that stuck with me was the "connecting the dots looking backward" bit, it reframed the whole calculation for me. If I was actually betting on this pitch, I needed to bet on it, not treat it as a dry run for a safer plan I was still quietly holding onto.
You can view the whole thing on YouTube here.
The GMAT sitting in my back pocket started feeling less like a sensible backup and more like an excuse to keep one foot out the door.
The pitch went well enough that I walked out with a signed engagement instead of a "we'll get back to you." It wasn't the scope my spreadsheet had modelled, they trimmed it down before signing, but they picked me over two other people pitching the same problem, and that mattered more to me than the number on the contract.
I decided to trust my gut on that pitch instead of the spreadsheet, and that instinct became the actual first step.
Within weeks I'd founded Leftshift Technologies, and the same instinct behind it, picking the client and trusting the decision, went on to shape how we chose who to work with for the next decade, starting with the MBAKarma bet that followed almost immediately after. The GMAT score still sits in a drawer somewhere, unused, which is probably the best outcome a backup plan can ask for.