Want to startup? Get off the rat race first

We all are driven by one common factor – competition, and that is what a rat race is. Yes, I am right. If you are being in a competition, then you are being conventional and hence being a part of the rat race.

You might think that startups are meant to compete, Aren’t they?

Well, no, they aren’t. Great startups create a monopolistic value instead of competition.

In this post, the focus would entirely be on getting out of the rat race that begins in the early twenties; the rat race of getting into IITs, NLUs, DU and all. You don’t need to get into a great college to initiate your startup. Instead, you just need to have a brain, a vision, and an internet connection. That’s it!

I, in no way, am saying that these elite colleges don’t expose you. What I mean to say is that the system is what’s wrong. If you sail smoothly in the system, you will just get the 9 to 5 job, and not running a startup. We all are trained to be in a rat race, in a competition, even before we enter this world. We need to race through 5 Billion+ sperms to actually fuse (you know Biology).

All the educational systems around the world drive us towards obsession of competition. A person’s IQ is not judged by his intelligence, through which it should be actually judged. Instead, it is judged by grades. People with high marks receive status and credential. We actually teach every single person the same subject in the same way regardless of what an individual’s preferences or talents are.

Students who don’t learn sitting idle on desk feel very inferior, while students who excel in conventional measures like tests and assignments, live in a paradox of having a settled and superior life. And this is where I get to my point.

Rat race drives you to the paradox of thinking that you are going to have a superior life which will be according to you, but you won’t. What it’s actually doing is, it’s putting you in a place where you are living a life based on what the competition is driving you to live. Don’t believe me? Go to any traffic signal near you, stand beside someone and start throttling your vehicle. Can you imagine what the other person would do or how would he respond to the throttle? Yes. I got you right here. We are driven by competition and if we want to do something which is unique, we have to escape the competition.

When I started up, I did escape the competition. My first startup was launched on April 6, 2014, three days after the completion of my board exams. The time when most of my friends were preparing for the competitive exams to secure their careers, I was focusing on building something which I want and building something which I love. Maybe that’s where entrepreneurship starts –

Talk of any great founder of Indian startups. Many of them are from IITs and IIMs who had a great Job with a great package. The 9 to 5 thing you know, but they risked their career. Just because they wanted to build their lives. They resigned their jobs and started the struggle. Again it’s not about when you start

But if you want to startup, you have to risk your career and escape the competition.

I know that the post is small but hey! You always start small.

PS: My views may seem judgmental, but they are not. They are just unconventional.

Inspired by Peter Thiel’s Zero to One

Originally posted on hs.thetimeahead.com

Twitter: @hankock007