This post is not about me but rather about you. So if you are someone reading this excellent forum (kudos to Alok and Asha for doing this) and are thinking about starting up, do read:
These days, startups are glamorous. Everyone, whether they are in a media /IT /CPG /FMCG /pharma/take-your-pick, they all want to “start up” and branch out on their own. Not many people have “real” start up experience – the one where you have to bootstrap – but they have some “entrepreneurial” experience which basically means some company paid them an incentive to work harder, besides their base salary. Since the grass is always greener on the other side, a lot of corporate folks look with rose-tinted glasses at start ups and always play up “how cool would it be to be your own boss!” and “i can do so much if i was just left all by myself, without the bureaucracy and bullshit” – so this post is a quick fact-check on some of the “awesome” challenges of “real” start-up life.
I wanted to share some of my experiences of “starting up” and how it can affect your life. (real life, not the imaginary one shown in movies like “The Social Network” or others). But then I read about #1 rule below, so I won’t share some boring story but rather share what I learnt. if this can help even 1 other person, that’d be a job well done.
9 Start up Lessons Learnt and Counting:
1) No one cares about your start up or your idea or you. In your previous life, you were Director of frisbees or VP of Smartwatches, now you are nothing. You have to build everyone from zero, all over again. Are you ready for that? The attitude change and ego-swallow experience can be very daunting, so say the least. You will go from “Saab” to being “sob” if your peon doesn’t show up to open the office everyday.
2) Please talk about your billion-dollar idea (aren’t they all?) to your friends, colleagues, etc. – basically anyone who’d listen – and try to get some sense of what their non-verbal reactions are – besides the words coming out of their mouth. Non-verbal cues are great to interpret whether someone seems excited (good idea), sympathetic (this idiot has no clue), shrugs (i’m clueless myself), indifferent (who cares about this!) or confused (this guy has no communication skills). Any of these would give you some directional feedback as to (a) how the idea was received, and (b) what that person thinks of you. Take it all in, you have to do a lot of listening first, before you can talk!
3) If there is only 1 founder (you), you will need a tremendous amount of personal energy to keep going when the going gets tough. So if you can find someone great at their work (whichever focus area you need) and who you get along with, then awesome. If not, try to get going but find someone in the next 6 months. Doing it alone is extremely difficult and if you are the 0.1% to pull it off, kudos to you.
4) There will be days your “job” as a founder will suck. Big time. You should think of ways to deal with it. Some people have a boxing bag in their basement, some swim, few jog and train for the marathon. Pick an activity that does not destroy your health – meditation is pretty good starter and helps in building concentration.
5) If you are married, talk to your spouse first. Startups are tremendously hard on family first, then on founders, then on employees and then hopefully easy for clients/customers. If you are considering marriage, prioritize either your startup or your marriage first, don’t try to make 2 major life changes at one go, it is too much to handle. Same for baby/family relocation/ etc. If your marriage proposal (arranged) is conditional upon the MNC tag as employer, do a full disclosure regarding your intention to start up. Ethics are not just a word, but a way of living.
6) Keep aside some money for a contingency (personal fund), in case you fail spectacularly (i.e. lawsuit in 1st six months or other such tragedy). You don’t want your family to suffer your failures financially, they are already carrying you emotionally.
7) Funding flows to teams, not ideas. If your network is not in the “privileged” group (IIT IIM H-W-S) it is difficult and time consuming knocking down doors and making calls. If one of your founders does not have the network, you will just have to slug it out in the bootstrapped world till you make real progress towards a Series-A.
8) Get some mentor who you trust and bond with on a person-to-person basis. Getting folks on LinkedIn doesn’t always work. LinkedIn and other social networks are mirrors for relationships that are already there, not particularly good for new ones (my experience).
9) Network from Day1. You don’t know who knows whom. You need to build a great big pipeline of leads from where your seed comes in. If you water the whole town, one sapling is bound to be found.
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please contribute more lessons so I can learn from your experiences too…
Vick
@MeisterVick
Find me here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vicksahita
P.S. if you do care about finding out about me, read below.
