I joined the Rodinhoods in 2010 ( 23rd Nov, 10:03 pm to be exact 🙂 when I was researching startup ideas before moving back to India.
It was a pretty small community back then and I remember Alok welcoming us with a comment on our walls and sending an excited newsletter a week later that ‘the site had exploded over the weekend and had 350+ members’ 🙂
In a little under 3 years, this community has grown to 5878 members. Alok has always been the backbone of Rodinhoods and has tirelessly worked to make this community meaningful and rewarding for all members who join.
While Alok still continues to be very active, it’s Asha who has become the new backbone of this community – Constantly engaging with new members, actively participating in discussions, connecting people, Encouraging ideas, Organizing meetups etc etc, while also writing her daily #templetales and raising her very cute #sixyearold
Without her, I am not sure this community would be as engaged as it is today.(I say this from personal experience because there have been extended periods where I haven’t been able to write an article or participate in any of the discussions but Asha’s constant presence acts as a gentle reminder 🙂
So this brings me to the question, “Do you have an Asha in your team ?”
Everyone who has an idea and starts a business is obviously very passionate about them and is the best brand Ambassador for the product or service. However, once the growth starts and its time to scale, you will need a clone(s) of yourself – someone who is as passionate about your idea and truly believes in it.
Someone who will be your partner in crime and help propagate the idea and turn customers/members into Brand Ambassadors.
That’s why we all need an Asha in our teams 🙂
I have been running a Digital Advertising firm for a little over a year and half, where I was doing a lot of the stuff myself, apart from my employees. Had been thinking of what kind of people I need to scale up, when I realised that Alok and Asha make a great team and I needed someone like her to complement what I was doing.
I think I may have found someone similar but its still early days so keeping my fingers crossed 🙂
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Recommended reading on the same topic:
Friendtrepreneurship: Are best friends great co-founders?