Yesterday, sitting at a restaurant, I was having a conversation with God.
I asked him, dear God, what’s up with all these entrepreneurship stuff. Do you care?
He smiled. I continued – I started up couple of things, ended up shutting shop. Recently I saw 3 of my ideas I had, taking shape by someone else and I was like sh*t, I had this exact idea! Why me?
He smiled. I started getting anxious. I poked him and he ‘ouched’ and finally replied – son, to be a great entrepreneur, you have to understand the complete flow. How it all works. And stop complaining.
Me – Okay, so how does it all work?
He said – An idea is like a baby. Have you heard of Infosys story and how Murthy calls it his second son? You should feel responsible towards her. Before you conceive her, you should have a complete plan ready on how you plan to raise her up, whether you have the financial capacity to carry her expenses and all. Once you feel you can, only then you should try to go for her. The moment you bring her to life, you should feel more responsible towards her, day 1. She will cry, get hurt, bleed, pain you, at times won’t let you sleep at night, yet all that should only make you a responsible father.
I nodded in agreement.
Yes God, I agree. But tell me, I did all that then why and how did my two start-up attempts die down in past 2 years. In fact I should rather say, I had to kill them both as I saw many competitors cropping up and felt the market was never fun like before.
He said – hmmm, problem is, you were not a responsible father. A baby is not supposed to be killed, dumped! Anyway, do not be repentant about killing her. You did not kill her, you gave her a painless death in form of anesthesia so it’s okay as it also ensures Darwin’s theory is well taken care of. Anyway, good thing is you now realize and are in a better position to raise a baby.
Me – Better position? I saw 3 of my ideas going live in the market out there, how will that make any sense? Chalo, that might have been a coincidence, what about idea-stealing? You said ideas are like babies, what about baby-stealing!
Him – People around you will sometimes tend to steal your idea. They are parents without their own babies. Simple. And in some cases, it’s your neighbor who keeps telling their babies to be like yours and in the process end up converting their babies into a copy-cat of yours!
Me – Wow, that was some logic. Okay, but recently I saw couple of my ideas go live in market and I’m sure I had no connection with those guys. How about that?
Him – Have you heard the theory there are 6 different people like you worldwide. That 7 lookalikes exist for each face-type. It’s that case. God, which is obviously me, gifts similar looking babies to multiple fathers and in different times and geographies. That’s why you hear, ideas are no one’s monopoly! The father who thought big, thought fast and thought ahead wins the race and his baby gets well accepted. He is the only rightful dad for that soul.
Me – And what about building something that will sell! I have a few friends who have a great product but they’re unable to penetrate even despite injecting all those monies and Marwari skills.
Him – Son, I talked about being a great entrepreneur. Looks like You need to know about being a good entrepreneur. Only a good entrepreneur can be a great entrepreneur. It’s about being responsible to the society, with your baby. Make sure, your baby when it grows up, does things that heal the ill of the society while also solving their pain-points. Show due respect towards society through your baby and the society & its people will take good care of you & your baby!
Me – Okay, that was about being a good father. And who’s the mother so to say, in all this.
Him – There is always someone who shares your vision, is willing to take in the pain and is prepared to take risks for the sake of conceiving that idea to build it to the product level. You can say you found a mother in that person. Probably through that person, you will be able to bring your baby to life.
Me – Cool, so looks like I should start searching for my wife-to-be!
(Background) – Whattt! What did you just utter!
Out comes a glass of water on my face and my dream ends and I see my wife-to-be standing in front, yelling at me as I dozed off for a min while she had gone to order our food! Such is life!