This Independence day, I decided to ask myself few questions?
Why am I an Indian, Perhaps,I don’t have any choice, I am born one. If Almighty Lord had consulted me on the subject I still would have preferred India, but requesting him to make it less crowded, less political, more democratic and more affluent.
Am I really a proud Indian? I think I am, As i love my country and I don’t intend to stay abroad other than holidaying and business trips. Contrary to this, I have little to be proud of what I am doing today, as I am hardly contributing to society, just selfishly working to achieve my own personal goals.
Then, Why don’t I get out and settle in some other country? Once again I squarely reject this notion. As most of the developed nations are white and harbor prejudice against all non-whites. In any case I feel more relaxed and at home in India.
I dislike few things in my own country, Mostly the Communal and separatist politics, which compels us to identify ourselves as Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs etc etc Instead of just being “An Indian”. On contrary I am looking forward to get into politics in coming years. I know politics is not same as country but surely its one platform from where you can sincerely contribute a lot.
Am I Indian first and Muslim second, Or is it the other way round? I don’t like the way these question are framed and if I am denied my culture or tradition I would refuse to call myself Indian. I am a Proud Indian, and a person with deep respect for other religions and Traditions. And even so I have nationalistic kinship with one who says I am Indian, Aggrawal and Punjabi, or Indian, Rajasthani or Hindu. I want to retain my cultural and linguistic identity without making them exclusive in anyway. This is what I consider as Freedom of Choice, which our constitution guarantees us.
I am convinced that our unambiguous diversity is our foundation as a nation. The moment you try to eliminate regional language in favor of one national language or religion in the name of some Indian philosophy, you will destroy the unity in diversity. Couple of times our Indian-ness have been challenged. In 1962 by Chinese, in 1965, 1972 and 2000 by Pakistanis, then despite our many differences of language, religion and faith, we rose as one and defended our country. In ultimate analysis, it is the realization of boundary that makes a nation; we have proved that we are one nation.
So, No matter what. INDIA is where I belong, and this is where I intend to live and die.
Jai Hind.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Miles to Go...................................
Disclaimer: It’s no ‘Gyan’ on how one should think of starting a venture and survive, these are my very personal views and experiences, Whatever I say, may not make perfect sense with you, There is no intention to hurt anyone who is planning a career with MNCs, but it’s my call and my views on the things I have done in my entrepreneurial and professional life. I am just writing for my younger friends if they may gain from my experiences, whatever worth it may be. The only promise I make is that I will always earnestly strive to pen down what I believe in my heart to be true and worth sharing about.
I started early, as early that given a choice I would not even recommend to myself doing so. Just out of college, I was absolutely clueless, but had Big Dreams to make it Big in Corporate India. And IT seemed to me the swiftest and softest route.You might also say, “Gosh, this guy talks a lot!” like an energizer bunny and he can go on and on, and this actually an apt metaphor for a Gen Y entrepreneur.
Quick Input: Unless you have truly a fantastic idea with relevant experience, backed with funds, I would not advise you to take a plunge in early twenties.
The thing is, entrepreneurship wasn’t one of many options for me, and it was the only one. The reason for starting the company was to do something on my own i.e. independence. You are your own boss-doing your own thing, setting you own priorities. There was a very strong urge to create something, do something different. To have a real sense of achievement, this only comes when you achieve things on your own. Although, as of now, my experiences and level of success doesn’t make it a fascinating story in terms of revenue or brand equity, but surely in terms of quality of experiences I have had. Trust me friends, It doesn't really matters whether you have an influential uncle or not, in the end you have to make it on your own. There is a certain amount of Pride when you achieve things on your own.
During MBA summer training at Dabur,I had more or less decided, I should be starting my own company, but was clueless about hows and whats of business? i saw the real Corporate and different hierarchies for the first time, that made me to think of my future. If I am fortunate, at the end of five yr I’ll be a Manager, in 10 years I may be a Product Marketing head…in 25 or 30 years I might be a VP or a CEO somewhere. Only when, if I am really very very good, I asked myself is this is what I am going to do in life?
Background:
I have spent my entire life in Aligarh, I did Btech and MBA from Central University, such a sensible career path, the kind every middle class parent charts for their kids, my father was a Govt official, mother was a housewife; there was no business persons in my family.
