Key Ingredients for a successful startup
Ajay Jain
President and CEO,
Quantum Secure
Quantum Secure
The notion of entrepreneurship has been prevalent since the birth of the first human. What has changed consistently over time – along with ever changing socio-economic paradigms – is the approach of how to bring a 'dream' to reality. Bringing dreams to reality is entrepreneurship. Let’s spend some time understanding the ingredients of successful entrepreneurship.
Today's tough economy and financial outlook provides a sobering reminder that an abundance of capital (as was the case recently) is not the only ingredient to building a business. Young entrepreneurs often see "access to capital" as their biggest challenge. However, the two more important factors to successful entrepreneurship and start-ups are:
(1) The business idea/gap in the economic fabric that is being patched by the new products/ services offerings and an incredible focus on that alone
(2) The attitude of the founders and the incessant inner drive to succeed in business.
I believe most business opportunities have the capacity to last for a very long time if they have the right mix of the two points above. Entrepreneurs must focus on building an incredibly enduring business – one that can last for a long time, all the while demonstrating a sustained market value. A weak business idea or "get rich overnight" concepts are generally met with failure. The business idea/gap you are trying to fulfill must be based upon a solid foundation of innovation without which the value proposition always will remain on a shaky ground – the similar weak grounds that the automobile industry are currently facing in the USA due to lack of innovation for extended period of time and could even become extinct unless timely help from the government and innovation in business are brought in as saviors.
Innovation does not mean radical changes – but rather, a consistent dose of enhancements to products/services and a continual desire to explore better means of conducting business. This applies to start-ups as well. The reason for a large number of failures in the world of start-ups is the lack of real innovation in business ideas despite the abundance of available capital. Today's market cannot bear hundreds of Web search engines or Web 2.0 companies chasing the same idea. Without innovation in an already-crowded market, start-ups such as these will have an extremely hard time solidifying their value proposition for their core target audience and creating a business that is built for the long term.
Today's tough economy and financial outlook provides a sobering reminder that an abundance of capital (as was the case recently) is not the only ingredient to building a business. Young entrepreneurs often see "access to capital" as their biggest challenge. However, the two more important factors to successful entrepreneurship and start-ups are:
(1) The business idea/gap in the economic fabric that is being patched by the new products/ services offerings and an incredible focus on that alone
(2) The attitude of the founders and the incessant inner drive to succeed in business.
I believe most business opportunities have the capacity to last for a very long time if they have the right mix of the two points above. Entrepreneurs must focus on building an incredibly enduring business – one that can last for a long time, all the while demonstrating a sustained market value. A weak business idea or "get rich overnight" concepts are generally met with failure. The business idea/gap you are trying to fulfill must be based upon a solid foundation of innovation without which the value proposition always will remain on a shaky ground – the similar weak grounds that the automobile industry are currently facing in the USA due to lack of innovation for extended period of time and could even become extinct unless timely help from the government and innovation in business are brought in as saviors.
Innovation does not mean radical changes – but rather, a consistent dose of enhancements to products/services and a continual desire to explore better means of conducting business. This applies to start-ups as well. The reason for a large number of failures in the world of start-ups is the lack of real innovation in business ideas despite the abundance of available capital. Today's market cannot bear hundreds of Web search engines or Web 2.0 companies chasing the same idea. Without innovation in an already-crowded market, start-ups such as these will have an extremely hard time solidifying their value proposition for their core target audience and creating a business that is built for the long term.
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Reader's comments(6)
2:
Great Inputs Mr. Ajay. Couldn't have agreed more. I had faced similar critical issues at my startup. I think one of the most important lessons is to focus on solving actual problems and not the perceived ones, because that's what is going to help a company in the long run
Posted by:Avinash Jupudi - 02 Dec, 2011
3:
sir this very nice full lesson for us i got various knowledge from this post
Thanx regard
Gangesh jha
founder of Appexigo Technologies nioda (U.P)
Thanx regard
Gangesh jha
founder of Appexigo Technologies nioda (U.P)
Posted by:gangesh jha - 29 Oct, 2011
4:
sir this very nice full lesson for us i got various knowledge from this post
Thanx regard
Gangesh jha
founder of Appexigo Technologies nioda (U.P)
Thanx regard
Gangesh jha
founder of Appexigo Technologies nioda (U.P)
Posted by:gangesh jha - 29 Oct, 2011
5:
"at the same time mindless of the trap of the endless loop of "analysis paralysis". "
Does Mr. Jain mean "mindful of the trap ....."
Does Mr. Jain mean "mindful of the trap ....."
Posted by:Ramakrishna Pillalamarri - 29 Sep, 2010
6:
Innovation & Execution should go hand in hand
Innovation cannot be just a great thought or a great concept on paper unless it fully has the ability to be executed so that its worth can be guaged and proven among people in the value chain among the market competitions.
Across industries you can find ,some of the best examples , be it in the telecom ,airlines ,cars & FMCG products , the excution has been so perfect ,that you say the both innovation and execution goes hand in hand .
Innovation cannot be just a great thought or a great concept on paper unless it fully has the ability to be executed so that its worth can be guaged and proven among people in the value chain among the market competitions.
Across industries you can find ,some of the best examples , be it in the telecom ,airlines ,cars & FMCG products , the excution has been so perfect ,that you say the both innovation and execution goes hand in hand .
Posted by:ANIL KUMAR MYDUR - 01 Sep, 2010
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