One year of Entrepreneurship

Wikipedia defines entrepreneurship as follows - Entrepreneurship is the act of being an entrepreneur, which is a French word meaning "one who undertakes innovations, finance and business acumen in an effort to transform innovations into economic goods". With the state of the economy and the nation where it is, entreprenuership is clearly a hot topic in India. There are innumerable startups that are coming up in this country, and virtually in every conceivable sector, be it manufacturing, telecom, Information technology, energy, infrastructure, real estate, financial services. Almost everyday one hears about people leaving their safe corporate careers to tread into the murky waters of entrepreneurship. It seems that a wave of entreprenurship has been unleashed in this country and nothing, not even the global economic crisis, can stop or even slow this. Amidst, this a friend has completed one year of a start venture in India. This is his insightful message for all of us, a worthy read-

Dear Gang,

I completed a year of entrepreneurship, this month. The year was extremely exciting and offered edge of the seat drama (but no horror episodes, thankfully). There is never a dull moment when you need to figure out how to get revenue through the door or pay the bills or convince an employee to stay on. As we complete one year, we realize that we had aimed for soo much more in this year (after all we were highly ambitious folks). But, we realize that we have learnt soo much more this year (after all we didn't know much of what we were getting into). The journey has been exciting, so I thought I should share some insights from this journey

a. When we started, we were negotiating an agreement which would cover us for two years and had future upside.. We ended up only "negotiating". We gave up in January and we understand that the client is still negotiating.. Thank God for our low patience levels...

b. Our initial strategy was to enter Africa and South East Asia as that was the buzz word in the investor circle. Though we had initial success, these markets took a long time to decide. We needed to keep the cash box ringing and therefore had to continue to build on India. This focus on India has helped us gain a lot more confidence and keep the cash box ringing.. Don't go by strategy & excitement of investors, the cash box is king..

c.Some team members who were planning to join us on this journey, took much longer to decide (some haven't yet). While others who we felt would not join, have been essential elements in our growth. Everyone has a different view of risk and return, be prepared for surprises on both elements.

d. Our business plan executed more of less as per plan. However, any line item in the plan (either on the revenue or expense side) does not match with the plan. Its just sheer coincidence, not the plan.. By the way, revenues are always delayed and expenses are always early..

e. The support for entrepreneurship has been immense. I have met many of my friends over the last year (I took advantage of their hospitality) and also got insights for free. The support from all quarters is truly amazing..

Satish can be reached at satishkashyap@gmail.com