When should I put the full stop?

Entrepreneurial life is not easy; you get no holidays & you get no pay. You don’t get seniors & colleagues to complain and blame; rather you surely get numerous hands asking for their payments!  But still we have 1000s of people from all spheres and walks of life with a burning passion to do something. Something of their own! There could be countless reasons for this bug in them – could be money for some, could be fame for the others; while a few others it could simply mean following their dreams, and still others could be turning hobbies into work or working for some cause.

As an entrepreneur, you live in a state of being where you have to constantly keep proving yourself. The ups and downs are killing. Having to defend your ideas at all times can play havoc with your self-belief. A Snigger, a retort, a chuckle – you can get all of them that paint your face red (not I am not referring to blushing here), yet, you stand firm smiling to yourself saying “I will prove it one day”.

In a start up you tackle all kinds of ifs and buts and face a fair share of different punctuation marks. The journey of your venture has its commas while listing out different objectives of your service or setting yourself different milestones to achieve. The question marks are galore – how will this service benefit, what is the revenue model, when do you see this picking up amongst consumers etc. The exclamation marks– Fantastic, we closed the deal!, what an exceptional service this is! etc. etc. Semi colon when – chalk out job descriptions; hire a team, test the product; go live.

But come to think of putting full stops. Now, that’s where half of those 1000s above blank out. But isn’t this actually a very important decision; when exactly does one have to put the full stop to their start up dream.

Read on for a short story of a successful mid 40 year, well settled techie wizard now employed as a CTO for a SME.  

On a quiet Sunday afternoon –

He sat on the rocking chair in his balcony; looking at the open space in front of him. He was sipping his favorite Cafe Latte but not relishing it. His glasses were blurring his vision. He took them out, cleaned them and rubbed his moist eyes. He picked the paper lying next to him to read that once again. The young start up PMN P.L. had got its third round of funding of $10 million. He must have read it a dozen of times since the previous day. One look at him and people would have mistaken him to be The Buddha. He seemed calm & composed from the external; internally he was battling millions of questions, debating with himself wearing different hats, his thoughts tossing between the why’s and how’s.

He closed his eyes. He went 15 years down the memory lane. He recalled that evening when he came and cried aloud at home – “I have resigned. Will serve 2 months notice period now starting tomorrow.”The whole scene flashed back in his mind when his father had patted him asking “Good, but why & what next.” Mustering the courage he was building within him from past 6 months, he blurted out “Next dad, I am starting out on my own.” The pat that followed now was one that transferred all strength, power & blessings a father could give a son and he said “Very good my son. I trust you have taken this decision with a lot of forethought. Go achieve your dreams.” With a lot of zeal & confidence he started out on his journey to build an online service company, FindYourNeed. The platform was meant to sell or buy anything that was not of use to you anymore. The portal planned to connect everybody; from next door neighbors whom you many not know to those distant strangers, all who are longing to buy what you want to sell. Both parties benefit and he walks home with the cake. 

Having graduated from a Tier 1 B-school and with a cushy job and a plump pay check, he had taken this move to do something he was sure would work. He felt it was genuinely a need for all the people and that he was working to make things simpler for all of them. He imagined people talking about it in their daily conversations and he being featured on Business Talk Shows! He had begun the voyage alone, pumped in his money, his blood and sweat day & night. He was sure making things work out more or less as he had planned. 4 months later, he found a helping hand in a financial master mind Mr. Raji Krishnan, whose magic with numbers & their concepts swept him clean. They decided to work mutually and thus began a symbiotic relationship. Their goals were common and so supposedly he presumed that their ideals were common too! 2 months after, he was lent a shoulder by Mr. Oberoi, a go-getter and a maverick in marketing strategies. The 3 of them then hired a small team and amidst many happy & sad moments were sailing through together.

A year and 4 months since the company started. The situation was a little gloomy. The 3 sat together to review why certain things were just not moving; they were way behind what they had promised to each other. The shadow of hopelessness cast over them. Something was seriously lacking. Was it their marketing efforts?  But, they thought they did just fine there- they were quite prominent in the www space and outdoor advertising was also being worked out. Was the complete package too complicated? No, the user had to login, select the category and simply describe their buy/ sell item. Things couldn’t have been simpler. What was it then? That night, completely torn apart he chided in one of his mentors who consoled him first and then sternly pronounced “The market is simply not ready for your service now. Get this straight.” From being confused to going into the denial mode, he just brushed away the thought thinking he had the best product to offer and a killer team working with him, so things would just be fine. He began to explain away the brutal fact rather than confronting it head on. His innovation wasn’t showing results here. From a complete modification of the site to rework on the business model, all of it did no good. Days were passing at snail’s speed and each moment was becoming difficult. No amount of pep talks worked. The carrot rot & the stick broke!

3 years 4 months later he found himself in a huge crisis, debt mounting and no support. It was 8 months back that his two pillars Mr. Krishnan & Mr. Oberoi had left the organization realizing things couldn’t be worked out. He persisted because he didn’t want to shut the light of his vision. He worked out all probable means to continue but finally he had to close shop. His dream had turned into a nightmare and wasn’t letting him sleep.

His journey needed the FULL STOP.

Had he taken the best decision to shut down his venture?

Was there an alternate way out?

Hadn’t he given his best?

Was going back to earning the big bucks his way of life now?

Was the time actually not right? Should he have stopped earlier?

Yes, he had taken the best decision cause there was no way out. And though he had given his best the time was just not right. Probably he had to move onto a new job as nothing else seemed interesting.

As he put down the newspaper a last glance at the headline “PMN scores $10 M in additional funding”, he now wore a big smile. A contented smile. A start up journey can’t be eternal. Knowing when to stop is a crucial factor. Yes, his idea was earning great money. It did work but probably a decade after he had closed his. Now the market was ready for this service.

Disclaimer: All characters & events stated above are fictitious and any resemblance is purely coincidental.

All readers are welcome to share their similar stories, thoughts and views. Thank you.