SLP: 3 Reasons and 3 Excuses

Last year, pretty much around the same time in July I was browsing through The Rodinhoods and came across a post that shared details about a program called the Startup Leadership Program.

I had just opened the Bawi Bride Kitchen a week ago and I remember being very excited about startups (more so than my usual level of enthusiasm for small biz’s) as finally I too had joined the merry tribe. Curiosity piqued, I applied for the program and was enthused when I got chosen to be a part of the Mumbai chapter. There were 204 people who applied and 25 that got selected for our batch.

Needless to say, the journey has been hugely beneficial for my business and it was a great personal learning experience – so much so that I decided to join the program team this year. 

Applications for the Startup Leadership Program are open once again until July 31, 2014. Rather than just give the usual spiel and presentation of how great SLP is etc, I thought I’d share 3 reasons why I joined the program last year – you can always go watch the standard presentation at any point on the site anyways. 

1. Accountability – We all know that in the early days entrepreneurship can be a lonely journey. Being a multi-tasker by nature, I used to have about 15 different ideas of how to grow my business on any given day. I only had the energy of one human being though. And, because I had no one to report back to, despite the great ideas, I was content at taking it slow. However, once I joined SLP, I was held accountable to my targets – fellows asked me every fortnight what progress I had made and that prompted me to execute. No matter how stupid the idea, or how complex – the focus shifted solely to execution.

2. Connections – Having moved to India from NZ, I yet have to develop my support system. Sure, I have a bunch of friends but none of them at that point had a startup themselves and I needed a group of people who were in the same boat as me. While The Rodinhoods does a great job of providing us this ecosystem, being a part of SLP took it one step further for me. The other 25 fellows soon became good friends and today even 5 months after the program is over, I can reach out to them at any point no matter how small the problem may be. 

3. Apply-it-now Knowledge – Sure, we all go to a lot of gyaan sessions and there are entrepreneurship events happening practically every weekend in Mumbai. However, at most times the information is not always relevant or is very high-level. Because the sessions at SLP are organised by the fellows themselves, I found each one of the 12 sessions to be super useful and practical. Also, because the fellows themselves are the ‘case-studies’ everything you learn gets put back into your startup – every week I left class with atleast 3 things I could action that fortnight!

Now, I know that a six month program like this can be a huge commitment. And I wont lie, it is! Fellows are expected to arrive at 8am and most sessions don’t finish till 6. Further, atleast twice in the journey, you will be a CEO yourself and responsible for planning a great event. What’s more, you can’t give up – the program team just keeps pushing and pushing for you to give more to your class. More case studies, more ideas and more support to the other fellows. So, I already know the 3 excuses that most of you will have to NOT apply

1. I have no time – I am working most Saturdays: Consider SLP work! What other day do you go to office and return home inspired to put into action some great ideas for your startup. When I joined SLP, I was newly married and had a full time job on top of my startup and I was supplying gifts to SLP speakers. If I can do it, so can you. 

2. Without me, there will be chaos in the office: No one is indispensable and think of it as an opportunity for your team to grow. They will get used to making some decisions themselves and also feel more empowered!

3. My startup is too small/too big/offline/online: The greatest part about SLP is the diversity of the class. In my class we had entrepreneurs who had raised funding, those at idea stage, offline startups like myself as well as people who had just a little traction – we all learned from each other. Yes, you could join a tech group, or a boot-camp only for food entrepreneurs. But, you won’t get 23 different perspectives from a focused class like that. 

Like I said, applications for the Startup Leadership Program  are open until July 31st. You can apply here. For any questions, drop me a comment below and I’ll be happy to help!