Over the past several weeks, I’ve met several entrepreneurs. Some young and others experienced. Some have boot-strapped their ventures, others have secured some financing from friends and angel investors. All of them have a dream and the desire to succeed but only very few will. Usually, those that don’t succeed realise that they’ve been chasing the wrong opportunity with the wrong business model and wrong team much much later in the game, if at all. What if they had been made aware of the pitfalls and dangers early on and been prepared to deal with them? What if they had had the benefit of experienced counsel from mentors and advisors? While having mentors and advisors is in itself no guarantee of success, having the right mentors can often times reduce the agony of late unhappy realizations of the state of the business.
What was interesting to me about the entrepreneurial teams I met was the absence of any advisors/mentors who were either directly or indirectly involved. If one looks at entrepreneurs say, in the US, more often than not, entrepreneurial teams have advisors and mentors working closely with them. In many cases, angel investors double up as advisors.
Why are Indian entrepreneurs shy about involving advisors? While the entrepreneurial eco-system here is not as mature as in the US and the culture of mentoring isn’t as widely prevalent, the fact remains that most entrepreneurs are hesitant to have advisors. Some of the hesitation can be attributed to lack of awareness and shyness. The larger reason and more serious reason is due to fear, anxiety, and arrogance. Fear about losing control and influence. Fear of sharing company information with a “third party”. Fear of having to share the pie. Arrogance about knowing it all.
While no man is an island it is even more true that no startup can be built in isolation. The importance of building bridges and relationships cannot be over-stated. The importance of sounding out business strategies, feedback on technology direction, dealing with issues relating to employees, sales & marketing, customers introductions, partnerships and so on with someone who’s experienced can be critical. It is worth considering the setting up of an advisory board consisting of people who bring a diverse set of complementary competencies to the table and who can provide credibility and legitimacy to the fledgling company. There are two types of advisors worth considering: (a) a big name brand individual with an acknowledged set of achievements & expertise and (b) an executive who might not be personally well known but by virture of his/her position in the corporate world can positively impact the startup. Advisory boards are also usually compensated in stock or a combination of cash and stock. These advisors can help you tremendously; so spend quality time in creating the advisory board. Engaging with your advisors and mentors on a regular basis, providing updates, seeking and receiving feedback can prove to be invaluable. Having a shoulder to cry and lean on in times of trouble can be uplifting. Being spoken to directly about the dangers ahead can be critical for success. For this to happen, inhibitions need to be shed; fear and anxiety need to be replaced by confidence, humility and a willingness to learn.
Of late, industry, entrepreneurial and academic groups (including Nasscom and TiE) have started mentoring programmes for entrepreneurs. These programmes are becoming popular but still have a way to go before they become mainstream and become acceptable to all entrepreneurs. In addition, there is a growing number of successful entrepreneurs and corporate executives who can be tapped as mentors and advisors. The benefits of such associations can be enormous and can take the company on another trajectory altogether. While there are issues of the tactical “here and now” that need resolution, it is very important to also build the foundations for what could be a big company. At the same time, being aware of the risks and issues of pursuing one path over another can save many sleepless nights.
Paraphrasing a line from an ad for a popular chewing gum, “Mento(r)s dimaag ki batti jala de!”.
What do you think?
Sanjay Anandaram is a passionate advocate of entrepreneurship in India; He brings close to two decades of experience as an entrepreneur, corporate executive, venture investor, faculty member, advisor and mentor. He’s involved with Nasscom, TiE, IIM-Bangalore, and INSEAD business school in driving entrepreneurship. He can be reached at sanjay@jumpstartup.net. The views expressed here are his own.
June 18, 2007
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5 comments:
Hello Sanjay ,
I liked the logic behind “Mento(r)s dimaag ki batti jala de!”.
And that sentence is understandable to those who really understand the importance of mentorship.
Very relevant observations.
However, as one of those entrepreneurs on the other side, I can provide some input.
First, why am I an entrepreneur? Because of several years of working with people who would not understand what you are talking about; because of egos that one could not handle, because of the constant power game that almost any business/ professional relationship is.
So I ventured out, used what I knew but could never get my bosses to accept, and created my own site. All I wanted was an escape route, and I had found it. In an year, I had created a content site (which was my skill to start with), worked on marketing it, and managed to acquire a daily traffic of almost 30k visitors a day on my site. I use Google adsense, and a few other advertising options, and make a four times what my salary was. Not a small amount, btw.
Does this make me an entrepreneur? Unfortunately no. I know that alone, if I could create a content site that lies smack between the best blogs and large newspapers, the same principles can be applied on a larger scale, with more investment and resources, to achieve traffic levels of 1 lakh. All this without spending a penny on marketing. But I don't proceed in that direction, and so maybe I am not an entrepreneur.
I know that with that traffic, I am doing better than any of the thousands of sites that were launched in the last one year. I know - I have been watching - sites which were launched, did massive advertising, and not anywhere near my traffic levels.
But they will beat me tomorrow. Inevitably.
I have made attempts at talking to investors, potential partners, mentors. The biggest problem was - we speak different languages. Being in business and investment banking teaches you, perhaps, to speak to impress. To speak to convey something. Power, perhaps. Superiority, may be. They convey something which makes me uncomfortable. And I think, this is what I ran away from, this is the kind of power game I do not want to play - and perhaps, that may kill my work in the future. I will have to let it happen.
I have been reading blogs of several people in the investment and startup game. There are several blogs which track the Indian web scenario. While they do a good job, what do I not see? An invitation. A welcoming posture, inviting the 'diffident' to approach them with their ideas. Examples of how they mentored a startup, how they dealt with the wild entrepreneur with a good idea and no business plan.
I don't say that I would jump at the first guy to welcome people like me. But not seeing that posture makes me feel that we exist on different planes. That, I believe, is the big reason. The potential mentors, the investors - they just make us nervous.
A friend who managed VC funding recently for his startup maintained his sanity only by refusing to look at the legal papers, and trusting his partners to handle all that. His descriptions of how the entire process works sound like a nightmare come true. And so, some of us, whose real interest is in the work we do, and the product we build, just back off. May be this is what is going on.
Sanjay,
You hit the nail on the head. I have been dealing with few Indian entrepreneurs as part of due diligence activities and I felt the same thing. I hope with time, they will realize the importance of it.
Good ..
Hey You can view my Blog its also Good
Hey Sanjay. Rightly said. We are also a startup and badly feel the need of a mentor. I hope to get in touch with you sometime. We can be reached at maxHeap Technologies . Thanks for a good insight.
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