Whoever told you that entrepreneurship meant being your own boss, was lying. Working for someone else, for a while, under a vision and banner helps to hone your capacity, to deliver without having to be emotionally attached to everything
People often ask me when would be a good time to
start a company. Most people seem to advocate that the best time to start is now. Like most discussions in life, the answer to this really depends. Here are a few reasons as to why it might not be the best reason to start the company right after college.
1. The Culture of Work
The few companies that I work with that have amazing work culture were built by people that have two things in common—they all have prior working experience, and they know exactly what were the things they hated about the earlier organizations. It really helps to define how to manage people and to build a culture that would be fun and productive. Managing a team and people are one of the crucial factors of building a company.
2. Semblance of Maturity
For any real education to happen, for any real learning to occur, one has to, at some point, trust oneself in the hands of another—to be broken and then put back together. Through each one of such processes you actually come back with a better understanding of yourself, the way you see the world and the contribution you can make. The system of gurukul was perhaps the epitome of education in the truest sense—try saying that to anyone who is itching for a reform in education.
Whoever told you that entrepreneurship meant being your own boss, was lying. Working for someone else, for a while, under a vision and banner helps hone your capacity, to deliver without having to be emotionally attached to everything.
3. Networks
Who you know matters. Deals happen because of people, not because of anything else. Money is invested into companies because ultimately one trusts the capability of the team, nothing else. Most people underestimate the power of the chair they sit on. The right chair in the right organization can give you the reach to network, connect and lay the foundation for a future company. That doesn't mean you have to sit on it forever, just long enough to get your insignia in the industry and start working on your dream.
4. Personal Cashflow Management.
Would you say you are profitable? Think about it. You grow up, invest in education, network, get into a career all for a reason—to be able to make enough money, cater to your needs and still have enough to save. Are you profitable? Most people wait till they start a company to learn the lessons of financial management, when technically they could start with the smallest company of all—just themselves. Presume that you are the product—you have been built with the best academic education, honed with soft skills, and have the capacity to deliver. If your cost of living is higher than the amount you are able to earn, it is obvious that you need to upgrade your skills, and reposition yourself in the industry. All of which is very much like what you would do for a product. This is important, because if you are self-sustainable, and are making the best of what you can, that's when you are really an asset to a startup, because you already carry a commercial skill. Bring two or three people with such skills and it starts to multiply. That is the key ingredient behind a startup.
I was once told by my mentor that we, as individuals, are the final product. Everything we do, go through, the companies we build, lose, sell, succeed, all are seasons that pass through us. What we have achieved in this lifetime is what speaks about us, but those are also reflections of what we were—not the titles we held, or the companies we built. Thomas Jefferson understood that bit about building a legacy—in his tombstone there are mentions of the Constitution, the design of the university and several others, but no mention of holding the presidential post - twice. Think about it!
Vijay Anand
Vijay Anand is a serial entrepreneur, the founder of Proto.in, and the Vice President (Incubation) at IIT's RTBI. He tweets at @vijayanands.
To write to the author, please send an email to dare@cybermedia.co.in with the subject line 'Vijay Anand'.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are that of the author and do not represent the magazine's.
Subscribe to this comment's feed
written by Anxiety Cures, October 11, 2010
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
I had gone through your article and appreciate the points except the ways and means of recovering of payments.
Most of the time new entrepreneurs like me to gain market take up work without any advance and deliver the goods with a view that payment will come in due time.
However the client fails to pay up and we entrepreneurs are in mess financially as well as mentally.
Going legal way is time consuming and distressing particularly when you are in initial stage of startup.
I am also a victim of bad debts and want to seek proper recourse and guidance.
Kindly suggest a proper channel through whom the problem of recovery can be worked out
Regards
Sanjay Adbol : 09321368220,09869552272