For Entrepreneurs By Entrepreneurs: What They Need To Know When Starting Up
“Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t”.
Today, every youngster wants to become an entrepreneur just because it is the flavor of the market or their peers are doing so. But without a concrete and unique idea, they commit mistakes in their ventures while embarking their journey, which leads to failure and disappointment. What they, or for that matter, every budding entrepreneur needs to realize is that entrepreneurship is not a cake walk and not as simple as it seem to be. We caught up with some of the successful entrepreneurs, to help you out in commencing your entrepreneurial journey in a successful manner.
Here are few advice from some of the successful entrepreneurs, which would stand good to you in a long run.
Introspect things before starting up:
“An entrepreneur should introspect a lot of things before starting up. Questions like, why am I starting, what is the motivation behind starting up, is there a good team to work with, do I have a safe financial background to handle the initial pressures of cash, need to be answered at the very start of the journey. From a market perspective an entrepreneur should check macro factors like market size, competition, growth levels, margins etc of the business he/she plans to start,” said Manoj Agarwal, Co-Founder, Giftxoxo.
Ideas have to have a very strong
“Ideas have to be validated. Budding entrepreneur have to have passion and persistence to execute the strategy. They need to have strong mentors and advisors to help steer clear of common mistakes (which would be many) and help during times of need,” said Ashish Jhalani, Founder, eTailing India & ISeB.
Focused towards your plan, research well
“Many people dream, but only few decide to do something about them. Dreams only come true when you are focused towards your plan and have the will to overcome all the challenges that you face in your path. One of the basic and most important aspect before starting up, is research. You need to do thorough research about competitors, target audience and revenue model. Before starting up you also need to understand the commitment required. For this, you can talk to other entrepreneurs, as their experience will provide valuable context for your endeavour,” said Samar Singla, CEO and Founder, Jugnoo.
Prepare to be surprised/shocked
“Take as much time building the idea. No preparation is enough preparation. Prepare to be surprised/shocked. The above statements, while contradictory, are how I explain the journey of an entrepreneur,” said Sakshi Vij, Founder, Myles.
Don’t build a company just around an idea; build it around a vision
“Become an entrepreneur only if you are willing to dedicate your energy with total commitment, absolute awareness and mental preparation that you might not die rich.Work towards attaining your goals and objectives. If you are not clear about your ultimate purpose; wait. Contemplate till your vision is crystal clear and you have a laser sharp image of the idea of the end results you wish to achieve,” Samartha Nagabhushanam, MD & CEO, 5Barz India
Take risk accordingly
“How long you can survive on your own money pool and when will you need to raise funds from outside? Detailed excel should be created for this. Do you have any fallback plan in case of some sudden expenses? Take risk accordingly” saidVarun Bansal, Director, Airlines Technology.
