This article is for people who are trying to start something on their own without joining their father’s business and who do not belong to the non-human and coveted class of IIT/IIM:
We would like to tell you some important reasons to not think of starting-up-
1. Designation:
So you will never have those cool designations (Sr Account Planner , Manager(strategy and branding) which you and your parents can flaunt in front of your relatives and neighbours whose corporate knowledge comprises of Infy , TCS and HCL.
What, you are a CEO, even your Nukkad Paanwala is a CEO.
2.Money:
You will have to borrow from your high salary earning flatmates who will start taunting you for not contributing to house “booze” quota.
All your money will go into printing visiting cards or drinking coffee at CCD (thats where most of your meetings will happen) and forget about all those EMI schemes because there is no cheque coming at the end of the month.
3. Friends:
You have lost touch with your most of your schoolmates , your engineering mates are of no use (not one knows how to make a website) and all your B-school mates are seen as potential clients. You will attend numerous random meet-ups in order to find the Special One .
So who are your friends, your Laptop , Dongle and Gmail.
4. Marriage:
Right from the time you are born starts the long battle of “settling down” because that’s the ulterior motive of life .The day you decide to start-up your marriage is postponed by 5 years because your girlfriend can’t wait for that long , your Matrimonial profile will have nothing in Annual Salary column and you cannot afford a housewife.
5. Parties:
They will become an alien entity to you unless you are gatecrashing one . But you will not feel left out , your FB wall will be full of pics of Sales target parties, team trips , client parties, travel pics( of newly formed travel bugs). This might make you want to cut your wrists or want to kill (ala Dexter) but “self-control” is an Entrepreneur’s weapon.
Therefore never DARE to THINK beyond the comfortable and secure life which a job can provide because the Secret of life lies in the oblivion.
Do not think of creating Google, Facebook or Redbus because if you happen to create one then who will work for it?
That’s a Scary thought…..be Scared …be very Scared….
Rishi
“non-human and coveted class of IIT/IIM“…?
Chetan Soni
Rishi, I find them very arrogant and disrespectful towards other people and coveted because of the society’s perception towards them.
Rishi
Chetan – isn’t that generalizing too much?
Chetan Soni
Rishi,
I am generalizing the people I have met . Ofcourse there are better IITians too..
Ranjeet Pratap Singh
@Chetan: Your sample set of IIT/IIM people is probably too small. Strictly speaking I am not from any IIT/IIM(a FMS grad) but have met and know quite a few from IITs/IIMs/both, and I can assure you that your inference is a gross generalization.
However I think the point you were trying to make was that for people with a good pedigree starting up is relatively easier, which though arguable, is a fair point.
Chetan Soni
@Ranjeet , ofcourse my sample size is small.
and the article is not directed towards them but the points mentioned below are of importance.
Thank you for getting the jist that people with good pedigree have it relatively easier ( The sole reason of it is Indian mentality)
Ssandeep B Teraiya
Thank you Chetan, going through it, n yr post gave me more power to fight.
Ranjeet Pratap Singh
Chetan, I once again disagree. That people with good pedigree have an advantage over people without it, is both natural and obvious and it would be so in every country. Try googling how pedigree is important for startup founders or basically any job.
Let me clarify that pedigree doesn’t ‘just’ mean your degree or college, it includes the companies you have worked in, products you have build, organizations that you have been a part of etc. And this makes sense as well, if Alok kejriwal with his years of experience building successful products and me having just a couple of years experience working in some corporate start working on exactly the same idea, he will definitely find it relatively easier to make it successful, irrespective of whether we are in India, US, China or any other place.
Chetan Soni
@Ranjeet , The article never once mentions “experience” being the factor.
By Indian mentality I meant the mentality which goes after Brands inspite of something better available elsewhere.
The article is not against IITians ..disliking them is my personal opinion for a number of reasons which will take up the whole space here if I start writing..the article has other message which has a pretty deep meaning.
Chetan Soni
@Ssandeep , I am glad if I was of any help.
Ssandeep B Teraiya
🙂