In response to the many people who asked how much experience I had...
Got a BA in Accounting, minored in Marketing, and earned my CPA. I had
3 years of
Auditing and Consulting at Arthur Andersen, 1 year at a major
advertising
firm, and then started an importing/exporting business from India which
was
fairly successful (sold 10,000 products in first 6 months to national
retailers). Then I switched to doing an Internet portal. I was 26 when
I did this,
27 now, so I'm not an "expert" or anything...
Its not so much the experience that I missed, since I believe young
people
can be very smart too - its more the network of contacts that you can
recruit
team members from or ask questions to...the CEO on my current project is
a
Harvard MBA, and anytime he has a question on term sheets, valuation,
etc. he
just calls up his network of friends, who are all starting companies or
part
of startups...also, he was referred to many VCs through his Harvard
colleagues...an IVY league MBA definitely opens doors...
Also, when you go through a startup as a team member, you learn about
all
the HR issues, fundraising issues, etc. and can then apply it to a
business you
start, which will make the process much smoother. Even a year at a new
startup
helps tremendously...not to mention you get 1 year of shares that vest,
that may
be worth something some day...
TIE, SIPA, Netip, etc. do help in forming these networks as well...but
tread
carefully since every Ramu, Baboo, or Harichand wants to become an
entrepreneur, and you can't be sure of their caliber...
Hope this helps...