The culture of faith 

Let money not replace that faith

A big part of the culture in which we do things needs to be countered, so that the way we do things can change. That will lead to more change. Hopefully for the better.

So building a mere product is not enough. Building a company that lasts is more important. The company can last if it’s culture can last. I admire Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and Larry Page, for the way they countered the culture, in the process, creating their own culture, that was the manifestation of their own individuality, their own unique self. That culture helped them build the most admired companies of our times, Apple, Tesla and Google. This act of countering the culture according to me was the starting ground for those companies, as we know today. To counter a culture takes a lot more than just writing some codes.

The root of the company I am building lies in the act of countering the way startups are built in India. The biggest element in that act of building a startup is faith in one another, which I see is getting replaced by funding. Bascially, everyone is wiling to take short cuts by creating a quick fix MVP, raise money to pay team to buy their faith. That is not the highest struggle for the highest kind of leadership. The highest leadership is that in which people join you for your voice not your money.

Imagine if the early teams that help build a company were willing to build that company solely for the mission of the company and not for the money that company was paying them. When companies, are built like that, the stages in which the MVP of that company is created, requires just the togetherness of the founding team, not money, not contracts, not even an office space. Soon after that realisation, every aspiring entrepreneur may find themselves rich enough.

Such is how, I am building my company. We are 2 years old, a 12+ people team, 2 startups and 2 other MVPs ready, and no cash burnt. My company is called Preseed. It is on a mission to empower those who have the will to do out of the ordinary, regardless of the material resourcess them or I have in hand.

If my company reaches a scale, it would have imparted this counter culture in many aspiring Indian Entrepreneurs, of no early salaries till the product succeeds, no contract, no office, only undying faith in one another.

I write and curate a lot about this mission and it’s values on Preseed Media Network. Using the ideology indicated in this note, I also attempt to co create through Preseed Web Lab and Preseed Anything Lab. I hope one day my voice is heard by many to bring about this culutural change in them, to bring them back to the roots of humanity, when one was willing to trust another. When one was willing to empower enother. When one was willing to acknowledge that we are all connected. When one knew the purpose of living is not just to get too rich by collecting monies, the purpose was higher, that could only be achieved with absolute harmony. May such be the character defining I and Preseed.

It is for this reason Preseed will not raise money. However, Preseed startups can raise money as and when they deem fit, but Preseed is a culture based on faith in the power of one another, not the money of an outsider. If we can scale Preseed into a billion dollar company without having to raise money for building it, we would have a large felt impact, that which would go beyond the startups Preseed would create. I am willing to stay odd, to see this coming true.