This one is slightly different form my normal league of posts on start-ups! Here I am going to share the not so great things about start-ups!

Beware of Fancies, think LONGTERM.

Starting a new venture is always good. It is always recommended. The only caution is – one should do it with his/her heart & soul. Fancies are here and some of them are even good but most of them have got some value attached. They are meaningful and committed. They are not the over the bush kind of ventures.

But what brought up this post – is the people who start-up in hasty? With a fancy vision and less logic! No, the idea is not to criticize anyone who is doing anything on their own. But to bring out the fact that you need to get into this completely with a purpose. The focus should be on achievement of your goal. The prime goal of a start-up is value creation and not profit making which many of us believe in.  Fancies normally live a shorter life as compared to those which have the intention of value creation. Former create brand – short lived or less lived and latter the vice versa.

Ideas are not enough.

People have ideas. They do realize the gaps but still they miss out on certain things. That is VISION. They have the idea, they know the gap and they quickly want to turn it into profits and most of them do make profits. What a good start!

And in the meantime, they inspire many – who also start quickly with their own idea. Or they replicate the idea in a different location with a slight difference in need/want gap. Another start-up! A new brand is born.

Until now, the idea is ok. The idea and will to realize it – leads you to creating a brand. But for sustaining it – one needs the vision.

In last two and half years – I have worked on creating few brands. Some of them are doing great and growing. Some are just carrying the logo and image but not working on the image anymore. They are working on the profit motto which is fairly good in the start and few are evolving. A Brand must evolve and a business must grow. And there is a thin line between the two but we cannot ignore either.

Survival is the prime concern. Entrepreneurship is not EASY.

Yes, this is the ground fact. Business must survive is the only mission for most of the start-ups. It is a do or die situation for the entrepreneur who takes the risk. They certainly risk the life of luxuries to choose a life of temptations. I believe Entrepreneurship is about temptations, atleast the first few years. One of my friends is a great motivator of entrepreneurship, now when I think I guess, I would be a tough one if I am made to talk about it. Sometime back, I posted about the E’s of Entrepreneurship. Well the (E)-easy is just so irrelevant.

Be Patient with your Business

If you are still reading, you must be wondering – why am I talking all this? Something brought this up. I met two young entrepreneurs – who came to discuss the business they are venturing into and the brand – they wanted me to create & design!

Well, we had a discussion, and I asked them to send me a brief on their business intention and brand specifics – if any. They couldn’t send it. And when I asked them – if they have a name already or any business representation, Whoa! They gave me the business card with few errors and on probe – I realized that one of them did the design on paint.

If we look at the positive side – Passion to begin and let’s do it – is visible but then you need keep the basics right. People start a business – with an intention to save money or they just want to get things done – just like that! Never mind, I very politely told them to rectify it. Knowing it is a start-up, I offered them to start the brand building in phases – and assured that we can surely go in parts. I couldn’t convince them as they had known somebody who was doing it all for a nominal pricing.  So, I wished them the very best. Now I met them after a month or so, and guess what! I met them with the same business idea – a new brand name and a new business card. This time – I was shocked! How could they take their own brain child so easy? The name, the logo – everything put me into shock and here I am sharing the pain!

And I must say, these are a sincere duo who is putting in real efforts to make this work but with just one motto – money. Money will come but may I request to invest it wisely. Entrepreneurs get desperate; even I had taken some really desperate decisions – in the haste to proving myself as an entrepreneur and getting more projects as early as possible but fairness need to be maintained. That would take you to the longer entrepreneurial term. After all, we are not creating bubbles – we are doing business in here.

To them and to others, I would strongly recommend, have an idea – develop it- execute it and create value. But love your brand and respect it. If professional help is not a convincing way, talk to friends, seek opinions, and check your brand before others check it out.

Remember, sometimes it is the journey that matters more than the destination. And in entrepreneurship – it is the learning throughout the journey, it’s the evolvement that bring the success even before we realize it.