India at 75

It’s India’s 75th Independence day. It would not have happened without the sacrifice of our brave freedom fighters. We have come a long way, fighting many battles within and outside. We are a young nation, and we have just begun. Our adversity is also causing abundant opportunity. It gives us the purpose to wake up and do something. We, the people of our country, will define and shape the nation in centuries to come.

Politicians will come and go. Dictators will divide, and fundamentalists will keep inciting violence.

The country must survive, thrive and progress. Lucky to have been born here in India.

Energize

One thing which any fresher requires at the start of their career is a coach. The other important part is getting feedback, appreciation, and constructive feedback.

Spend time with the young ones, and nurture them. They need enough love, respect, responsibility, and recognition. A successful leader needs an army of great talent. One has to nurture and energize them.

few

We don’t need a world to build something incredible or leave our legacy. Everything starts small and finds its course in the journey. It is easy to give up or forget about the true north and perish.

Someone has said that success has many friends and failures, none. I would say the path to becoming successful happens with a few well-wishers.

Whoever you become in the future, remember about a bunch of these few people. They will shape your life by bringing luck, motivation, and belief.

preference

Who decides what we eat? Eating chicken is a mainstream and alright thing but not some other animal? Is it more to do with economics or health or our religion? In the end, you are killing another life for your appetite. Why is this duality, and how does society perceive it?

Whose preference is this? Why is it imposed on us? Are we even aware that we are riding on others’ preferences?

purpose

As a founder, you are challenging yourself against all odds every day. Your days are a sum of rejections, failures, and successes. It is like sailing on unchartered territory with no end to it.

One thing which keeps you going against all the naysayers is your purpose. It acts as a torch or light. The journey of entrepreneurship becomes easier. You become fearless and walk every moment with an absolute focus.

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is not a badge of honour.
It is a purpose-driven everyday life grunt.
Things will break during the journey or work out. It requires a lot of focus and dedication, unlike what the media and internet portray.

The amount of hoopla startup press has created about founders; I won’t be surprised kids without going to school will aim to become founders.

The media glorifies all the successful companies and rags-rich stories about entrepreneurs.
A few tell us that 99% of startups die. It requires a lot of patience, perseverance, and luck.

Becoming a founder is not a medal, do it for yourself, not for social media swag. Be honest to yourself and your purpose, and take a long bet. It is not a get-quick scheme overnight.

Company

I will be turning 37 in a few weeks.
I have been struggling ass off with Krishna for over the five years in building Taghash.

We are finally somewhere in the journey of building our company.
The journey with limited resources can be challenging.
One of the few things that worked in our favor: was the people we worked with: the team, our mentors, and our customers.

There are books, blogs, and podcasts on the internet telling you how to run a successful startup. It comes down to you and your definition of success. You need to know what you don’t want and the options in hand.

We almost took five years to go out and market ourselves. We silently built products and sold them to customers by solving their pain. We made many friends and learned about life and business.

The company of people around made a lot of difference: quitting is the easiest thing in the entrepreneurial journey.

We have just begun and solved less than 10% pain of our customers.

unknown

We, humans, are still evolving. The fields of science, biology, and the human brain have just scratched the surface. We are still dying of bacteria and viruses. We are vulnerable like our previous generation. We are still working on finding the meaning of DNA and what it holds uniquely for us.

In short, we are living in so many unknowns. One thing which keeps us going out of all these is our will to live and hope for a better tomorrow.

We have to keep living in the world of unknowns.

outcome

I have been part of the VC industry for the past 7-8 years and have had my fair share of learning.

A founder should know what they are getting into and also the outcome.

You are one of the many founders your stakeholders are backing to maximize their wealth.

Our ecosystem had too much cash in the last few years, everyone or anyone ended up becoming an angel investor, and fundraising became easy. One could raise an idea and pedigree.

As a founder, you should know that your stakeholders are looking for a great outcome from their investment. It is risk capital for them, and clauses like drag along rights or liquidity preference as a few clauses added for the same.

As a founder, you have a few options.

  1. Build a monopoly and become a market leader
  2. Get acquired with a profitable exit
  3. Go IPO and give bombastic returns
  4. Get busted and let investors sell your company on peanuts
  5. Get yourself and team acqui-hired

In short, knowing the future outcomes: strategize and execute apart from paying yourself well, working hard, and breathing. In short, don’t kill yourself or live in misery. Enjoy every moment and learn from the journey.