Employment to Entrepreneurship: Email Series
The most ambitious young professionals are leaving their jobs to search for (and find!) opportunities to launch their own startups.
In this 5-part email series, I give an overview on how they finance their search, discover opportunities and become full-time entrepreneurs.
What you’ll learn in this email series:
- The exploration process: What can you expect from the exploration process – how long does it last, what does it entail, what does success look like?
- Finance options: How do people finance their exploration and what forms are most appropriate for you – should you explore as a side hustle or can you make the leap to full-time search mode?
- Finding your opportunity: How can you discover and assess the startup ideas that are right for you?
- Finding your people: Would you prefer to work alone, or start looking for a co-founder – how can you find your people?
- Making the leap: What are the typical challenges of deliberate entrepreneurship and how can you prepare to overcome them?
Client Testimonials
“The exploration process can really challenge you in many ways. Galen created a support system, which pushes me up in the lows, celebrates my highs and is a great sparring partner for any questions and decisions I need to tackle.”

“Quitting my job and exploring startup ideas is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Galen has helped me tremendously both with practical advice (i.e. validation techniques, challenging my assumptions) and psychologically (i.e. helping me with motivation). I highly recommend working with him!”
“Nobody talks about the incredible ups and downs that go along with finding the right opportunity for your entrepreneurial dream. Having someone in your corner like Galen who can offer both mental as well as technical support has been incredibly valuable. Any up-and-coming athlete has a strong coach, so it only makes sense that entrepreneurs find one as well.”
About Deliberate Entrepreneurship
In 2021, it’s entirely possible for determined young professionals to become full-time entrepreneurs, even without a business idea.
Many (including myself) have done this, and if you want to become an entrepreneur then there is no reason why you can’t do it too: with a bit of preparation, you can get paid to work as an entrepreneur, exploring and testing business opportunities.
I call this process of working as an entrepreneur and exploring opportunities “deliberate entrepreneurship”.
In the last 10 years, deliberate entrepreneurship has gone from an little known concept to an established career path, with institutional investors (“pre-idea” VC-financed venture building deals), ideation stage accelerator programs (Antler, Entrepreneur First etc.) and a growing number of successful deliberate entrepreneurs.