Lessons from my 2 years of startup life!

Getting high with lots of ideas? Had many night outs discussing business plans and ideas with friends? Aspiring to startup something?

Getting high with lots of ideas? Had many night outs discussing business plans and ideas with friends? Aspiring to startup something? But if you have not started yet, don’t worry. You can. I have gone through the same many many times until finally I got started. When I reflect on why it took so long for me to startup something here is what I learnt.

1. Having too many ideas but too less time to work on it – busy with corporate work? May be you haven’t found the idea that is worth more than your job.

2. Killing ideas before even they hatch – probably you learnt too much of risk management in your MBA! You need to forget books and start believing your instincts.

3. Keeping ideas as secret? You’ll not get started at all. Ideas die out when kept as secret. You’ll regret much later when you see someone else executing it with great success. You’ll keep saying to your wife and friends “See, I had this great idea long back.” Phew no use! You can get some sympathy – that’s it. Discuss your ideas with many people. Particularly with people whom you think could become your potential team mate if you get started with it.



4. I need to quit my job if I need to start with this idea. No need. Quitting your job is the last thing to do. Before quitting you have enough things to do about your idea. Start working on them in your spare time. If you don’t dedicate that time then you are not serious about that idea. If you choose to watch a movie vs working on the idea on a weekend, then you know it yourself.

5. I need lot of funding to start something of my own. Not always. First find your teammate with same passion on the idea, its going to be difficult to fight it alone. In today’s context there are many ways to get started without too much of money. Consider joining an incubation centre or look out for a potential angel.

6. I will do it myself, be it website, coding or selling. Thats entrepreneurs spirit! But finding your core team is very important. Leverage each others strengths, you cannot be an expert at everything. You need to learn to manage work than do all of it yourself.

7. “If I start something of my own, life will be easy.” Shit no! Life becomes 100x difficult. Its not easy, but its very interesting and satisfying.

Author: Shankar G

Co-founder & CEO at Spini

This article was originally published in LinkedIn

Image credit: blogs.walkerart.org



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