Entrepreneurship : Challenges of Starting Up

Starting up is no cakewalk. The road is fraught with many risks. Most aspiring entrepreneurs know of these risks. But knowing of them is one thing and embracing them, quite another. I see these risks as challenges, large and looming. They pop up each time your motivation dwindles, in the company of successful friends and in discussions with parents engaged in service. But they must be conquered. They simply must.

So, why don't we start up? ... Let's explore :-

“When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice.” - William James

1. Multiple Ideas - What is the best idea to execute? ... Out of the million brimming in your head and each one as enticing, you struggle to eliminate and zero upon the one idea. This leads to frustration and eventually you give up. 

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified, terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

2. Fears - The entrepreneurial journey is also a crash course in fear management. We are built on the foundation of a hundred fears. And life exposes them to us one by one. Starting up means that we not only face them head on but also go ahead, inspite of them. 

The prevalent fear of poverty among the educated classes is the worst moral disease from which our civilization suffers." - William James

a. Fear of Poverty - Napolean Hill describes the Fear of Poverty as the most destructive fear in his self-help classic Think and Grow Rich. The fear is simply a mental hallucination that curbs so many talented, ambitious people from taking the entrepreneurial leap. Sure, poverty is crippling and could be a consequence of a failed business but that cannot curb ambition. The doubt and constant worry is often what holds back many entrepreneurs. Coldplay said it well - "If you never try, you will never know".

"सबसे बड़ा रोग, क्या कहेंगे लोग" - Anonymous

b. Fear of Society - Meet wealthy batch-mates and hear their stories of consulting and ibanking jobs and you will sometimes feel a lump in the back of your throat. Here you are, on the threshold of a startup. Nothing glamorous to share, no money to spare, just the faint light that you have dedicated your life to. Often, the grass is greener on the other side is the devil's temptation. All part of the universe's scheme to test the strength of your conviction. Give in and you won't start up. For a long, long time.  

"What distinguishes the majority of men from the few is their inability to act according to their beliefs." - John Stuart Mill 

c. Fear of Inability - Sometimes you wake up and the complex, myriad skills involved in executing a business idea overwhelms you. Am I really capable, do I have requisite technical, managerial knowledge, am I designed for entrepreneurship?  ... This fear is a crippler. It makes you doubt your abilities in an unhealthy manner. 

“Success is never final; failure is never fatal” - Anonymous

d. Fear of Failure - I wish we used our imaginations for more constructive reasons but truth is that the Fear of Failure is the chief reason why aspirants come to the edge but not fly. This fear is usually noticed when you will make constant cost-benefit analysis. What If's are a constant byproduct of this fear.

"There is no security on this earth; there is only opportunity.” - Douglas MacArthur

3. Leaving your CV - The Big B-School, Big Job, Big CV folks have it really tough. The opportunity cost is a bitch. It's a tough one for them. Especially if responsibility and a lifestyle have enslaved them. I have deep respect for these folks. It is not easy to trade it all off on a turn of dice - Family expectations, big money and a social reputation to kill for.

There are more than one challenges before starting up. I will address the others in another post. Aspirants and early stage entrepreneurs, feel free to add to this. The ones who have touched reasonable success, your input is of paramount importance. 
Entrepreneurship is not easy. But so is everything in life that is worth having.

Till another time,

This very important message :-

"Every person, male or female, gets married. There is no bigger risk than that. So, start-up." - Prof. D.D. Trivedi