The Startup Journey

“My wife walked out of the house last week. I’ve known her for 7 years and we’ve been married for 5years and now I feel our relationship is purely transactional. I’m consumed by my startup and think about it every waking minute. Am obsessed with it and want to make it a roaring success. My wife works in the financial services industry and she too works long hours. We moved to Bengaluru from Mumbai so that our quality of life would be better. She travels on work and so do I. I get back home late and she’s either in bed or on her laptop. There’s no time for anything else. I don’t or can’t talk to her about the pressures I’m under. Don’t think she’ll understand. I keep responding to emails and SMS messages  when I’m home. I don’t want to lose out on any business opportunity. She wants children and I am not sure I’m ready to be a dad till my startup is done. Am depressed and lonely. But I cannot give up on my startup dream. What should I do?” So said the 31 year old CEO of a s...

“Who is your customer? Can you create a profile of your ideal customer? How do you find them or do they find you? Which set of customers are your most profitable? With which customers do you think a long term relationship can be established? How many of your customers do you meet regularly? How do you charge your customers? Who do you compete against? Why do you think you’re better? How do you think you will knock the socks of your competitors? What other products and services are you willing to give up to focus on the most profitable ones? How do you sell? What is the cost of acquiring a customer? How long does it take from the first customer contact to receiving an order and then to receive payment? What the specific value proposition to your customers – why should they buy from you and continue to do so? What exactly do you do? What made you choose this offering? What is your personal experience with the pain suffered by customers” The above is a sample set of the questions ...