Millennials: The Most Entrepreneurial Generation
Being an Indian kid, surrounded by generations of entrepreneurs, this is honestly not something I ever consciously thought about. Entrepreneurship courses and B-School degrees as steps to reach the entrepreneurial dream don’t quite sit well with me. A classroom can teach the ABC but the real world applications are challenging, evolving and need quick adaptable thinkers. It was always vision, strategy and primarily instinct that lead successful entrepreneurs around me.
I’m a Marwari, a cultural group, defined by their businesses and wealth. It is a traditionally wealthy community, building and expanding as each generation of entrepreneurs prepares their kin to take up their business and start their own ventures. Entrepreneurship and business management is considered to be learnt best on ground, adapting and improvising to solve arising problems, capitalising on available opportunity and patiently working hard every day to achieve goals.
In the podcast, Millennial Things, entrepreneur Alok Rathod says that patience and hard work are the two things that can make any entrepreneur successful. Working hard with a patient and evolving long term plan is his mantra for success. He believes that it’s important to develop and test your product in the market before you finalise it. He emphasises on understanding the market before over investing time and resources.
There are are some steps that one must know to be able to build a company that can easily be learnt using online resources if the entrepreneur is dedicated to the process. The basics of how to raise funds, build a team, expand an idea to a vision can be simplified by instructions and guidance. If you’re on your entrepreneurial journey and feel that individual learning is too cumbersome and prefer the B-School path. That’s great too. You can build a network and get a jump start on your company. However, it will definitely set you back by a few thousand dollars, so that’s a trade off you’ve got to make.
Why be an entrepreneur at all? Post a B-School degree you can take a job that garuntees you a steady income, can maintain your lifestyles and payback student loans. Entrepreneurship is the route for the creative rebels who just can’t wait to tell their story, the red tape in big organisations can be a huge off setter for them. They have a more hands on approach, want quick impact and explore their ideas freely. The unrestricted minds who want to make the world a better place and become rich in the process, find a way.
Hear the journeys of three millennials on their own entrepreneurial journeys in the big city, New York. Learn the dos and dont’s of making it big and hear their adventures to inspire yourself. Trust me you can do it too, listen to Millenial Things to find out how!
