Independence Day: What it means for Entrepreneurs
Its that day of the year once again, Independence Day. Till the last year, we have always spent this day in a pretty much standard format. It has always been the flag hoisting in the morning, lazy afternoon, watching Krantiveer and Tiranga on TV and feeling patriotic for a while. But life changes when you quit your job and plunge into the startup world. Now weekends and public holidays are no more non-working days. There is no 'good time to call' and every waking moment is spent 'pitching' to someone. But with Independence Day approaching, we really wanted to do something; Retailers were giving special discounts, ecommerce merchants brought about special products. Everyone was doing something special, but somehow Independence Day was being treated as any other festival – a time for festive offers.
As entrepreneurs, we ought to do something more. One week back, we lulled for a while to rally our ideas and asked ourselves what would be our emotions like on the eve of Independence Day? Just like any other startup the first thing we could think of was the spirit of entrepreneurship combined with that of being an Indian. It occurred to us that being a young and growing startup the best thing would be to do what we are expected to do throughout the year – work hard and make a great company. But then, where is the Independence day spirit?So this is what we did for last one week - we focused only on the fellow startups which celebrate the spirit of India 365 days a year, trying to create profitable organizations by showing the real picture of India to the world. We decided to onboard 4 companies in a single day - On Independence Day. With one website integration of Againn’s Loyalty API taking close to 4 hours, this meant that if we are to pull it off, we will be working 16 hours on Independence Day to get onboard 4 amazing companies – companies passionately trying to uplift the brand – ‘India’. This would also mean that they will have to work on Independence Day too. And just as we expected, not a single one of them put up even a bit of hesitance while agreeing to this, exemplifying the true spirit of startups and the edge of being an Indian. We realized that startups are not about the freedom of choosing when you work and how much you work. They are about taking a decision with free will and absolute independence, of working late nights, working 365 days and to do what it takes for your company to be successful.
The 4 companies we are on-boarding are - MadInIndia.in, Chinhhari Arts, NanyaU.com and RangRage.in.
The founders of MadInIndia.in have made an excellent enterprise to exhibit patriotism, they quote: “Our sole purpose in life is to work towards ensuring that each one in the world celebrates the spirit of India by owning a piece of it. We at Mad(e) in India, strive to create and offer thoughtful and interesting products that truly capture the essence of India and have their own story to tell.”
The initiative taken by Chinhhari Arts is square and powerful. They showcase a top-notch collection of locally produced art forms and are all about promotion, modification and commercialization of Tribal art form existing in Chhattisgarh.
As explained to us, the founders of NanyaU have chosen to name themselves so because it is the Sanskrit word for ‘quality’, which they honor the most as commerce players. They are connected to their roots and promote it too.
RangRage’s ingenious intention is to support young artists by exposing their talent and it aspires to recreate ideas and perspectives about hand-painting through fresh mediums and techniques, to reach their commercial potential.
So this Independence Day, we are working 16 hours and we are on a mission. Next Independence Day we will work harder and make you all proud. Happy Independence Day everyone!
About The Author
Nukul is the founder of Againn.in which provides coalition loyalty program to e-commerce players. Prior to Againn he has worked for strategic consulting firms and investment banks in and outside India. Againn is his second venture.
