The title of this article is a story of a guy that I tried fund-raising from as a doe-eyed fresh grad. A while ago, he low-key flexed that he had bought himself a plot of land in Tanglin to stay grounded. I think he failed to accomplish his dual-pronged message - to brag and to stay grounded. Here's why.
The obvious guess is that he bought it on a loan which is why it says it keeps him grounded. Well, good for him. But a 3M loan is quite manageable (amongst my peers).
But more importantly, if you need the obligation of a monthly installment to keep you working hard and staying productive. Then, in my opinion, entrepreneurship is not for you.
Entrepreneurship means having the option to fail
Story #1
I started my first startup before I graduated, and I had to take equity deals for $25000 for 25% of my first company, Spawt. Because I was nobody, and they knew I had nowhere else to go if I did not take it. Without the option to fail, it was poor deals or no deals.
Story #2
I was hitched for the longest time, and I needed the cash to pull the trigger. $100k in total. $60k for the house, and $40k for the wedding including the honeymoon. My wife knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur, so I promised her that if I couldn't make money (100k) by the time I was 28, I was to get a real job.
To keep my dream to build a company, I cannot fail. By failing, I mean not making enough money. So I had to do things that guaranteed revenue – consulting. My second company was a consulting company called Unifide.