The Startup Journey

In today’s world of instant gratification, when instant karma is sought, when words like “pivot” and ‘lean startup” have found their way into startup and entrepreneurial lexicons, compatible with the quaint approach of the dogged persistent entrepreneur? Is access to money and technology in danger of creating instant entrepreneurs but without the staying power required to create and build companies and organizations? A problem that had confounded mathematicians for 358 years was solved in 1995 by Andrew Wiles who had been fascinated by Fermat’s Last Theorem ever since he encountered it at the age of ten. It was childhood and adult dream to solve it and he did it in incredibly style, working virtually in isolation during the last 8 years. He was a little more than 40 when he solved the problem! Magellan, the first person to circumnavigate the globe, failed in his first few attempts but finally delivered – on his 7th voyage - on his claim that it was indeed possible to go around the worl...

From the Times of India profile of the company which recently raised capital from StanChart Private Equity: Two years into the business and Privi had not yet created a sufficient client base, pushing it to the verge of shutting down. In 1994, its losses eroded its equity and the company's prime creditor, State Industrial & Investment Corporation Of Maharashtra (SICOM), served a notice to take over. "We briefly thought of quitting and trying something else," Rao says. "But then we decided to fight it out rather than accept failure." Those days, the big players in aroma chemicals were Bush Boake Allen, Reckitt & Colman of India, Hindustan Lever, Hindustan Polyamides and Fibres, and Tata Oil Mills Company (Tomco). The partners did their best to turn around the business. They brought down operational costs, switched to synthetic raw materials and negotiated for cost-effective order sizes. The firm also changed its strategy. "Rather than just catering t...