A
So you think you're an entrepreneur, and you want to start up a company. First, be sure you're really an entrepreneur, and not an inventor. Inventors come up with ideas, entrepreneurs make a business out of them: it's important to know where your abilities lie, as inventors can fail miserably at running a business. Also, you need to be confident that you can adapt your management style to meet new demands if your company is a success. Leading the management team of a growing business is very different from leading a newly founded company.
B
If your company proves successful, it will probably change out of all recognition, and may seem to possess a life of its own, with institutional shareholders, regulators and employees to consider as well as customers and bank managers. That is the time to consider how far the aspirations of the business you founded still mirror your own. If they have diverged widely, and you feel you have built just the sort of business that you perhaps tried to escape from in the first place, it may be time to leave.
C
Bringing an idea to life requires an organisation. If you are going into business with your friends, make sure you treat them as professionally as you would your arms-length business partners, because the odds are that you'll fall out with them. It may not seem important at the start, but it will strengthen the company if you ensure that its constitution documents are designed with your specific business and circumstances in mind, and that they clearly establish what will happen in the event of a withdrawal from the business by one of the founding shareholders.
D
Think carefully about the capital structure of the business. You could be storing up a problem for the company in the future - for example, by allocating shares to founders in a way that could lead to a stand-off if they refuse to see eye to eye on key issues. Similarly, when you eventually recruit new senior team members, think carefully about what to offer them. Don't give away share options too early. As a rule of thumb, cash is sufficient reward for knowledge and skill. Keep equity up your sleeve for rewarding commitment.
E
As your business grows, you need to keep the right balance between management control and entrepreneurial spirit. Too much control, and the business will ultimately cease to grow. Too little, and growth could be unsustalnable. You'll need to employ managers, but remember that their job is to build the infrastructure to underpin a business that until now may have run on the basis of your salesmanship and excitement. The risk is to bring in managers who are too much like you, without the necessary experience of nursing a newly founded business through its evolution.