“If you do not see light at the end of the tunnel, consider it an opportunity to create an opening yourself, wherever you want.” — Ashok Kallarakkal. Photo by Nabil Rama.

Why Should You Become An Entrepreneur?

From a millennial entrepreneur who is shaping the future of work

Ravi Vadrevu
Aug 25, 2017 · 8 min read

Backstory

Three years ago I quit my cushy full-time job after the company I worked for was acquired. The acquisition came with a healthy payout, so I started pursuing my passion for building a business, with my then business partner.

The Big Idea

We wanted to build an employment platform for millennials that would rival LinkedIn. We believed that the LinkedIn recruiting process was clunky and old-fashioned. Millennials, we argued, wanted a much slicker process to landing their dream jobs.

The whole process quickly flashed like a movie reel in my mind:

  1. You have a flash of inspiration about a business;
  2. You custom develop it while working on the side to cover your expenses;
  3. You raise funds to enable recruiting the best talent;
  4. You perform experiments to test the market;
  5. If the results are good, you repeat #1;
  6. If the results are bad, you cut the burn;
  7. You lay off the employees and repeat #1.

The Second Big Idea

One of the profound realizations I had in building my first business was that the startup recruiting process is broken.

Entrepreneurs basically have two models: Push or Pull. You can either:

  • Push your job specification out to freelancer platforms and wait for a deluge of sub-standard responses from people with questionable skills, which you then have to wade through and make a decision, or;
  • Pull interested candidates into your company using either traditional recruitment agencies or job boards.

Workforce As A Service

Fast-forward a year and we’ve built an AI platform, Workforce As A Servicewith 350+ remote workers like Vibol getting projects in real-time from companies large and small.

What’s Next?

After polling our customer base recently and chewing through their feedback, we’ve realized that we have to design a new system that would work inside out effectively.

These are the two avenues we’re building to support the future of work:

Trunks is where companies can instantly hire pre-vetted knowledge workers on-demand per project.

Linear Organization Structure

The Real Reason

Given the uncertain nature of the success or failure of any experiment, entrepreneurship pushes you to face many different situations in life, most of which can’t be anticipated.

Entrepreneurship is a commitment to autodidacticism. An autodidact is immune to replacement by automation and artificial intelligence.

Let’s face it: whether we’re comfortable with it or not, tech and automation developments are going to slash work forces across the globe — both blue collar and white collar.

The experts all have no doubt about this, and so you have a choice: become a statistic or become an entrepreneur.

What does autodidacticism have to do with entrepreneurship?
An autodidact is someone who commits to life-long self learning. Our education systems are all broken and what is taught today is out of date tomorrow in a VUCA world.

Some of the ups and downs we came across during our company:

  1. Your idea is not venture fundable — This is when we started out, we didn’t have any AI.
  2. “I love how easy it is to meet someone who’s ready to work” after receiving an offer from Adam Draper for BoostVC tribe 9. That’s the only money we’ve ever raised. And we are fundraising from the community.
  3. “It’s a bad idea”- not owning talent in house is such a bad idea that no VC would ever write you a check.
  4. “I would love to invest” — One of our first customers verbal committed 150K USD without asking a single question.
  5. “You should go back to workforce”- One of my friends looking at the uncertain times.
  6. “I will help everyone become an entrepreneur”- birth of Leo

That’s why you should become an entrepreneur — to learn about life and become a better person.

Startup Grind

The life, work, and tactics of entrepreneurs around the world. Welcoming submissions on technology trends, product design, growth strategies, and venture investing. Learn more about how you can get involved at startupgrind.com.

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Ravi Vadrevu

Written by

Entrepreneur at Kriya.AI

Startup Grind

The life, work, and tactics of entrepreneurs around the world. Welcoming submissions on technology trends, product design, growth strategies, and venture investing. Learn more about how you can get involved at startupgrind.com.

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