Startup Madness – the World is Calling!
[Guest post by Sameer Guglani and Nandini Hirianniah, Partners @ MVP. They share their early days of Madhouse.in (which was acquired by seventymm) and the 'madness' that drives entrepreneurs to conquer the world!]
In recent days, while working with the MVP portfolio companies and reflecting back on the days of madhouse, we have identified this phenomenon we are calling ’startup madness’.
It’s visible and present from the time when you start thinking of your million dollar/world changing idea to the steady state point (personal satisfaction, acquisition, IPO or maybe shutdown). Things that you do, don’t make any sense to outsiders and they are like ‘This guy is crazy’ and even when you look back at that period you think “what was I thinking when I did this?”
Looking back at the time when we got the idea to start madhouse, we did not know anything about business, we were just two 27 year old kids (later three of us, with Ankur joining us). We had tried a variety of things in our lives and had managed to do reasonably well in whatever we put our hands into, may be that’s what gave us the stupid confidence. Very importantly we were quite ignorant about ‘real business’ and hence came up with our own take on every business problem we faced.
This streak of startup madness showed at various places:
- We did not hear NO: not from vendors, not from people we were trying to hire, not from investors, customers, no one. A NO just meant we had to come back with new ideas and try again.
- We would never get tired of talking about madhouse and we could talk to any one about it. Most times the other guy did not give a damn
, for him/her it was just a blabber - We just worked non-stop for three years , not even a day off (except when forced by illness)
- Other than work everything else was just plain unimportant : sleeping, eating, meeting friends, attending social functions, family, watching TV, movies, newspaper – all of this had very little place in our lives. We just filled all our day with work with average working day of 16-18 hrs all thru.
- We worked out of anywhere and everywhere. Our tools were a Fujitsu laptop and a CDMA phone which could be used like a modem. Restaurants, inside a car / train / auto rickshaw / bus, out on the road, in the park, bedroom, living room and the loo, locations stopped to matter, where place was work place.
- We did not need a lot of money to live and we were happier than ever (no purchases of over 1000 for 3 years, eating at economical places, shamelessly staying with friends / relatives / acquaintances in cities we visited on work )
- ‘The world impossible was missing” – we just did not believe that there was any problem that we could not solve or anything we could not do. Our minds were one track – focus hard, think hard, work hard and just do whatever it takes.
- We had access to this inhuman energy that allowed us to just keep going – “never get tired” or “never run out of steam”.
- Each time we met a new person, we were constantly thinking of how this person can help our venture, . Everywhere we went, we explored if there was something there that could benefit our startup. Frankly we were classical ‘opportunity hounds” and quite shamelessly so
- We were basically “stuck” in our own world in which we could not fail. While we adapted like crazy, we sort of forced business to work the way we thought it should work, without caring a lot about the outside world.
This madness is the essence of start-ups; it signifies the purity of a startup. It makes the startup tick and makes it successful and enjoyable. The same madness makes you innovate, over perform, challenge your skill set, think out of the box or even out of the world, take 28 hrs out of a 24 hrs a day, it gets you to focus but does not let you blindly focus!
Utter Madness - That's what you need!
Its also important to figure out how can you keep re-fueling the desire, the madness, so that it lasts forever, not just for days, weeks or months, start ups that click need to be at it for years. For an individual or team to succeed as a startup, having the startup madness is a must.
If you are an entrepreneur look inside you and make an honest assessment. Do you have the streak?
- If yes, great.
- If no. But you think you can build it – nice, go ahead and do it at the highest priority.
- If you don’t have it and you can’t build it – I am not sure you should continue being an entrepreneur.
On that other hand, if you are not yet an entrepreneur you should also look inside you and make the same honest assessment. Do I have the mad streak?
- If yes, you fool, leave your job right now – the world of ’startup madness’ is calling
- If no, it would best for you to avoid the path of entrepreneurship, until the ‘madness streak’ gets to you
Whats your opinion?
[The article was jointly written by Sameer Guglani and Nandini Hirianniah - original post here]
pic credit
About the author - Ashish Sinha is a Startup Mentor/Product Strategy Coach, and the founder/chief editor of pluGGd.in.
He has launched/managed couple of products (consumer as well as enterprise) in US and India, and now consults with startups/small businesses on their product/media strategy. He can be reached at: ashish (at) pluGGd.in [+91 98452 06443]
Cant see whats the big deal. The guys just seem to be interested in blowing their own trumpet..
Any guy in a startup does whatever what they have done.
