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4 misconceptions that can kill your startup
One big mistake that people do when they start a startup with a friend is they split the company into 50:50, which is a terrible idea. In such case, there is nobody who is a primary and final decision maker and when any misalignment happens, there is no one who can be termed as a decision maker and who has the right to control the situation. Such a situation is difficult to overcome, and the compa
Don't assume that all ideas are good ideas and that in a startup, you will only get to work on what you are passionate about, says Shabnam Aggarwal, founder-CEO of Kleverkid.in
Diksha Gupta, TechGig.com
The Indian startup space is getting hotter but many ventures are also failing to survive. Startups generally die due to lack of funds, but that is not the only reason. Another major reason is that many startups are formed with misconceptions. Only those who can overcome these are able to survive. But how do you dispel these misconceptions and help your startup grow?
TechGig.com asked Shabnam Aggarwal, founder and CEO of Kleverkid.in, a portal that helps parents find afterschool activities, tutors or coaches for their children, to list out some common misconceptions about starting new ventures.
Founded on 2014, her startup has survived the teething period and managed to secure adequate funding in angel seed round and bridge round, with Mohandas Pai as one of the investors.
According to Shabnam, here are some misconceptions new entrepreneurs must avoid:
1. All ideas are good ideas: A lot of us who are entrepreneurial in nature, and read in papers about the kind of exciting lifestyle an entrepreneur lives tend to take any random idea and think we can live our rest of life with that. A lot of entrepreneurs don't do enough homework on ideas. Not all ideas are good ideas. It is important to do the homework, look at the competition and understand what expertise you can bring to the table, and make sure you have something that is unique, that nobody else could think about. You have to connect the two dots that nobody can connect and build something amazing out of that.
2. Entrepreneur's life is fun and games: It is actually the opposite. The life of an entrepreneur is really difficult and painful. You have to go through a lot of rejection. People generally don't have that kind of a mindset to face such rejection, until they start a company, because generally we are all educated in the way we can do everything and everything in life is awesome. And then when you start a company, you hear a 'no' from everywhere. It is an emotionally exhausting as well as tiring.
3. With startups, you work on what you are passionate about: This is a big misconception. I started this business because I am passionate about children and education and I feel that there is a huge disruption and change that needs to come in the education system. But if I were to tell the number of hours that I actually get to spend, either with kids or working on the education front, it is actually a teeny-tiny per cent of what I am actually working on, on a day-to-day basis.
What I actually do is dealing with legal stuff, dealing with fund-raising and investors, dealing with accounts, dealing with hiring, dealing with management, et al. As an entrepreneur, one is involved in a lot of other stuff and the misconception is that he/she will be able to focus on something that he/she is really passionate about, and the scenario could continue the same for the next many years.
An entrepreneur is usually focused on activities that are involved in growing of the business. So, now the situation is that I can be put in a completely different sector and I may end up doing a lot of similar stuff. And that is the reality. However, the passion bit drives me and I still want to bring that change.
4. You can build startups with your buddies: People tend to think that they with be in a comfortable zone if they can start up a venture with their best friends and they can be working together for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, it is just a handful of people who start and maintain the companies with their best friend.
Typically, startups come when people are in their twenties, and life changes drastically between 25-35 years with respect to personal lives. People get married, have kids, want to build their houses and all of this brings changes and splits in the startups and people don't really expect that. There are times when a company is stuck in between the two people battling. And then they end-up losing on their concept of coming together as well.
One big mistake that people do when they start a startup with a friend is they split the company into 50:50, which is a terrible idea. In such case, there is nobody who is a primary and final decision maker and when any misalignment happens, there is no one who can be termed as a decision maker and who has the right to control the situation. Such a situation is difficult to overcome, and the company ends up dying. So it is important to decide as to who will be the decision maker and who will take the final decisions.
Source: www.techgig.com