The truth is I wasn’t very much inspired by Engineering, theory was boring so do Engineering Designs, the only thing which inspired me was Engineering labs, this is where I found real life and practical side of engineering, but sooner I discovered that I am not meant to be on the technical side instead on the people side of business. So decided to go for MBA, I always had strange notions that in MBA they make you learn how to start venture or to manage them, what MBA degree does is provide you a perspective and teaches you everything but never teaches you how to raise Funds. But Surely,MBA doesn’t force you to work for anybody. It’s an degree, that’s all.
Start of Journey
So Delhi was the only option, it was 3 hours drive from Aligarh and the only business city in vicinity, when my other friends were planning to go aboard for studies and Jobs, I was planning to launch my own venture, I never wanted to leave India. I dint had any capital but thrill of doing one’s own thing was palpable. I started my first office from one of my friend’s brother office space. He was kind enough to have offered me free office space for first couple of months. Luckily, there was an angel investor: my father. Who gave me money to support my living expenses! I will always remain indebted to him particularly for this favor, He always motivated me, he is one such man, always full of homily befitting occasions, He advised me to go sensible way and there are no short cuts to success was a lesson well learnt from him since childhood. This reminds of Azim Premji's theory of value based leadership, he says … Values not only help in achieving success but also make success more enduring and lasting."
The thing with entrepreneur that you need to be hardworking and have basic intelligence. You want to stay in business.You want to keep your dream floating, pls don’t care what friends and relatives have to say, you have to bear the cost of your dream. Even few of my relative shunned me saying “yeh ladka apni zindagi kharaab ka raha hai” (This boy spoiling his own life).
Eureka Moment
For that one idea, that one concept or service which is going to make your company something more than an ordinary ‘run of the mill’ story, that one idea which makes your brand in your segment. Ideas can come from anywhere, you could be driving or bathing and have a eureka moment, or in a bus or at dining table or in midst of any other thought or even while gazing at stars.
Software company successes always motivated me, Software was the only and was least capital intensive option i had, The only thing I knew about that I have to address painful area by use of software, but how was the most intriguing question? For this I needed market feedback, it took me another month to think how to do market research on painful areas, so came the idea, that CA (Chartered accountants) is one community which knows all possible painful areas of a Industry, Yes, I was right, I took a list of 50 CA’s from CA website in NCR reason and thus started my own market research “in search of Product”. Luck favored me and most of the CA were really kind to me, may be because I was young and told them honestly what I was up-to, my honest revelations made few of them to introduce me to some industrialist of NCR region, And so after 3 months the true Eureka moment came and idea was to Built Excise software for Manufacturers. As Excise Invoicing and RG records was a tedious task and more tedious was even during Excise audit raids when they (Excise Dept) ask anything at their whims to make illicit money by threatening them with dire consequences.
Lessons for youngsters: Be Smart, Never shy in approaching people,if you are honest with your mission and you have conviction in your plan, eventually, God will help you, provided you are sincere and humble. Always base your business concept on deep customer insights, and then only you can succeed.
First-launch and failure:
With CA’s reference soon I bagged 5 orders to implement software, I wondered then, ‘’how could Software Company like “Tally” ignored this untapped segment’. There was just one competitor USL in Bombay, they were established player but never touched North segment.
