Investing and Entrepreneurship
This is not a sermon on the technical advantage of some stocks over others or investment advice derived from my conversations with Analysts.
This is about the relationship between Investing and Entrepreneurship.
If you invest in the equity markets, and if you take some degree of risks with the small caps, then many stocks in your portfolio might be currently down by 30–40% right? Every investor in these asset class must be disappointed right? Everyone regrets investing in equities right now. Ask yourself how you feel about the current situation, and hold that thought.
Your portfolio did give 15% plus returns annually sometime did it not? Your startup idea did seem valid at some point did it not? What is responsible for this change in us that makes us feel scared. That makes us want to quit. That makes us regret trying to do better. It’s not the markets or external conditions. It’s us.
Buy at low and Sell at high. Didn’t we start out with this? Is this not the rule we think we follow? Why are we contradicting ourselves now? I have seen people preach this rule, yet sell out at a loss when the markets are at a low, and buy their heart out when the markets are high! Fear and Greed both must be conquered to do either of investing or entrepreneurship.
The analogy across Stocks and Entrepreneurship is thus quite simple -
Grind harder when it is tough. Put more effort into it when things look bad, rather than thinking of quitting. It’s easy to get swayed and lose focus once things go South but remember this. Keep your fundamentals stable and do your due diligence. If the fundamentals don’t change, your conviction shouldn’t.
As an Entrepreneur, I do feel scared of the consequences when things don’t go as planned. When I am unable to see the light at the end of the tunnel. When nothing seems to agree with me. But I try to take inspiration from the multitude of people who have “Been there. Done that.” and If there is one thing we all can learn from them it’s this -Discipline.
If Elon Musk had backed out after any of his 5 odd rocket explosions, then we could all have kissed the Falcon Heavy goodbye.
If Edison had quit after any of the 1000 times that he failed at building the first light bulb, then we would have been set back by decades or centuries.
If Albert Einstein had given up on life after being expelled from school then Physics would look very different to us today.
What is common between all of them? They kept running when it was difficult to walk. They imagined a light at the end of the tunnel, when there seemed none.
So as I grind for my Entrepreneurial dreams, I will try to remember, that the night is darkest before the dawn. So lets work so hard, that dawn finds us smiling and victorious.
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