sample copy. not for distribution."legendary arc reactor". similarly, a start-up which...

Sample Copy. Not For Distribution.

i

Startup 6th Sense


ii

Publishing-in-support-of,

EDUCREATION PUBLISHING

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Shubham Vihar, Mangla, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh - 495001

Website: www.educreation.in __________________________________________________

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ISBN: 978-1-61813-465-3

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Printed in India


iii

Startup 6th Sense Knowing is always better than guessing

and when it comes to start-ups an extra sense

may come in handy

By

Sourabh Das

EDUCREATION PUBLISHING (Since 2011)

www.educreation.in


iv


v

Preface This book is nothing but the collection of lessons

learnt by sustaining the hardships of life while

attempting a start-up, and if you are expecting

something groundbreaking in terms of tricks and

methods for a successful start-up career, then this

book is not for you.

However, if you are looking forward to get an

insight into the hardships faced by first timers and

first-generation entrepreneurs with no family

background in business and you have doubts about

your future course of action regarding starting up,

then this book might do the trick.

In short, this book details the day-to-day

challenges an entrepreneur faces and the traps

which he or she may encounter in the path to

success.Therefore, the book discusses more about

the traps and less about the opportunities you may

face or encounter while pursuing your dream of

becoming a successful entrepreneur.

There are thousands of books on management

strategies and personality building written by very

highly rated authors, but only few will tell you the

hard hitting realities about the business world and

that is where this book bridges the gap.

Now, imagine reading a huge book with 400

odd pages filled with all sorts of management


vi

jargons, and then try applying its learning into your

real life.

I would like to say “good luck” with that, and

however let’s imagine you having a little book with

an exhaustive list of traps (“yes” traps) which you

are likely to face, or in other words, a list of

mistakes which you are likely to commit in the near

future regarding your business plan and the

resulting venture;

Which sounds better?

Now You Can Read This Book In Two Ways:

One is to read it like a book critic

This is to say that make an effort to find out the

shortcomings of the points listed in the book which

will help you register the points in your mind for a

longer period of time, and they will strike you

whenever you encounter them in real life.

Or

You may have a thought of not regarding it as a

book but a diary written by you from the future that

has fallen through a wormhole into your lap and the

“future you” has listed his mistakes one after

another.

Now, won’t you like to read your own diary

from the future?

“I think you will do.”

*****


vii

How to use the book

Don’t wish for the reinforcement of your own ideas

and conjectures which may or may not match with

this book’s philosophy.

But,

I can assure you one thing that when you will

really start experiencing tricky situations in your

life as an entrepreneur, this book will come in

handy.

The book has been designed in point wise

format in such a way that you may read any topic or

point at any given point of time and still the

statement’s veracity or its authenticity will not get

diluted.

So topic “38” is an independent commentary in

itself, and its applicability will not be hindered if

you haven’t read the point preceding it.

There are several bullet points without much

explanation but that is because they are just the

traps or situations which you may encounter

without being warned in the real world, and these

traps are waiting for you and if you ever plan to

embark on this journey of setting up your own

business, this book will serve the job of a GPS

which will spot some of the most common but

venomous traps that you are likely to encounter in

your way of accomplishing dreams.

*****


viii


ix

Content List

S.no. Content Page no.

Preface v

How to use the book vii

1. Introduction 1

2. Starting Up? 5

3. Questions A Person Should

Ask To Himself Before

Taking The Plunge

11

4. Chronology of

entrepreneurships and its

significance in determining

the future

50

*****


x


Startup 6th Sense

1

__________________________________________

Introduction

“This is not a book but a GPS which locates the

traps that are waiting for you in the path leading to

a successful start-up.”

Observing the situation and waiting for the right

moment will go a long way in your quest for a

successful start-up career.

Psychological clues and symptoms of

succeeding in a start-up are as follows:

1. Being able to control the urge to speak up your

mind: sometimes being truthful and expressing

how you really feel may negatively impact your

business prospects.

2. Controlling the urge to surrender and start

afresh without completing the things at hand.

3. Understanding and realizing whom to explain

and whom you cannot.

4. Ignoring people’s inability to understand your

ideas (start-up or otherwise)

1


Sourabh Das

2

5. Avoid paying any botheration to other’s views

or being defensive about explaining your start-

up idea or plan to others (friends or family and

random people), because they will find fault in it

and you will be demoralized even before you

line up on the starting line or in a vice-versa

scenario, but on the contrary, if they praise you

too much you might speed up your start-up

plans with over excitement, which may result

into committing an unforced error just like a

tennis player with three or more match points

often commits in a tennis match.

People tend to think that their idea or

business model will make them an instant

champion of the field which is untrue to the point

that very few ideas actually tend to represent the

wider opinion of the people (in this case, your

potential clients) as you will agree with me that

ideas in our mind depend on what we perceive of

the world and not what it actually is.

Like in case of film directors making worthless

movies with utmost faith in their talent without the

slightest hint of what is waiting for them on the box

office.

Similarly, a counter point can be made that

great film directors with reputation can walk free

even with a pointless high decibel action blunders

but that is because their reputation has reached a

level from where their perception influences ours


Startup 6th Sense

3

more than ours does to his perception and not a vice

versa which is the case in our situation when we

first start something new.

A more surprising point to be noted is that

the best ideas are never the out of the box ideas at

all but improvisations and innovations in order to

overcome an obstacle.

