YEAH!!!! My article got featured in Corporate Dossier of The Economic Times today!!
The entire text appears after the image (so don’t try to squint & read :-))
Tell me what you think of it by commenting below!
I was born on the 25th of December. That day makes me special. Almost no one forgets my birthday. And sure enough, I get referred to as, ‘Santa Claus’ and ‘Jesus Christ’ a lot.
Now, I am far, far, away from being Jesus. So how about the Santa Claus for impersonation? While writing this column on leadership and startup entrepreneurship, I role-played being Santa but expelled the idea almost immediately. The idea of being Santa Claus was alien to me as being a Marwari and lending money without interest! Strictly no-no-no!
These are 5 lessons that Startup Founders could ‘unlearn’ from Santa Claus:
1. Being the ‘Special Guest’
If you are a startup founder, you are not special. That’s just not allowed. You cannot ‘show up’ for work once in a while and spend the days somewhere else (like Mr. Claus does).
Sounds silly? I mean, isn’t this obvious?
Let me explain by pointing out to the spectacular failures of Google and Facebook in China. While the founders of these great companies have thrived in their local market (USA), they were not on the ground with their troops in the trenches in the treacherous political market of the PRC. And that is why they have been completely rejected there. If Mr. Page and Mr. Zuckerberg would have walked through the ‘galli-koonchas’ of China, they would have teamed up with local partners, warmed up to the government and made themselves relevant.
Lesson: If you want to be a startup leader, you have to walk the streets and not be in invisible mode like Santa Baba.
2. Being Unresponsive
Children all over the world write to Santa sharing their wish list. Studies have proven that writing letters at such a young age improves literacy and clarity of thought amongst kids. The government of the western world takes special care to manage the expectation of these kids! For instance, in 2007, the French Postal department received 1.2 million letters written to Santa from over 126 countries. They had to employ people to manage the extra load. Canada receives over 1 million letters; Sweden 750,000 and so on…
But what does Santa do? Does he communicate with these children and respond back? Can you imagine the volume of opportunity that Santa the Leader throws away by being unresponsive? Imagine Santa writing back to each of these kids to study harder and to behave better with their parents? Can you fathom the impact?
Founders of startups survive on consumer feedback. They never ignore it. It’s a documented fact that Amazon’s founder Mr. Bezos gets distracted in key internal meetings because he is busy reading consumer feedback on his portals.
Lesson: As a leader, you have to be completely committed to hearing, learning and responding to your consumers. Don’t become Santa the Zombie.
3. Being ‘fake’
I was enamoured by Santa Claus for many years. I still remember buying stockings from the Akbarallys store in Fountain and then figuring out a way to hang them outside our flat in Mumbai. I recall my Nani being worried that someone would steal the stockings at night!
Very quickly as I grew up, my belief in Santa Claus crumbled. It wasn’t dramatic but the belief in him just vanished when I learnt that he was nothing but a ‘fake’ character. I have two younger sisters and I used to feel sorry for them when they continued hanging stockings for Santa.
Startup founders face the same challenge. It’s very easy to create a persona, an impression that is larger than life and almost unreal. Living up to the promise then becomes the biggest curse for entrepreneurs. The dot com crash of the year 2000 is replete with such ‘Santa Clauses’. There was a company called Home Trade that played a similar charade and was a great disappointment for all of us working in the Internet business.
Lesson: Don’t be who you are not. That’s the first lesson for startup founders. Santa is a fake hero.
4. Living on someone else’s money
If you examine the business model of Santa, he really doesn’t create any value! Dutiful parents stuff presents in the stockings hung by their children while they sleep on Christmas eve and when they wake up, they assume that Santa has given these presents.
Santa essentially lives on someone else’s money, and while that may be a great way to get started, the magic doesn’t last forever. Most startup founders raise massive amounts of venture capital money in the initial timeline of their Company but the really successful ones generate cash flow, revenues and profits to take their business to the next level. A simple comparison is how Wall Street values Alibaba vs. Amazon vs. the other e-commerce ventures listed publicly, basis their levels of profitability.
Creating value in any form is startup founders’ biggest challenge. They get easily distracted by the never-ending stream of almost free VC money. But when that stops, the awakening is rude. And there will be no Santa to help around.
Lesson: Create value. Don’t just trade it like Santa.
5. Not having a strong second in command.
So who is Santa’s partner or COO? The red nosed reindeer? Have you ever met him? What happens when his sleigh has an accident on the JJ Flyover? Who takes over?
