I started my first company at 18. It was Bucharest Popcorn, a small factory making pre-packaged popcorn for shops, and I have never been anyone’s employee since. That sounds great in a bio. In practice, it means I learned almost everything the hard way, with my own money and with mistakes I could have avoided if someone had taken the time to warn me.
Young people often ask me where to start, whether now is the right time, whether they need a lot of money. A few years ago I wrote about what I learned from 20 years of entrepreneurship. This piece is different: it is what I would tell a 19- or 25-year-old if we sat down for coffee and they asked me, honestly, what to do.
1. Start small and start now
Do not wait until you finish university, raise a big chunk of capital or find the perfect idea. The perfect idea does not exist, and neither does the perfect moment. Start with something you can test within a month, with money you can afford to lose. A small online store, a service for local businesses, a product you sell to friends first. The pandemic showed us one good thing: today you can launch an online business with a laptop, a decent connection and a handful of tools that cost little or nothing. The barriers have never been lower. Use that.
2. Solve a real problem for someone who pays
Many young founders fall in love with their product and forget the customer. The question is not “is this a cool idea?” but “who pays for this, and why?”. If you cannot name a person or a company that would take money out of their pocket tomorrow, you do not have a business yet; you have a hobby. Your first paying customer will tell you more than a hundred likes and ten friends cheering you on.
3. Learn to sell
You can have the best product in the world, and it will not matter if you cannot sell it. Selling is not something shameful or “for other people”. It means listening, understanding what the person in front of you wants and explaining clearly how you can help. Call customers, email them, get rejected. Every “no” teaches you something. The founder is the company’s first salesperson, at least for the first few years, and nobody will sell your product with more conviction than you.
4. Learn to read the numbers
You do not need to be an accountant, but you do need to understand a balance sheet, a margin and, above all, cash flow. Profit on paper does not pay salaries; money in the bank does. I have seen businesses grow nicely and then die because they ran out of cash at the end of the month. Look every week at what comes in, what goes out and when. If numbers bore you, find a partner who loves them, but you still have to understand them yourself.
5. Pick your partners carefully and have the hard conversations early
A good partner doubles your energy. The wrong one can wreck your company and your friendship at the same time. Before you sign anything, talk openly about the uncomfortable stuff: who owns what share, who makes the final call, what happens if one of you wants out, where you see the company in five years, which markets you want to grow in. Put it all in writing while you are still friends and excited. Different visions are not a tragedy, but you need to discover them early, not in the middle of a crisis.
6. If you can, learn next to someone good first
I will be honest here: I did not do this, and I paid for it. If you get the chance to spend a year or two in a well-run company or next to a serious entrepreneur, take it. You will see how deals are negotiated, how people are hired, how a company is kept in order, and someone else will pay for the mistakes. It is not a detour from your path as a founder. It is a very short, very practical school. And if you do not get that chance, at least find people who have already walked the road and listen to them.
7. Failure is tuition
You will get things wrong. Some projects will not work. That does not make you a loser; it makes you someone who tried. What matters is what you do next: do you understand why it failed, or do you blame the market, the government and bad luck? Try to fail cheaply and fast, while you are young and have little to lose. A failure at 22 costs far less than one at 45, with a family and a mortgage.
8. Your social media image is not your business
Instagram is full of young “entrepreneurs” posing with rented cars and motivational quotes. Do not be fooled, and do not fall into the same trap. A business is measured in happy customers, cash collected and people who enjoy working with you, not in followers. Build something solid first. The image comes later, and then it actually has something behind it.
9. Your health and your people matter more than you think
At 20 it feels like you can work endlessly, sleep little and eat anything. It works for a while, and then the bill arrives. Exercise, sleep, take breaks. And do not neglect your family and friends: when things get rough in business, they are the ones who stay by your side. No company is worth losing the people who care about you.
10. Learn English and think beyond your home market
Romania is a good market to start in, but it is small. If you speak English well, you get access to customers, partners, courses and investors from all over the world. Now that everyone has got used to video meetings, a small company from Cluj or Iasi (two of Romania’s big university cities) can work with clients in London or the US without opening an office there. I have lived in Cyprus since 2018, and English is the reason the move was easy. Ask yourself from day one: could my product work in other countries too?
11. No shortcuts: ethics and paying your taxes
You will often hear that “this is how things are done here”: creative invoicing, cash under the table, knowing the right people. It may bring money in the short term, but it makes you dependent on other people’s goodwill and can take everything away overnight. Pay your taxes, work clean, treat your employees and suppliers with respect. It is harder at the beginning and far more peaceful in the long run. And a reputation, once lost, cannot be bought back.
12. Ask for help, but from the right people
You do not have to know everything on your own. Look for mentors, but choose them carefully: a good mentor is someone who has built something real and has something to lose if their advice is bad. That is also why I work for equity, not for fees: when my success depends on the company’s, the advice carries a different weight. Stay away from people selling courses on getting rich quick who have never built a business themselves.
In short
- Start now, start small, test fast.
- Make money from a real problem, not from a pretty idea.
- Learn sales and numbers: they are the two languages of every business.
- Choose partners you can be honest with about the hard things.
- Work clean and think international.
Entrepreneurship is not for everyone and it is not a quiet road. But if you feel you have to build something of your own, your youth is the best time to do it: you have energy, time and little to lose. What advice do you wish you had received at 20, before starting your first business?