A bit about me: good acads, engineering dropout, econ major, MBA (US), work in 3rd largest retailer of US (Sears Holdings), joined as Analyst, left as Director of Innovation + Online Marketing to return in 2011. ONE failed start-up, one moderately successful “conventional” bootstrapped business (since last 2.5 years).
asha chaudhry
vick – i love your style of writing – and i really like the topic you picked for your debut post on trh!!!
i think ALL OF US can relate to the points you’ve mentioned – you’ve nailed it.
we have lots of posts on this topic and i’ll share them here as i keep remembering them. a few things off my head is
– money: be prepared NOT to get a steady income every month – be prepared to feel insecure about that! (and make/adapt to lifestyle changes). i’m reminded of vikram’s post here
https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/from-mercedes-pick-ups-to-rickshaw-drop-offs-what-s-next
– be prepared to do EVERYTHING – like you mentioned saab to sob – startup founders very often have to do the kind of unproductive tasks more often than they would like to/intend to. it’s a culture shock (just like ex-forces people face when they suddenly retire and have no sahayak to do the odd jobs).
– be prepared to sacrifice holidays and family time – startup people end up breathing work and more often aren’t able to achieve any kind of “work-life balance” (i don’t really think it exists).
– be prepared to multitask like mad – there are always so many balls up in the air – it’s not funny. trust me, being a working mom is different from being a startup mom.
– get used to taking responsibility for all the screw ups – anything goes wrong – it’s your fault. (being your own boss sucks most of the time)
on the upside – if you believe in flexi-hours sometimes you might give yourself a well deserved breather now and then 🙂
points 3,4,5,6,8 are my favs. 9 – is something we all need to achieve. alok is a vault of contacts – i keep saying HE KNOWS EVERYONE!
here are some articles relevant to your topic written by alok:
https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/are-you-a-professional-turning-entrepreneur-watch-out-for-these-7
https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/start-up-furnace-test
https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/seven-myths-of-starting-up
https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/would-you-marry-an-entrepreneur
keep writing vick – will look fwd to your next one!
Kapil Patel
Nice article 🙂
Gagan Bindra
I’m one from the single founder species, and I can totally relate to some of the above points, while the rest are great insights. Thanks Vick for this great piece.
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
🙂
Some more to add fuel to the fire 🙂
Seven Myths of Starting Up – Busted Here!
Myth 1 – I have a great idea but I can’t share it coz someone will steal it.
Oh man, if that were the case, then dreams would be the most expensive commodity on the planet.
Salvador Dali- the father of Surrealism slept on a couch with a spoon in his mouth. He would start dreaming up crazy ideas and as he would drift into his sleep, the spoon would slip out of his mouth, fall on the floor and wake him up. He would immediately get up, rush to his canvas to paint what he had just dreamt. The million $$ Dalis that exist today are paintings, not dreams.
Truth – An idea is worth nothing. Execute. Execute. Execute to make it valuable.
Myth 2 – When do I approach the investors? Hmmmm… What’s the best ‘timing’?
Huh?? Were you Sleep Walking?
If only investors were like the Black and Yellow Mumbai cabs that you can hail and get into any time you want!
No VC or Investor is waiting with bated breath biting her fingernails for you to call! It’s quite the opposite scene actually. In a booming Economy (like India), investors are deluged with lots of high quality and established business investment options, so you have to fight hard to get into the VC’s visitor’s area to begin with!
Truth – Capital Chases Entrepreneurs, not the other way around. Invest all your energies in building a GREAT business. Everyone will be ringing your doorbell.
Myth 3 – I have no money to start. (Sniff Sniff).
Most new business ideas today really need very little capital. If you are thinking of starting an Internet enabled business, the cloud takes away all the pain of investments. Domains cost less than 20 US$, and the rest of it is almost free. Sites like WordPress and their plugins can get you a fully loaded website up and running in a few thousand rupees spent.
