Before I extrapolate on this topic of immense significance for any aspiring entrepreneur, here is a wonderful quote by Calvin Coolidge that sums it well.

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."

For any ambitious professional, who genuinely wants to succeed either as a successful entrepreneur or climb the ladder in a big corporation, persistence and determination are a must. Persistence, in my view, is the innate ability to keep going and keep pushing yourself to get to your finish line despite many unforeseen challenges one may encounter as well as it may just seem completely out of reach at times. It's the ability to be really tenacious for accomplishing your final goal whether being able to sell your company or taking your startup through an initial public offering thereby rewarding all the shareholders including employees and investors to reap the benefits by taking the risk along with you, betting on you and your ability to persist to make it finally happen. Always remember that good things come to those who wait. As an entrepreneur and advisor to startups over the years, here are four key take away (4KTA) points that could help you to think things differently as you traverse through your entrepreneurial journey.

1. Perfect Moment– Being in Silicon Valley, I come across a lot of talented and smart engineers who talk about pursuing their dream of starting a company. But when I ask them why they don't start now, the typical answer is that this is not the perfect moment. Now remember, there is nothing like a perfect moment to start a company. I am sure you often hear from lots of venture capitalists that downturns are the perfect time to start a business. You can hire talented engineers and get other resources easily and inexpensively. You don't have to compete with many other startups or large companies as number of them are downsizing or right sizing their resources during those times. At the same time, when times are good, you will hear that this is the perfect time to start a company. You can see what I am getting at. Keep in mind that you may not have answers to all the pieces at any time like having enough market data; having everything figured out in terms of product and technology viability; the acceptable price points by the customer and total available market opportunity. The bottom-line: "This is your perfect moment.Just get going now and Do it!"

2. Perfect Opportunity– Similar to the first element above, opportunities are not going to be handed over to you by someone. They won't simply drop in your lap. Nothing worthwhile ever happens that way. You need to be alert, open-minded, and ferociously curious. Keep searching for it within your domain expertise. As you delve deeply into your area of expertise, discuss about the challenges that your industry friends, suppliers and customers may be facing, you may uncover those obvious opportunities that others just overlook. Grab and run with one of these opportunities. My experiences in startups are similar in nature.Start with one idea, develop a prototype and end up enhancing it to finally releasing a fully functional product which is entirely different. However, it won't have seen the light of the day, had my co-founders and I not jumped into it. We didn't wait for that perfect moment or perfect opportunity.

3. Perfect Product– Never wait for a perfect product. In every start up, I've been involved; we started with an idea that morphed into a completely different product. The product did indeed contain the initial elements. Your product need not be perfect to begin with. If you read about Facebook and lots of other newer generation of software companies, they keep releasing the updates since initial bare minimum product release while continuing to incorporate the feedback from the customers and re-iterateregularly. This makes the product even more useful than originally planned. In one article recently, Square – one of the hot startup in mobile payment space encourages its engineers to work at small businesses like coffee shops; restaurants etc. to learn and understand better how they use their payment product so they can keep improving it and make it even more useful for them. As Mark Zuckerberg's says, "Done is better than perfect." Similarly, remember the quote from Steve Jobs, "Real artists ship."

4. Perfect Customer– Once you have your early product ready, have a customer ready for real time testing. It's assumed that you already have few prospects lined up from your early idea validation phase. Make sure to keep in touch with these customers while you develop your prototype. Keep updating them with progress and getting feedback. You want them to be emotionally invested in your success. They can possibly be the first buyer of your product. You will encounter moments when things will seem completely out of control. Don't worry about the small stuff and get frustrated. Conserve all your energy and spend it on the things that matter. There are going to be moments when customers may not seem to be on your same timetable. It's your job to convince them of the significance and the fantastic value you are offering to them. Articulate the sense of urgency for them to try it out. Make sure that they are bought into your vision first.

In summary, startup founders need persistence because everything always seems to take longer than expected. It can be difficult to keep things going when you don't see instant traction and success.Persistence is crucial because you're bound to make mistakes. Making mistakes is the only way that helps us learn rapidly and improve from each mistake. An entrepreneur can't afford to give up too early as you may lose the opportunity to learn from your mistakes and are not able to create the success you dreamed of. The four key take away points for entrepreneurs in order to be able to persist are to be always aware of these key elements like a perfect moment, a perfect opportunity, a perfect product, and a perfect customer.