Why did you found your start-up business? Was it to:
·
Deliver some benefit to your potential customers?
·
Fulfill your desire to be a successful entrepreneur?
·
Because you didn’t want to work for someone else?
·
Gain an elevated status in the society or among your peer group?
·
Make boatloads of money for yourself and your co-founders?
·
Or because you had a disruptive idea that you know would be a
killer?
Whatever the reason, you had a solid
motive and, perhaps, even greater commitment. The reason didn’t matter; it was
only a spark that ignited the fire in you. What you did have was the burning
desire to do it and you went about like a crazy person, thinking about it in
the waking hours and dreaming about it in the sleeping hours.
And so, you got yourself some money
through Friends, Family and Fools and set yourself up in a rental office to start
& grow your business. You had high regard for people and great respect for
your co-founders and co-workers. You believed in them as much as you believed
in yourself. You knew that your idea is brilliant and that you, along with your
little start-up, are going to just arrive in the market place with a big bang.
You worked tirelessly in making that idea come to fruition, focusing totally on
what needs to be done to make it a success.
But then, what happened? You got
yourself some real money through VC investments and suddenly, your focus seems
to have shifted. Somewhere along the line, you seem to have forgotten that you
are playing with other people’s money. Don’t you know that they didn’t give you
those millions because they love you? They gave it because they saw the
potential in you & your idea, and they invested their money to increase its
value and their worth.
So, what are you doing throwing those
investors under the bus, instead of focusing on growing your Business? Wouldn’t
you be better off estimating uniqueness, demand, benefits, utility,
affordability & most importantly, serviceability of your product or service
rather than taking your investors head on? The former is your strength whereas
money is the investors’ strength. Do you recognize that?
You don’t want to fall into the trap
of the “Dunning–Kruger cognitive bias” where you suffer from an illusory
superiority (in an area that is not your strength) and too headstrong to
realize it.
Go, focus on creating and delivering
value, not destroying it!
Kall Ramanathan
@KallRamanathan
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ValueStrat Consulting @ValueStrat helps
businesses understand where they are currently and what they need to do to get
where they want to go. For this, we provide essential strategic plans and
approaches, called “Keys”, to enable businesses to open up competencies,
create value and deliver profitability.
