I think entrepreneurship is a fashion nowadays rather than being a passion. And there are many blogs, which add air to the wanna-be-entrepreneur feeling. We see the success of the other entrepreneurs but fail to see their struggle and how hard they have learnt from their failures. What we see on the blogs is which companies got funded recently and this gives a false hope to a struggling entrepreneur that he will receive VC funding very soon. There is only one or two Alok Mittal or Sanjeev Bhikchandani who becomes successful and finds mention on each and every website but we fail to understand that there are thousands more who tried but couldn’t make it big. Every young entrepreneur then considers them as role models and wants to realize his million dollar dream. Â
Again getting big designations like CEO, COO, VP seems an attraction for the young entrepreneur. Though the above mentioned things definitely have few exceptions, most of the young entrepreneurs go through these notions and learn gradually the true spirit of entrepreneurship through struggle and failures.  I am real time example of the above scenario and a struggling entrepreneur trying to fight for survival and growth at the same time. And after long long struggle, I came to conclusion that 25 is not the age for entrepreneurial activity. Most of the successful entrepreneurs are in the late thirties as they develop contacts, domain expertise as well as achieve financial stability by then. At the age of 25, an entrepreneur sees his fellow classmates getting high salaries, foreign tours, buying houses, getting married and leaving a well settled life. In contrast, the entrepreneur faces financial problems like loan installments; lack of support from family and no women wants to be with a struggling entrepreneur. Â
Talking about my startup Indiagini, I had been working hard on this innovative business model on recruitment front since last 1 year. Foolish preferences like have a well furnished office, good computers etc made sure I was deprived of working capital very soon. Then a investment banker friend came to my rescue and introduced me to this tempting world of angel investors and venture capitalists. Trust me, for a novice entrepreneur; this VC world seems as glamorous as the Bollywood industry in India. Like every novice entrepreneur. I got carried away by the flow and browsed each and every VC/ Angel investor websites hoping to get funded some day. I met few investors as well which were impressed by the business model but asked me to get into a working business model. I still don’t know whether it was sheer encouragement, which further tends to misguide amateurs like us.
   My willingness to learn and ability to adapt to situations got me few deals for seed funding (less than 7-8 lakhs for 20% equity) of which I choose to go with a HR Consulting firm lead by a top women entrepreneur. This lady investor who initially accepted to provide us incubation opportunity, made some attractive promises. Now within 2 months we had steady revenues and good clientele and were growing at a good pace. Suddenly our investor come up with revised valuations and asks us for 80 % of the equity or to operate under her consulting banner. She then started recruitment operations in Bangalore and told us to stop attending office premises within a notice period of two days.
 Now we are completely stranded with our confidence level hit hard. We are confused to look for seed funding opportunities or to look for angel/ VC funding at this stage. The business model has proved to have a competitive advantage over job portals, recruitment consultancies and print media. Or sometimes I get a feeling to work for six months and get working capital for our venture instead of depending on some unknown investor. Â
The passion is still there and it increases with the struggle and obstacles we face. The more obstacles we face, we keep a positive attitude considering it would also create barriers to entry for new competitors in the industry. We have come so far that we see a ray of light ahead of the dark tunnel, but when we turn back there is ray of light as well. This forum has some seasoned entrepreneurs from whom I would like to seek advice how to proceed with our venture.
Sumit kale
9819291670
- The dilemma of being an entrepreneur - January 3, 2008
Hey Deepak:
Take it a bit easy.
Here is my two bits to Sumeet.
If you are in Bangalore, let us meet up for a drink. Are you from
IIT B (checked your website)? If so, we could talk of our hostel
days too.
What is the legal agreement with Kalpana Bansal? (Again from your
website)?
Personally, I am not fond of engineers getting into recruitment business. Not because there isnt money in it, but that is not generally the strength of engineers. I know BCom guys who small-talk
(and other things that I cant mention here) with HRs and are minting
money. Besides, how much you can make by recycling the same guys again and again?
How about coming up with some serious technology instead? If you dont have a background, go do a PhD in some good school. You might lose a bit of hair, but on the other hand, you could do some serious technology.
And sure, good business too, if you dont restrict yourself
to just India.
regards,
Samir
I’m going to tell you what you don’t want to hear.
Quit the business. Get a job. If you all can do so, keep the website alive.
You have been chucked out of a juicy incubation opp, however unfortunate that was. You have little money to sustain a cash-burning business (I assume that because you said you need capital). You like the business but (I assume) you can’t put a date on which you’ll be cash-flow break even. You would like to be in your thirties, and you seem to feel bad that you fall behind your peers in salaries etc.
You sound like you’re running out of options. You also sound demoralized, misguided and defeated. Trying to get funding now will ensure you get the worst deal possible, now that anyone using google can find out your situation (the 80% might not seem quite so bad)
Don’t run out of options. Run out.
Sumeet – Keep you chin up, man! I agree with Ajitesh that you’ve got to be ready to run the whole gauntlet of challenges. VCs and Angels are not magic wands.
While funding has its advantages, it has its disadvantages too. My advice is that the more you get beaten up, the stronger your resolve should be to make your venture a success. Before you seek funding, it is best to check out how much money you have (which includes selling your worldly possessions if you have to). Next, be very, very frugal – if you expect to break even in 9 months, plan for 18 months.
While you are at it, remember to have fun – there is no point in working hard and/or trying to make loads of money if you aint having fun!
Hey Sumit,
It is a new year. Keep your spirit high. Take some strict decisions.
Change strategy a little. Leave there office straight away. Complete any legal formalities required. Earn some money from recruitment consultancy, that may not be very specialised model but brings money. Home back office for time being, get on your shoes within two months. Back to original model.
We may discuss this crude reality which bites (off the self).
Smile, there are reasons.
Suramya
I believe the toughest hurdle before an entrepreneur is to come up with some form of metrics to continuously measure how far is he from his goal, and what needs to be done to make that happen. In most cases, the mistake is made right at the onset. In most cases, we start with full zeal and enthusiasm, and gradually we slow down as we face the reality of things not happening our way.
A true entrepreneur, however, has yardstick to continuously measure how far is he from goal, set appropriate milestones and become happy by reaching each one of them. In all circumstances, he keeps his vision intact.
For an instance, have you figured out that how hard it was for us to run marathon race? Why that? 99% of us always wanted to run sprinters and win it as they are shorter races. Its just that only 1% went ahead to run marathon race. Out of which there is only top three winners.
Similarly, entrepreneurship is nothing less than running a marathon race. And only few could stand and complete the race, forget about winning, as it requires patience, determination, stamina, perseverance etc.
Keep going…Cheers!