Funding your transition: the personal runway

The first question I ask an entrepreneur in transition isn't "what is your project?" or "what is your market?". It is: "how many months of personal runway do you have, without touching your lifestyle?"

The honest answer is almost always shorter than the person thought. And that's excellent news: it immediately puts priorities back in their place.

A good runway, for an entrepreneur in transition, is twelve to eighteen months. Below that, you make decisions under pressure — and you rarely choose well under pressure. Above it, you settle into a form of comfort that delays commitment.

Building this runway before leaving is offering yourself the rarest luxury of entrepreneurial life: the ability to say no. To the wrong clients, the wrong partners, the wrong decisions made too quickly.