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By Dippak Khurana
Starting up is much like getting on to a roller coaster – you love it, but it WILL make you dizzy. The faint-hearted may even get off before the ride takes off, while others come back considerably wasted. In my experience of starting up Vserv and watching it grow over these 6 years, I’ve come to learn – and unlearn – many lessons, and along the way, I’ve tried to carpe every diem. Here are some of my most poignant takeaways from the journey so far, of what I’ve learned from those around me, the mistakes that I’ve made and corrected, and some of the sights and smells that I’ve come to love about this wonderful experience we call starting-up.
It takes at least two to tango!
To me, the greatest example of a magical partnership is that of Penn and Teller (pun intended). For more than 40 years, the duo has enthralled audiences around the world with their fantastically executed sleight of hand – and they’ve built a sizeable fortune along the way. Their offering is a product of hard work, intelligence and dexterity – individually created and collectively curated. There cannot be a Penn without a Teller, and together they represent the most very essence of a business partnership. Look a little beyond and you will find many such examples – Bonnie and Clyde from the Great Depression, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield from Ben & Jerry’s, Larry Page and Sergey Brin from Google – almost every revolutionary product or service from the last decade (and beyond) has a partnership to its credit.
Similarly, when starting up, the first thing to assess is the need, and the likelihood of a partner. Once that is evaluated, the next step is finding a partner that can balance you. Look for a different perspective, a specialization, or then capabilities that can complement your own. Don’t look for a version of yourself – remember that the whole must be larger than the sum of its parts; this will help you craft a vision, and then the means to get there. Doing so will not only help you share the many pressures that come with the job, but will also give you the opportunity to discover differing perspectives, test them, and benefit from them.
Your product/service is the hero
Fact 1: 90% of start-ups fail Fact 2: Of these, almost 42% identified the ‘lack of a market need for their product’ as the single biggest reason for their failure.
Take for example the famous e-grocer tussle between the leaders- Bigbasket and LocalBanya launched almost back-to-back. In its glory days, Localbanya was the one (and only) platform that could have given Bigbasket a run for its money. Unfortunately, the product is seeing a rapid downward spiral. Technical problems, unhappy workers, laid-off employees, supposed inability to garner investments amongst others all plagued the business, leading to it’s temporary shutdown.While Bigbasket is announcing plans to break even in the next two years and intensifying its services initiatives.
In any start-up, the product needs to be of utmost importance– in letter and in spirit. This refers to 1) developing a product that has some kind of demand in the marketplace and 2) making sure that it remains relevant. This means watching, tweaking and improving the product by observing how users interact with it, and foreseeing problems before they come marching at you to knock you dead.
Great team, greater achievement
None of us is as smart as all of us. When starting up, you will need a team to share your vision with, with the right skills, attitude, and gumption to see it through. Often, the business of running a start-up will take your mind off the running of the start-up, and you will need a team to shoulder the responsibility with. Finding this team, and keeping it motivated, is one of the most critical components of starting up – it is, unarguably, one of the most effective ways of binding the organization, encouraging innovation, and discovering solutions to the many problems that will come your way. Like the Kenyans said, sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.
Jack of all trades, master of none
I don’t think anyone put this better than Seth Godin when he said, ‘The world might be too big a place to take on. So why not choose a small part of the world and take over it completely?’
When starting up, after you’ve identified and validated the demand for your product, the next big step, is to develop a niche for yourself – that one thing that you know you will focus on, and do better than anyone else. If you have that identified already, then make sure that your capabilities remain unmatched, and remain invested in it. Don’t admit failure, and don’t lose focus – success may be slow, but it will be real. That’s the fundamental promise of any kind of specialization.
When starting up, EXCESS SUCCESS
‘Stupid spending’ is the current bug in the start-up world, and it’s taken down many a valiant warrior. When starting up, don’t be in a hurry to raise funds, and don’t be in a hurry to expend them. There is little rationale in hiring a large marketing team when your product is still under development. To ensure that your capital efficiency remains strong, lay low in your early days until you’ve built up a robust core competency, assess the cost of acquiring customers within the marketplace your product operates in, and the potential value of that customer. Then – gently – press one foot on the accelerator, with the other still close to the brake, so you can pick up the pace, but easily stop when you need to. Remember that an early- stage start-up, needs to conserve funds, when a start-up is in a growth stage, it needs to raise funds, and consequently utilize them to acquire scale. An entrepreneur knows when it’s time to conserve and when it’s time to switch gears, to expend.
Burn to emerge
‘Fail fast’ is the favorite entrepreneurial catch phrase of recent times. Books are being written on why start-ups have failed, exhaustive post-mortems are done on the many reasons for their downfall, and failed ventures are more graciously let off the hook.
Launching and running a start-up is no piece of cake – it’s wrought with stress, anxiety and a constant fear of failure. While there’s no way to let go of the first two, the last one can be better managed. Again, having a co-founder or a partner by your side will not only give you perspective and help you avoid roadblocks, it will also help you share the burden, and manage your failures better.
As long as you take care to not make the same mistakes again, every misstep will be a learning lesson, and proof that your company is evolving. So fail fast, learn fast, and never give up.
Before signing out, remember that ultimately a roller coaster is meant to thrill – so while you belt up, tighten the handlebars, check and recheck, don’t forget to enjoy the ride!
