Intuitions are priceless!!
Perfect business idea, Perfect business plan, Perfect management team (skill sets), Perfect execution skills, Perfect market conditions, Perfect financial support – tons of “Perfect” together at one place, yet a failed enterprise. Wondering why? Do you think lot of big companies or big ideas, with tons of business experts at their disposal that fail, are not worthy of being the successful ones – who knows? since they never reached the point of success and speak out and in this world only success speaks and defines the rules. People might try to justify one reason or the other for the failure, and no one would know for sure whether that piece of “Perfect” would have saved the company.
I believe that this list is endless and can add up to lots of Top 10 or Top 100 lists posted by many great leaders – yet when it comes to the falling enterprise at present, we add up one more concept to the current list. May be that is called “evolution of science”. But with this concept may be King Akbar would have never been a great King to rule the country many centuries ago. What I truly believe is that every entrepreneur is gifted with a power of intuition, very much like Lata Mangeshkar is gifted with a magical voice.
We just don’t realize the power of Intuition. Lot of times, important decisions are taken by thought leaders based on mere intuition, and that differentiates successes from failures. This might sound common sense to some and bullshit to others, but at lot of places innovation is curbed, and a lot of emphasis is given to procedures (may be it is correct for the employees to follow it), but if the same is followed at the management level then you are slowly drifting towards failure.
Successful companies are run by true leaders or consultants who are gifted with the power of intuition and they truly believe in their powers. They take a note of their intuitive inner voice while making any decision and destiny leads them to the true path.
Ignoring guidance from intuitions won’t take you anywhere since it will come back as a lesson – it is some thing we are gifted with – Intuition
Dreams Fire Startups Engine!!
Startups are often projected as harsh battle fields where real hardships are part of everyday life, savings evaporate to zero and turn into huge debts, where there is no margin of error and decisions are often based purely on gut feelings. Does it frighten you? May be it’s true for most of the startups. Well some people get excited by all this uncertainty. Really?? Naah! every one wants stability in life but on different terms, consciously or subconsciously.
Assume being in startup as flying a jet plane. If I start describing how a jet plane works and the scenarios that can come up then we might think that none of us can do it. But, hey! when you are in there, it goes with the flow.
Interestingly, the same is true when you are in a startup. It’s a very different experience. There is nothing like describing the real scenario from the periphery. Just take a test drive and you will know the rules of the game. In reality, there is always a bigger goal which keeps the startup team moving. There is always a dream which keeps the flame burning in the hearts.
If God shows up some day and say that you won’t ever be successful in startup, then most of the entrepreneurs won’t like the hardships of startups. No matter how exciting they sound. Since this is an imaginative scenario hence more than half of the entrepreneurs might refute this conclusion. Anyways, the bottom line is that the purpose of being in a startup is very different; it’s like achieving stability in life at your own terms.
Travel the less traveled road for more fun and anxiety. Well, we have just got one lives!!
Preserve company vision during tough times
Most of you who visit my blog are either entrepreneurs or are interested in being part of the startup ecosystem. With this blog post, what I have tried to share is a philosophy that, I believe, differentiates start-ups from one another in a long run.
Every start-up team today starts with a business plan – company vision, mission, problem, solution, revenue projections and how the team plans to tap in the market opportunity. In most of the cases, the business plan changes a lot as startup proceeds and meets the real world. A lot of valuable inputs come from the side of customers, investors and advisors.
Startups face lot of challenges everyday and most of the bandwidth of the management team is taken up in solving these issues. Important tasks, like product roll-out strategy, investor relations, marketing & sales strategy, become the focus of the team. What gets lost in the middle of all these tasks is the vision of the company… the team becomes result oriented, starts focusing on revenues and new business laterals than ensuring that the decisions being taken are in synergy with the vision and philosophy of the company.
At times, when the startup is money crunched, the management team takes detours or takes up tasks which have nothing to do with the vision of the company. Though nothing is wrong in taking the detours while the startup is money crunched, but it is extremely important that the management team gives a serious thought to the problem. At times like these, a quick help can come from the panel of advisors and mentors.
A visionary start-up would know the value of a good advisor panel who could help the management team in preserving the vision of the company. A good mentor ensures that the bigger picture of the company is preserved during tough times. But only being visionary doesn’t help in protecting the company vision, it also requires lot of strength and character, as at times, the team needs to fight against challenges of real world like saying ‘No’ to quick money or project that doesn’t gel with the company philosophy. I guess that’s where the character of a start-up team is tested.
I believe that a start-up is only as good as its team and advisors, and the team can only progress towards excellence if the team is clear about the vision of the company. While there are many factors which make a company successful in a long run, I believe having a clear company vision and preserving it can move a start-up from the list of good start-ups to the list of excellent start-ups.
This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta
Saurabh Gupta
Saurabh Gupta is based out of Mumbai, India. He runs his own service company in road transportation sector.
Startups in India 