ENTREPRENEURSHIP. When to take the plunge?

There is huge interest for entrepreneurship, especially among young professionals in India. “Well begun is half-done” and this is probably truer for entrepreneurs. The biggest challenge for entrepreneurs is at the start – when to start, how to start, where to start?

For every entrepreneur, there are more than 20 “wannapreneurs” who are waiting for the right time, which include right idea, right environment, right team etc. Defining the right time is one of the profound problems of life and it becomes even more complicated for entrepreneurs as 90 per cent of the start ups are bound to fail in their first year itself. So, when to take the plunge?

Starting a company isn't only about skills; it's about the attitude, state of mind and your environment.

Ready to come out of living “Sharma uncle's” dream?

A waanapreneur shared the story of his Sharma uncle once. When he was set to leave his job from a reputed company to open something of his own, he discussed it with his parents, who shared it with their neighbour, Sharma. Sharma raised doubts on the rationality of a decision to leave such a reputed job with him and his parents. It created self-doubt in the wannapreneur’s mind and the decision to open a company was postponed, again! He started living Sharma uncle's dream.

There are various stories and wannapreneurs see it all around them and they blame the family, friends and system not supporting them in their quest for success. However, this is actually the problem with the entrepreneur’s attitude. If you can’t convince, or can be easily swayed by your support group, you were probably never ready to start and hence, it's a good test to see if you are ready.

Entrepreneurship would require you to come out of peer pressure and stop living someone else’s dream. So make yourself ready. If discussion of entrepreneurship in your circle doesn’t create self-doubt, your attitude is ready to take the plunge.

Am I alone? You have a business idea in a certain space and you feel passionate about it. The greatest skill successful entrepreneurs have is to excite people about their ideas and vision. You can only excite people if you are passionate and thorough in your approach. Creating a plan or a story, understanding the industry and customer pain points are part of it. I have seen waanapreneurs complaining that nobody is appreciating their ideas, but the problem is in them or their ideas. One way to test this is to evaluate your ability to draw people into you and your idea. The association can be as co-founder, customer, team member etc. You do not need many people, but if a few commit their time, you have something to get you started.

Is it sustainable? Entrepreneurship is not your next job, which you will try for a few months and see if it works for you. If you start this way, it definitely won't work for you.

I have seen some entrepreneurs keep a definite timeline for their success; breaking even in 6 months, raising investment in 1 year. However, this is unnecessary pressure and by doing this, you are setting up for failure. You might think that your idea, space and planning is perfect but new facts emerge when you get your hands dirty.

You need to commit for the long haul and make your environment supportive enough so you don't have to think about quitting early in the game. Environment can mean several things such as handling your finances, managing your personal life events, support from spouse and parents.

Entrepreneurs need to be unreasonably optimistic and may be slightly irrational at times. There are still far easier ways to become rich in general so don’t become an entrepreneur for the money, but love the journey.

The writer is Director & Co-Founder, Sunstone Business School

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