Just a reminder. 950 new startups were launched last year. But 35,000 startups were shut down. If you want to build a company, you’ve just one very important decision to make. No matter what else you do, you should figure out this first. You don't have to go to an accelerator, incubator or a VC for this. The decision whether to grow slowly, organically and profitably or to have a big bang with fast growth, lots of capital and burn. I ignored making that decision when i was building. Irony is, I'm now reminding others when they come for funding :) Valuation and funding are just the shiny toys. If you really want to play, focus on your customers and making a profit. Toys break, but a good business lasts and you will be in the game for long.
Hi Dilip Kumar please send me the source for these numbers they do not seem to be correct thanks Vivek
Although I'd love to read the source of your data but I get your point. This reminds me of what my co-founder Vaibhav Totuka wrote yesterday, Fundraising is a tool, not a trophy, it's important to create sustainable business models that are profitable and scalable.
I once read somewhere that as an entrepreneur focus on funding your business through customers and you will never have a problem with your business! Something that resonates closely from this post too.
So basically- run businesses the way traditional businessmen did for so many years :)
If anyone one wants to trauma bond over this, hit me up 🥹
This a great reminder & maybe a poster that every start-up should wake up to & sleep over! I have been working(trying) with Start-ups embedding this philosophy, but it is ridiculous as to almost 99% of them are only interested in playing a valuation game. Building Core Commpetencies & USP - Building a Core Team with Strong Culture - Product Road Map - Proof of Concept - Business Viability - Growth Strategy - GTM Strategy - Path to Profitability, is/are aspects that most don’t care about. I believe, a cosmetic & superflous funding gameplay by a great many number of VCs and the beyond a certain level of tolerance, glorification of the “IIT/IIM” tag is to blame for the current deable that we are seeing. There is hardly any innovation, be it either process or product or platform! If fastest delivery is the only yardstick for measuring growth, then very soon people will start getting grains instead of pizza! This dual edged apathy between “entrepreneurs” & “investors”, is taking the resources and opportunity away from brilliant & innovative, companies who are trying to do this right by solving for a genuine problem that can make a significant difference to a consumer’s &/or community’s &/or a Nation’s &/or our Planet’s need!
Parents diligently cultivate a bedrock of values in their children, equipping them for life's challenges. Likewise, founders must prioritize establishing a robust business foundation. Only once this foundation is proven and validated, should the strategic pursuit of an equity partner be undertaken. This effort, then, serves not merely to stabilise, but to surmount hurdles and ascend greater heights in entrepreneurial endeavours.
Dilip Kumar When I moved back to the mountains to start ItsHemp the only thing I had in mind was to be able to create a profitable scalable business. We broke even within 5 months after (also the month when COVID Hit) and have been growing organically (and profitably) ever since. Sometimes, It feels like I am lagging in the race without those shiny toys I left behind, but most days it is a source of happiness to see actual value creation happen while running/scaling profitably without burning through cash. It gives a super strong foundation for how one approaches life and business.
Albeit, we are forgetting how competitive advantage gets created in today’s world. The ones who have multi-sided platforms/network effects, can’t afford to grow slow, where value is not just dependent on the product itself but how large the network is. So profit shouldn’t be the priority, instead it should be survival and growth. And if the business model is sound, profit will follow. I can say that with confidence, because I was fortunate enough to be in the carpooling space when startups just started popping up in India and I’ve experienced it first hand. And of course, I research business models.
What’s the speed of slow? The question is how profitable can you be with an organic approach? It’s a North Star that maybe one is chasing.