For all those who don’t know me at all, I am Veer Mishra, founder of Neuron, a Human analytic startup. I previously co-founded 2 not so successful (but considerably successful) startups. Operated at all the levels in all these startups, have learned a lot in past 5 years and I want to share it.
Probably this post can be a wake up call to all the so called startup gurus or others, and become your highway to success (You can learn from my failures..). So,
Surprise.. Surprise…..
For all those who are just starting up, I want to bring your attention to a few facts of startups and about starting up.
It ain’t all sunshine and rainbows
If you think starting up with a startup is just making a plan, studying insights and drawing few pie charts, then you are mistaken my friend. It is beyond that. I am not here to tell you that you should not go for it, but consider it as a very bumpy ride…
The biggest hurdle you face will be in your early days, while you build the team. You will know, it’s not easy at all. And if at all the team is built, making them stick together in the hard times of your journey will be the key.
If you don’t have strength in your ass like hulk, you will die!
Startups are not always about success. Sometimes it is about failures. You don’t succeed the first time. You fall and fail few times, maybe more than that but what keeps you going is getting up stronger, every time you fall.
I’ve failed a lot of times in my life, more than I can remember. I guess that is what makes me so strong that I can take any failures to my face and still stand up to fight back any situation.
NASA has a saying – “Failure is not an option”. I beg to differ here. Failure has to be an option. You learn from them and you become stronger with them. So let me re-quote it, “Failure is an option, But Fear is not!”
No matter what, you have to keep your team motivated!
At times, you break down. But never let you team break into bits. Your team is the best thing that has happened in your business. Keep your team together, crazy and motivated. Nothing beats it.
When, as a founder, you gotta walk a 1000 miles and you have just taken the 1st step, people may loose faith in the journey and as leader, it’s your job to keep them motivated, saying, “hey guys, we are one step closer to our destination, let’s do it. Let’s take one more step.”
If you don’t have enough passion for what you are doing, you’ll be out of business
Why are you in a startup? Coz you’re bored with your 9–5 job? No. For the love of your idea. So do every little thing with passion and you will never feel like you’re working plus the outcomes. Bet?
I mean, I see people talking about working hard or smart and then I see them going out in weekly mixers or hangout party’s and I am like “Dude, where is the hustle that you talked about?”.
When you work hard and smart at the same time, that is the only way to keep your competition out of the game.
“Before Investing, people will test you…. A lot!
This is something that will happen with you and every other startups out there. It’s not as easy as it seems to raise capital for your venture. People who put in the money early, usually the angels, they want to see if they are betting on the right set of talent.
They want to know if, even without them, can you establish what you promise. They will test you, they will test you till you bleed your selves just to know your dedication, so be prepared.
If you lose investor’s money by failing, no one will trust you with their money again!
You’re in the market. One bad failure and everybody knows about you. So spend money wisely, build product intelligently and market it in the best way possible. One careless move, and loss in the long run.
Now a days i see people celebrating when they raise capital, and i am like “Dude, you’ve borrowed the money which you will have to pay back sometime?” (May be an exit in future round). And if you don’t end up scaling your startup to the metrics suitable for series A, you will land into what i call as the Real Deep Shit.
“Everyday will be a new battle, and at times you will have to loose”
Mondays are monotonous- people say. Be a startup folk who has nothing to do about it. Start with new vision, goals and targets and learn to accept your failure and start afresh with a greater zeal.
Everyday, there is something new to deal with. Some new problems in office or the product. Some people not working properly or some users leaving bad reviews to some team mates leaving your company. All that I am saying is, just be prepared for all the odds.
If it has to be a failure, you gotta fail big
Make a name in your industry and then fail. Remember Rahul Yadav’s episode of Housing.com. Failures speak louder and does good if you fail big.
If you think you can face all such and many more problems that can and will come, then welcome to the world of Entrepreneurship.
Although, i always suggest for startup folks to get some experience of working in a startup before getting your hands dirty. If you feel like working with a startup, reach out to me and we will work together.
