There’s a big lesson for Indian entrepreneurs. A lesson involving self-esteem, capability, the confidence and courage of one’s own convictions . An entrepreneur cannot solve problems by just seeking inspiration, affirmation and trivial acknowledgement of from elsewhere without the passionate, driving self-belief, a deep understanding of the problems to be solved and a gathering of insight.
Startups are typically formed when a bunch of friends from either college or work, sometimes both, get together to pursue a shared goal. Of creating, journeying and building. They are all peers with equal shareholding and compensation (in those cases where startups can afford to pay themselves). Everyone, initially, seems to be doing everything but before long, one of the team members becomes in charge of marketing (isn’t it rare to find people using the word “sales” though that is what they mean?), one takes over the technology function and the others, if any, do operations. Their business cards tend to identify them as either “Founders” or “Director” and sometimes both. In more evolved situations, the team tends to identify one of itself as the CEO and the other as CTO and CMO.
First the good news. With the attention that entrepreneurship and attendant buzz words like innovation have garnered in the media, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that more and more people are attempting to become investors. From fresh faced and recently minted MBAs, including several from overseas with no real understanding or experience of India, to stock market players, to real estate players, to corporate executives to alumni groups to NRI entrepreneurs to foreign angel groups zipping around on planes, ships and yes, on land too for good measure, to the professionally organized and run funds, everyone appears to have been bitten by the “investor” bug. Note “appears to”.
This entrepreneur had recently made a lot of money; in fact, an enormous amount of money when his company was acquired by a well- known MNC. He decided to spend some of the money on acquiring the latest cars, homes around the country and the world, memberships into the best clubs and all the other commonly recognized trappings of material success. He set up a family office, with some very expensive advisors, to help advise and manage his wealth and decided to become a philanthropist. He set up a foundation that in turn set up a hospital and an educational institute – naturally, they were named after him. In a year, he had spent close to Rs 50crore of which only about Rs 6crore was spent on creating assets (including his philanthropic activities). He stopped listening to his long time trusted friend and accountant. Everything had to be big, large and loudly proclaiming his arrival into the mega millionaire club. He appeared determined to be recognized and acknowledged by all.
The October 26th 2012 issue of Morning Whistle, quoting the Chinese language 21st Century Business Herald, said that China Unicom replaced Cisco in one of China’s most important networks “China 169” citing product vulnerabilities and back door problems. In short, security reasons. Unsurprisingly enough, this move comes soon after a US Congressional report branded Chinese companies Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp as security threats in the USA. Cisco enjoys a huge market share in China with over 70% share in the China 163 network and 80% share in the China 169 network. These two networks in turn carry over 80% of China’s internet traffic.
The young CEO of a just funded startup and a board member met with a clutch of potential customers over a couple of days. They pitched the company, listened to what these customers had to say and, in short, received a lot of feedback on monetization of their offerings. On the way back from the [...] Read More
The papers are breathlessly reporting the arrival of “reforms 2.0” while the stock markets are doing what they always do – reacting to rumour, hyperbole, fears, uncertainties and doubts. But reforms 2.0 won’t impact the lives of citizens and won’t create jobs, that most crucial of determinants of the economic well- being of a people.
A July 2002 Business Week article had this to say about Amazon: “after seven years and more than US $1 billion in losses, Amazon is still a work in progress.” The company posted $5m in profits, it’s first ever, in the last quarter of 2011 on sales of $1.12 billion. Amazon is the poster boy [...] Read More
A conversation I had late last year with a leading investment banker was telling as it testified to the rise of entrepreneurs from the India that lives in Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns inhabited by close to 70% of middle class India. He said, “We’re seeing an increasing number of deals outside the metros [...] Read More
During a recent review meeting, I asked the startup CEO the status of certain action items agreed to in the previous meeting. He smiled sheepishly and said that he would need more time as his days were packed and that he would need another 10 days to complete the pending items. This was after 2 [...] Read More
