Letting an idea pick you: Part 2 of my startup journey

I was so excited to take the first step into start-ups (click here for Part 1) and I was brimming with ideas. I just had one problem — I was brimming with ideas.

I had 4, in fact, and they were all glorious….at the time.

Any time I had (which is rare in corporate, as many of you know), I was filling notepads with ideas and questions - the merits of each idea, the industry, the market, what skills I needed to see it through, etc.

A month passed, I was working 24/7 but I wasn’t getting anywhere. It was frustrating but I had to be diligent and see which idea was best and possible. I figured I should let the potential of each one guide me in my decision (seems prudent, right?). But, there were so many questions to answer. I hated to admit it, but I was losing joy and felt I just lacked focus. It really made me doubt myself and whether I had the capacity to do a start-up, if I was already feeling “lost” at such an early stage.

I caught up with an old friend who was also leaving corporate life for a start-up. We hadn’t spoken in a while but I was looking forward to hearing his idea and also sharing mine. I knew I was onto something but I just hadn’t figured how best to realise them. I figured that at least I could feed off his excitement, as this was a new change for us both.

We met and he told me his idea. It was an app to find and book outdoor activities in your area, ranging from skydiving to axe throwing. It was such a fun idea and so him! He loves extreme sports and is always posting pictures of himself on Instagram…

Yes, I’m jealous.

But it got me thinking. Am I doing anything exciting like that? Why am I not doing something like that?!!…

I began sharing my ideas to him and admittedly, I felt the rush in selling the idea(s). An idea so wonderful that only I had discovered it. At the time, I didn’t appreciate how unsustainable this was but I was glad to see him react the way I wanted. But he paused and asked me a very simple question…

if you had to pick one, which one would you pick?

I didn’t have an answer for him. He then said to me…

This idea is your baby, right? Well give it the attention it deserves!

Right then, I realised I hadn’t done that. Every time I hit a road-block in one idea, I simply moved onto the next idea, thinking it will give me time to solve the other idea. In doing so, I was convincing myself that I was making progress and working hard, but in reality, I was going nowhere — fast.

In hindsight, my mental gymnastics was blinding me to this simple truth. I was effectively waiting for an idea to generate its own traction, so that I could decide which one to pursue, rather than create the right environment for it to grow. I took some time to really think about the ideas, which one excited me and why. I ended up with the idea that grew into Docuvo.

Unlike others, it was a solution to a problem I faced regularly, professionally and personally. I understood that user frustration of endlessly searching for files across multiple platforms, getting lost in tree structures and trouble cross referencing files. I couldn’t understand, with all the technological advancements we’ve made in just the last 5 years, why are we still looking at files like it’s 1990? Many of you know this pain too and how we just work around it. One of the wasteful by-products is the unnecessary printing we produce, just so we can read and interact with files better — which of course required it’s own filing system. It is estimated that 45% of that printed in offices is trashed within a day. That’s at a cost of $350 Billion every year, ignoring the environmental impact.

I just knew there had to be a better way and for a system to work for us (you hear me, skynet?!). A simple and intuitive solution that can adapt to our own dynamic workflow, especially for something as mundane as document management. As I set out to discover the solution and understand the customer base, I realised I was more happy than any thing I had done before — just in searching the answer, knowing that the solution will not only improve productivity but reduce paper waste.

I knew this is the idea for me. Filing may not be exciting, but the problem matters to me and I know why — and I know I can solve it. This is what drives me though the highs and low, which will be many.

So for those who made it this far in my drivel and thinking of joining the start-up community, make sure you know why, as that is the only that will get you through the low points – and there will be plenty of low points.

Sorabh Dhir is the Co-Founder and CEO of Docuvo, a cloud filing platform built on “Findability”. He loves keeping things simple and efficient. To discover more information about Docuvo click here or follow Docuvo on Twitter.