Startup mantras from entrepreneurs (5)
How
important are financial resources, or is resourcefulness more handy;
should your startup be many things to many people, or just a few
things for some; what if you fail; what's more important, the idea
or the execution; how do you ride the rollercoaster that a startup
is; how hard do you really need to work; how ambitious should you
really be; should you start up in an upturn or a downturn.
Here
are the gems from the NEXT SIX
26.Chandan
Gupta, 34 FOUNDER, PHONEWARRIOR.COM
'Challenge
Yourself to be Successful'
CLAIM
TO FAME
Founder of the company which is making an app that will aggregate the phone social network to simplify everyday communications.
STARTUP MANTRA
Setting up Phone Warrior has taught me many lessons. The one that clearly stands out in my mind is that all of us are capable of doing great things but we achieve our full potential not when we are thinking of rewards or in the steady routine but when we are challenged to the extreme and fear losing out in life. In my previous job in the corporate world, I was proud of my abilities as a software architect, perhaps even a bit arrogant. But as an entrepreneur that's just not enough; I had to rapidly learn planning, budgeting, presenting, management, product design, marketing, HR, admin, accounting and many other subjects. The only reason I did this was to survive as an entrepreneur.
27. Kavin Mittal, 27 FOUNDER, HIKE
'Keep Things Simple'
Founder of the company which is making an app that will aggregate the phone social network to simplify everyday communications.
STARTUP MANTRA
Setting up Phone Warrior has taught me many lessons. The one that clearly stands out in my mind is that all of us are capable of doing great things but we achieve our full potential not when we are thinking of rewards or in the steady routine but when we are challenged to the extreme and fear losing out in life. In my previous job in the corporate world, I was proud of my abilities as a software architect, perhaps even a bit arrogant. But as an entrepreneur that's just not enough; I had to rapidly learn planning, budgeting, presenting, management, product design, marketing, HR, admin, accounting and many other subjects. The only reason I did this was to survive as an entrepreneur.
27. Kavin Mittal, 27 FOUNDER, HIKE
'Keep Things Simple'
CLAIM
TO FAME
The scion of the Sunil Mittal promoted-Bharti Enterprises launched an instant messaging platform which has over 35 million users and $65 million in funding from Tiger Global.
STARTUP MANTRA
One of the biggest lessons I've learnt is to learn to keep things simple. In a startup environment, sometimes even the best of people end up complicating things because in the process of building a brilliant product, we forget that the consumer's problem is a very simple one. That said, the most difficult thing is to keep things simple. Persevere and peel away all the layers and get right down to the basic problem you want to solve. It's this mindset that I believe is key to building a great product and a great company.
The scion of the Sunil Mittal promoted-Bharti Enterprises launched an instant messaging platform which has over 35 million users and $65 million in funding from Tiger Global.
STARTUP MANTRA
One of the biggest lessons I've learnt is to learn to keep things simple. In a startup environment, sometimes even the best of people end up complicating things because in the process of building a brilliant product, we forget that the consumer's problem is a very simple one. That said, the most difficult thing is to keep things simple. Persevere and peel away all the layers and get right down to the basic problem you want to solve. It's this mindset that I believe is key to building a great product and a great company.
28.
Vinayak
Chatterjee, 55 CO-FOUNDER, FEEDBACK INFRASTRUCTURE
'Be Steadfast About Your Purpose'
'Be Steadfast About Your Purpose'
CLAIM
TO FAME
Set up an integrated infrastructure services firm with over 4,000 employees and operations in 20 countries
STARTUP MANTRA
"Find Purpose, Means Will Follow." I saw this on a hoarding many years ago on the way to the Mumbai airport. It was a quote from Mahatma Gandhi bill-boarded by a well-regarded Indian corporate house and it rang true for me. Every twist and turn on the entrepreneurial highway throws up liquidity and resourcing challenges. Sometimes you have no clue where the required funding will come from; when the light at the end of the cash-flow tunnel looks more like the headlight of an oncoming train. In my almost 30 years as an entrepreneur, time and again I have seen that when you are steadfast about your purpose, resources fall into place, and funding solutions happen. People value and trust your commitment to a goal. That is what ultimately matters in the entrepreneurial journey.
29. Pranshu Bhandari, 28 FOUNDER, CULTUREALLEY.COM
Set up an integrated infrastructure services firm with over 4,000 employees and operations in 20 countries
STARTUP MANTRA
"Find Purpose, Means Will Follow." I saw this on a hoarding many years ago on the way to the Mumbai airport. It was a quote from Mahatma Gandhi bill-boarded by a well-regarded Indian corporate house and it rang true for me. Every twist and turn on the entrepreneurial highway throws up liquidity and resourcing challenges. Sometimes you have no clue where the required funding will come from; when the light at the end of the cash-flow tunnel looks more like the headlight of an oncoming train. In my almost 30 years as an entrepreneur, time and again I have seen that when you are steadfast about your purpose, resources fall into place, and funding solutions happen. People value and trust your commitment to a goal. That is what ultimately matters in the entrepreneurial journey.
