MY TEAM IS MY START-UP
A never heard before Entrepreneurial story
Hi guys,
I am writing this to share my experience as an Entrepreneur. My story is quite different than the all the others you have possibly read or heard out there. so here it is :-
I am the CEO of GoFrugal Presales (Don't google it just yet, hold on) and we are funded by the GoFrugal Technologies. Our customer base is GoFrugal Sales team and we generate a revenue of 800 prospects per month.
Who are we? So yeah, We are the Presales team of GoFrugal, It is just one of the teams in GoFrugal Technologies Pvt Ltd, Chennai that does Online Marketing & Pull Prospect generation. I, Subhrangshu Choudhury, am just the team lead. Actually when I took over, the team was a wreck. The team environment was filled with negativity, Members were demotivated and eventually poor results followed. Meanwhile, "Start-up" has become the house-hold term in business world, so much so that everyone wants to open a start-up. From a Bakery to a Tuition center, everyone who is opening a new business is being using/misusing the term "start-up". I also realized that most of the 'new-gen' guys are more keen on it because of it they just don't like what they are asked to do , rather they would create something of their own so that they can ask people to do the work. Don't get me wrong, not undermining all the Entrepreneurs out there but most of the successful ones believe - "Only when you love what you do, you will know what you love to do".
So the above quote was from my angel investor, Mr Kumar Vembu (CEO, GoFrugal) who gave me my own start up, GoFrugal Presales. I started by focusing on the three mantras of most successful teams/start-ups
1)Creating a psychologically safe environment - Since last few decades , after a lot of research It has been found to be the most common feature of any effective team. A team where there is not superstar, no passenger. A team where conversational turn-taking is very natural and everyone can freely present their ideas and queries.
2)Being more socially connected - One more big factor which contributes to a more united and effective team. Knowing your team-mate more socially and discussing life outside work.
3)Skilling-up your team by joint work - Doing one work together as a facilitator (Mentor) and a learner(Rookie), a direct exchange of knowledge where the learner's skills are enhanced by constant feedback. It proved to be much better than assignments, deadlines and tasks.
All the above along with constant measurement of individual growth coupled with rewards and appreciations from the investors, led to exponential growth in results. Results which were marked as "impossible" by most people. My team became one of the most standout performers. Now I am at a point where I can demand more investment on my start-up whereas most start-ups actually struggle for the same. so is the analogy wrong?
Why can't we be an Entrepreneur while working for some company? We all are a part of a team somewhere, why can't we treat it as our start up and work together for its success?
So, I don't know if GoFrugal Technologies is making more revenue than Amazon, Flipkart, or even Google, Apple etc , I don't care. What I am sure is my team can challenge any team from all the above companies in a Marshmallow Challenge. Want to give it a try?
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Regards,
Subhrangshu Choudhury
Team Lead - GoFrugal Presales
