Vijay Ramachandran (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} vijayr) wrote,@ 2009-05-26 11:02:00 |
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Saying no to no
I'm closing in on two years since starting my own company (WisdomTap, providing product search). As I was thinking about certain recent events, something struck me. As part of building the company, providing unique technology, we've faced a lot of questions from a variety of people, from technical advisors, from VCs, from potential clients and from potential partners.
This is just a sample of the questions we faced. Notice how negative everything is?? That's my insight - so many of the people seem to look at the downside, rather than at the upside. i.e., what are the various ways in which the new venture may fail? This was common across all class of people we interacted with, *except* advisors and users! Advisors are the only ones who balance the business downside by looking at the upside. And, of course, users of the products also give us a lot of feedback - both positive and negative.
I wonder whether this "these are the various ways you can fail" attitude is an Indian thing. I'm especially struck by how negative potential investors (VCs, angels, etc.) are. We have had tremendous support from our original angels, though.
So, my big takeaway as a startup founder - find the conviction and the inner strength to say no to the nattering nabobs of negativism. As someone starting a new business, you're very aware (or soon become extremely aware!) that things will not go according to plan. There are a lot of unknowns. While its good to be aware of potential pitfalls, you've got to remain optimistic, always believe that you will hit the upside.
I'm closing in on two years since starting my own company (WisdomTap, providing product search). As I was thinking about certain recent events, something struck me. As part of building the company, providing unique technology, we've faced a lot of questions from a variety of people, from technical advisors, from VCs, from potential clients and from potential partners.
- Is the problem technically tractable?
- Is your market big enough? What's your market, actually?
- How is it different from product xyz?
- Why will someone use it?
- Why will they pay for it? How much will they pay? Why will they pay so much?
This is just a sample of the questions we faced. Notice how negative everything is?? That's my insight - so many of the people seem to look at the downside, rather than at the upside. i.e., what are the various ways in which the new venture may fail? This was common across all class of people we interacted with, *except* advisors and users! Advisors are the only ones who balance the business downside by looking at the upside. And, of course, users of the products also give us a lot of feedback - both positive and negative.
I wonder whether this "these are the various ways you can fail" attitude is an Indian thing. I'm especially struck by how negative potential investors (VCs, angels, etc.) are. We have had tremendous support from our original angels, though.
So, my big takeaway as a startup founder - find the conviction and the inner strength to say no to the nattering nabobs of negativism. As someone starting a new business, you're very aware (or soon become extremely aware!) that things will not go according to plan. There are a lot of unknowns. While its good to be aware of potential pitfalls, you've got to remain optimistic, always believe that you will hit the upside.
