Haste makes waste isn’t something oblivion to the world, yet, as a startup or amateur entrepreneur, many of us fall prey to this invisible trap. It’s too common to find one belonging to this clan of hastiness. This is the clan which takes decision, during infant business days, in haste sans validating any part of it, be it mutual competency, skills, passion, planning, vision, investment, growth etc, and execute the critical stuffs, one which actually needs haste, at dilatory pace.
This clan, given its amateur naiveté, is so obsessed with the CXO tag that they wear blinkers to most of the things important. They undermine the importance of taking a close look to separate wheat from chaff. Somewhere, they forget the logic of fata morgana or mirage.
The same logic of fata morgana applies to startup businesses or amateur entrepreneurs as well. My advice to such individuals or business is to always remember the “Good from Far; Far from Good” syndrome. Anything that looks good from far is usually far from being good. Take time to analyze your business, the skills it will require to succeed, identify the gaps and best possible solutions, everyone’s passion and commitment towards the same, and maturity towards understanding the business and management practices. If the chain is as strong as the weakest link then likewise a business’ success or growth rate is directly proportional to the weakest capability.
Another piece of advice for such businesses is to avoid tagging business success to fundraising or investment, that’s too much hastiness. And even if you need one, make sure you have the right adviser/mentor/consultant to discuss the fine prints. This is one area where decisions are made in too much haste. Don’t make someone your mentor/coach/adviser just because he/she belongs to some investment network and is willing to invest money in the business. Make sure you have a mentor who adds value to your business, and when I say value I mean someone who could add value to the entire C-Suite team and skills, and wants to invest time.
In developing markets across the globe where entrepreneurial ecosystem is in its early days, such hasty decisions are galore. It’s too common to find a startup shelling around 30%-40%, even 60% in some cases, equity against an investment of around $100 K. Believe me guys, what you actually get in return for that investment is the shortest possible path to being thrown out or exiting your own brainchild by the time you’ll actually need a real investment, may be bringing in the VC. And don’t expect too much on the mentor-ship front from such engagements. It’s the pure play way of doing business through investment wherein the focus lies on exiting and making gains than actually sticking with the fundamentals and original vision of the business. Investment against 40%-50% equity does looks good from far in the beginning, but it actually is far from good. My advice to such entrepreneurs and ventures is to validate mentors and make sure you hire one who wants to stick with you and help you more in achieving the organic growth than just focusing on the entry-exit model.
Also, don’t be in haste to think that business success is akin to just sales. There are various other stuffs as important, few more important, as sales, do take a closer look at each and every of them. It’s good to catch the right bus after sometime than catching a wrong bus in desperation of getting started.
And as always, how can I end my blog without a piece of pun. Seven days without a pun makes me feel like weak. Some people’s noses and feet are build backwards: their feet smell and their noses run. Make sure your business has a nose to smell things and feet to make it run. Thank You.
PS: You can get connected to the writer of this blog “Here” or reach out to the company at contact@366pi.com for anything we could help you out with. Allow us to Hand-Hold you and take you out of the fata morgana to real growth.
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