Sure, if you have a more Capital Intensive business idea, then think really hard. Start Ups don’t survive on Love and Fresh Air. They need real hard cash. If you are on the Poverty Line, don’t attempt to start up. There will be better times to be more adventurous.
Truth – Be ready to sacrifice a good couple of years’ earnings into starting up and not looking like someone who lost all her baggage after a 24 hour flight. Once you have the cushion of 2 years’ savings, a lot more confidence will seep into your decision-making and improve your risk taking capabilities. Also Budget your Burn to say last for a year or whatever be your test horizon. That discipline will go a long way even after you get funded.
Myth 4 – Let me Grow First. Revenues can come Later.
Oops. That’s the spine breaker.
Unless you have a massive, massive overnight hit like a Twitter or Facebook, tread the ‘growth first, revenue last’ road with caution.
You may be suffering from a deep-seated insecurity to generate revenues and conveniently shoving that fear under the carpet by postponing revenue generation. It’s like hiding a body in the deep freezer and hoping that it will never be found.
Generating revenues is a real PAIN.
And it’s best confronted in parallel to building your business. In fact, so many extra features of your service or enterprise may never be needed if you listen to the fat men with the cheques books early on. Also, as investors, partners, and potential acquirers start noticing your business, they look your Generating Revenue Experience (GRE) scores. If you didn’t apply for the exam, you wont get in.
Truth – Get that begging bowl out. Try and test (if you want to maintain Facebook like early start up Virginity) what people will pay for – but make sure that you know where the light switches are when the darkness arrives.
Caveat (added on 22.9.2012) – I do not mean that make revenues the ‘focus’ of your business. The focus is Business creation – but a proven revenue model validates that model. As long as you even know ‘where and how’ the revenue will come, I believe that its fine
Myth 5 – I’m a techie – I don’t know anything about business. I am a business guy, I don’t know anything about technology!
Then learn!!
The demons of the mind that say that you don’t know how ‘business’ works need to be exterminated on day zero of starting up. Look all around you – the greatest geeks in the world – Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, The Google Twins, Marc Z – all have understood the science of business better than anybody else.
Also, for a M.Com dud like myself, today, technology and self -serve platforms have become so easy to understand and implement, they are like those do it yourself Lego Puzzles. All you need is the patience to sit down and assemble the rocket you are trying to build step by step. Read the instructions carefully and you will be set.
Truth – No entrepreneur can be in-complete. This is actually also the first step in becoming an entrepreneur – understanding a domain that you otherwise had no clue of.
Note – I am not suggesting mastering all domains, but rather just understanding them.
Did you ask them? Did you look into their eyes and explain your invention and what can happen with it?
So many of the ‘been there, done that’ types are so bored and stuck en-cashing salary cheques every month. They are waiting for folks like you to go up to them and redeem them! I meet so many professionals (earning much more than me) ever so often who say ‘Wow Alok, I wish I could be doing the exciting and innovative things you and your Company do’!
Truth – Professionals with big compensation packages may not quit their job in a hurry for your Love Songs, but they can certainly begin associating with you. Start meeting them and burrow into their experiences. Shed a few shares and get them on your board. You may even realize that you never needed them full time!
Myth 7 – I HAVE TO make this work. (Stomping of feet on the floor heard).
Once in a while, when you sample a new restaurant or cuisine, you do risk getting in there, and ordering a meal you have never tasted before. In the first few bites, you know if it is a ‘disastrous’, a ‘will do, let’s get this done with’ or a ‘wow’ meal.
In a start up land, while your dreams may have taken you to heaven in a first class seat, when you actually implement the idea and hit execution, you may land up in rubble, deep under the ground.
Do not deny the ‘badness’ of the idea or the common sensical fact that ‘this was a bet that should not have been played’. Enterprises are built on hypothesis. If even a couple of assumptions or facts (which are crucial to business) don’t turn out the way as per your expectations, ditch the business, kill all engines, sit back and revise the learnings earned.
Truth – Get out, as soon as you see smoke. Don’t put on a mask and enter the fire pretending to be a firefighter. You will not come out alive and your soul will be too charred to boot up again.
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