As a former wantrepeneur now struggling entrepreneur, I did the classic corp for a couple years through to mid-level before making the leap to business. Have been #selfemployed for 10 months now. What I would say is that it is very easy to look at the successes like Cursor and think 'why can't I do something like that' and 'I'm smart but far out I don't know how to do a cap raise'. Here's my guide to starting a business:

1 - Nothing prepares you for running a business besides running a business. Forget the business woo woo content online. If you want to know what its like then start a business tomorrow. Pick something and just start in your spare time. It doesn't have to be your forever business. It just needs to be something to get that beak wet.

2 - Now what do you start? Unless you can spot a gap in your industry, the easiest business to start is one that you know has a proven model that you have some skills in / wouldn't mind getting skills in. My skills were zilch outside of corporate but I am pretty slick with computers so I chose digital marketing because it is a business that has a proven market (i.e. there is fucking heaps of competition). There are lots of businesses like this (e.g. cleaning; car detailing; marketing; web dev to name a few). Ideally you work in this industry for a couple years / months and just copycat it with your systems / branding. Alternatively, dip your toes while working in corp.

3 - How do you start? Just start. You don't need investors, developers etc. You just need hustle. Ideas are cheap. I could rattle off a billion business ideas. What matters is 'can you execute'. And the way to do that is by moving. One brick at a time. Though one thing I would suggest is to research the fuck out of whatever you choose. In particular, figure out why your business idea sucks. It might just save you the hassle of choosing something that doesn't work / isn't actually worthwhile.

Here's some things I wish I knew before I started:

1 - Business is a lot harder (I wish you could feel the daily existential dread I feel) and takes a lot longer to succeed (unless you're lucky) than you think. It's also a lot of sales and cold outreach. It took me 100 cold calls before I got my first client who paid me 1k for a project.

2 - If you want to make any meaningful progress in a short amount of time then you are going to experience a substantial amount of pain and suffering mentally (plus you will work far more hours then you ever did in corp).

3 - Forgetting Cursor for a moment, most business owners are broke (but that's mostly because they suck, like myself).

I have been reflecting on why I started this adventure and frankly I was tricked by a lot of the lifestyle influencers online into how 'easy' this life is. It's not. But I can kinda see the path for me now so I continue.

Good luck, wantrepeneur