How I’m Navigating the Startup World as Founder and Helping Other Companies as Consultant

When I was younger, I always asked myself: how do you start a company, especially if you don't have vast financial resources?

I have now been running my startup, Grasshopper Air Mobility, for over a year and a half, and the journey could not have been more exciting. Starting in February 2023 alone, today we are a team of 11 collaborators and four great advisors, last week we have published our designs as a result of over a years' worth of work, we received the BNEW 2024 award for the best aviation startup by the mayor of Barcelona, and now we're working on business development.

All this is (more or less) happening according to our long term strategy: My co-founders and I decided early on that we were not going to seek initial investment, develop our prototype and then seek companies that want to buy it. Instead, we are bootstrapping the business as long as we can. Operating in the advanced air mobility space, developing a hardware and software product requires high investment. However, we understand that product market fit is key, so it is of utmost importance to seek key clients before raising money to build a prototype.

In June 2024 at SIL Barcelona, before pitching at the competition and winning a seat in the Logistics 4.0 incubator

Balancing Time and Money

The biggest challenges I have been facing on this journey are on the one hand having sufficient time to dedicate to moving the business forward with all its day-to-day and big picture tasks, and on the other hand earning money on the side in order to support my living situation. Until our startup is going to have income or raise substantial investment, I must rely on other sources of income.

This challenge has turned me into a juggler of different tasks. Besides being CEO of my startup, which on its own, requires focusing on a range of different topics, I have a part-time job and work as on a freelance basis as a founder consultant and have already supported companies in all sorts of industries. When I started out working on my own company, I did not know where my journey would go, I just knew I had to create the right environment for myself and get started. This meant, leaving full-time work, working harder than ever before, and believing in myself and my capabilities - I am so glad that I did, it was the best decision I have ever made.

The Marathon of Entrepreneurship: Staying in the Game as Founder and Consultant

Since starting out on my professional journey in Barcelona since 2022, I have not only polished up my Spanish to working proficiency, but also gained a great network of entrepreneurs and business leaders in all parts of the world. From these encounters, I am proud to have learned that the most difficult things are two: 1. getting started, and 2. staying in the game long enough. You only "fail", when you decide to quit (besides, that you can't really fail but only win big or learn big). The objective of all of this is the journey, not the destination.

With all this in mind, the journey of lifting Grasshopper Air Mobility from the ground into the air is going to be a marathon. A marathon with various small sprints to our milestones. And I will have to continue to work as hard as possible to make a living whilst pursuing our Grasshopper vision. As we continue running this long race towards sales, prototypes and financial sustainability, I want to support others on their entrepreneurial journey as well, and offer my support to startups and companies on the challenges of running a company.

Climbing the Mountain of Tasks - Together

The challenges that come with running a company are various, but the main one that I found is a lack of time for all the things I want or need to do due to human resource restraints. We are a big team with big vision, but we simply lack the human capital to delegate everything to a dedicated colleague. To just name a few, I need to create long-term strategies, write company internal papers, review contracts, hire people, run meetings, send out reports, research new tools, be on top of the company finances, reach out to new and old connections, conduct project management and besides that maybe go to an event or two - ah and of course I also want to eat, sleep and meet some friends.

If you are nodding along this list, you know that you are facing the same struggle. Sometimes it may be more pressure than other times, but when you do get overwhelmed, it takes grit and perseverance to dig yourself out of the mountain of tasks that you have buried yourself under. For this mountain, I am glad to offer my support. Let me help you with that strategy that you have wanted to get started on four weeks ago, with your pressing administrative tasks you so dislike doing, or with leading a team to the next milestone. We can all need some help sometime, and as leaders we learn that being able to ask for it is one of the greatest strengths.

Let me know your thoughts. How did you get started on your journey? What was your marathon between starting out and earning a sustainable income from your business? Are you ever struggling with all the challenges that running a business brings along? And of course, if you need support, feel free to reach out. You can write to me on LinkedIn or just schedule a meeting via the Homepage.

Have a great Sunday evening,

Jakob