For a long time I assumed the people who built big companies were different from me. Smarter, better connected, better educated. I had wanted to be an entrepreneur since college, but I kept treating it as something I’d be ready for later.
Then I spent time inside Blue Raven Solar while it was growing fast, before it was acquired by SunPower. I got to watch the people building it up close: how they made decisions, and how they worked through problems nobody had a playbook for.
Most of them weren’t smarter than me. They had just decided to build.
That was uncomfortable to admit, because it took away my best excuse. Many of them had impressive degrees and resumes. What actually set them apart was that they had committed. They made decisions with incomplete information, fixed what broke, and kept going.
The false starts
I’d tried to start companies before. None of them really took off. Looking back, I think part of me was still waiting for permission.
The decision
After Blue Raven, solar companies started asking me to help with their marketing. The side work grew until it was more than one person could handle. I had a real choice. I could keep it as a profitable side business, or I could hire people and build a company.
Keeping it small would probably have paid more for the first few years. I chose to build anyway, and that company became RELLO.
What I’d tell someone who’s waiting
Learn the whole business. I went into marketing on purpose because I knew I’d need it to build a company. Every role you take can be training for the one you actually want.
Watch people who are building. Get close enough to see how decisions really get made. It takes the mystery out of it.
Stop waiting to feel ready. The people I admired didn’t have it figured out either. They started, and they figured it out as they went.
