Walking into the shoes of a startup entrepreneur
The first time I got introduced to the word ‘startup’ was during my university days. Most of my seniors would be affirmative of its existence, and almost all of them would want to have a ‘one’ of their own. Those days I wondered about the newly ‘coined’, rather newly ‘heard’ word. Is it called a startup, because a person is newly starting his business? If that be, how is it different from other businesses then? And how does a startup founder eventually make profit, out of it?
Back in the university, we were fortunate to be guided by incredible professors, who would conduct a viva session on the chapter(s) covered by them the next day, and also expect you to be updated on current affairs. I remember attending to the lecture of Prof. Gupta one day when he was reading out a piece from ‘The Times of India’, regarding the ‘startup’ boom in India. If I can correctly recall my professor’s statement, “Bengaluru is slowly becoming the Silicon Valley’ of India. I dissolve the class for today. For tomorrow, I want you all to come prepared with the history of startups.” Gosh! That was the bolt from the blue. We scrolled through Google, and it won’t help us. And you can never go unprepared for Prof. Gupta’s class. The aftermaths used to be something like this — either you are expelled from the class for an indefinite period, or you are labelled with the insensible, and uninformed tag forever. I didn’t want to live with any. Thus, began my quest the unveil the secret land of ‘startups’.
The initial days were mostly, reading out and referring to cuttings from ET. The news I came across was mostly relating to Jack Ma and Elon Musk. Studying them for three long days, all that I could recollect was ‘funding’, ‘unicorn’ and ‘bootstrapping’.
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Years later when I am actually reporting about startups, there is no escaping, like during my university days. When you are reporting about particular incident, you are expected to know a lot about it. And this ‘lot’ comes when you actually research profusely, read up other publications, and have a strong opinion regarding the same.
And so was it. Back then every time I used to go prepared with my article, present it before my reporting head, and get rebuked. The reasons were different at times, but mostly she would remind me of my lack of knowledge in startups. And every time I would think that a person starting a business is a startup. I would like to state here, that is this is the greatest misconception I ever had. Dear readers, please remember that merely starting a business, is not a startup…
One is a ‘startup’ only when he innovates something, or provide a solution to an existing problem. No, this wasn’t easy for me at all. Honestly, it had taken me a long time to actually crack the true meaning of the word ‘startup’. Thoughts like ‘isn’t just starting a business called a startup?’ or ‘startups might be the business ventures that are founded by young folks!’ No, not at all. Yes, startup folks are cool indeed, but that doesn’t mean they are into something that is a child’s play. These dudes are thought-leaders, innovators, I like to call them nation changers. And, there are more than one reasons for me to have said this. An entrepreneur is a multitasker, you would always find him donning the hat of multi-tasking. He is the accountant, the brand strategic, and even the IT guy. And, mostly these folks are the ones who quit their corporate careers, to pursue their dream…
Nothing seems impossible to these folks, they walk and talk innovation. If there is one thing in this world that they are proud of, it is their product, and they could counter any obstacles to get there!
Regarding money, they say they don’t really care much. Their product should be distinctive, it should be different, so much so that there is an indelible mark somewhere in the universe.
