Ashwin Upadhyaya's Blog

I was just cleaning up my website and found something I had written a long time back and stored in the drafts section. Although things have changed a lot for me, the points below seemed very relevant. Points are kind of myth-busters.

1. An idea is the most important part while starting a business – A completely wrong notion. In fact, anything you start can be a good business provided you are really good at the execution level. Suppose you still want to spend time finding an idea, go ahead but simultaneously start a very small business probably with one customer at a time and you will learn a lot of things that will be useful later.
2. Equities and shares for investors decided at the beginning – One of the most tiresome and time consuming activities which can be completely avoided at the start. When you are starting a business for the first time, nothing is really clear about the cashflow, return on investment or breakeven period. Being first-timers, you tend to over-estimate your capabilities and under-estimate resource requirements. At this stage, it is always better to live with either your own cash or with debt from friends and family. Keep the equities for later.
3. We’ll get 100 raw materials of item ‘x’ from company ‘a’ to start with and then ramp up our production as we add more customers – Suppliers do not work that way in most of the cases. They usually have minimum order requirements. i.e company ‘a’ will not be willing to supply you anything less than 500 items. The result is that the cash you have will not be enough now or you will have to hunt for a supplier who meets your needs. Either your working capital is depleted or your time is depleted. So, think whether manufacturing is really possible at the place where you live.
4. Exterior design of the product is very important to attract customers – This may not be true for all products. Design may be important for apple products but may not really be necessary for a power adapter. Size may be the only criteria for customers in this case. So, don’t think too much on the design part. Focus on may be sales strategies and customer service instead. Design can be improved later on.
5. Demand for this product is very high and there are no good quality products in the market, so we must get into this business – Big mistake. Sometimes people are happy with the kind of products available in the market, even if they are bad. Even if you provide a better product, people wouldn’t be very sure of its quality as the bad products have already installed a level of skepticism in them. Of course, better products will stand out and slowly change customer mindset. However, a startup’s first requirement is cashflow and not ‘bringing about change’. So, understand your customer and what he wants before you think of providing him with a high quality product.

* THIS POST IS JUST ABOUT ME.

*ENLEN, THE COMPANY I CO-STARTED IS RUNNING WELL AND I STILL GET UPDATES FROM THE OTHER 2 FOUNDERS OF THE COMPANY. ONLY I AM NOT PART OF IT ANYMORE.

109 days is the time since I last blogged. I started blogging when I took the entrepreneurial path but it was not deliberate. I needed an outlet to talk about the difference in life outside the cubicle and blogging served me well. The pride of walking through uncharted territory, the childhood like freedom, the slow realization that money and status are over-valued, admiration from a few and equal disapproval from a few others, the small mistakes and the joy of learning from them, learning to live with little money and still getting things done, being optimistic in spite of all odds; everything was something I needed to share with the world.

And now, all of that is past. I am back where I was before I started. I no more plant trees. I no more work towards bettering the state of our planet. I no more talk business. I am no more a change agent. I no more am an entrepreneur.

Why did I quit? Typical pressures that most startuppers face. Societal, parental, monetary pressures. My best friends didn’t think I would break under pressure. But I did break. More than everything else, somewhere along the line, I lost sight of the purpose for which I really had started out. Now, I  am just looking for a little bit of peace. I don’t want to think about money, I don’t want any more of the ‘where are you headed?’ question. Working for someone else seemed a good option now.

Working for others has a unique character. I can now work for 12 hours straight with full dedication, come back home and forget the office entirely until the next morning. I can just do one thing at a time. Sometimes, monotonicity feels better. It is just a change in perspective that is required. In my earlier avatar as employee, I used to think about salary hikes, leaves, working hours and office politics. Now, all I think is whether I am doing a good job or not. Instead of thinking about tomorrow, I am just trying to live in the present. To just do my job and do it well.

Most of my friends ask me; whether I’ll start something again? Ever? My answer is; I’ll fix myself first. Then I’ll think about fixing the world. I don’t feel ready yet.

One of my entrepreneur friends, Vinay once told me “Earlier, your boss used to screw you. Now when you are an entrepreneur, the whole world wants to screw you.”

The customer wants to buy at a cheaper price than you can manufacture. The government wants to stack all its policies against you. The investor wants all the returns in the world. So what do you do?

Right now, all I know is to just stay on course and see through the journey.