My first ever customer was a Manufacturer of Detergent cakes, deal was closed on 65000 Rupee, and 17000 was my first advance payment cheque (I still have photocopy of that cheque) my happiness knew no bounds, I could see my idea turning into a big reality. No sooner I recruited a programming team all hell broke loose on me. USL (Bombay), came to NCR and did their big time launch. They priced it moderately depending upon user licenses. So over-night I had to take a duck with 1/3rd price, they had name, brand and money to skim the market share, I had no choice, I thought if I approach them to become their business partner for Delhi- NCR, this way I will get marketing leads and in the mean time I will benchmark my own product with them. Idea was to work very well, provided they accepted my offer, I met Mr. Sanjay Mehta (the then promoter and MD of company), after my much convincing I was given time of 09:30 am and time slot was 15 minutes at Hotel in Delhi. The Moment I entered into his hotel room I found him little surprised, he must be wondering is he the same Boy, pestered everyone in my company from receptionist to Marketing head to have an appointment with the M.D. Well; he offered me to sit, and said I have 15 minutes and I have meetings lined up till afternoon, there is one thing with these Big-Corporate-guys, they always pretend to be extremely occupied even if they have to sleep and dance the whole day. Thus, gave me his introduction for 5 minute how he started the organization in 1992 etc. He tried testing me my knowledge of market and threw full toss at me by asking "how many software can be sold in an quarter"? Question was absolutely new one to me,I never thought of numbers before meeting, never quit without trying was the lesson well learnt from sports and my innings at fielding irrelevant questions always helped me since college to clear exams, same happened here. Thus he started his Great Arthashatra of sales and marketing, He would ask question that I would answer them, he would ask more and I would answer more. It wasn’t an interview, but a Dialogue over a cup of Tea; Most of questions were related to market size of NCR and future potential in Application market, having myself done market research with primary source helped me a lot in answering him. I could see perplexity and little appreciation in his looks, that how on earth this boy knows so much on the market potential and the product scope without having a practical exposure to any job what-so-ever.
I was sure, he was impressed, but dint know what will happen, meeting which was scheduled for 15 minutes lasted for 2 hr and 15 mins. In the end he asked for what I have expected of him, I Said, Exclusive NCR Business partnership for this product.. He smiled and opened a file, it had business partner terms and condition, which read thus, ….To become reseller you need to be in IT business from last 5 years with Minimum 1000 Sqft office in Business location, and five lacs as Guarantee fees along with three top business references ………I qualified not a single criteria.
There was a lull for another 2 minutes,he was reading my body language for sure, finally said, Nadeem, you are an interesting young man, I generally don’t give more than 30 minutes to any of my meetings, Said Mr. Mehta, it was too much of appreciation for me.
I can trade-off all terms and conditions for you but you need to cough-up guarantee fees and business References, said Mr. Mehta.
I am in Delhi from last few months, just out of college, I won’t be able to pay 5 Lacs, I replied Honestly, I don’t know why, but he thought I may be sufficiently funded or something. With my constant re-rebuttals for commitment for business he agreed as a very special case with a Guarantee fee of 2 lacs, Damn it! even that was out of pocket,2 lacs was too much of an amount for just out of college. It was frustrating, I almost won the battle, it was like qualifying Harvard business school entrance with 100% in GMAT score, but not having sufficient amount to pay admission fees. None of my friend was that settled to have asked for loan, I thought of bank loan option but I had no-collateral and guarantors.
Someone suggested me to go for funding from private sources, I thought I dint want to sign a complex agreements, I have somebody breathing down my neck and be under pressure for growth, I was comfortable leading an uncomplicated life.
ERP story:
Somehow, USL deal was not destined to be closed in my favor, and I continued with my Software development work, in the mean time I met Ravi Arora through one common friend. Ravi,Btech from IIT Delhi, A genius with 10 yr experience in Textile Industry and wanted to create something for Textile companies, he had sufficient experience and he knew that Neither SAP, BAAN, PeopleSoft or any other ERP could cater to this segment successfully. Thrill to launch something big was palpable, Thus we decided to launch India’s first indigenously developed Textile ERP for Spinning and weaving industries.
We bagged our first project for 10 lacs against SAP quote of 50 lacs, and since then there is no look back, As a matter of fact today our level is success is not at all big or very interesting. But the big daddies in ERP industry know us, competitors honor us and our team member regularly get good job offers, Ideally it takes about 5 years to stabilize in Product software market, we have successfully completed first 5 year despite some real tough times. There was time when managing one project looked impossible now perhaps 10 can be managed simultaneously, It was all possible because of team effort, I never looked myself as boss of the company, I look myself as a one of the team member with more responsibilities, I am always open to rational logic as I would be if I were a junior most.
We spent five year in building the ERP product, it’s not that we dint make any mistakes, but the point is, only those who tries....make mistakes. you do learn a lot from mistakes, Best part of making mistakes that you get to know at-least one more way of not doing things. Don't be afraid of mistakes just pray that they are not too expensive. i will write sometimes on the silliest mistakes committed by me.