(The author is Founder & CEO of Vserv)
Starting up is much like getting on to a roller coaster – you love it, but it WILL make you dizzy. The faint-hearted may even get off before the ride takes off, while others come back considerably wasted. In my experience of starting up Vserv and watching it grow over these 6 years, I’ve come to learn – and unlearn – many lessons, and along the way, I’ve tried to carpe every diem. Here are some of my most poignant takeaways from the journey so far, of what I’ve learned from those around me, the mistakes that I’ve made and corrected, and some of the sights and smells that I’ve come to love about this wonderful experience we call starting-up.
It takes at least two to tango!
To me, the greatest example of a magical partnership is that of Penn and Teller (pun intended). For more than 40 years, the duo has enthralled audiences around the world with their fantastically executed sleight of hand – and they’ve built a sizeable fortune along the way. Their offering is a product of hard work, intelligence and dexterity – individually created and collectively curated. There cannot be a Penn without a Teller, and together they represent the most very essence of a business partnership. Look a little beyond and you will find many such examples – Bonnie and Clyde from the Great Depression, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield from Ben & Jerry’s, Larry Page and Sergey Brin from Google – almost every revolutionary product or service from the last decade (and beyond) has a partnership to its credit.
Similarly, when starting up, the first thing to assess is the need, and the likelihood of a partner. Once that is evaluated, the next step is finding a partner that can balance you. Look for a different perspective, a specialization, or then capabilities that can complement your own. Don’t look for a version of yourself – remember that the whole must be larger than the sum of its parts; this will help you craft a vision, and then the means to get there. Doing so will not only help you share the many pressures that come with the job, but will also give you the opportunity to discover differing perspectives, test them, and benefit from them.
Your product/service is the hero
Fact 1: 90% of start-ups fail Fact 2: Of these, almost 42% identified the ‘lack of a market need for their product’ as the single biggest reason for their failure.
Take for example the famous e-grocer tussle between the leaders- Bigbasket and LocalBanya launched almost back-to-back. In its glory days, Localbanya was the one (and only) platform that could have given Bigbasket a run for its money. Unfortunately, the product is seeing a rapid downward spiral. Technical problems, unhappy workers, laid-off employees, supposed inability to garner investments amongst others all plagued the business, leading to it’s temporary shutdown.While Bigbasket is announcing plans to break even in the next two years and intensifying its services initiatives.
In any start-up, the product needs to be of utmost importance– in letter and in spirit. This refers to 1) developing a product that has some kind of demand in the marketplace and 2) making sure that it remains relevant. This means watching, tweaking and improving the product by observing how users interact with it, and foreseeing problems before they come marching at you to knock you dead.
Great team, greater achievement
None of us is as smart as all of us. When starting up, you will need a team to share your vision with, with the right skills, attitude, and gumption to see it through. Often, the business of running a start-up will take your mind off the running of the start-up, and you will need a team to shoulder the responsibility with. Finding this team, and keeping it motivated, is one of the most critical components of starting up – it is, unarguably, one of the most effective ways of binding the organization, encouraging innovation, and discovering solutions to the many problems that will come your way. Like the Kenyans said, sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.
Jack of all trades, master of none
I don’t think anyone put this better than Seth Godin when he said, ‘The world might be too big a place to take on. So why not choose a small part of the world and take over it completely?’
When starting up, after you’ve identified and validated the demand for your product, the next big step, is to develop a niche for yourself – that one thing that you know you will focus on, and do better than anyone else. If you have that identified already, then make sure that your capabilities remain unmatched, and remain invested in it. Don’t admit failure, and don’t lose focus – success may be slow, but it will be real. That’s the fundamental promise of any kind of specialization.
When starting up, EXCESS SUCCESS
‘Stupid spending’ is the current bug in the start-up world, and it’s taken down many a valiant warrior. When starting up, don’t be in a hurry to raise funds, and don’t be in a hurry to expend them. There is little rationale in hiring a large marketing team when your product is still under development. To ensure that your capital efficiency remains strong, lay low in your early days until you’ve built up a robust core competency, assess the cost of acquiring customers within the marketplace your product operates in, and the potential value of that customer. Then – gently – press one foot on the accelerator, with the other still close to the brake, so you can pick up the pace, but easily stop when you need to. Remember that an early- stage start-up, needs to conserve funds, when a start-up is in a growth stage, it needs to raise funds, and consequently utilize them to acquire scale. An entrepreneur knows when it’s time to conserve and when it’s time to switch gears, to expend.
Burn to emerge
‘Fail fast’ is the favorite entrepreneurial catch phrase of recent times. Books are being written on why start-ups have failed, exhaustive post-mortems are done on the many reasons for their downfall, and failed ventures are more graciously let off the hook.
Launching and running a start-up is no piece of cake – it’s wrought with stress, anxiety and a constant fear of failure. While there’s no way to let go of the first two, the last one can be better managed. Again, having a co-founder or a partner by your side will not only give you perspective and help you avoid roadblocks, it will also help you share the burden, and manage your failures better.
As long as you take care to not make the same mistakes again, every misstep will be a learning lesson, and proof that your company is evolving. So fail fast, learn fast, and never give up.
Before signing out, remember that ultimately a roller coaster is meant to thrill – so while you belt up, tighten the handlebars, check and recheck, don’t forget to enjoy the ride!
(The author is Founder & CEO of Vserv)
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(Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Union Budget 2024 Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)
Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.