Guys,

Recently some of my employees got unsolicited call from a gentleman called Manish Gupta, who wants to woo them away from my company to his startup. Of course like every normal human being, my colleagues also need a reason to go and work for a relatively unknown and small company.  So they need convincing. And he did put up an argument to convince them…

And then came the bummer!

He thinks that my colleagues should work for his company because he has a bigger vision and everyone has a bright future with him. But how do people believe him? Simple - His was the runner-up of the Business Baazigar contest of Zee TV.

:D

I could not stop myself from laughing out at this humbleness.

Then I thought of doing some research on the business model and modus-operandi of his company. I found out that there was no innovation and no marketing strategy (mind you, he must have spent time in sales, but definitely not in marketing). He is selling the same old wine in the same old bottle with no value addition. There is no investment in human resource development, since the human resource policy is absolutely based on poaching.

Is this the vision, he is selling to my employees?

I wish him best of luck!

BTW, in all my humbleness, I will like to get my message across to Mr. Gupta that I have been on the jury panel of nationwide business plan contest (organized by one of the most reputed management institution in India), giving my inputs to several business baazigars who are working hard to build their dream company!

And yes, it does not hurt me anywhere. But it is sad to see this approach to business after getting the said recognition.

I hope he learn to differenciate, innovate and deliver!

And yes, I am fast losing faith in TV programs like Business Baazigar if this is the talent they have identified

I came across this quote today at BusinessPundit. 

We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey. - Kenji Miyazawa

How true When you start a company, you get rejected by almost everyone:

Bankers:

They want to lend you money only if you have a strong financial background. Ever thought, why will you even go for borrowing money if you have that solid financial backing!

Customers:

Have you heard prospects saying - You dont have enough credentials! Its a chicken and egg situation. You got to get few customers to build credentials. But to get customers, you need credentials.

Employees:

Have you heard people saying - I don’t see a future in your company. I would prefer to work for an established brand. Have you ever thought that "established brand" was also built by some "go getters" who came out of their comfort zone and took risk to build the "established brand".

I don’t want to rant about the pain. Just want to let you know that everyone faces this. Only those people, who use it as a fuel for their journey succeeds. Those who give up results in those 80% of the businesses that dies within the first few years of operations!

Keep going!

A quick tip for budding entrepreneurs:

If your business starts at the right time, you can extract maximum growth by getting ready when the industry segment gets the peak demand. I strongly suggest that a new business should be started during the "low-tide", i.e. when markets are not doing well and industry sentiments are not positive. It helps in many ways:

1. You can get the best talent available in the industry due to lay off by major players.

2. You will not have major competition and you can prepare your competitive edge "in hiding" to give surprise to your competitors.

3. Tough times results in innovation. It is highly probable that your company will have the "innovation" advantage as you try to come up the adversities of a low-lying market. This innovation can become a catalyst when the markets are strong and can become the deciding factor.

4. You can concentrate in building the right processes, measurements, quality control systems and genetic-composition of your company which will result in its rapid growth when the right time comes.

5. Your expenses will be lower in building the fundamental framework for the company.

It will well known that markets have both the ups and downs. I feel "downs" should be well utilized to prepare the company for taking maximum advantage of the "ups". It makes much more business sense and also keep your spirits up!

Note: It is important to be patient. It is very important to know that you are preparing for the "good days" and, it is most important to know that you should not blow up all your money, since capital is another thing that you need to scale up your company fast when the right time comes.