Now it’s about taking this even further. ‘If you have successfully implemented ERP with good customer references, today even 100 implementation looks possible. Now what I am saying sounds little bizarre, but recently one the industry expert said to us ‘why don’t you launch ERP on Pan-India level and take this further to Bangladesh, Pakistan and Africa where major chunk of Textile units are located. So there is still that sense of thrill, of doubt and enthusiasm, How far can we push ourselves?
There is a very interesting question at times is asked by my friends. How long does it take to be successful? 3 year, 5 yr, or 10 yrs. At what time would the entrepreneur throw the towel? Decide to give up………….i say Never, Although I am not successful yet I could have quit any time in first 3 years and I could have been a failed entrepreneur, but why did I keep going? Because I wasn’t chasing for money only. it was passion, Like Sanjeev Bhikchandani (founder naukri.com) says, if you chase something long-enough, sooner or later you will get lucky, if you really lucky then you will do it in 5 years, if moderately than in 7 years and if you are awfully unlucky you will do it in 10 years. There is nothing called unsuccessful entrepreneur. You are unsuccessful only when you quit and stop trying. Until then, you are simply not successful.
Trust me friends, It’s all about being an insane optimist, you might laugh reading this but you have to be in Love with your venture, be committed to it Emotionally, I never had dilemma, despite problems I knew I am doing the right thing.
SUGGESTIONS TO ‘WOULD BE’ ENTREPRENEURS
Be Honest: Be Honest. You have to be completely honest in your business dealings. Once people know you are honest, they start respecting you for what you are. In the long run this makes for a stronger relationship.
If you are starting a business to make money from the day one, PLEASE DONT DO IT, chances that you will fail, Bcoz there is going to be hard times and you will give up. And if your motivation is not something beyond money, those hard times will test you, you will quit and join something else, but if you are chasing your dream, u’ll sail through the hard times.
Work before u start: Be early to start, you can make mistakes while it’s cheap to make them, working at other companies in early career helps…to understand how other thinks. How it means to be at junior most level in the chain, it also taught how to survive in systems and how important it is to employ people who are talented.
If you want to do something in virtual or service world, create a niche or offer enhanced services in existing market, it makes more sense to work first in same segment. Smaller the better. Don’t join TCS, Wipro or Infosys. Join smaller companies because you will get far more exposure. The larger the company you work in, the less you are able to get to the nuts and bolts, the less you are able to see the bigger picture. Eventually the diversity of experiences and job responsibilities will make all the difference.
Get good team- Sounds wonderful, it’s the team with you that makes you successful, but nothing works without an incredibly talented set of people. Always strive to be with the people whom you like, you will find yourself surrounded by positive energy.
Encourage talent- No matter if s/he is fresher in industry, you must have the intelligence to recognize talent and enterprise in other person, give responsibility even if the s/he fails at first go, sooner or later s/he will be an asset.
Make good contacts: It’s not really important who you are but it’s very important whom you know.
MOST IMPORTANT: Read Good books, I am always motivated by success stories. I always thought, if this guy could do it, why not me?
CONCLUSION: It’s all about following your heart, what i find in many people that there is inner voice but just don’t have the courage to act upon it. pls don’t get concerned about peer pressure. I Don’t want to put premium on entrepreneurship. It’s not a fad or fashion to follow. Geeta kehti hai – Nishkaam Karmayoga- duty without desire. Be a devoted lover.
Always keep in mind, Narayan murthy says: it took me 25 years to become an overnight wonder.
I started early, as early that given a choice I would not even recommend to myself doing so. Just out of college, I was absolutely clueless, but had Big Dreams to make it Big in Corporate India. And IT seemed to me the swiftest and softest route.You might also say, “Gosh, this guy talks a lot!” like an energizer bunny and he can go on and on, and this actually an apt metaphor for a Gen Y entrepreneur.
Quick Input: Unless you have truly a fantastic idea with relevant experience, backed with funds, I would not advise you to take a plunge in early twenties.
The thing is, entrepreneurship wasn’t one of many options for me, and it was the only one. The reason for starting the company was to do something on my own i.e. independence. You are your own boss-doing your own thing, setting you own priorities. There was a very strong urge to create something, do something different. To have a real sense of achievement, this only comes when you achieve things on your own. Although, as of now, my experiences and level of success doesn’t make it a fascinating story in terms of revenue or brand equity, but surely in terms of quality of experiences I have had. Trust me friends, It doesn't really matters whether you have an influential uncle or not, in the end you have to make it on your own. There is a certain amount of Pride when you achieve things on your own.