I am disappointed to see a supposed entrepreneur read a biography of sorts and pass these comments, its but obvious that when you talk about what you have done it will look like blowing your own trumpet.The only way you can share a startup experience is by describing your own.
I feel the above written article is a very good start for new entrepreneurs and a reminder for all entrepreneurs out there. Its not about the things they have written, its about showcasing that these qualities are always relevant and required. Your comment is like saying Vedas has all the knowledge and any professor writing any book is basically blowing his own trumpet !!!!! I hope i am getting the point across.
I respect you having an opinion but be constructive than being ignorant that few may still benefit.
Regs,
Vikz
Revesh I completely understand that every startup goes through this, but how many of them come out and share their experiences. You should had written an article if you so knew what goes behind a startup.
dont think i need to write an article about this….I think everyone knows that for a venture to succeed, you need to control your costs, network, work hard, be positive etc…even if i did write an article, it would not be in the nature of this article. too much of blowing your trumpet as i mentioned in my previous comment.
@Revesh – each one to himself – I am sure many entrepreneurs will take away key points from what Sameer has mentioned.
Many of them will resonate with what has been mentioned here.
Do not expect ‘Entrepreneurship in 21 days’ course here!
ashish, i only have problems with the way the article is written. if you talk about having the “access to this inhuman energy” and be able to “work non-stop for three years”, it happens if one is passionate about the work that he does, it will happen not just if you are a enterpreneur but even if one is an employee somewhere. these things can not be taught by reading these articles. i dont expect a 21 days course but do expect that we get to know about things one can implement.
Here is how I look at it – these are real life experiences of ppl.
Nobody has perfected the art of entrepreneurship – what makes an interesting read is to learn from what others have done, mistakes..etc.
if you are looking for any particular topic, pls let me know!!
-Ashish
Entrepreneurship in 21 days’ course here. rtfl.
“Each time we met a new person, we were constantly thinking of how this person can help our venture, . Everywhere we went, we explored if there was something there that could benefit our startup. Frankly we were classical ‘opportunity hounds” and quite shamelessly so ”
- Exactly what happens with me. I even end up glancing through the tender ads and classified in my newspaper in the hope that there will be something of use.
But need to work on the first point. Have accepted a handful of “No”s in past few months. Need to go back and work on them again.
Thanks for the nice article.
Abhaya
http://pothi.com
On one hand we talk about madness and on the other we also say that an entrepreneur is always blinded by their idea. This madness is also a cause of the blindness.
Though the madness gives you the energy and confidence which is like life mojo for entrepreneurs, but we should be careful that it doesn’t lead to blindness….and the remedy to the same is customer focus…take their feedback…improve/evolve the idea…bcos more important than the idea is the execution…
One should not work HARD to prove the idea but work SMART to evolve and prove the value proposition and realize the vision.
Great stuff – how about sharing more on your operation strategy for madhouse? probbly your decision to sell off to seventymm?
@ all: great discussion
@ jd, Nice suggestion, have made note of the topic will try to write some thing on that
@ Sumeet: Completely agree with you, one can get carried away with madness and loose
focus, so its importance to balance the two
@ abhaya: thanks for sharing your experience
@ revesh: respect you point view, writing may have come out like “blowing the trumpet”, but that was not the intention. The attempt was just to think back to those days and share what was happening in an honest manner.
Pardon me. But I hate all this rah-rah bullshit about entrepreneurship and the over hype given to entrepreneurship compared to mainstream work.
).
Entrepreneurship calling??? It should be calling for what you love. If you want to crank code day in, day out and the projects at work everwhere are not that satisfying, go build your own product. It can be more fulfiling due to ownership and having gained users(hopefully
This article is way over hyped. Sure entreprenurship calls for hardwork,some sacrifices and persistence. So does million other things in life. I get a feeling that most entrepreneurs look down upon non-entrepreneurs just because they didnt take the plunge. I would be happy if they looked down upon them because they were doing something they really loved at heart.
Well – this blog focusses on entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs. So, the articles here makes assumption about their average reader and what kind of “calling” they have in life. What on earth is wrong with that? People who love art would go to an art forum and people who like excelling in coporate world would go to a CXO’s forum. There also there would be assumptions about what the audience’s “calling” in life is, which would be different from entrepreneurship. If a non-artist entrepreneur lands on a forum of people passionate about painting and people there are pitching painting as calling of heart as against making money, the entrepreneurs may decide to ‘hate’ it. But a better thing for him/her to do would be decide that its not the right forum for him/her.
I can see that there is a scope for generic articles on following your own calling, whatever they are. But those are found in self help books/blogs I think
Regards
Jaya
http://pothi.com
good
Very good