Similar Choices - Entrepreneur and Traveler

Entrepreneurship is akin to Traveling in many ways. Both begin with some basic questions being answered

• Where am I now?
• Where am I going?
• How do I get there?

When one beings a journey - (s)he begins with fixing the 2 ends - the source and the destination this is akin to the entrepreneur fixing the now and the future (s)he intends to achieve. There are numerous routes between the two ends. The Business Plan that one creates is like the road map that the entrepreneur chooses to follow. The road map would be defined based on the entrepreneurs choices of the time required, costs.

Before freezing on the route map or the Business plan, the traveller or the Entrepreneur chooses is determined by many aspects which could be classified as external and internal factors.

The external factors affecting the traveller would be the emergency repair shops, weather conditions, road conditions, the sightseeing spots and camping grounds. The entrepreneur's external factors would include new regulations, competitions, and social changes, changes in consumer needs or new technologies. These external factors are ones on which the traveller or the entrepreneur has little control.

The internal factors are one on that can be controlled or influenced. For the traveller these include his estimated budget, the time he intends to complete the journey in, the drivers in the team, the knowledge of highways etc. For the entrepreneur similarly would look at the amount with him/her, the resources at his disposal to accomplish the journey from here to the goal set out.

In the coming blogs on entrepreneurship, we would look at the need for B-Plan and its creation.

What if I fail?

The concept of starting off excites people. An ideator gets excited with a thought and meets one of his friends, or a professional contact or a family member and shares the idea. In some cases both realize they can get something off the ground and move ahead quickly. It is the idea that occupies the mind of the founders, they don’t think too much ahead, they feel the idea is the most important thing in their life and get into action mode.

They begin working on the idea; get into the design stage and then the development stage - the concept to their offering. They then begin looking out for people to buy this offering. They realize that there is something not right, the people are not paying for the offering.

Very soon they realize that cash is not flowing in - one of the founders feels (s)he has wasted time with this venture and could have gotten a much higher deal with the work in the company (s)he had quit. There is a difference of opinion amongst the founders - they begin to have altercations. One of them quits and gets back to the normal life and the other tries continuing this idea further but soon looses steam and give up!

Where did the idea go wrong?

Was it the team, was it the cash flow, was it the expectation, was it not listening to the market, was it the opportunity cost, was it the greediness? - I shall deal with many such issues as we progress.

Well at least some of these if not all are an answer to the reason why such a venture would have flopped! Well don’t worry, it but natural - remember not every seed sown grows into a plant or a tree. Some do some don’t. You at least have attempted to get the seed (the idea) into a plant (to an offering). It is important to have attempted and failed than to have not attempted at all. Keep the fires of entrepreneurship glowing. You need to try a bit before you are equipped for success.

Go ahead - there is nothing perfect in this world, still attempt it.

Which cash is good Cash?

We have heard a lot of people say "Cash is King". The term Cash refers to funds that are available at hand and as liquid as possible. One could also argue if that cash is the result of operational success/failure; but it is also essential for sustenance, this is critical parameter for your enterprise to function. People look for this source from - savings, family, friends, partners, angels, VC, banks and borrowings.

All these are sources are sources of income, but the issue is of which one of this is the best source. Of these mentioned above which one is an indication of a successful business?

While all of these borrowing are an indication that you have been able to sell your concept to the lender in return or without a favor, the unexplained part is, has it been enough to claim the success of your company.

My take on this is - not yet! The only positive sign that any startup could celebrate would be when its customers pay for the product. That money is really the cash that every start up needs to work towards. It is that cash that gets everything in confidence. It is the certificate the market gives for the product and its utility. When one goes to an investor like the angel or VC with something sold their confidence soars in the venture. Look to get to this cash in the earliest possible stage.

While the initial cash from savings or family or friends are critical to start up, if we don’t get to what sells in the market - you are in the red. Work perpetually towards getting this "good cash" - the cash that has been earned form the product. Listen to your costumers they are broadcasting all that they want all the time.

Key Takeaways from the entrepreneurial journey

Entrepreneurship is a long journey, some journeys get quick successes and others need to wait. Having worked with quite a few start ups and intending entrepreneurs, reading a bit about entrepreneurship; it is very clear that behind the success of any venture are numerous learning that come along the way. I was trying to read some blogs and posts etc that would back my thought process and I found one on the HBR site.

Here is the list of learning beautifully put together by a social entrepreneur:

• You never know what the future is going to bring. So stop predicting your own failure. Your job is to take the next indicated step in front of you. Shorten your horizon. One day at a time. Don't think beyond these eight hours, unless you have to for logistical purposes. On your worst days, get through it one hour at a time.
• Don't force your will on every situation. Don't think that you have to drive every pitch and every product to success. It could well be that the investor who says no was going to be your worst nightmare. And it could be that the obstacle that kept you from launching the product you were obsessed with gave rise to a better idea and transformed your business. A larger intelligence than your own may be at work: Let it do some of the heavy lifting. Its imagination may be infinitely more creative than your own. Steve Jobs didn't invent the iPod. Someone brought it to him.
• Don't let your feelings interfere with your commitment. You may not "feel" like going out and making another pitch. You may feel too depressed to draft the next iteration of the business plan. But what difference do your feelings make? Do what you have to do regardless of how you feel about
• Lean on your partners. Don't be afraid to tell them when you're having a bad day, or when you feel like giving up, or feel like a loser, or are in a state of total despair. Feelings are temporary. They're unstable. They pass. And they pass much more quickly when they're shared.

Thanks Dan for those valuable wording clearly encapsulate what an entrepreneurs focus has to be.

Read the original article