The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. And for a startup and an enterprise in its beginning stages, it could very well define the difference between survival and defeat
India is a blossoming nation, with the enterprising spirit growing wings and beginning to attempt its first stages of flight, at least on a mainstream level. It is no longer uncommon to see young professionals stepping out to pursue their dreams and to setup their own enterprises.
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| Vijay Anand |
Whilst we are right on track on the beginning of this journey and in the attitude we wear in building a nation that stands on its own, there are many things we must learn. Patience and endurance would be the first among them. The West has taught us to be demanding and to live with the “live now” mentality, but when the entrepreneurial landscape is yet nascent to support such pressures what lives on are feelings of frustration and angst, and ultimately giving up.
One must understand that the key milestone that we as a startup nation are trying to cross is the fact that we go from the first generation of entrepreneurs to the second one—with that experience and surrounding wisdom come a lot of added benefits.
In a lot of ways, entrepreneurship is a lifestyle. Professionals who work for a living, would never quite understand it. Every idea is like a child that is born into this world and raised with grand visions of what she would become. Not all of them come true.
Most often than not, it is getting common and hence very unfortunate to see early-stage companies dream very big dreams. Dreams are not bad by themselves, but not knowing how to get there is. With dreams that big and with a “won’t die” attitude, if one does not find the way to reach the goal, what we usually have is a startup that is past its expiration date and has lost its way—both the founder as well as the team are a case of lost sailors in the sea.
We are first-generation entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial ecosystem being in the emerging state that it is, throws its fair share of variables into the equation. Dreams are great, but an execution plan is crucial. And along the way when you start pitching that dream to those around you to raise the support that you require, what is even more crucial is for them to see what the fruits of your labor have been so far.
Success begets success. If you want to build the next Apple, Google, or Microsoft, none could be happier for you than the community of entrepreneurs all around you. But it is crucial that you start with a well-defined task—the first product where you can truly bring in the answer to what is uniquely you and the contribution of your team to solve such a problem. If the solution that you provide creates value, free markets will do the rest to bring in partners, clients and the right capital to take you to the next level.
If you are a first-time entrepreneur driven by a lot of passion and vision, then the first step is quite simple. Success begets success. Take a problem, even if it is small, and solve it really well, Differentiate in terms of execution, detail, customer service, design and the strength in which you understand the problem and the whole world will open up to see what you come up with next.
Vijay Anand is an entrepreneur who has experience starting and building various technology startups, starting at the young age of 16. He is currently the Incubation Manager at RTBI, an incubator in IIT Madras that focuses on building rural-focused businesses. He is also the founder of Proto.in, India’s premier technology showcase event and is involved in various initiatives that are shaping up the emerging entrepreneurial scene in India. He blogs as The Startup Guy at www.vijayanand.name and tweets regularly at www.twitter.com/vijayanands.
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