Most startup entrepreneurs succeed when they come in pairs. Look at Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. The genius twins of Google. David Filo and Jerry Yang of Yahoo. And also all the magical pairs of our Indian e-commerce companies.
It’s nice to be Santa but you need Santa 2. And a Santa 2 who is really is better than Santa 1. Startup founders who are successful know this and strive hard at making themselves quickly redundant so that the value of their creation lives on forever.
Lesson: Work hard to become inconsequential. Give your reindeer a chance.
(This image is just so awesome! Thank you Corporate Dossier Team!)
Merry Christmas and do share this story with your kids – but only after they have grown up 🙂
******
Abhijit More
Awesome 🙂
Nandini S.Chetty
Hi Alok,
Appreciate your thoughts.But isin’t a Santa comparison out of context? Once in a year everyone deserves to be spoilt silly, with no strings attached. And that’s what he does. Or rather the parents do.
Santa is a concept symbolising hope. You get your due if you have been good. Which is a big startup lesson anyways!
Nandini
Anthony Fernandes
Hi,
Let me start with, Alok – i like a lot of your writing.
This writeup was a bit off. Santa Claus is a Mythical character, who if was living, is already dead. All above are traits of a Mythical Character, or dead people.
1. Being the ‘Special Guest’ – Dead or Mythical are treated as special guests, atleast the minute of silence.
2. Being Unresponsive – Dead or Mythical can’t respond
3. Being ‘fake’ – Dead or Mythical cannot be real in current time.
4. Living on someone else’s money – only a living person can erect a statue or pay for the debts of dead or mythical .
5. Not having a strong second in command. – Only the living can and need to do this.
Enterprenerus are not dead and mythical. But true of someone behaves like this. His business is either mythical in his mind or will be dead before it was ever alive.
Darshan Bhambiru
Loved the fact that even though you deny not GIVING being a Marwari, but even then you almost always Give away a lot of things which has much more value to it than would be otherwise valued in terms of just Money, like this post added most recently on the Whole Community which you gave away so it Helps one and all.
Wish You Many Happy Returns of the Day!!! in advance
The Man who Wins is an Entrepreneur man,
Not built on any peculiar Plan,
Not blessed with any peculiar Luck;
Just steady and earnest and full of Pluck.
When asked a question, he does not “Guess”.
He knows, and answers, “No or “Yes.”
When set a task that the rest can’t Do,
He buckles down till he’s put it Through.
For the man who wins Is the man who Works,
Who neither Labor nor Trouble Shirks,
Who uses his Hands, his Head, his Eyes;
The man who wins is the man who TRIES.
Team or Single Every Entrepreneur is ONE Unique Entity. Found an interesting Piece in the lighter vein sharing here for the benefit of all, which someone had compiled elsewhere sometime earlier.
An Entrepreneur’s relation with his Customer is analogous to our Social Relationships. Based on the analogy found online for Entrepreneurs. ( Consider Entrepreneur as the Male partner and Customer as the Female partner )
1. Single Entrepreneur: An entrepreneur who’s in search of a customer.
2. Committed Entrepreneur: An entrepreneur who has already found his customer and committed to serve her and keep her happy.
3. Complicated Entrepreneur An entrepreneur who doesn’t know who is his customer is and keeps switching.
4. Flirtatious Entrepreneur : An entrepreneur who raises all expectations but never delivers. ( if you know what I mean )
4. Eunuch Entrepreneur : An entrepreneur who has not achieved the product market fit.
5. Swinger Couples : Entrepreneurs who swap their customers ( read customer’s data ) to get some moolah i.e. affiliate marketers
6. Widower Entrepreneur : An entrepreneur whose customer has died i.e moved on like Orkut whose customers moved to Facebook.
7. Gay Entrepreneur : An entrepreneur selling to another entrepreneur.
8. Lesbian Entrepreneur: A customer selling to another customer, i.e. MLM guys ( e.g Amway ) who try to sell to their friends , family who in turn try to sell to their friends and families.
For the Festive Season!
Santa found a Leaflet in the newspaper one morning which read,
‘ARE YOU AN ALCOHOLIC? CALL NOW. WE CAN HELP!!!’
Santa Called up.
.
It Was A Liquor Shop Offer :
.
‘Buy 3 & Get 1 Free’…
Cheers!!!
Merry Christmas to you and all the Rodinhoods, Some say hes not Real! 😉
Technology bring ease of Tracking Santa this year 😀 You can also Jam with your own Personalized Band playing !
Your Friendly Neighborhood Troubleshooting Alien !
#WikiRH
OBO _/|_ JGD