29. Pranshu Bhandari, 28 FOUNDER, CULTUREALLEY.COM
'Get a Working Product Out Fast'
CLAIM
TO FAME
Devised the popular site (and more recently app) that weaves together two hot topics — social media and gamification — to help people learn new languages
STARTUP MANTRA
Fail fast, scale fast. Building a minimum viable product and releasing it fast is very important. Often while starting up, we are obsessed about getting everything perfect but it is extremely important to get the product out fast. This doesn't mean releasing a buggy product — the product needs to be as bug free as possible but in terms of features, v1.0 should be the bare minimum that the user needs. As a startup, there is no other way for us to know if people will use and like our product than actually taking it to the market and getting their feedback. Often, we realise that the user expects something totally different (so by releasing fast, we did not waste our time failing), or on the brighter side, this may be exactly what they want, in which case we scale it fast and add more relevant features.
30. Pankaj Tibrewal, 45 CO-FOUNDER, CHARTCUBE
'Stick to Your Convictions'
Devised the popular site (and more recently app) that weaves together two hot topics — social media and gamification — to help people learn new languages
STARTUP MANTRA
Fail fast, scale fast. Building a minimum viable product and releasing it fast is very important. Often while starting up, we are obsessed about getting everything perfect but it is extremely important to get the product out fast. This doesn't mean releasing a buggy product — the product needs to be as bug free as possible but in terms of features, v1.0 should be the bare minimum that the user needs. As a startup, there is no other way for us to know if people will use and like our product than actually taking it to the market and getting their feedback. Often, we realise that the user expects something totally different (so by releasing fast, we did not waste our time failing), or on the brighter side, this may be exactly what they want, in which case we scale it fast and add more relevant features.
30. Pankaj Tibrewal, 45 CO-FOUNDER, CHARTCUBE
'Stick to Your Convictions'
CLAIM
TO FAME
The former Pantaloons COO raised $4 million from Shasta Ventures to build the app that allows people to review, share and discuss data on mobile devices
STARTUP MANTRA
One of the things I learnt doing Chartcube is to stay true to my conviction. Behind every inordinately successful idea, there is a fundamental contrarian viewpoint. So, it is important to listen to your conviction but not give in to scepticism. When I wanted to build a data analytics startup that allowed collaboration on the mobile, many said that "people don't do this on a mobile device" and advised me to build our solution on the desktop. All my three investors were adamant that building it for the mobile was the wrong answer. I offered to return the investment because my conviction was that people will want to do more and more intense work on mobile devices (and software will have to get better). They gave in to my conviction and a year later, they all congratulated me for having stuck to my convictions.
31. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, 61 FOUNDER, BIOCON
'Spend Time Validating your Concept'
The former Pantaloons COO raised $4 million from Shasta Ventures to build the app that allows people to review, share and discuss data on mobile devices
STARTUP MANTRA
One of the things I learnt doing Chartcube is to stay true to my conviction. Behind every inordinately successful idea, there is a fundamental contrarian viewpoint. So, it is important to listen to your conviction but not give in to scepticism. When I wanted to build a data analytics startup that allowed collaboration on the mobile, many said that "people don't do this on a mobile device" and advised me to build our solution on the desktop. All my three investors were adamant that building it for the mobile was the wrong answer. I offered to return the investment because my conviction was that people will want to do more and more intense work on mobile devices (and software will have to get better). They gave in to my conviction and a year later, they all congratulated me for having stuck to my convictions.
31. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, 61 FOUNDER, BIOCON
'Spend Time Validating your Concept'
CLAIM
TO FAME
In three decades, has grown Biocon from a maker of enzymes into a diversified biopharma company
STARTUP MANTRA
I get approached by a lot of people who have ambitious plans to start their own business, but very few of them take the small steps required to build a successful startup. They have a concept in their minds and they are almost overeager to hit the market. Entrepreneurs must spend more time between these two stages; they need to validate their business, work on a prototype to see if their idea will fly. Too often, people neglect doing this and discover too late that their business idea is undercooked.
In three decades, has grown Biocon from a maker of enzymes into a diversified biopharma company
STARTUP MANTRA
I get approached by a lot of people who have ambitious plans to start their own business, but very few of them take the small steps required to build a successful startup. They have a concept in their minds and they are almost overeager to hit the market. Entrepreneurs must spend more time between these two stages; they need to validate their business, work on a prototype to see if their idea will fly. Too often, people neglect doing this and discover too late that their business idea is undercooked.
ET141228
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