During MBA summer training at Dabur,I had more or less decided, I should be starting my own company, but was clueless about hows and whats of business? i saw the real Corporate and different hierarchies for the first time, that made me to think of my future. If I am fortunate, at the end of five yr I’ll be a Manager, in 10 years I may be a Product Marketing head…in 25 or 30 years I might be a VP or a CEO somewhere. Only when, if I am really very very good, I asked myself is this is what I am going to do in life?
Background:
I have spent my entire life in Aligarh, I did Btech and MBA from Central University, such a sensible career path, the kind every middle class parent charts for their kids, my father was a Govt official, mother was a housewife; there was no business persons in my family.
The truth is I wasn’t very much inspired by Engineering, theory was boring so do Engineering Designs, the only thing which inspired me was Engineering labs, this is where I found real life and practical side of engineering, but sooner I discovered that I am not meant to be on the technical side instead on the people side of business. So decided to go for MBA, I always had strange notions that in MBA they make you learn how to start venture or to manage them, what MBA degree does is provide you a perspective and teaches you everything but never teaches you how to raise Funds. But Surely,MBA doesn’t force you to work for anybody. It’s an degree, that’s all.
Start of Journey
So Delhi was the only option, it was 3 hours drive from Aligarh and the only business city in vicinity, when my other friends were planning to go aboard for studies and Jobs, I was planning to launch my own venture, I never wanted to leave India. I dint had any capital but thrill of doing one’s own thing was palpable. I started my first office from one of my friend’s brother office space. He was kind enough to have offered me free office space for first couple of months. Luckily, there was an angel investor: my father. Who gave me money to support my living expenses! I will always remain indebted to him particularly for this favor, He always motivated me, he is one such man, always full of homily befitting occasions, He advised me to go sensible way and there are no short cuts to success was a lesson well learnt from him since childhood. This reminds of Azim Premji's theory of value based leadership, he says … Values not only help in achieving success but also make success more enduring and lasting."
The thing with entrepreneur that you need to be hardworking and have basic intelligence. You want to stay in business.You want to keep your dream floating, pls don’t care what friends and relatives have to say, you have to bear the cost of your dream. Even few of my relative shunned me saying “yeh ladka apni zindagi kharaab ka raha hai” (This boy spoiling his own life).
Eureka Moment
For that one idea, that one concept or service which is going to make your company something more than an ordinary ‘run of the mill’ story, that one idea which makes your brand in your segment. Ideas can come from anywhere, you could be driving or bathing and have a eureka moment, or in a bus or at dining table or in midst of any other thought or even while gazing at stars.
Software company successes always motivated me, Software was the only and was least capital intensive option i had, The only thing I knew about that I have to address painful area by use of software, but how was the most intriguing question? For this I needed market feedback, it took me another month to think how to do market research on painful areas, so came the idea, that CA (Chartered accountants) is one community which knows all possible painful areas of a Industry, Yes, I was right, I took a list of 50 CA’s from CA website in NCR reason and thus started my own market research “in search of Product”. Luck favored me and most of the CA were really kind to me, may be because I was young and told them honestly what I was up-to, my honest revelations made few of them to introduce me to some industrialist of NCR region, And so after 3 months the true Eureka moment came and idea was to Built Excise software for Manufacturers. As Excise Invoicing and RG records was a tedious task and more tedious was even during Excise audit raids when they (Excise Dept) ask anything at their whims to make illicit money by threatening them with dire consequences.
Lessons for youngsters: Be Smart, Never shy in approaching people,if you are honest with your mission and you have conviction in your plan, eventually, God will help you, provided you are sincere and humble. Always base your business concept on deep customer insights, and then only you can succeed.
First-launch and failure:
With CA’s reference soon I bagged 5 orders to implement software, I wondered then, ‘’how could Software Company like “Tally” ignored this untapped segment’. There was just one competitor USL in Bombay, they were established player but never touched North segment.
