“I also want to be an entrepreneur”.
Many times, when I meet my former colleagues, friends or neighbors, I frequently hear these words from them. My polite reply is “That’s great, what you want to do?”
This is where it becomes interesting. I have given some sample answers that I receive to my question.
1. I am synergizing my strength to identify a blue Ocean opportunity.
2. I am looking for a Billion Dollar idea now.
3. I am in ideation stage with couple of my friends and this Saturday evening we are meeting at a coffee shop.
4. I want to make enough money and then will start my entrepreneurship journey.
5. I have sent an email to other fellow members (some email group) to discus on new ideas and become partners / founders.
6. I have joined multiple startup / meet-up groups to discuss and find partners
7. I am looking for solid execution team.
Below is the worst / funny scenario that I have encountered till now. One of my good friends from Singapore called me around 6 months before. This is the conversation that I had.
“Hey Nitya, I have resigned from my job and I am an Entrepreneur now”
“What, have you gone mad? What you are planning to do now? Did you take your wife’s permission?”
“Ahh…….(15 seconds silence and I was getting worried).. Well I am still in ideation stage. You know… I am reading all the books on Entrepreneurship now. You know…I am conducting an ideation hackathon today and have invited many people to discuss on new ideas. Do you want to join?”.
“No. I am busy. I think, you are in “Entrepreneurship honeymoon”… I think you should give 2 months to this honeymoon. If this doesn’t work then decide what to do”
Recently I saw his LinkedIn profile that he has joined back to his old company.
Nearly 15 years ago (Year 2000, period of Internet bubble formation) I met a senior manager from IBM India. That time, I was part of an ERP and eCommerce startup at India. During our casual talks, he commended me to be part of a startup and courage to take risk etc. I casually asked him “Why can’t you too become an entrepreneur as you have the necessary experiences and educational background etc.”. His answer was shocking to me.
“Nitya, I can’t think of this. I am used to this corporate life of business trips, vacation, my new Honda car etc. If I tell my wife about this plan, she will divorce me right now”.
Now I know that he was right.
So my recommendation to wannbe entrepreneurs is as follows.
1. CEO stands “from Cleaner to Everything Officer”.
2. Passion alone doesn’t give you success. Sales give the success. Every month your employees need CASH as salary and not one KG of your strong PASSION as remuneration.
3. No one cares, whether you are from IIT or IIM or IVY college, unless your business idea has the potential to make money, more money and lots of Money.
4. No one cares, which Technology or large problem you are solving, unless you make money. Even paper and Investors loves those who make money.
5. By reading “How to swim”, you will not learn swimming. You need to jump into water first. The same with entrepreneurship.
Before you become an Entrepreneur, become an Intrepreneur in your organisation. Prove your capabilities and then start with a small footprint, sorry NO footprint.
Start with a TOE Print and test the water.
You can also check the link at LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/monthly-salary-one-kg-passion-nityananda-rao?trk=mp-reader-card
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