Is Entrepreneurship more secure than a job?

I know that quite a few of you would be shaking your head sideways, ready to dismiss this idea. After all, doesn't a good paycheck at the end of each month give a bigger sense of security than the dreams of a windfall some years into the future... While a majority of us might answer no, there is definitely a segment of individuals who live with a philosophy that the answer to this question is a resounding "YES".

Before I present a case for this, consider the following facts:

1. With globalization in full-swing, all organizations are trying to scout for work forces which offer maximum productivity and greatest return on investment. What this means is that if someone can do your current job better than you, or at a fraction of your cost, your job would be shifted.
   


2. Mega-mergers/consolidations are in full swing. And if there is anything that would change around these, it would be the rate at which these happen. And the only direction for that rate is upwards. Each such consolidation presents an opportunity for the organizations to streamline their combined work forces, and hence layoffs are imminent.
   


3. Technological advances are resulting in a scenario wherein, everyday, the effort/skill set required for doing any job is diminishing drastically. For instance, we all know how some large MIS (Management Information System) teams can easily be replaced by periodically scheduled cron jobs, which don't require any human intervention at all.
   

The biggest casualty of all the above are individuals who had got too comfortable in their jobs, and had stopped to evolve...

You must be thinking, "Agreed that these facts are true, but how on earth does that make entrepreneurship more secure"? If so, consider the following argument which might resonate with some of you...

Let me start by asking you a question. What is the best known protection against pathogens like viruses and bacteria? Yes, you are right, it is vaccines. A preparation of the same weakened or killed pathogen. Similarly, experiencing the insecurities and the uncertainties around your "Entrepreneurial Destiny" are the best way for you to prepare yourself against any other form of insecurity. As an entrepreneur, your very existence would depend on you being innovative; on you thinking on your feet; on you finding alternate paths if the primary one is blocked. If you are one of those individuals who hate to fail, you would always be evaluating new plans to succeed. All these would ensure that at no instant would you be resting on your laurels. While one plan is being implemented, which by itself has a pretty good chance of succeeding, your mind would have already moved on to evaluate the successive/follow-on strategy. Chances are high that, even before you know it, you would have lined up a very good strategy for survival, and possibly success, for the next few years.

Hence, the argument that Entrepreneurship can be more secure, as well as rewarding, for certain individuals. But before anyone jumps to any conclusions, let me clarify. I do not mean we can generalize this. This argument definitely does not hold true for "everyone".

While, the insecurities associated with the success, or the survival, of an Entrepreneurial Venture are grossly over-highlighted in a negative sense all across the board, the benefit of the same feeling of insecurity as an antidote against other evils rarely finds any mention. Hence, if you are one of those individuals who like to fight fire with fire, go ahead and take the plunge. In the long run, the bumpy "Entrepreneurial Ride" is definitely more cozy and warm than that office chair you have got so much used to...

A triple treat for future Indian Entrepreneurs!

All you fans of entrepreneurship in India, here is some good news for you. The following proposals are being considered by the IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology). When implemented, these would come as a big boost for promoting entrepreneurship in the country:-

• Most of the IITs are planning to soon have a venture capital fund on their campuses. IIT Bombay is in talks with Infosys Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and other major IT players to seek help to start a venture capital fund. IIT Madras, too, is considering setting up a VC fund on its campus. IIT Delhi, will explore the option in future, it says.
• IIT Madras is setting up a research park along with 35 companies. At the research park, the institute would reserve space to accommodate start ups by students and faculty.
• There is a recommendation given to the Department of Human Resource Development, Universities Grant Commission and All India Council for Technical Education, to encourage all science departments and technical education/training institutions to include entrepreneurship and new venture management in their course curriculum.
  

Now that's called a triple treat for all Entrepreneurs-in-the-making. Isn't it exciting to see that more and more colleges are starting to plant the idea of entrepreneurship in young minds, as well as guiding them some of the way? By also encouraging students to seek out early-stage entrepreneurs to work for, the colleges could guide the students on a path of exponential learning, growth and rewards.

Click here to read more details on the above mentioned proposals.

About Venture Capital And Innovators

First of all, here's wishing everyone a very Happy and Prosperous New Year!

