As a founder building a company, one of the most important things I have learned is “what I don’t want.” We spent thousands of hours meeting individuals who were never our customers. It was more for persona mapping. There are times when you will feel like giving up. There are days when you would feel …
Category Archives: startups
Vision
As a founder, it becomes necessary to show the long-term vision of the enterprise to the members. Like an evangelical priest, a founder must discuss a long-term roadmap. A young team should know what they are getting into. In some scenarios, it will work for all in others, not for a few. The long-term vision …
Army
A startup team is like building an army. It has defined must-have virtues and must-not-have vices as the first level of filtration, something we, as founders, tend to forget because of building fast and fundraising. In the short run, this gets us funding or a product, but as the company grows, it bites us on …
symphony
Building a startup is no less than raising a child. It requires a lot of effort and dedication. Also, like a child, a startup requires every stakeholder’s hard work to make it progressive. In the current era, every part of the organization is dependent. A product requires distribution, quality, and moat to excel. It cannot …
relationship
What I dislike about our startup ecosystem is people trying hard to please others. Building a startup takes courage. It is painful and requires an unlimited grind. It is not for the faint-hearted or people for glitters. With all the money in the bank and your IVY league degree, you can still fuck up. We …
process
A growing organization can bring pain on many fronts. One of them being well-defined product development documents and timelines. You accept that even the 10X engineer in your team will miss things. A well-defined process helps and takes lots of pain away from the testing team, support engineers, and customers. The best of the best …
Chair
People don’t realize they are regarded or respected for their chair/seat or job role. Once they are out, they will be part of the ether. The new person occupying their position will reap the same love, respect, and eye candy. I have been in this industry for the last seven years. I have seen energetic …
Control
As a founder, you are aiming for perfection.It does not mean hand-holding and owning every responsibility.You have to hire owners within your organization.Otherwise, you will end up being the bottleneck, and it will slow down everything. A founder’s job is to find able executioners, not become a control freak and put a nose into every …
Everyone
In the early days of building your company, it is you alone and your belief in the product, market, idea, and execution. As the journey progresses, you realize there are many stakeholders. In short, you have a village to work with and for their success. You will not succeed if you are aiming for your …
Sane
The life of an entrepreneur is hard. Still, many of us knuckleheads take the stride. We are swimming in uncertainty and unknowns. What keeps the journey going is the self-belief and going against all odds. It is easy to draw a month-on-month salary and enjoy weekends and family time. The amount of stress and overall running …