Indomitable Spirit

“The only difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is extraordinary determination.”
--Mary Kay Ash, Entrepreneur

In all likelihood 99 out of 100 startups fail – but that 1 success inspires another 99 and the story goes on….. From my experience of being a ‘once upon a time’ entrepreneur here is my take on what it takes to succeed in a startup entrepreneurial venture:

Business Model: A revenue model that supports sustained growth with profits has a greater chance of surviving then just a ‘great idea’! Identifying the right opportunity and building a sustainable business model around it is the first and the biggest challenge.
Balanced Team: You are as strong as your weakest link - a core balanced team with the right skill sets and vision.
Information flow: As a entrepreneur your time must be spent in creating value – processes, reports and reviews are perhaps more important then even delegation and motivation.
Prioritize Spend: Prioritize on your goals and spend accordingly. However make sure you are not penny wise pound foolish – manage your CAPEX and OPEX independently and make decisions on them based on different yardsticks.
Access to Funds: You will need money to scale up – if you wait to reinvest from profits, you will probably lose the opportunity. Identify funds - seed, angel, VC or PE, so that you do not lose out on that opportunity that would make you the 1 out of 99 that succeeded!

As a country we need to respect the tremendous amount of positive energy and remarkably adventerous entrepreneurial people we have – I am always amazed by the ingenuity of the Indian enterprenuer – be it the local chaiwala, the textile showroom owner or your sauve www.xyz.com executive!

Most small ventures in India do not survive/grow, partly because they are smothered by outdated rules and regulations and crippled by poor infrastructure. Funding from banks and other sources is difficult to get and the red tape and bearacracy puts the brakes on fast track growth. All these factors besides being a phycological deterrent raise the cost of doing business thus impacting bottomline.

India has to get the big picture right and fix the small details because the devil is in the details! Here’s a toast to the “spirit of the Indian Entrepreneur’ who flourishes despite it all :)