Thinking of Entrepreneurship?

Vandana_Makharia

Start up Experience?

Being part of a family where entreprenuership runs in blood, it has not been an impossible step to think of starting own company. Am already in process of finalising things in mind and then taking them into action. However as a starter myself, I have been through some tedious and brain racking task of concieving a Startup. So here's a brief 10 pointer experience sharing list! I hope its helpful.. be good and be an entrepreneuR!

1. Be sure of what you want to deliver in terms of service/product. Idea is to be sure first and then Just focus on that particular thing for atleast a predefined period of time before re-valuating the product.

2. Have a time line in mind. Bisect it into phases. For e.g. in terms of traget, say 300 units sold in first quarter, 700 by second etc. REVIEW.

3. Be very clear about your Revenue Model. Any sort of vagueness in this regard could lead to extreme pressure, stress and lack of focus at a later stage when other things would require a lot of your attention. You don't want to feel like being in a 'no clue' stage.

4. RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH, this is a ground level need, this will make you realise if your product/service is worth it or not. Also Researching helps you gain lot of knowledge about the product you want to offer from a fresher point of view.

5. If possible, do an internship or brief job in the related sector. It will make you grab the basic frame work of 'the working model' for your business. Also this helps in lot of networking with similar stakeholders.

6. Study competitiors thoroughly

7. Talk to everybody with a mind and get feedback about the idea.

8. Internet is the most helpful resource you will ever find in todays world to enhance your knowledge and skills. So get a fast connection asap! Make it your best friend.

10. Don't give up, Persevere, Rome was not built in a day.

Written by Vandana M, worked with student organisations, real estate and Currently working with a friend in his startup business which you can check out at http://www.yomacha.com

No Golden Rules for Success

There are no golden rules for success. If I knew what the rules were, I would be out there making the money. We have people who come through here and say, “Do this one thing...,” and you listen to them and think, “Maybe in some circumstances, but certainly not in all.” It’s a highly contingent world. There’s no one statement, or even a combination of them, about which we can say, “If you do this, even under these circumstances, you will be guaranteed an above-average return.” I just don’t think that’s true. There are certain cultural attributes, which we accept as reasonable, such as steadiness, for example, and not ignoring feedback (in fact, searching for feedback is useful – searching for it, accepting it, and changing in response to it, assuming you can validate it). That’s not a trivial task because sometimes feedback is false. It’s not even close to getting to the core of the issue.

A good consultant isn’t necessarily one who comes in and tells the entrepreneur what to do, as in, “Here are my nostrums – go forth and do these.” The good consultant is more one who shaves at the edges, saying, “Have you thought about...?” or “Don’t you think...?” The entrepreneur isn’t necessarily being directed; the entrepreneur is being provided a different kind of feedback. There’s more money to be made that way than there is in the ideological overhaul of the business based on a set of nostrums. I don’t think that works.

FLEXIBILITY

There is always a trade-off between commitment and flexibility. The more uncertainty there is, the more flexible you want to be. However, it’s not clear that you make any more money. Flexibility is really a survival-oriented strategy more than a profitability-oriented strategy. They both take a lot of guts. The flexible manager will at some point have to stand up and be counted and put his or her money on the table and say, “I think the wheel is going to turn up red,” as opposed to putting money on both red and black – because you don’t make any money putting your money on red and black at the same time. You’re still alive, but you’re not making a whole lot of dough. I’m in favor of survival, so flexibility in uncertain times is absolutely required.

It’s absolutely essential to be flexible. If a company isn’t flexible, its market share will slowly erode. There’s no question about it. Even though the large company happens to be competing in the mature stage (which is typically when you see the large companies), they’re still engaged in severe competition for customer dollars. Rich D’Aveni at Dartmouth calls it “hyper competition,” which is a combination of an arms race in innovation and competing over a number of products and a number of markets simultaneously with many other companies. It’s highly uncertain in terms of innovations and value on the product side and also on the cost side, and it’s much more complex because you’re competing over so many different markets simultaneously. If you don’t have an entrepreneurial orientation in that kind of competition, you’re going to be wiped out. It’s a very tough road. Not only do you have to be entrepreneurial, but you’re not going to make much money at it. Here’s an instance where a lot of change is almost self-induced in order to maintain your market position if you’re a large company. You can count the number of large companies that have failed to re-stimulate a sense of entrepreneurship and have died. It’s a common problem. There is a clear need for that ongoing innovation.