-You have to take risks
-You gotta just jump into it sometimes (throw the first punch)
-Don’t get too caught up in trends
-Take failures in stride
-You gotta keep getting back up when you fall
-You gotta ignore naysayers
Date archives "2013"
Chapter 1, Scene 1: The Cafe
As I mentioned in my last post, I am embarking on a new project this year, which is to write a book on a journey to product/market fit. The twist that I have added to this, is to make it read more like a story rather than purely a book with tactical advice and strategies. I personally think this should make it a more interesting read, as also help improve and showcase my writing skills.
I will provide periodic updates on my blog from the book as I write it. People who have subscribed to my mailing list for this book will get a front row seat and get regular updates and chapters as they are released. If you are interested please sign up with the link below.
Journey to Product/Market Fit Inside Group
I have written a first draft of the opening scene for my book! It would be great to get feedback and suggestions on whether this sets the stage adequately. I look forward to your thoughts.
———————
I feel numb. Thoughts race through my mind, faster than I can hold on to any of them. I have sat and spent much time in this very cafe, sipping the same lattes countless number of times, all the while thinking about today. The day I would hand in my resignation and finally start pursuing the idea and dream that has been consuming my days and nights for the last 6 months. Suddenly it all seems unreal and for the first time in my life I feel unsure about my future. Everything up to this point of time has fortunately worked out exactly as I have planned for it to but I am now standing on uncharted territory!
From graduating top of my class at one of the top colleges in London, to being employed and promoted rapidly to become a senior marketing manager at one of the worlds largest FMCG companies, in such a short span of time has been a great ride and I could palpably visualize the next 10 – 20 years of my life on this trajectory, if I had stayed the course!
I have however been going through a continuous internal dialogue with myself, repeatedly asking myself whether this was truly the sum of all that I really wanted for myself. Conflicting advice from various quarters compounded my confusion even further and gradually caused an intense level of internal frustration, bringing me to this point today!
The point where, instead of taking a path that was well paved and on course, to the one I find myself at this moment, with little or no visibility into what my tomorrows will bring. I pick up my phone and dial James to tell him the news. James, a good and trusted friend runs a small web development setup and over the last couple of years I have seen him go from a single person outfit to a team of 8 people.
“It’s done!” I say to him. Even to myself I sound dramatically like someone out of a movie after committing a dubious deed…a sense of accomplishment with a cautious undertone.
Without a moment’s hesitation James reaction is, “Congratulations, we should definitely celebrate this weekend”! I feel elated at the thought of entering a whole new world here and having someone understand and embrace the action I have taken! My parents and my friends at work have certainly not been on the same page with me on this and have thought that this was a passing phase, one I would be able to get over!
We decide to meet at an event for entrepreneurs later this week. This phone call has not only been comforting but suddenly makes things a lot more real for me. There is no turning back now. I have taken this plunge and consciously closed some doors…in the hope and dream that I would now have to work towards having other doors start opening for me.
I leave the cafe with mixed emotions. I need to get myself together before I meet everyone over the weekend…
January 2013
I have enjoyed writing regularly this month. However, several of my posts this month, have had little or nothing to do with tactical advice on entrepreneurship. The reason for this was that I wanted to address some psychological and meta issues that are actually large stumbling blocks on this journey.
With the start of the new month I want to announce that this year I want and plan to write a short book on “The Journey to Product/Fit” (working title). Instead of writing the book in the form of a more tactical guide I am toying with the idea of writing it as a story. As I have discovered personally, there are several issues along this journey which cannot always be explained with a precise tactical advice.
I want to make this process a lot more interactive and get feedback as I am writing. I will be releasing more information along the way in the coming days. If you are interested in getting on to a list which will give you more access to the book please do subscribe on the link below to get updates.
What If Money Was No Object?
This has to be one of my favorite videos of 2012. Such a simple question that leaves us really thinking without the circumstantial boundaries that constrain us. If money was no object would you be doing what you are doing today?
Conflicting Life Goals
THE GREATEST CONFLICTS ARE NOT BETWEEN TWO PEOPLE BUT BETWEEN ONE PERSON AND HIMSELF.
GARTH BROOKS
Cognitive dissonance is the feeling of discomfort when simultaneously holding two or more conflicting ideas, goals or values. When we are in such a state of dissonance, we experience disequilibrium, a feeling of being torn between two places and not knowing how to move forward. As an entrepreneur and those who aspire to become one, many of us recognize and empathize with the internal conflict of, “I want to make a lot of money” and “I want to do something which I am passionate about and has meaning”. This is not an impossible situation to be in and there are many successful individuals in such a state! However, we only see their success story after it has been written in it’s entirety. We are often unable to rationalize the possibility of such a state when we start our journey with two strongly opposing goals in mind, all the while hoping we can emulate their success.
Unfortunately we are forgetting the “Why” in our story. I come across a lot of people who are making considerable amounts of money and not very fulfilled with their life, who ask for advice as to how to straddle an entrepreneurial venture on the side. I wrote about the grass being greener a few days ago and this a story of a person who wants to sit on the fence and not being able to decide which side to take. The choice paralyzes us, several forays and lots of money is spent trying to fill the void and balance the disequilibrium. Nothing sticks and we grow increasingly frustrated. Not being used to failure we begin to obsess why things are not working while neglecting the other side of the fence which is making us the money. Soon we find ourselves in no man’s land more confused than we have ever been.
Congratulations your inner conflict is a sign that you are alive. This struggle is one that many will not survive or give up easily on. At this moment in life you need to take some time off and decide what is it that you want to achieve in this life. Making the choice to trade money for meaning is not an easy one. It is deeply personal and several factors influence the decision we make. It is however in your best interest to pick one side and become the best you can at it. If that choice is to become an entrepreneur then make that decision whole heartedly.
THE TRUTH IS THAT OUR FINEST MOMENTS ARE MOST LIKELY TO OCCUR WHEN WE ARE FEELING DEEPLY UNCOMFORTABLE, UNHAPPY, OR UNFULFILLED. FOR IT IS ONLY IN SUCH MOMENTS, PROPELLED BY OUR DISCOMFORT, THAT WE ARE LIKELY TO STEP OUT OF OUR RUTS AND START SEARCHING FOR DIFFERENT WAYS OR TRUER ANSWERS.
M. SCOTT PECK
Living In the Moment
Tomorrow, next week, next month, next year…..it is easy to forget about living today, in the present, in the hope that tomorrow will be a better day. We wait for things to happen, to come together, because that is when we imagine we will have the opportunity to be happy. The anticipation of what the future may hold stops us from paying attention to all the little moments that are weaving our story in the moment, in the ‘now’!
But right now, these moments, are not stories. It is in this moment alone that we have the ability to slow down, acknowledge and appreciate all that is around us.
Brad Feld on TWIST
‘This week in startups’ is one of my favorite online programs. Jason Calacanis does a great job of interviewing some of the best entrepreneurs and venture capitalists from around the world. I particularly enjoyed this recent interview with Brad Feld where they talk about entrepreneurship and investing and building startup eco systems.
Correctly Pricing Your Product/Service
“YOU’VE FOUND MARKET PRICE WHEN BUYERS COMPLAIN BUT STILL PAY.” PAUL GRAHAM
I routinely get asked about pricing product/services. This quote by Paul Graham is one of the best and most definitive articulations on the topic of pricing that I have come across!