Day 45: Startups & Ramen
At one of the first FounderFuel Happy Hours with the cohort, we got to talking about ramen. How living off ramen is dirt cheap and that you can make some legitimately delicious meals with ramen and a few add-ons, even when you’re in a bind for time (which the teams are, since they’re working their butts off). Ramen is often a staple in university students’ lives, and when you think about it, university students and startup founders and employees (if you’re that lucky) have a lot in common: small budget, big appetite, little time.
Before we get into what startups and ramen have in common, check out this awesome infographic from HackCollege on Ramen (and why we–students and startups–love it):
Created by: HackCollege.com
Now onto ramen and startups combined. There’s this little thing being called “ramen profitable.” A term some believe to have been coined by Paul Graham of Y Combinator, being ramen profitable is the ”situation where you’re making just enough to pay your living expenses.” “Once you cross into ramen profitable, everything changes. You may still need investment to make it big, but you don’t need it this month.” In the world of startups, this is a big deal. Generating enough revenue to support yourself is huge. It can make you feel better about what you’re doing, focus your energy and talents, and buy you time to make the necessary changes to your company. It can also make you more appealing to investors, and means that they’re less likely to take advantage of you because you need money, as Graham points out. But amongst the hallelujah chorus that is heard when a startup reaches ramen profitability come voices that say it can be as much of a trap as it is a blessing. Yes, it helps startups keep costs low, and buys time–but time can mean comfort and less of a push to get bigger, greater, and further out there. Instead of raising a round and having a set number of days of runway, being ramen profitable means an endless runway (at a student lifestyle), which can mean that instead of going big or going home, moving on, or accepting defeat, startups risk getting stuck in a ramen limbo of sorts.
Now, don’t get us wrong. Being ramen profitable is definitely something to be celebrated. You can eat and live without worrying about your company or your apartment going out the window. But don’t let yourself get stuck in limbo where ramen is enough and you don’t have the pressure to go for a big push or to push the eject button. Besides, eating ramen daily isn’t the best thing for your body or mind–speaking of which, stay tuned for the “Staying Healthy in Your Startup” article on how to stay healthy on a tight budget.
That’s all for now, folks! Have a nice weekend!
