2 min readDec 18, 2016
My first year of Entrepreneurship
In Jan 2016 I took the plunge into entrepreneurship after having fantasized life as an entrepreneur for months! And boy has it been a roller coaster!
A few highs and lot more lows.
But through the course of the year have grown tremendously both personally and professionally.
One problem that we faced during the journey was the lack of actionable insights specific to out situation and role models who were one step up the ladder. Hence in this post I wanted to list down my list of top 10 items that one should take care of before taking the plunge.
- Invest in hardware. Most of us rely on the laptops / printers etc provided by our employers both for personal and professional use. Things are going to change once you’re on your own, hence save up and invest in good hardware.
- Cash is the king. Plan your cash flows well in advance and don’t hesitate in taking up consulting assignments to get your cash flows going.
- Be relentless in your pursuit for the elusive product market fit and don’t try to fake it.
- Sell before it is built. Don’t wait for the product to be ready to get user feedback. Speak to as many users as and get their inputs to iterate along the way.
- Don’t assume investment is going to come right away. May be you’ll raise money in 3 months may be it will take 3 years, either ways don’t be dependent on it. Try to keep the burn at a minimum and generate cash flows.
- Don’t chase investors, instead let them chase you. Focus on users first and build for them. A lot of investors including us wasted a lot of time chasing and pitching to investors, time that could be much better utilized in honing the business.
- Never underestimate the power of your partner ecosystem. Hunt for the right partners for your business, some one in the same space with objectives aligning to yours. That way you would be able to develop your business faster.
Even though it’s been a year the journey is just getting started and I hope to share insights along the way.
