“Why work from 9 to 5 when you don’t like it” is a fancy statement or a cliché which I believe propels countless people in the corporate sector to venture into entrepreneurship but the ground reality is entrepreneurship is not as fancy as it sounds and it ain’t a bed of roses as it has its share of challenges like how to start, which niche or domain to venture in, procurement of funds, smart goal setting, hiring the right kind of team but at the same time I can confidently say that it's all worth it when there is an entrepreneurial spirit within and a strong urge to create a dent in the universe by positively impacting the society and this creates a sense of meaning and purpose within.
Every other person has a startup idea in their mind but there are very few who are ready to have a hard and hearty grind for the execution of their startup idea and that hustle of many entrepreneurs has made India an apt ecosystem for establishing one’s startup and some of the new-age entrepreneurs who have scaled huge heights in entrepreneurship is Vijay Shekhar Sharma who is the man behind Paytm, Sandeep Maheshwari the man behind images bazaar, Roman Saini the pioneer of Unacademy. In entrepreneurship, the ones who constantly innovate as per the business environment gain but the ones who stagnate in their working of business model blame fate.
Humans differ in their way of thinking, responding to their environment, and in the execution of their endeavors but some prerequisites can be found in all the startups ranging from KFC, Netflix to OYO, OLA, etc. and those common elements have been elaborated below-
1. Strong foundation
Trees can withstand the strongest of storms and blow if their roots are strong and the same applies in the case of startups that an entrepreneur should be well-versed with the skills crucial in their startup journey ranging from technical to human skills and most importantly a business should have its foundation laid on a crystal clear idea and vision as clarity precedes success and also lack of knowledge of basics results in tragic actions.
Entrepreneurs can strengthen their basics by reading the right kind of basics, detailed and smart market research and analysis, attending events and training programs related to their niche of startups, etc.
2. Power of unity and people skills
It is neither the power of I nor YOU which sustains a startup but it is indeed the power of WE which not only sustains a startup but helps it scale up to huge heights of success in the startup world and the right kind of people skills like compassion, empathy, kindness, communication skills, patience makes the journey of startup pretty inspiring and worth living as a startup is not about numbers instead it's about the people who work together, stick together through thick and thin and rise together. It’s the right kind of people who share a clear vision who ultimately sustain a business.
3. Right opportunity at the right time
Opportunities and ideas are no one’s monopoly and the one who grabs it, aces ahead in life, and the same is witnessed in the case of startups that ventures which grab the right opportunity at the right time and focus on execution succeed as compared to those startups which do not take full advantage of the opportunity and remain stagnant and the quintessential example of the given point is pink collar professionals which commenced in 2020 to support women entrepreneurs and help their businesses go digital as digital marketing is at boom currently and all the successful startups sell solutions of customers problems and it is because of their solution-oriented and growth mindset they can encash upon the opportunities.
4. Serve customers in the best way
Customer is the king of the market and without customers a startup has no meaning and thus, customers point of view should always be on the top priority as one happy customer creates a chain of other happy customers and the loop of happy customers becomes endless when an entrepreneur becomes selfless and goes out of the way to serve their customers. Many startups commit the flaw of over-commitment and underperformance whereas on the other hand its reverse can be seen in successful startups that under-commit and go out of their way to serve and successful entrepreneurs persevere to serve and it is their service mentality that takes them places.
5. Humility and perseverance
To sustain and succeed in the long run, one must never take failure to heart and success to head as the day one thinks that they know all, their downfall starts commencing and that is what a startup needs to keep a track of that their core focus should be on their main purpose and any factor which deviates them from their main purpose should be eliminated at the drop of a hat and the quintessential example of this trait is steve jobs who even after achieving humongous success didn’t get arrogant and cocky about his ability and his core focus was to upgrade technology to make lives easier and till his last breath he remained true to his word and such innovative spirit and commitment is the reason behind the success of APPLE.
6. Clear Business model
If a startup wants to succeed and make its name and attain fame then it must have a clearly defined business model as it is the blueprint of the entire startup and helps everyone in the startup be clear about what they are supposed to do, how they are going to do it and most importantly why they are going to do this as with a strong why anyone can bear any kind of how and business world is full of uncertainties and changes and that applies to a business model as well that it should incorporate flexibility and scope of changes to adapt effectively to the ongoing business environment.
Given below is the business model of Zomato which is a leading giant in the domain of food tech startups and from the given business model it can be comprehended that a laid out business model is a prerequisite for success in the startup world.
So in a nutshell, as the word startup contains the word start it implies that the most important thing for success is to start as starting is the hardest yet the most important step in entrepreneurship as the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and brick by brick one can build their palace of dreams
Kartikey Duseja
BA Hons Psychology
Comments