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).