2006 was an year of tremendous growth and success for India. 2007 promises to be yet another year where the upward trend should continue!

As has been the theme for the past few posts, this time too we will focus on some important aspects related to entrepreneurship. These are Venture Capital, Advertising and Innovation. Instead of capturing my own thoughts, this time around, I'll introduce you to some really interesting information and thoughts on these topics by a couple of my very close friends.

Ritesh is maintaining a blog wherein he is following the Venture Capital situation in India. Here is a post by him which highlights some important facts about VC funding in India that has happened in the past 2 years. In case you are strapped for time, and don't click that link, here are some important statistics from that post:

VC Fundings in India
2005 - $482 million in 52 deals
2006 - $240 million in 49 deals till June, $300 million in 50 deals expected in remaining 6 months

This is excellent information to support my previous post about "Entrepreneurship in India". India might not be there in the league of big boys yet, but things are definitely getting started ;-)

Pranav is maintaining a blog wherein he talks about interactive marketing, innovators, new ventures etc. Check out this post in which he has captured some interesting insights about innovators. These were provided by Rohit Agarwal in his recent talk at Barcamp Bangalore 2. Also checkout some of Pranav's posts related to marketing and advertising. They might come in handy for all you entrepreneurs. After all, isn't Web 2.0 all about ad revenue? ;-)

Happy Reading!

Entrepreneurship in India

Well, when we talk about entrepreneurship, which is the first country that comes to your mind? United States? Singapore? Japan? What do you think when someone talks about Entrepreneurship in India? Is "naah" your immediate reaction? If so, read these snippets from a recent article in TOI. They might make you think otherwise...

"With about 11 retail shops for every 1,000 persons, India has the highest shop density in the world. That's one shop for every 20-25 families. In cities, the density is much higher. Delhi, for example, has nearly 45 shops per thousand persons! Americans, arguably the biggest spenders in the world, have to make do with just about 4 shops per 1,000 persons."

So, if we consider these facts, we have counted atleast 12 million entrepreneurs in India. Of course, I have trivialized the counting over here by equating each shop owner to an entrepreneur. But hey, aren't "Hard work", "Desire to work for themselves" and "Optimism" some of the key characteristics of entrepreneurs? Believe me, we Indians are pretty good at exhibiting these ;-)

My take - India might lack the advanced technology or infrastructure that seed so many ventures in the western world, but it does have a lot of other things which are equally crucial for a successful venture. To mention just a couple of them:

1. A culture that promotes socializing and team work - Don't we all agree that collaboration is one of the biggest building blocks for entrepreneurship?
2. A huge domestic market - With such a large population base, capturing even a mediocre market share can mean huge revenues/profits.
   

Now coming to certain areas where I feel we need to get our act together:

1. Orientation to excellence - We have accepted mediocrity for far too long. The "chalta hai" attitude, as also recently highlighted by our PM, is our biggest bane. We have to conquer it, and conquer it fast.
2. Organization and Support System - Our industrial environment, procedures, bureaucracy and red tape are causing a lot of entrepreneurs to shun even the most stupendous of opportunities. Also, the society and the government needs to do a lot more to promote entrepreneurship and support entrepreneurs. Institutes like "Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI or EDII)" and "Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE)" are few and far between.
3. Role models for entrepreneurs - Entrepreneurs are admired and emulated. It is time for the media to uncover and idolize more Dhirubhai Ambanis and Narayan Murthys.
   

To end this post, I'll use another recent quote, attributed to our PM, as a reply to the question, "What must we do to build a strong India?". His response, "Our strength will lie in the capabilities of our industry, in our ability to produce enough food for our people, to generate enough electricity, and to create a knowledge-based economy with full literacy".

Promoting entrepreneurship is definitely a good and fool-proof road to reach there!

Characteristics of an Entrepreneur!

