Did you get goose bumps while watching ‘Social Network’ or ‘Rocket Singh – salesman of the year’, if yes, then you are one of those ‘wantrepreneurs’ and in most cases an ‘Internet entrepreneur’ - fascinated by the success of Facebook, Google, Twitter, or the recent ones Instagram and Pinterest to name a few. And obviously, how can I miss out on the Flipkart’s and Snapdeal’s of India.
So what you do to satisfy entrepreneurial itch or how to start.
First and foremost, find a few people who have a lot of time on their on their hands. People who are ready to spend endless nights with you to discuss the next big thing, who are ready to champion and support your idea and most importantly, who are ready to walk a mile along with you in your journey. Finding it difficult? It will always be, especially if you are not in cities likeBangalore or not a part of Internet domain.
And you know why? It’s because in a country like ours you may find large number of people solving world’s toughest problems over a drink but their venture stops right after the last peg. They are not the enthusiast sole to travel this unpredictable path along with you. It’s because people here are not just friendly to the concept of risk. The schooling system and the prevailing cultural mindset favour stability and security over uncertainty and innovation. So, instead of dreaming of “changing the world” or even building one’s own creative business, society encourages jobs as lawyers, or doctors, or businessmen, or bankers, or well, anything that assures a secure future.
As they say, if you don’t the support around you, you are most probably not going to start-up or it will take years for you to break the jail and be revolutionary. So, get yourself a nerdy company.
Secondly, read a lot about start-ups, attend conferences, seminars, follow relevant people on Twitter, subscribe to start-up newsletters and make sure you make it a part of your daily routine. [ed’s plug: Do Attend India’s Biggest Tech Startup Discovery Event, Techsparks]. Next, meet other entrepreneurs, meet other start-ups, meet those who have succeeded, and have drinks with those who failed. You will be surprised to know that not only will it help you validate where you are going, but every one of those people will be more than happy to sit down and chat.
Next in line of suggestive capsules is to go for weekend crash courses. Time has come that you dip your toes in the start-up ocean. There are weekend-long, hands-on experiences where entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs can find out if start-up ideas are viable. These are short weekend affairs where to-be entrepreneurs in the form of developers, designers, marketers, and enthusiasts like you come together to share ideas, form teams, build prototypes and validate their ideas. Suck weekend exercises will not help you build your start-up, but it will just help you meet right kind of people, help you build a prototype of your imagination, help you find out what others are up to, how they are mitigating challenges that you don’t know how to answer to – basically it will pump your morale like anything.
Most people may not last till this stage so if you still think you want to jump into this unexplored and brave territory, get some serious stuff going. Get yourself acquainted with a concept called incubators – probably the best thing that can happen to a start-up newbies. Incubators absolutely understand that an entrepreneur is not thorough with all facets of a business. They understand that bringing up a start-up takes more than just money, entrepreneurial passion and an idea. It requires a talented team, strong marketing and sales, a feasible business model — and some money to make it all work. It will also need network of mentors and entrepreneurs, who can share, guide, collaborate and make you learn. And this is exactly what you get at incubation. Check out incubators like IIM-A’s iAcclelerator, Morpheus,VentureNusery, Village Capital and many more.
This is should be a good start to the actual ‘start’. Deep dive, explore and put any doubts you have in the comments section below.
About the Author:
Pallav Parikh, a corporate professional with 10 years of experience intertwined with 3 attempts at starting up. Pallav is an avid reader about the startup space and especially in the internet domain.
