Two Immediate things in Need of Change

by Vijay Anand

So it all seems to be coming together. Entrepreneurship is not such an alien concept anymore, there are more and more universities imparting entrepreneurship as a logical career choice, there is enough knowledge base, and support organizations that are there to help entrepreneurs, the media seems receptive to the notion of new enterprises, the economy and policies are gearing towards spurring its growth, and the investment community realizes that India is a big enough market that they are open to tweaking the funding models that they are used to. Change is not an easy thing, and thats happening.

Is Entrepreneurship mainstream in India yet? No. When will it? Well, when you see these two things change.

1. Stop Expecting Free Handouts.
Listen, I do contribute a lot to the startup community and I can say so. I have hours to show forth and I am proud to be part of it. But You might not want to expect that as a norm. Everyone has reasons why they do the things they do. Mine – eventually I do want to get into investing, advising and turning around companies as a career, and it helps to be part of building the foundation of the ecosystem.

All that said, time is limited. And anything that is limited is expensive. So if you are going to ask someone to spend time with you on a periodic basis, and also put the mental energy, pull connections etc, then you are going to have to compensate them – doesnt have to be in cash, can also be in equity, but beer simply isnt going to cut it :) (I’ve gotten plenty of beer offers, and so do plenty of folks i’ve talked to)

Think about it: You are going to build an enterprise that makes you your own boss (atleast for a while), lets you pursue your passion, and if all goes well will make you filthy rich. Tell me again why you are asking for my time in free? Karma doesnt cut it. There are plenty of NGOs that could return better Karma points.

There is also a more solid financial reasoning behind it. Every enterprise has to be calculated on the basis of inputs vs outputs and the value creation is the difference between the two. Economical break-even point is just one metric out of this calculation. What is also important to measure is every bit of input that goes into creating this value – otherwise you are going to end up with a skewed equation which can misrepresent the actual value that you are creating – what is not accounted for and leads to positive returns is no different than a subsidized model. So if you really want to measure the effectiveness of your venture and have a standing chance for when the market really shows its teeth at you, build it right, and measure everything possible right from the beginning. Account for it, and ensure that the model still holds.

So when will Entrepreneurship become mainstream? When there evolves a model to fairly compensate the support structures that are required to support entrepreneurs – that goes not only for Mentors and Advisors, but also for lawyers, Accountants etc.

2. Get out of Weekend Entrepreneurship Mode.
Have you noticed how everything related to entrepreneurship happens during the weekends in India? Why is that? Are we trying to accomodate students and people who are in day jobs to be part of it? If so, that answers your question as to whats the state of entrepreneurship in India – it means most folks are part-time, and so is the landscape as a whole.

I hate quoting silicon valley examples, but I was curious to notice how many events across the globe – (flipping through the Calendar of Somewhat Frank) that most startup events in Mature ecosystems happen during the weekday. Infact when I was in the valley, I was surprised to note that most of the startup events DIDNT happen during the weekend – except for ones where you build products over a weekend.

If startups are mainstream, and if entrepreneurship is an actual way of life, then it has to function as any other profession, right? Makes perfect sense to me.

In my mind, till these two are in place, starting up isnt mainstream Yet.