10 Reasons Why I Decided to Start My Own Company

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” — Steve Jobs

One day I woke up and decided I will quit! But that is not what happened. I was building things, but I was personally plateauing.

Below I compiled ten reasons why I decided to live my own life.

1. The Dream

"What a glorious night. Every face I see is a memory.
It may not be a perfectly perfect memory.
Sometimes we had our ups and downs.
But we're all together and you're mine for a night.
And I'm going to break precedent and tell you my one-candle wish:
That you would have a life as lucky as mine,
where you can wake up one morning and say,
"I don't want anything more."." - William Parrish's 65th Birthday Party Speech, Meet Joe Black.

This speech has always been at the back of my mind. I always want to be able to give a similar speech.

I wanted to build a company like Parrish.

2. The Problem

“True happiness occurs only when you find the problems you enjoy having and enjoy solving.” — Mark Manson

Legacy infrastructure, vendor dependency for excessive customization, lack of qualified and digital partners, and outdated processes are some of the challenges that I faced in my business experience.

So I founded a company to be the digital partner I wished I had. To help companies be digital through cloud, data, and software.

3. The Timing

“Invention requires two things: 1. The ability to try a lot of experiments, and 2. not having to live with the collateral damage of failed experiments” ― Andy Jassy

There has never been a better time to be an entrepreneur, build products, and innovate. The cost of failure has never been cheaper. Freemium tools, open-source software, and access to global talent at the fingertip are making it embarrassingly easy to make the leap.

Plus, I owe it to my future self!

4. The Impact

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” — Arthur C. Clarke

Moderna, a laboratory in the cloud, is building vaccination with AI.

Using modern technology can positively impact the world, and the collective impact of innovation can make the world a better place.

I want to help accelerate the rate of innovation, making the world a better place, one petabyte at a time or one API call at a time.

5. The Freedom

Time and space freedom is bliss. The ability to work from anywhere and anytime is priceless! Taking an afternoon off in the middle of the week to Think is a luxury that I enjoy.

Managing my energy has become more important than managing my time with this freedom.

6. The Money

“Become a millionaire not for the million dollars, but for what it will make of you to achieve it.” ― Jim Rohn

Well, there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to be a millionaire or even a billionaire, but the magic happens in the transformation.

Solving a billion-People problem is worth the grueling, the mundane, and the laborious. It is absolutely worth the journey.

7. The Challenge

The bigger the challenge the more motivated I get. When I hear that most startups fail, it makes me want to succeed even more.

Building a business is hard, and that is what makes it exciting.

8. No Regret

I didn't want to regret not trying.

9. The Team

I wanted to work with people I like. People I share the same core values with.

"I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you." - Steve Jobs

10. The Legacy

Leave a good legacy.

Younes Hairej