[ I was planing a small musing and then saw a post from Sumeet, so thought of completing it. ]
Almost two months back, Druvaa hit its lowest … and merely 1 month from our first few paid deployments we were holding heads in hands with no clue how to proceed further. Low on resources, we could feel our holding capacity blowing up. But, luckily we did what we do best – “Worked on it”. Seriously, persistence is _the_ most underrated attribute of entrepreneurship.
We are now hopefully out of the situation and working 24×7 to achieve upcoming targets.
I would like to point out some the mistakes we made as a team. I believe learning from others mistakes is better than learning from their power packed success recipes. These points are _not_ directly pointed at any individual
1. There are these 4 dimensions which every startup should follow like a polar graph – People, Market, Product, Captital,
We knew this rule, but probably failed to apply it … ..We over-engineered the product .. missed some market essential features, were late to raise money and approached wrong people. Never ever loose focus from customer/consumers and keep it simple. Cut any feature, any piece of code, marketing effort which doesn’t suit 80% of the customers/consumers you are directly interacting with. Blow this horn every now and then in front of your team.
2. We quit our jobs before we started, but left of some commitments alive ……
Once you are reaching the summit your oxygen supply goes low and so does your holding capacity. And I guess, it becomes extremely important to let go any extra burden you are carrying.
Quit all jobs and promises. Say your wife and parents a goobye and donate the kid.
3. We got got some wrong people on board …
The founding team should have that killer startup bug everythig else is secondary. And it never takes 20,30 or 100 people to make a product .. Just 3/4 good ones.
4. We were Too late to raise the money …
Always overstock money and good people. You never know when you are going to need them.
And now, a few tips which i think worked for me … i am not going to put any claims on them –
- Get the first round of startup fund to reach your first milestone yourself.
- Prepare a business plan which explains a your business in simplest form. Get that money before you need it.
- Talk to your consumers.
- When in trouble, work hard.
I have seen people making millions of dollars making use of nails of dead animals. I am just selling software. 🙂
I learned quite a lot from this community, send me an email if you think i can be of any help. And a small initiative to give back.
- India’s Hottest Startups - September 7, 2008
- The case of SonimTech – And lessons we can learn - August 23, 2008
- The Druvaa Story – III - July 14, 2008
Thats a nice post. However, I disagree on point 2. To me, there is no one formula for success when you are venturing into something new..its more a matter of time and your location..Even a great product like eBay would have failed in India in year 2002, however hard you would have tried or..quitting family..quitting job etc
A great idea is great only when there is a market for it and a timing to come up with the product in that market is very important. Same idea could fail miserably in other places.
QUITTING YOUR JOB/FAMILY is just the one way, but definitely not the only way and NOT the best way at all!
There is another aspect to entrepreneurship…Perseverance & patience. Quitting job is not the guarantee that you would persevere..it has to come from within! Folks, a tortoise could even win the race! You don’t need to burn up all your energy in start like a rabbit and then, sleep a while only to find that tortoise won the race!
So, its very important to store your stamina and go for sprinters when you judge that you are near completion..this could be termed as “release” in real software world.
You have to be a judge for deciding when to give what kind of attention to your idea and then, to your family! Cheers!
Thanks all,
@Deepak – a musing on your startup’s “interesting phase” would be very useful to all us here.
@Kris. Yup you are right. Spending more than needed could be lethal. What i meant was .. get money and people much before panic day. And get more than what you expect to use.
jaspreet [at] druvaa
Interesting reportage from ground zero. Keep it coming. I felt #1 is a good lesson, #2 is arguable, #3 lays down a rule and #4 is a gaffe. Here’s why.
*Overstocking* money (capital) is bad. [If you meant “have enough money” then don’t read further; But for that one should know how much is “enough”. Not many do. They figure as they go.]
There is nothing worse than building a great business, only to find that you consumed too much capital to make it rewarding for anyone. Even if it is your own, since money is fungible, you’ll lose out on opportunity cost. If it’s VC money, then the exit will be painfully prolonged till you break even and get a positive ROE. No VC can afford to miss a bubble phase / buoyant IPO sentiment to exit and that comes only once in 5 or 6 years. So, raise only so much money that you need.
Never discount the power of poverty. Destitution drives a sense of urgency, that’s a hallmark of a startup. It pushes you to make that cold call, helps shed your inhibitions and deflates your ego. When you are bare bones, you’re also nimble and get off the block in a jiffy. Too much money is flab and means just the opposite. You tend to take your eyes off the ball and be more forgiving upon yourself. That’s a sure turn-off.
Similarly on overstocking people. If you’ve too much people on board too early, the outcomes could be skewed – either the piece of the pie gets smaller or the pie itself has to be enlarged. The former would mean early stage dilution and the latter is wanton. Keep them on payrolls? Not without racking up your overhead.
You will also have to give meaningful work to keep them all motivated. Soon HR distractions will edge out challenges of product development off your radar screen. By spreading it too thin across plates, you could as well face integration problems later besides facing issues of loose tongues giving away IP confidentiality – the startup trump card. The productivity suffers in the end.
It’s got to be bootstraps and gradual capitalization; never a pile up.
It is probably like……
1. Talk to your customers while developing the product. AND
2. “Watch your consumer use your product/service” when you are in business.
I guess Jaspreet is looking for consumers whom he can watch using the Product/service.
Vyaas
Nothing could be more inspiring to a aspiring entrepreneur then stories like this. Thanks Jaspreet.You will definetly reap fruits ofyour preseverance.
I hope your story your story will inspire many more as it inspired me.