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Give your start-up the gift of time

Fred Wilson has a nice post, based on his experience with three of his investee companies, on how start-ups often take several years to fulfil their potential.

Time works for you if you have the patience to stay focused on the opportunity in front of you, if you have the tenacity to work through the inevitable hurdles you’ll face, and if you have the right kind of financial backers. Time allows you to recover from misteps, to build a team, to generate revenues, and even earnings. And when you've done all that, you'll have the wearwithal to choose when and how you want to exit from the business because you'll be selling a business instead of a team or a product or a feature.

So, if you are starting a company, prepare for a marathon, not a sprint. Take a deep breath. Commit yourself to the long haul. Let time work for you.



Arun Natarajan is the Founder & CEO of Venture Intelligence, the leading provider of information and networking services to the Private Equity and Venture Capital ecosystem in India. View sample issues of Venture Intelligence India newsletters and reports.

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