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Woohoo!! Just got rejected by 10,000 Startups. Going for an Ice-cream with my team!

By Abhishek Revelri Agarwal on 33 Comments / 1639 views

Awarded the

“Rodinstar” Post 

of the week!!

Many of you must have heard of, or even applied to Nasscom’s 10,000 Startups initiative.

I applied. And forgot about it. And just now, got a mail from them…

“We regret to inform you that we would not be able to take your application forward basis the feedback received from our partners.”

The mail listed 10 one-line reasons why they felt my application was not suitable, some of which I agreed with, and some I didn’t.

But this post is not about them, and whether or not I agree completely with their points. (By the way, the VCs and investors are not always right. If you look around, you will find that many of their investments happen in the wrong companies.)

This quick post is about you, the Entrepreneur, the rare breed of people who can withstand almost all adversity with divine composure.

So how do YOU handle rejections or setbacks? What do you feel when you get a mail from someone who did not like your idea? Do you feel you are a failure?

You see, someone once told me that we are winners since even before we were born. Out of the millions of sperms that vie for the egg, only one succeeds. (Now, I know there are twins or triplets or even quadruplets born. But you get my point!). So don’t you agree we are winners by divine design?

You as an entrepreneur, know your product best. As I said in one of my earlier posts “It’s your baby”. True, you can tweak or refine your idea as you move along. But no one knows your offering better than you. NO ONE! Guidance and mentoring strengthens your idea and defines it further. But it is YOU who had the courage to go against all odds and give wings to your idea.

If you believe in your idea or yourself, do not let anyone tell you otherwise. History is replete with stories of inventors, discoverers and torch-bearers who where initially shunned, but emerged victorious.

(I am currently reading a book called Digital Companies that Changed The World, by David Lester, and highly recommend you get hold of it. You will get lots of inside scoop about popular digital companies and how they crossed all hurdles along their way.)

Today, before I got a mail from Nasscom, one of my customers felt that ours was a great idea, and paid us $77 for a lifetime membership. Also, yesterday, I got a mail from a user telling me that he loves our concept as it is very unique (I have received many such encouragning mails in the past)

So as an Entrepreneur, whom should I listen to? And whom should YOU listen to?
Should we worry about the naysayers, or believe in those who give us enough reasons to take one more step forward?

I believe that every naysayer gives us a chance to learn and improve, and also gets us one step closer to someone who believes in us. And that is enough reason to rejoice.

I have just celebrated my success by treating myself and my developers with ice-cream. How about you? Maybe champagne?

Abhishek Agarwal is the founder of Revelri.com, a site that aims at making this world a happier place.  He is an Internet marketing strategist and has been doing business online for almost a decade. He is a strong believer in the power of dreams, the Law of attraction, positivity and happiness.

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33 Comments

  1. great concept and gamified design . 

    i can give some feedback if needed   – karan@kodeplay.com

  2. I like your enthusiasm 🙂

  3. same here Abhishek but you know what felt bad was that atleast they should have had the courtesy to reply to each startup with their specific feedback so that we can improve, they say that  they are gonna help startups but this is not the way they shud have done it

  4. Thank you Karan for your valuable and detailed feedback over email. Really appreciate it!

  5. Thank you Aparna 🙂

    @Pavan, yes, that should be the ideal situation. But I think with the hundreds or maybe thousands of entries they receive, nobody would have the time to get into the nitty-gritties of each venture, and guide them on what they should be doing to improve.

    They mostly have a predefined set of reasons why a venture is rejected, and they mention just that, without getting into further details.

  6. I think their partners would have some reason to reject an application and mentioning just that reason would have done a world of good for us

  7. Pavan, they do give reasons. They gave me a list of not 1, but 10!

    But it is clear that those reasons are copy-pasted ones, and they might not be a reliable indicator of the quality of your venture.

  8. exactly thats what I am talking about these reasons  are pre-written reasons for everybody that didnt get thru what they could have done was instead of giving 10 reasons they could have give 3 4 reasons specific to the application they rejected.

  9. I know getting rejected by Incubators/Investors is never a game stopper, but I don’t know if it is something to cheer about. As an entrepreneur I know its difficult to please all, but atleast I can intend to please all. If they don’t think the business is lucrative I would like to know more as to why, where they think we are lacking or where we are thinking wrong. They may be right, they may be wrong, but knowing their perspective always help.

    Our application got rejected too with the Copy pasted potential reasons. It left me more confused as to why actually it was rejected. Its amusing too because one of their partner Incubator had selected us couple of months back. Nothing stops and like you we closed another customer today. 

    As of now all I can think is that we (the rejected ones) do not fit to their imagination of “Good business”. So be it.

  10. exactly the point I am trying to make if a person has spent so much time in filling the application form a basic courtesy would have been to atleast get a personalized response.

    Gaurav btw where are you incubating 

  11. This is what we call celebrating pain and Ice Creams the perfect recipe!!

    As they say you do not need to DEAL with Rejection, you need to move ahead along with it in such a way that it aids your strides instead of binding you!!

    Loved the article, gonna keep it in my list of motivational stuff!!

    Also to add, somehow investors and incubators have never appealed me as such. I would rather go for a loan with a slightly higher rate of interest than trusting anyone else to be able to call the shots for MY dream.

    Cheers and all the best!!

    Kunal

  12. Very well put, Gourav. I whole-heartedly agree. Nothing stops. We need to move on. The world is far to big to worry about petty things.

    Regarding rejoicing rejection: Yes, we all should aspire to learn from other people’s feedback. That’s how we grow. But even during those times, I think we can obviously rejoice. Because every little point that helps us improve takes us towards perfection.

