A Note from a Start-Up to my fellow Start-Ups

Hi

I have been lurking around for sometime,not sure if i want to jump in. I am not very social,the idea of belonging to a group or a forum does not appeal to me that much. Even now i am not so sure. Have started by reading some posts, answering a few.trying to ease in.

The last time i started up was in 2007, now i am starting up again.Then there was no one, but overdependent co-founders. Now its just me & a few people who have similar ambitions, willing to put their faith & efforts in themselves & what they believe in .

Then it took me ages to get around a business plan,never got close to finishing one-there was no time.The jump into entrepreneurship was not planned, it was triggered by an event, which then became a roller-coaster ride from an employee to employer employing the co-founders with office space, a cleaning person, tea bills, CA charges & 2nd hand furniture .

This time i didn’t bother about business plan- ill do that when i have enough business to warrant it ( maybe i might not need it even then).i don’t have an office (we all work from wherever we can), i don’t have to pay anyone (we work for ourselves), i have been working on the project ( building Responsive (RWD) mobile friendly websites & Board games) since the 1st half of this year. I am still on a job-that pays the bills, other than that i dont need the money (this applies to us), to run the business. The office will come, so will the other things-employees,taxes etc,in its time.Got the initial website projects thru friends, using that as a R&D lab & showcase.

I am a game designer, can do digital games, but I like to make Board games more. I am doing some work on digital games, but thats not the focus right now. We build original IP, We do not provide a service when it comes to games,unlike the website development-which is a service. I made my first board game in 2009-10, now i have 6-8 games in various stages of development, some finished.most were done even before i thought of starting-up, 3 have been initiated since i started.One of the board game has a wooden toy version too. The board games will also have their digital avatars-its in the plans.

So whats the connect between- Building websites & making board games. Thats my idea of bootstrapping, also because of the present state i am in. I already have the products ( Board Games ) & can come up with more, i also know there is a market ( & a rapidly growing one). So its not about the validation or the MVP, or testing or finding the manufacturer, or the marketing of the games.All that will happen only if we have the means.

Its about BEING ABLE to do all of this & more.

This is our idea of having a solid base to launch OURSELVES.Its the means to do all of the above & take it to its logical conclusion. Normally one starts-up with a kitty of savings & borrowings which depletes very soon & brings a host of unwanted worries.then we start hunting for funds or people who can fund. If your persistent you might get it too, but there always a catch. Theres a lot of luck/chance, deal making with unknown people & a feeling of not really wanting to go there NOW, wanting to do things YOUR way, Till it is TIME to take it to the next level. But if you need investors before you are ready for any reasons ,then things can go anyways.Have been thru this journey the last time, know what it feels like.

So Is  building websites a fall back mechanism if the board games venture fails-well to be frank none of us think like this.We all r married, some have kids & not a moment where we think what if this doesn’t work out.

To us its very simple-we have been preparing for success, first by NOT focusing on success but on what we do BEST & how we can do it better. So the choice of  building websites was a logical one to us for NOW. There will be a certain flow of funds to pay for the expenses & build the initial platforms for sales, hire marketing guys,get our boards manufactured to a certain quality, give all the PARTS of the business enough time to show results . Also allow us to reach out to investors (if at all ) when we are ready to scale up & not just for the money.

Time is so critical  & MONEY makes TIME look even scarce. You wont be able to manage both-when things go against you, but i am sure preparing for this eventuality would make the impact lesser. This is the entrepreneurs life, this is what he has to deal with & this is what he must prepare for—rest just happens.

So we don’t have a business plan- But we definitely have a plan.Thats what matters, not being at the mercy of events out of your control.

Its OK to do a bit more, it NOT OK that we didn’t do enough.

So here i am, doing that bit more.

Note- Pls bare with me if the flow doesn’t make sense to you
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PS- thanks Asha for pointing to the to discussions area