Startup Life - My Dos and Don'ts

This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta


Its been quite a ride since I decided to work full time with WKI Solutions in May 2009. I was working with ZS Associates before that and had to make a decision between settled NYC life in near future or struggler's life in start-up and I chose the later one (since you are reading the blog you must know the reason why). Few things that I have learned from my experience and I hope would help people jumping from a well settled job life to startup life:

• Do check out the team potential - Team is every thing for a successful venture and you can only fight limited battles in life, hence validating team strength is a must 
• Do some primary research about the idea - It's not cool at all to re-invent the wheel, hence it's worth checking out the market for the idea
• Do continue focusing on social-networking - It's friends & family who help you during the tough times, hence social circle helps a lot in making you succeed in start-up world
• Don't over-heat yourself - Things in the outer world have a tendency to run at a slower than expected pace, so over-heating is not an option for start-ups
• Don't plan a lot - Nothing rolls out the way they are planned initially, so don't get demoralized by feedbacks and changes. Remember "Rome was not built in a day"

And here's an insider tip:

• Financial planning for some extra time - Things around have a hidden tendency to test you when you jump in for a start-up, so keep some extra bucks in bank for these rough patches

These are some of my dos and don'ts that might help you make the move. I have moved to Mumbai and would love to catch up for any help. Thanks for your time and feedback.