In the previous post, I had tried to share my thoughts around "What is Entrepreneurship?". In this post, I will highlight some characteristics of entrepreneurs as enlisted by John G. Burch. I was trying to find a definition for the word "Entrepreneurship" when I ran across this list on wikipedia. I thought I'll list it here so that all of us can relate that a budding entrepreneur is hiding within each one of us ;-)

John G. Burch[Business Horizons, September 1986] lists traits typical of entrepreneurs:

1. A desire to achieve: The push to conquer problems, and give birth to a successful venture.
2. Hard work: It is often suggested that many entrepreneurs are workaholics.
3. Desire to work for themselves: Entrepreneurs like to work for themselves rather than working for an organization or any other individual. They may work for someone to gain the knowledge of product or service that they may want to produce.
4. Nurturing quality: Willing to take charge of, and watch over a venture until it can stand alone.
5. Acceptance of responsibility: Are morally, legally, and mentally accountable for their ventures. Some entrepreneurs may be driven more by altruism than by self-interest.
6. Reward orientation: Desire to achieve, work hard, and take responsibility, but also with a commensurate desire to be rewarded handsomely for their efforts; rewards can be in forms other than money, such as recognition and respect.
7. Optimism: Live by the philosophy that this is the best of times, and that anything is possible.
8. Orientation to excellence: Often desire to achieve something outstanding that they can be proud of.
9. Organization: Are good at bringing together the components (including people) of a venture.
10. Profit orientation: Want to make a profit; but the profit serves primarily as a meter to gauge their success and achievement.
    

For those who want to read the complete write-up on wikipedia, here is a quick link, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneur. It is pretty interesting!

What is Entrepreneurship?

Isn't it true that nowadays, wherever we look around ourselves, we find our friends and colleagues moving out of their jobs? Well, look who's talking... Didn't I myself just do that? :-)

Jokes apart, in the past 14 days that I have been on my own, I have already met 3-4 friends who are in a similar situation. Some have already left their jobs, while some are in the process of doing so. Most of them are moving out because they want to start their own business. So, keeping the title of this post in mind, am I implying that moving out of a secure job and building a business of our own is entrepreneurship? Does taking risks to tread uncharted territory mean entrepreneurship? The answer is yes and no. Yes, because this is one way that can lead to entrepreneurship. No, because entrepreneurship is a much more evolved concept than just starting a business or taking some risks.

If you ask me, I would say that entrepreneurship is one's desire to evolve. It is the desire to identify one's own capabilities by testing them to the limits. It is our desire to shape the future of the world, in whatever small capacity. Entrepreneurs are people who want to do something innovative, something which is unique to them.

Now this leads me to discussing a very common notion about entrepreneurship, which I believe is wrong. According to Investopedia (http://www.investopedia.com/), an entrepreneur is "An individual who, rather than working as an employee, runs a small business and assumes all the risk and reward of a given business venture, idea, or good or service offered for sale". While this seems fine coming from the mouths of "Investopedia", which projects itself as "Your source for investing education", it is wrong to imply that to be an entrepreneur one has to quit their jobs. I truly believe that one can be an entrepreneur while still working with some organization. I'll probably write another post, "Entrepreneurship in a job", to convey what I mean by this. But that's for later.

The following definition by "Houghton Mifflin" (http://www.hmco.com/indexf.html), "One that creates, founds, or originates", is the one that I believe comes closest to capturing the real spirit of an entrepreneur.

Well, what I have done with these few words is share my thoughts around what is entrepreneurship. I know a lot of you out there have your share of thoughts on this topic. So I would like to invite all bricks and bouquets. Do keep them coming ;-)

I am back to blogging...

Okay - I did say that I have started blogging. But from no account have I done any justice to it so far. Hence, here I am, back, to make amends. And what better way than to write a couple of posts, one after the other.

Choosing a topic to write on is a very difficult thing. For a couple of days, I had donned my thinking cap and deliberated a lot to come up with a topic that I should write on. Ideas ranged from giving a spin to some of the cliche sayings, to some around writing a post on some of the technical topics. But then I thought, let's write about something that is the flavour of the season. And is so rightly so. The topic that I am talking about is "Entrepreneurship". As soon as that word came to my mind, there was a free-flow of ideas moving all across my brain. So much so, that the neural system, which was once finding it tough to utter even a single word that could be written on any topic, is now having such a hard time filtering out content which should be skipped. Perhaps, I might do a mini-series on this topic. So, without much further ado, I'll move on to writing my next post in which I'll share my thoughts around "What is Entrepreneurship?"