My first ever customer was a Manufacturer of Detergent cakes, deal was closed on 65000 Rupee, and 17000 was my first advance payment cheque (I still have photocopy of that cheque) my happiness knew no bounds, I could see my idea turning into a big reality. No sooner I recruited a programming team all hell broke loose on me. USL (Bombay), came to NCR and did their big time launch. They priced it moderately depending upon user licenses. So over-night I had to take a duck with 1/3rd price, they had name, brand and money to skim the market share, I had no choice, I thought if I approach them to become their business partner for Delhi- NCR, this way I will get marketing leads and in the mean time I will benchmark my own product with them. Idea was to work very well, provided they accepted my offer, I met Mr. Sanjay Mehta (the then promoter and MD of company), after my much convincing I was given time of 09:30 am and time slot was 15 minutes at Hotel in Delhi. The Moment I entered into his hotel room I found him little surprised, he must be wondering is he the same Boy, pestered everyone in my company from receptionist to Marketing head to have an appointment with the M.D. Well; he offered me to sit, and said I have 15 minutes and I have meetings lined up till afternoon, there is one thing with these Big-Corporate-guys, they always pretend to be extremely occupied even if they have to sleep and dance the whole day. Thus, gave me his introduction for 5 minute how he started the organization in 1992 etc. He tried testing me my knowledge of market and threw full toss at me by asking "how many software can be sold in an quarter"? Question was absolutely new one to me,I never thought of numbers before meeting, never quit without trying was the lesson well learnt from sports and my innings at fielding irrelevant questions always helped me since college to clear exams, same happened here. Thus he started his Great Arthashatra of sales and marketing, He would ask question that I would answer them, he would ask more and I would answer more. It wasn’t an interview, but a Dialogue over a cup of Tea; Most of questions were related to market size of NCR and future potential in Application market, having myself done market research with primary source helped me a lot in answering him. I could see perplexity and little appreciation in his looks, that how on earth this boy knows so much on the market potential and the product scope without having a practical exposure to any job what-so-ever.
I was sure, he was impressed, but dint know what will happen, meeting which was scheduled for 15 minutes lasted for 2 hr and 15 mins. In the end he asked for what I have expected of him, I Said, Exclusive NCR Business partnership for this product.. He smiled and opened a file, it had business partner terms and condition, which read thus, ….To become reseller you need to be in IT business from last 5 years with Minimum 1000 Sqft office in Business location, and five lacs as Guarantee fees along with three top business references ………I qualified not a single criteria.
There was a lull for another 2 minutes,he was reading my body language for sure, finally said, Nadeem, you are an interesting young man, I generally don’t give more than 30 minutes to any of my meetings, Said Mr. Mehta, it was too much of appreciation for me.
I can trade-off all terms and conditions for you but you need to cough-up guarantee fees and business References, said Mr. Mehta.
I am in Delhi from last few months, just out of college, I won’t be able to pay 5 Lacs, I replied Honestly, I don’t know why, but he thought I may be sufficiently funded or something. With my constant re-rebuttals for commitment for business he agreed as a very special case with a Guarantee fee of 2 lacs, Damn it! even that was out of pocket,2 lacs was too much of an amount for just out of college. It was frustrating, I almost won the battle, it was like qualifying Harvard business school entrance with 100% in GMAT score, but not having sufficient amount to pay admission fees. None of my friend was that settled to have asked for loan, I thought of bank loan option but I had no-collateral and guarantors.
Someone suggested me to go for funding from private sources, I thought I dint want to sign a complex agreements, I have somebody breathing down my neck and be under pressure for growth, I was comfortable leading an uncomplicated life.
ERP story:
Somehow, USL deal was not destined to be closed in my favor, and I continued with my Software development work, in the mean time I met Ravi Arora through one common friend. Ravi,Btech from IIT Delhi, A genius with 10 yr experience in Textile Industry and wanted to create something for Textile companies, he had sufficient experience and he knew that Neither SAP, BAAN, PeopleSoft or any other ERP could cater to this segment successfully. Thrill to launch something big was palpable, Thus we decided to launch India’s first indigenously developed Textile ERP for Spinning and weaving industries.
