price

I have been told time and again by my friends that Indian customers are stringy to price. Most haggle irrespective of their income or wealth.

My friends say we Indians don’t have the desire to progress or willingness to pay. We like to continue doing donkey work rather than paying for automation.

I do not agree with all these. If you are not creating enough value proposition and 10X over ROI no one will pay for it.

Why will I pay you anything if my life is getting 10X better?

India’s e-commerce growth is driven by discounts. This analogy does not play everywhere.

customer support

One of the chapters in company of one, author talks about customer support.

Customer support and level of delight are what makes a brand stay out of the crowded competitors. He gives an example of Rackspace’s famous pizza story and Trader Joe’s.

Startups run after growth and getting new customers. They can apply various marketing approaches, discounts for the same. The major differentiator happens to be how they treat their existing customers. A 10$/m customer for 10 years period worth more than 100/m/y customer.

Treat your customers as you would like to be treated. Many companies like Trello, Basecamp got all their customers via word to mouth. They were able to achieve it by delighting their customers.

purpose

Halfway through reading Paul Jarvis, company of one. The author talks about the importance of purpose in running an organization. I was reminded about purpose in the last meeting with our mentor as well.

Having a purpose acts like a bulletproof which takes the rocket ship aka startup to uncharted territory without fear. It also keeps the entire enterprise and crew on a single page.

In the book, the author has cited an example of how CVS stopped selling cigarettes because it was against their purpose.

Purpose should be part of each one of us. It should act as a guiding principle in our life. Having a purpose will differentiate us from other animals.

What is your purpose in living?
What is the purpose of running your organization?

Keep asking once in while.

everything

How do we know that we know everything? Aren’t we hedging and living our life mostly. Is the if-else state constantly competing with each other?

The race of winning and putting a dent in this universe is so prevalent among us humankind.

What is it exactly? Are we chasing some imaginary goalposts? Or is it a vicious cycle that makes us run?

forward

Our life is all about moving forward, the journey into the unknown. As we grow old the past tries to throw a brick. It tries to remind up about our misdeeds and failures. It is not our fault, the brain has been conditioned such a way that negativity hits harder than success.

What matters to some is their accomplishment which can be monitory or appreciation like pictures hung on a wall.

One thing which makes this journey fruitful is being true to self.

world

Our world is shaped by the thoughts, people and the environment around us. We are as we see the world and for that people, we interact with, books we read, the environment around plays a major role.

Weave a world with great people around you. Life will be rational and the journey will be more comforting.

Give

Running a startup is like a joyride. One has to be ready for every uncertainty. At times it is fun while stressful at another. 

Uncertainty also fosters the opportunity to go against all odds and written conventions. 

In most cases with a small team, it unites them and brings them closer. A founder has to give more responsibility to everyone with a firm belief that the team will do it. 

Most of the time we live in our echo chambers and blinded by pedigree and bias over age and experiences.  

My learning from the small journey so far has been: 

  • Give responsibility. Keep a firm belief.  
  • Incentivize  
  • Mentor, be there to guide
  • Treat humans as humans, not slave or resource

faith

It is easy to get lost, lose vision for short term gains. We have seen time and again in business and relationships.

Our faith in our journey plays a vital role in reaching our milestone. Every day, every moment our faith is on a test.

Having faith does not mean neglecting reality. But having a clear true north and willingness to walk on the journey towards it.

Nothing comes easy in life, even breathing requires complex coordination.