Job or self employed or govt Is now Job or startup
It is a delight to meet youngsters at any alumni meet. They come in two flavours – yet to graduate and graduated recently. Interestingly they both have the same question “to work or to do something on our own”. Those asking the question are almost always from a middle class background and those graduated are in a job. They come to an alumni meet to primarily clear their mind of this confusion.
Like always, I struggle to answer. There is no one size that fits all. There is no simple answer. The answer is “it depends”. And what does it depend on. It depends on five parameters:
1. Strength of family background
2. Personality type and interest
3. Access to investors
4. Conviction about an idea
5. Availability of an acceptable job.
If the family background is financially weak – look for a government job. It is worthwhile spending one or two years to crack the civil services exam and get set for life. The job is safe, carries respectability, gives you high level exposure and provides a helicopter view that few private sector jobs will ever match. Like any competitive exam, it needs you to compete and win. Don’t get swayed by talks of corruption and bribes – that’s a wrong path to go down. Think nation building and you will be in the right place.
Less than 2% of IIT graduates are suited to entrepreneurship. 80% of these belong to five communities. There are exceptions of course but the default option is a job. And I think rightly so for the 98% who are not suited to entrepreneurship in India. If you go abroad, the 98:2 ratio changes to 60:40. India is not a good place to be in business. We have a broken legal system and a highly corrupt framework which is highly challenging to work in. There are just too many people jostling for money, for customers, for survival. Unless you have a lot of conviction – avoid entrepreneurship in India. If in a developed country – don’t look at a job, get into a startup as soon as funded.
If you can’t find investors on day one, forget about doing a startup. I have not found any business which generates enough surpluses for growth. Competitors around you are likely to be well funded – from own means or venture capital. Don’t fall for the “build it and they will come”. If your idea isn’t getting funded now, it is unlikely it ever will. Sure there are miracles and exceptions. But that is not what I am discussing here.
Great startups are not created by great strategy or great planning. They happen by serendipity. The pre requisite to evaluate an idea is prior knowledge of the customer. Not of the competitor or of the supplier. Understanding your customer is key. And customers are fickle minded free loaders. It is unlikely you will have enough understanding of the customer when you think of the idea. So reach out to customers and to people who understand your customers.
The main reason people get into business in India is because they can’t get a suitable job.