Top 6 Quotes from Indian Entrepreneurs
Advice and wisdom from entrepreneurs who’ve accomplished what you want to accomplish can be invaluable. Their experience can help you avoid major pitfalls and mistakes most young entrepreneurs make. One of the entrepreneurs on this list is actually a founder that we’ve invested in at the Tandon group. We can vouch for the fact that his advice is sound, and necessary, to build a successful startup.
Here are our top 6 quotes from Indian entrepreneurs on how to be successful in starting a company:
“If you fully accept the worst that can ever happen in your journey, fear won’t ever be an obstacle in starting-up.” – Kunal Shah, FreeCharge
Freecharge is actually a company we invested in (a co-founder of the company is also an owner of Tandan Group). You can see their profile on our business page. Kunal Shah gives us an insightful piece of wisdom with his words about accepting fear. Every entrepreneur that we have ever worked with experiences fear on some level. The highest-performing entrepreneurs accept that fear and don’t let it hinder their performance. In business, as in life, fear means you are pushing the boundaries of your comfort zone. As the popular saying goes, “if you want to accomplish something you’ve never done before, you have to start doing things you’ve never done before.” Doing new and unfamiliar things is almost certain to bring fear.
“Ideas are no one’s monopoly. Think big, think fast, think ahead.” – Dhirubhai Ambani, Reliance Industries
It’s important to remember that ideas are unlimited. No matter who you are, where you come from, or what you’ve done before in business, anyone can come up with the next breakthrough idea. Where you separate yourself and become a true entrepreneur, is when you execute on those big ideas. If you’re stuck in the “idea phase,” you need to first realize that all great ideas are thought up by people no smarter than yourself. Everyone (even you) has their own area of expertise and that is where you want to focus your efforts on finding your next startup idea.
“The trench is as much a part of growth and expansion as the peak is. Hitting the bottom before you succeed is almost a rite of passage.” – Dr. Ashwin Naik, Vaatsalya Healthcare
In our experience, there are virtually no entrepreneurs who achieved success who, at one point, did not narrowly avoid failure. Tesla, Freecharge, Virgin Group, Airbnb, Uber, and almost every great startup you’ve heard of, didn’t know for sure if they were going to make it or not. Pushing through periods of uncertainty and potential failure are always going to be necessary if you want to reach success. Most people quit at the first sign of potential failure. You should view this as a good thing because this is where you can separate yourself from the 99% of other “wantrepreneurs” who give up when it gets hard. If you can make it through this, you will almost certainly meet with success.
“Don’t be a jerk. Even if you are brilliant, don’t be a brilliant jerk.” – Girish Mathrubootham, Freshdesk
Many startup founders get infatuated when hearing stories about founders like Steve Jobs. It’s no secret that many people viewed him as an inconsiderate leader. We agree that in order to start and build a company you have to be steadfast in your beliefs but there’s a fine line between being certain about your decisions and being a jerk to the people around you. Sometimes you’ll need to be forceful and convince people to follow your vision but other times you need to know how to be compassionate and see problems from other people’s point-of-view. Being a leader is always a delicate balance between keeping your team cohesive and leading them toward your vision.
“You cannot get into business for the fashion of it.” – Azim Premji, Wipro
It’s no secret that in this day-and-age being an entrepreneur is popular. What most people fail to realize is that, behind the popularity and fan fair entrepreneurs receive, there are hours, weeks, months and years of hard work that no one sees or appreciates. Most entrepreneurs forgo security and comfort to build their dream. Everyone likes to celebrate a successful entrepreneur (after they’ve “made it”) but rarely do they think about the hardships that preceded the success.
“Stay focused on effectively solving customer’s problems. The money will come.” – Nikesh Arora, SoftBank
If you read our blog post on the most common issues we see in startups today you’ll notice that the most common issue we see is companies that don’t solve a problem or address a real need. Nikesh Arora was the highest-paid executive in the world at SoftBank Corp so if there’s anybody we want to listen to about making money, it might be him. Our experience mirrors his quote because all of our successful investments were centered around companies that solved a real problem.
If you’re a startup founder looking for funding, the Tandon Group might be a great partner. As we’ve said in this post, we’ve helped startups go from initial founding to hundreds of millions of dollars in valuation. We’d love to help your startup be the next big success. If you want to set up an investment meeting, please contact us on our website. We look forward to being your partner for the road ahead.