A very good example is the invention of

airplane by Wright Brothers in 1903 which is an

out-of-the-box idea from any stretch of our

imagination, but few of us realize that people have

been trying this for ages and the concept was well

known before they were even born, and the most

important point is that they actually built the aircraft

based upon the works of Sir George Cayley.

In this entire episode, the most important thing

to learn is that there are no out-of-the-box ideas

which work in the longer run, but seriously thought

over string of ideas which when fall in place at the

right time of the history results into scientific or

technological breakthroughs.

Therefore, a wise and sensible way to

innovate and discover fruitful ideas is to observe

the surroundings (in this case, market demands and

gaps in the product lines available) and improvise

on what’s available, and someday, while you will be

dreaming about something unrelated but your

subconscious mind will be drawn towards the

incomplete innovation and something will strike in


Sourabh Das

4

your mind, and at that, moment you will see that

perfect innovation which world may someday

recognize as an invention and may consider you a

true genius.

And what does this process if done deliberately

is called?

Lucid dreaming

*****


Startup 6th Sense

5

__________________________________________

Starting Up?

There were days when people dreamt of becoming

"the next Bill Gates or Steve jobs", but then the

internet start-ups came and everything changed.

Earlier start-ups meant starting a brick and

mortar business built over a new technological,

market or social innovation, but nowadays, internet

start-ups have taken their place which are much

easier to start but at the same time much more prone

to "end-ups" as well.

One more intriguing point is that today too

many start-ups depend upon borrowed ideas from

the net which is otherwise fine until unless you start

typing... "New ideas for start-ups" on the Google

search bar.

A start-up which is inspired from a start-up

doing well is bound to fail because you might end

up following a mirage.

But why?

2


Sourabh Das

6

Simply because so many people in the world

are thinking about the same thing at the same time

that whenever you will try to emulate a particular

start-up or a internet business model; it’s most

likely that you are already a part of a queue (which

is to copy the successful model) which will lead you

to nowhere.

If a start-up idea is not fuelled from within and

as a result of the surrounding environment

(including your online life), it is bound to fail just

like an Iron Man suit will fail without the

"legendary Arc reactor".

Similarly, a start-up which doesn't have its own

"Arc reactor" is bound to end up being a heap of

scrap similar to what could happen to an Iron Man

suit without the energy source.

Therefore, a great start-up will always have its

own "Arc reactor" no matter what; it can be an idea,

a unique talent or even a trade secret, but one thing

is for sure that without it, there is no point wasting

time building "Iron patriots" or Iron suits which

cannot fly because we are not fortunate enough in

the real world to have a friend like Tony Stark who

would lend you his "Arc reactor" which he invented

because of circumstances more than anything else.


Startup 6th Sense

7

Some less known facts about running

a start-up are as follows:

1. The profits are unlike regular and periodic

salaries we receive during our job days.

2. In few months, you may only earn the running

costs of the setup, whereas in others, you may

gain huge sums of cash, but it come with fringes

and will get tied very soon on future contracts.

This happens because of festivals and seasonal

demand patterns, and after the completion of an

entire financial year, you may realize the actual

ground situation of the venture, and this is true

even for internet start-ups as well.

3. Reverse HR hierarchy flow structure in start-

ups: When you work in a MNC, you expect to

become team leader then may be a manager of

sorts and then vice president, president and then

may be a MD. But in case of start-ups, you are

the chairman and MD yourself, but you don’t

have a president nor a vice president and your

team is so small that you in fact don’t require a

whole floor so there is no need for a floor

manager or a leader and ultimately your team

has just two or three people, so who could be

the leader except you or your partner.


Sourabh Das

8

So you see in a way, you might have thought

you could bypass the entire hierarchy and directly

become the chairman & MD of your own venture,

but in vain because now to be truly feel like a

chairman & MD (read boss) of a well-oiled venture,

you will need to expand it to the point from where

you could appoint floor managers and different

teams with dedicated leaders for them and complete

the hierarchy structure which you thought could be

bypassed by starting a venture of your own which is

not the case in real life.


Startup 6th Sense

9

The YouTube Test

Most of us would agree that YouTube is now a

good platform to showcase your innovation as well

as presentation of skills especially if it relates to

digital world.

However, it can also be used to check and

clarify your own doubts regarding certain notions

and inhibitions which you hold in your mind.

Such as having an idea on innovative chairs but

you are not sure of its market potential; so the best

thing to do is to make a presentation on those chairs

and simply upload it to YouTube and wait for a

month for responses on the video, and you will get

the answer to your question regarding its potential,

but it is important to keep a point in mind is not to

be too touchy about the responses you receive

because chances are more you might attract

negative reviews as well, also if you are not inclined

to do even this much, just type a comment related to

your doubt in a related video and you might receive

up votes or negative replies accordingly which will

show you the idea’s reception in the real world.

"Nine quick routes to a Failed Start-up" is an

attempt to inform people about things which wait

for a mediocre MBA graduate outside his college.


Sourabh Das

10

First Way: Not planning the revenue model

early on.

Second Way: Having more partners than

actually needed.

Third way: Over investing in the initial phase.

Fourth way: Being generous with your

employees, customers, suppliers and partners.

Fifth way: Lacking periodic audits notably

checking the profits and viability every

fortnight.

Sixth way: Trying something outlandish.

Seventh way: Believing in unsubstantiated

market predictions and surveys because in real

life these surveys count for a big zero.

Eighth Way: Over believing on your

employees about their abilities.

Ninth Way: Management institute style

“Business Plans” because none of them actually

succeed in the real market without alterations

and modifications.

*****


Startup 6th Sense

11

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