    Just as an analogy, whenever we remove a bug from our site, I feel absolutely great and tell myself that we have just become better than what we were yesterday! And if we can only improve one thing every day (maybe even rectifying something as small as a typo!), imagine how good we can become in a month or a year!

  13. Hi Abhishek Revelri Agarwal,

    One more good share from you ! 

    It is really painful when somebody rejects us. I think “Entrepreneurship” is more like a “Lovegame”. When I was a teenager, I seriously fall in love with some 5-6 girls. (my wife knows the names of these girls), however never succeeded. This motivated me to search for some better match for me. And I succeed in it 2003. Now may be these girls are jealous (may be) of my wife. 

    When I was getting feedback on my last post about “Online Cake Shop” on trhs, we got rejected from one of the best baker in Ahmedabad. They were the first to approach us and were very much convinced about our project. They followed up with us to start our project “cakehunt.com” asap. However one fine day, they rejected us, stating that hey don’t think it is an ideal platform for them. Also I was challenged by the head of business. It was a big blow to us as the project was in planning phase. The rejection and challenge has given us one more reason to pursue very strongly what we are doing. 

    We are not here to prove anybody wrong or weak. We are here to accomplish our dreams ! We will do it whatever may be the condition ! We will use this “Rejection” as an alternate fuel !

  14. Thanks Ashish! So-called failures or rejections can be great motivators. Your Cake shop experience is a great example in itself. Thanks for sharing it, and all the best!

  15. Exactly. Well said Abhishek. My team had lost it’s spirit after getting the rejection mail. They were like ‘This will never happen’. I was finding it difficult to motivate them and convince them that the rejection was not the last. Now after reading this I am sure to get them back to their normal self. m/

  16. Hi Abhishek……

    #1. Thanks for this post. I really appreciate that you shared your thoughts with us 🙂

    #2. Your venture is awesome for two specific reasons – #a. There is a genuine need to search ‘real’ happiness in our lives ; #b. You guys know how to do it – Gamify! 

    I am starting to believe that you are someone truly gifted – You discovered a ‘real’ need, and you know how to deliver it!

    I just wish I had enough money to encourage your noble thoughts. Today on wards, I stand by your idea.

    Thanks once again for your great post, and even better idea you have for this world!

  17. Amazing concept….now revelri.com is the first thing i open when i reach office..keep the enthusiasm going. i am sure you will go places.

  18. Shashank, do let me know how they feel after reading this post. I will be glad if it lifts them up even a little bit!

  19. Thank you Sarsij. Nothing feels better when we get wonderful feedback like this! It re-fuels our passion in what we are doing 🙂

  20. Thank you Soneeta! Wow… that feels so good! We really hope Revelri is able add a lot of fun, excitement and happiness to your life.

  21. Hi Abhishek

    Do you have or are you planning to have a mobile app version for your game(s)? I’m sorry if that was mentioned on your website and I missed it.

  22. Hello Sameer,

    Yes, having a mobile app for Revelri is very crucial to Revelri. And yes, that is very much on the charts 🙂

  23. hi abhishek,

    pls check out the top of your post. what’s ice cream without a cherry…?!

    🙂

    keep writing. and keep inspiring abhishek. we love your spirit!

  24. Wow! Thank you so much Asha. I really appreciate it 🙂

    Yes, would share some more of my experiences soon! This is a wonderful platform to help all of us learn and grow.  
    Three cheers to the never-dying-entrepreneurship spirit…. HHH x 3 🙂

  25. I suggested our Startup – vouchersmate(Recently Updated to Giftsmate) to one of the startup journos… He said we do not interest him. I was clueless about my reply to him. Now I have the reply – YOUR POST & Our Customer Feedbacks

    Thanks!

  26. Hi Abhishek, my application too got rejected and the reasons are also same.

    Looks like we should keep very less hopes on all these.. I will still continue to do these efforts.. because it is teaching me the art of filling-up such applications and giving me an opportunity to improve my Business Plan (BP)

    So, my BP will be better very soon 🙂

    Thanks, Prashanth Sagar, tejasco.com 

  27. hey abhishek,

    long time no happiness-speak?? we’d love to know what’s happening at revelri…!

    🙂 

  28. Hey Asha ji

    Great to hear from you after so long. Hope you are doing absolutely great 🙂
    And my apologies for being out of touch!

    Revelri is doing well. I am currently also working on another venture called Healingg.com, a distance healing platform that connects Healers + those who need healing.

    I keep on getting email updates, and feel great to know about all the open houses that are taking place. Any plans of having one in Kolkata?

    Regards
    Abhi

  29. wow. are you talking reiki or pranic healing or something else…?

    pardon my ignorance!

    when you’re ready to feature healingg.com – pls do in our showcase! section.

    abhishek – an OH in kolkata seems a bit difficult at the moment. but i reckon some of you rodinhooders of kolkata could meetup?

    pls check this post and comment on the thread 🙂

    https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/lets-get-going-in-kolkata

  30. You are bang on Asha ji! Yes, I am talking about Reiki, Pranic Healing and other alternative healing modalities (that includes distance and non-distance healing). Moreover Healingg.com is a also platform where even non-healers can send each other prayers.

    The website is live… so yes, I can feature Healingg.com in the show case section. Will post soon 🙂

    Will check out the thread and comment 🙂 Thanks for letting me know about it!

  31. Don’t worry Abhishek. People who have been rejected in life have got so many success. Just take it in positive mode & keep shipping. Your product looks very potential. 

  32. Thanks your comment Subrat 🙂 Good to hear from you!

  33. me too 

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