By Amit Grover:
One out of 7 days in a week, I feel like giving up my entrepreneurial journey! There are challenges, failures and commercial setbacks on one side and then on the other side is the lure of a lucrative job, other people making it big and comfort of spending time with family. Is it now — no, this has been going on from the day I launched my startup, when I was a ‘baby entrepreneur’! So why am I sharing this — I want to discover ways to keep a startup motivated, make a difference to your startup and learn for myself in the process.
1. Keep executing but do not forget to plan
I have come across several startups, which were so bent on execution that they forgot to plan way forward. Somewhere down the line, you have to sit back and take note of what is working (scale up fast) and what is not working (give up fast). Give about 100 days for anything to take shape, and put your soul and heart to it for that time, but after that leave it as if you were a tourist!
2. Spend time in training — yourself as well as your team
At Nurture Talent, we spend a lot of time ‘sharpening the axe’ — collecting information for startups, updating about new schemes/techniques, new venture ideas/opportunities, gaps of aspiring students and professionals and visiting networking events/meets. This may take about 70-80% of our time. But it’s a very important part of our business, so we see it as an investment. Training is not only for team members, it is also for the owner of the venture. So invest some money into yourself — go out and learn new skills of finance, marketing etc.
3. Remember why you started up
If you wanted to be an entrepreneur, stick to it. If your venture is not doing well, try new things. If things do not improve, then become a co-founder of another venture. Always remember why you started up — were you pushed or pulled into entrepreneurship? Once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur!
4. Share your experiences with people you trust
If you are not doing well, no point in fooling yourself by writing on Facebook, “had a successful launch of a new product”. Go out and meet your mentors, share your problems and seek solutions. The problem may not get solved asap or you may not work on the advice, but Arjun will never lose by speaking to Krishna. Try someone in your family or your business network, whosoever you trust.
5. 1% extra is all that is required to win
Entrepreneurship is about giving that 1% extra — a little word here, a small effort there! Make a call to your customer you met 1 year back. Make someone awesomely happy with your service or products!
What does not work is reading about others success stories, spending time on Facebook etc.
Please add your views to this list, and make others happy.
Amit Grover is an individual with passion about entrepreneurship. He is the CEO and Founder of Nurture Talent Academy– India’s 1st training institute for entrepreneurs. He is an IIT Delhi and IIM Indore graduate and has previously worked with renowned companies like Infosys, Asian Paints and Onida. He is also a part of Mumbai Angels, a not for profit organization of angel investors and actively helps with funding and mentoring early stage companies. He has been invited in the past as mentor, judge, panelist, speaker at leading institutes like IIM Ahemdabad, IIM Kolkata, IIT Bombay, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Delhi, NITIE — Mumbai, NMIMS — Mumbai, DY Patil — Mumbai, SIES College — Mumbai, IPS Academy — Indore, Proton Business School — Indore, Chetana College – Mumbai and Atharva College — Mumbai.