Of Donkeys & Unicorns

A while back I had been bitten by the startup bug too. I have been a Rodinhooder for quite some time now. And I wanted to showcase my baby here.

But the moment I started going over the other articles in the Showcase section, I was like “Dude, they are all product companies.” Almost, 99% of the startups featured in the Showcase section are product-based startups. The rest 1% covered all others. So I wondered whether I should even bother writing about my venture, will somebody even notice a service-based company when the whole startup world is running after the P-word for success.

During the course of my start up journey, I have had the privilege of attending some networking events and meeting other entrepreneurs. There too, 99.99% of times, the people who took to the podium were product-based startups. The few service-based entrepreneurs I met were just doing it to get a feel of the market and then “graduate to better things” (read: build the next killer product).

If you come to think of it, Services is actually considered the less-cool child of the startup family –the one who wears the discarded clothes of his more fashionable Product brother. The Product brother doesn’t want to do the dirty work, he doesn’t want to take clients’ tantrums…that’s for the donkeys. The Product brother just wants to be the next unicorn.

But is being the next unicorn all that easy? Or is it like being a glorified donkey? Aren’t they handling investor tantrums too? Aren’t they doing the dirty work to get customers on board? Aren’t they spending millions on customer analytics to find that perfect product-market fit?

The donkeys, on the other hand, know their customers from day one. They are closer to their customers than the product brother could ever be. They think that handling their customers’ tantrums is part of knowing them better. They do not need to burn investor money to become profitable 100 years down the lane. They just need a steady inflow of projects to sustain them and some quality work to build credibility. So is being the donkey so bad after all?

I do not have the answer to the question. After all, I am just a donkey. Maybe you guys can help. Feel free to add your thoughts in the comment section.

As for my start up, I run a design & content agency based out of Bangalore, called Lemonade in Summer. We are looking for work. No matter you are a donkey or an aspiring unicorn, if you think we can help, please mail me at shilpi@lemonadeinsummer.com 

My twitter handle @Shilpi1412

And in case you want us to meet in person, we will be there for TheRodinhoods Bangalore Open House on 30th July, 2016.  Hope to see you there.