The Startup Journey

Tom Evslin has ten ways to identify whether you are an entrepreneur. Here are some of them: 10. You can’t bring yourself to call anyone “boss”. 8. Instead of saying “there oughtta be a law”, you say “there could be a business…” 5. Some of your favorite people are VCs (condition applies only after obtaining at least one round of VC funding). 4. Some of your least favorite people are VCs (condition applies only after ATTEMPTING to obtain at least one round of VC funding). 3. You are most likely to start a new business immediately after thinking in the shower. 2. You have to take two zeros OFF the numbers in your business plan or no one will believe it.   Arun Natarajan is the Founder & CEO of Venture Intelligence, the leading provider of data and analysis on private company transactions, valuations and financials in India. Click Here to learn about Venture Intelligence products that help entrepreneurs Reach Out to Investors, Research Competitio...

"Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won't so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can't. "  But, which 'few years' of your life? I have a theory that, given the Indian social and economic context (despite early stage funding options getting better in recent years), it would be good for folks in India to turn entrepreneur at either of the following two stages of their lives:   1. Straight out of bachelor's education - or maybe with 1-2 years of work experience. Especially a good idea if the idea/opportunity you are going after cannot wait (i.e., someone else will end up executing on it to your lifelong regret). Also, at this stage of life, you have nothing very significant to lose by giving it a shot - say for two years. Getting back into the job market before you turn 27 or 28, isn't difficult at all in today's context. 2. After you have saved up enough to put your kids through ...