Am I a Material?

The older you get the more you gain self-confidence. But years also accumulate wisdom (or at least ought to) which adds scepticism and makes you actually look like a fool.

When I was co-founding my second startup about over ten years ago I never doubted even though it was all on a very thin ice. I mean going abroad and setting up a company whilst you got no money, no notable sales-related experience and you expect B2B customers flock in.

After this endeavour I went back to someone else's payroll. I guess it's normal if you haven't got any checking account hidden under your skin. It was all new, all something I never was imaging, a manufacturing and supply-chain business. But hey, my educational background was (still is?) accounting and accountants are needed in every business.

Regardless of the above fact I never felt I was made for the job. True, I never had any technical issues with endless rows of numbers and spreadsheets but mental. At that time it felt that there has to be a better way to do things. I managed to put part of me into something that was supposed to make the life easier for folks who were like myself.

Some good years have passed and I'm on the next level of the spiral but it still feels that there's a long way to go. Having been an accountant, business analyst in a software company and business consultant it still seems that the world is missing something.

I was asking myself: is it still the dark ages where business software was written in some soon-to-be-extinct language and you really can not add any nice features to? Is it true that the customer still hate you because you make up excuses why this and that can not be done? Well, actually you tell them that it is not a good practise to do this and that but the idea is still the same.

But enough's enough. It was never my intention to bore you with my life's story but to tell that I'm going to find out whether I'm still fit for another enterprise. In order to get a kick in the butt I joined a Founder Institute program. First thing they asked was a psychological test pretty much like applying for a job.

Long story short - I made up a list with three good and three bad qualities I have. Something like:

• Can often see the forest behind the trees
• Rude to people for no good reason

The point is to be honest to yourself and find ways to improve yourself and take advantage of any good sides you have. It's even better idea to send this profile to handful of people you know and ask their feedback.