Entrepreneurship: A game not for the fickle minded

The last year or so, I have attended over 50 events for startups in Bangalore alone. I have sold my services to event managers and other event organizers who got insights from using the solution. I delved deeper into what the insights had to say. I began to witness a trend in the kind of comments that came out of it and also the manner in which startups were speaking.

It is strange the manner in which startups and new age companies are formed these days. The mindset of the average college student is to essentially ‘startup after graduating’. All you need is a website domain ($1.57), a business card (approx 3$) and need to hit all the co working spaces in the city, especially the ones with alcohol. There, in $5, you have your startup at the ripe old age of 21. The glamour of being the CEO, MD or having a business card that says cofounder or founder. Tony Robbins and Gary vee have also done their bit. Let’s face it, everyone is an entrepreneur today.

My journey in startups has seen ups and downs. More downs than ups to be completely honest. Witnessing the ball that most entrepreneurs were having in and around me, it was quite clear that they were either making millions in revenues (ideal situation) or they were not taking things as seriously as one should take them. Each of the events I went to, I noticed folks with smiles on their faces speaking to me about their products. “Hey, we are this platform…”

Today, when we all look at successful entrepreneurs and thought leaders, we only see the finished product. No one, and I mean no one takes time to understand and realize what he or she has been through. All they see is the attention and money one has made over the years. So, here is a suggestion for all those who are playing the parts of the ‘Prom Queen’ (which is almost 90% of the folks I’m guessing).

If you are in this space for the journey, to satisfy the woman you had a crush on, or perhaps to satisfy your dopamine rush; please get out of it. Your crush does not care about your business. Your dopamine rush will eventually run out and you’ll lose interest. Even if you are passionate about it, there are 99 other things that you must consider to make it a successful business. Trust me when I say that this is not the game for the fickle minded.

I cannot count the number of failures I have seen in the last few months. Some of the failures that I have seen, I do not even wish on my worst enemies. The life of a startup entrepreneur is unforgiving. It will beat you to your knees. You will go through cycles and other depressions and will not let you have the fun weekends you have always wanted. You will come across friends who go out and have fun, but as a founder you won’t be able to do all of this.

If the latter is what you want, then entrepreneurship and startups is the right space for you. If you are strong enough and ballsy enough to take the hits, well, congratulations! You are an entrepreneur.

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Abhijit Raghunathan

Written by

Head — Business Development, CoPro Technologies Pvt LTD

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