First, think clearly about what your core competitiveness is.

Compared with the period of reform and opening-up, the capacity model needed for entrepreneurship has changed greatly. Thirty years ago, starting a business required a sense of awakening, extraordinary courage, good contacts and gambling on the luck of the industry. But today, successful entrepreneurs can be simply classified into four categories: core technology masters, resource integrators, business model designers and super executors. Among them, the core scientific and technological personnel can be regarded as people who have mastered hard power and can be obtained through academics and talents. The latter three abilities need more experience from top enterprises or business practices. For most people without talent, it is difficult to get it without paying full tuition. The reality is that for the master of the first kind of core technology, whether starting a business or choosing to enter a large enterprise first, the result is almost the same, because he has mastered the scarce technology or patents of the whole industry, and even if his business fails, he will never lack pursuers, so the risk he bears is close to zero. If Zuckerberg didn't choose to start a business, he should also be a very good programmer or product manager. If Li Yanhong fails to start a business, it will not affect him to hold an important position in any top Internet company. Therefore, for the master of core technology, the choice is easy, and I can travel anywhere. But for the latter three entrepreneurs, things are not so simple. Most of the situations I have seen are that a classmate has been a leader or activist in a university, and his vision is broad and infectious, so he decided to raise the banner of entrepreneurship, form a technical team and embrace the Internet, but the final result is often unsatisfactory. The reason is that his personal ability has not experienced too high intensity polishing, and he has gradually been marginalized by the technical team in the entrepreneurial competition led by science and technology, or failed because of insufficient resources and capabilities in the model led by brand and channel innovation. So knowing yourself is the first step in deciding whether to start a business.

Second, look at our macro and micro environment.

Entrepreneurship is a super sexy word with endless temptations, including myself and my friends around me. But for the fledgling young people, in addition to admiring this spirit of following the initial heart and going forward bravely, we still have to ask a few more questions in good faith: Classmate, are you really ready? Speaking of the entrepreneurial environment in the United States, I believe people in the circle are envious. Companies like early Google and Quora now, which have no profit model in the eyes of ordinary people, are still madly sought after and firmly supported by many investors. Their core is the strong values and mission in the Silicon Valley soil. At the same time, American legal system, social credit system and perfect intellectual property protection mechanism also provide a relatively relaxed environment for entrepreneurs. It can be said that in America, as long as you have reliable ideas, excellent skills and excellent execution, even God will help you. For the domestic situation, things are not that simple. Compared with more than ten years ago, the supporting environment for our business has undoubtedly achieved a great leap, but several core issues have not been completely solved. Simply put, is your core technology strong enough to resist plagiarism? Can investors have the patience to believe that your project can be profitable instead of burning money all the time? Do you have enough IQ and EQ to wander between capital, customers and government? Microenvironment refers to our own specific environment. We all know that only entrepreneurship can become Jobs or Ma Yun, but we don't know how many entrepreneurial bodies these two people have stepped on all the way to achieve hegemony. The success of entrepreneurs has a strong halo amplification effect, and it is easy for people to ignore those potential risks. Of course, I don't mean not to take risks, but I hope that each of us should evaluate our risk tolerance before making a decision. After all, people who go out from big global companies have accumulated more capital, contacts and operational experience. There is not much economic and survival pressure, and the previous work background of top enterprises has also made a strong endorsement for bargaining in VC and PE. To say the least, even if things don't work out for some reason, there will be countless companies willing to invite us back as executives. But for a fresh graduate, things are different. So my suggestion is to analyze the possible consequences of entrepreneurial failure before making a decision. If you are sure that the worst result is within the tolerable range, then do it!

Third, analyze whether the field you want to join can add value to yourself.

Many people like to predict the starting point of the next tornado, because if you catch it, you will not fly too low. Take an example that happened around me: A and B are classmates in college. A has always been better and more obedient than B. After graduation, A entered the civil service system according to his parents' wishes, while B went to an unknown Internet company at that time, even one of the few employees with bachelor's degrees in that company. A few years later, A has now become the deputy director, and B's Internet company has long been acquired by giants, but he has become the deputy director of leading enterprises in the same industry with his industry experience, and he has been harassed by major headhunters every day while getting millions of options. This is a very inspirational story, in fact, there is an anecdote. They also have a classmate C, who got an offer from a top accounting firm and an offer from a start-up tire foreign trade enterprise when he graduated. After careful consideration, he gave up the career choice of fixed income and fixed path and joined the tire foreign trade enterprise because the industry was profitable and prosperous at that time. Until 2008, the United States introduced a trade bill to restrict China tires, and their business took a turn for the worse. Today, C is still working as a sales representative in a tire company, and is working hard to prepare for the postgraduate examination of finance major in a prestigious school, hoping to return to the Big Four or work in a bank through re-education. Many students who chose to enter the Big Four in those years have already held middle-level positions in investment banks or VC. At this time, you may ask, didn't he get the Offer from this accounting firm before? Why not apply directly? Actually, it is not. When we leave campus for a few years, the most important bargaining chip in job hunting becomes past work experience. The company employs management trainees to buy futures and bet on potential. Futures become spot, considering the skills you have accumulated in recent years. If the accumulation direction is wrong, it will bear the consequences of shrinking market value. The above story only illustrates one truth. Whether starting a business or getting a job after graduation, a deep understanding of the industry and career planning are always issues that young people should understand as soon as possible. If you can see a booming opportunity, it doesn't hurt to give up your job in a big company. After all, the accumulated industry insight is useful. If you don't have a keen sense of smell and insight, you might as well slow down a little, join an excellent big enterprise, observe and learn patiently on a big platform, sharpen your will and accumulate chips, so as to sneak into the future and make a blockbuster. The above three dimensions of thinking represent personal views for the reference of confused young people. Entrepreneurship is a wonderful thing, but it is not suitable for most people. Seeing more cases, many friends who tried technology gave up because of impatience or ability problems, and finally declared that entrepreneurship was not reliable. In fact, entrepreneurship or employment is just a different direction of career choice in life. Different risks and different benefits have their own advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is probably the most important thing for us to know our hearts, clarify our mission and improve our abilities.

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