We bagged our first project for 10 lacs against SAP quote of 50 lacs, and since then there is no look back, As a matter of fact today our level is success is not at all big or very interesting. But the big daddies in ERP industry know us, competitors honor us and our team member regularly get good job offers, Ideally it takes about 5 years to stabilize in Product software market, we have successfully completed first 5 year despite some real tough times. There was time when managing one project looked impossible now perhaps 10 can be managed simultaneously, It was all possible because of team effort, I never looked myself as boss of the company, I look myself as a one of the team member with more responsibilities, I am always open to rational logic as I would be if I were a junior most.
We spent five year in building the ERP product, it’s not that we dint make any mistakes, but the point is, only those who tries....make mistakes. you do learn a lot from mistakes, Best part of making mistakes that you get to know at-least one more way of not doing things. Don't be afraid of mistakes just pray that they are not too expensive. i will write sometimes on the silliest mistakes committed by me.
Now it’s about taking this even further. ‘If you have successfully implemented ERP with good customer references, today even 100 implementation looks possible. Now what I am saying sounds little bizarre, but recently one the industry expert said to us ‘why don’t you launch ERP on Pan-India level and take this further to Bangladesh, Pakistan and Africa where major chunk of Textile units are located. So there is still that sense of thrill, of doubt and enthusiasm, How far can we push ourselves?
There is a very interesting question at times is asked by my friends. How long does it take to be successful? 3 year, 5 yr, or 10 yrs. At what time would the entrepreneur throw the towel? Decide to give up………….i say Never, Although I am not successful yet I could have quit any time in first 3 years and I could have been a failed entrepreneur, but why did I keep going? Because I wasn’t chasing for money only. it was passion, Like Sanjeev Bhikchandani (founder naukri.com) says, if you chase something long-enough, sooner or later you will get lucky, if you really lucky then you will do it in 5 years, if moderately than in 7 years and if you are awfully unlucky you will do it in 10 years. There is nothing called unsuccessful entrepreneur. You are unsuccessful only when you quit and stop trying. Until then, you are simply not successful.
Trust me friends, It’s all about being an insane optimist, you might laugh reading this but you have to be in Love with your venture, be committed to it Emotionally, I never had dilemma, despite problems I knew I am doing the right thing.
SUGGESTIONS TO ‘WOULD BE’ ENTREPRENEURS
Be Honest: Be Honest. You have to be completely honest in your business dealings. Once people know you are honest, they start respecting you for what you are. In the long run this makes for a stronger relationship.
If you are starting a business to make money from the day one, PLEASE DONT DO IT, chances that you will fail, Bcoz there is going to be hard times and you will give up. And if your motivation is not something beyond money, those hard times will test you, you will quit and join something else, but if you are chasing your dream, u’ll sail through the hard times.
Work before u start: Be early to start, you can make mistakes while it’s cheap to make them, working at other companies in early career helps…to understand how other thinks. How it means to be at junior most level in the chain, it also taught how to survive in systems and how important it is to employ people who are talented.
If you want to do something in virtual or service world, create a niche or offer enhanced services in existing market, it makes more sense to work first in same segment. Smaller the better. Don’t join TCS, Wipro or Infosys. Join smaller companies because you will get far more exposure. The larger the company you work in, the less you are able to get to the nuts and bolts, the less you are able to see the bigger picture. Eventually the diversity of experiences and job responsibilities will make all the difference.
Get good team- Sounds wonderful, it’s the team with you that makes you successful, but nothing works without an incredibly talented set of people. Always strive to be with the people whom you like, you will find yourself surrounded by positive energy.
Encourage talent- No matter if s/he is fresher in industry, you must have the intelligence to recognize talent and enterprise in other person, give responsibility even if the s/he fails at first go, sooner or later s/he will be an asset.
Make good contacts: It’s not really important who you are but it’s very important whom you know.
MOST IMPORTANT: Read Good books, I am always motivated by success stories. I always thought, if this guy could do it, why not me?
CONCLUSION: It’s all about following your heart, what i find in many people that there is inner voice but just don’t have the courage to act upon it. pls don’t get concerned about peer pressure. I Don’t want to put premium on entrepreneurship. It’s not a fad or fashion to follow. Geeta kehti hai – Nishkaam Karmayoga- duty without desire. Be a devoted lover.
Always keep in mind, Narayan murthy says: it took me 25 years to become an overnight wonder.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)