Saturday, December 5, 2009

Entrepreneurial life

Well, these days I'm in process of starting my own company and certainly some days are better than other. Some days are exciting(usually the ones with any miniscule development, either positive or negative) like getting a positive mail from prospective tech transfer company or getting a letter of intent from a client/customer or getting mail from advisors on future potential strategy or meeting and trying to convince a new customer about the benefits of our technology or updates on company registration process etc etc. But rather most days are boring. Like one day, when you send a set of mails and 9 out of 10 don't even acknowledge the mail. The one or two who reply do so after a week and they say they need a week to think over it and will reply by next week. Or when you call somebody and they ask you to call them tomorrow or next week just because they're busy or don't return your calls. Or when you need to meet some important person, they say "how about next week?". I'm through with much of my planning stage and am currently implementing the idea. So I can't use much of my free time.


Then there are some obvious problems of money. Why only money, I'm an entrepreneur who started with no money, no technology, no contacts and no experience. Sounds perfect! Well, in some sense it is. It gives you a clean board to start off with but it has got its fair share of problems. For the tech transfer that I'm looking forward to, I might need to travel to Norway for technology demonstrations and negotiations, which will require money. I will need to hire a decent lawyer which will require money. I will need to pay to my advisors or pay for my trips in India alongwith food and lodging bills, which all will cost money. And frankly, I don't feel comfortable in asking money from family. Its just not me. My sister recently got married, which may also be a reason. But the point is I've got fewer options than I would like to have.

That matter aside, I sometimes feel that am I missing something. I'm not having as much fun as I would want to have. My friends have more fun than me, basically just because they have more dispensible income and more friends from work, which I don't. But then, when I think about the future and my dreams, about setting up an international conglomerate, about creating a name, leaving behind a legacy and generate enormous wealth, i think its a much small price that I have to pay. If I want all that, I NEED to do all this and do it now, not tomorrow,not next year and so far I enjoy it. Well, my father didn't try to break this mould from being a simple middle class man to being an entrepreneur and create wealth for which you need a certain sustained momentum over a period of time to move on to a higher orbital, i will do it. You know, otherwise also I feel taking the decision of entrepreneurship was a good choice. Just yesterday, I was shocked to know the sad demise of the youngest CEO of India due to cardiac arrest due to lack of sleep(as suggested, making no claims). He was heading SAP India and was bright and smart and handled all the load and dirty hard chaotic work for the company while its founders must be sailing somewhere on a tropical island. Well, its true. Even if you're very smart, lucky enough to be recruited in a top organisation like Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, Reliance or McKinsey, you'll no doubt work your ass off to get to the top and if you reach there, your life will only get more chaotic and stressful. And while you'll be travelling to meet customers the world over, your wife will be getting humped by a younger man at home, for whom she will leave you later. If you don't become sucessfull at en-ship , okay. Atleast you'll know you gave it a fair shot and be at peace with yourself.

But all these uncertainities is what makes this journey all the more adventourous with a few spells of boredness. I have to learn to deal with uncertainities and make decisions faster and better with limited information. I've started when I'm 22 and I feel it is a pretty good decision. I have a lot of time to experiment and learn. One of our advisors has recently showed interest in joining fulltime as CEO. This person, whom I respect very much, has 4 decades of experience in the power business and knows the thing inside out. If I work alongwith him, I'll have the unique opportunity to learn from a person much senior than me and gain that upper management wisdom which my friends at other companies are devoid of. Simultaneously, with this tech transfer deal, two european directors will come on board, which is again good for me. I can learn their best practises and know how to deal in international business which again is a big advantage for a person my age.

People from the "lucky sperm club" like Mukesh/Anil Ambani or Siddharth Mallya or Aditya Birla, who entered such an environment at much the same age, created by their fathers and forefathers to train them to take the baton helped them hone their business skills. Well, if I can pull my deals off, I would've created that environment for myself. Success or failure is a matter of time. You stick long enough, you're innovative and work smart, Success will be at your feet!!!