There’s a well-kept secret among entrepreneurs, academics and those of us fortunate enough to operate in both circles. It’s not one of business success, overnight fame or even rocket surgery; rather, it’s a matter of food. The best way to an entrepreneur’s heart is, after all, via his or her stomach.
I therefore present The Entrepreneur’s Diet, a sure-fire way to nutritional success while bootstrapping your startup. A win for frugalites and freegans alike, the core principle of the diet is very simple: eat as much free food as you can.
If you were expecting something more complex, sorry to disappoint. This is the diet. Ideally, affiliate yourself with a university, or failing that an incubator or similar business community. If you can end up working in a building which often hosts events, all the better, and if you’re as lucky as I am and get emails when there’s free food on level 8, well… success is guaranteed.
Get on as many event mailing lists and other notification sources as possible, scan every one for ‘free’ or ‘lunch’ or some combination of the two. Turn up. Eat. Take some home if you can (the idea of a doggy bag seems more socially acceptable in America, but I’ve seen PhD students stuff their bags here). Profit.
There’s a downside, of course. Going to events and free lunches/dinners/breakfasts eats away at the valuable time you have, and turning up just to scoff down some food isn’t really the done thing. (Hence having a building where you can graze on leftovers is a major win.) Plus, free offerings aren’t always particularly healthy, nor resplendent in choice for vegetarians — NESTA’s lunch last week deserves an extra special mention for being entirely veggie and even having a vegan option! Generally if you’re a hardcore vegetarian, allergic or intolerant, or militant about all your food being organic and ethically sourced then this diet isn’t for you, until companies like Innocent start providing corporate buffets.
To keep healthy if you’re sticking to low-GI or other principles: watch out for cheap white bread in free sandwiches, remove half the sandwich if you can (nobody tends to comment, believe me!) or pick the ones that look vaguely wholemeal. Juices often seem the healthiest choice of drink but water is much better, as the juices on offer are almost always from concentrate. There’s usually plenty of fruit and often bits of salad scattered around, nosh on them rather than the eclairs on the next tray. Having a cake or two isn’t the end of the world, but tiny moreish finger foods can be extremely dangerous to the waistline!
Surprisingly, I’ve learned a lot about what (not) to do when offering a free buffet at events, and almost look forward to the challenge of organising one some day — the other advantage of being part of a university is that you can generally snap your fingers and food arrives, with little control over its form and substance, so my vegan low-GI organic fair trade spread will have to wait a while.