Working at a Startup Before Starting One Yourself [Is it a good idea?]

I started my first company when I was 19, the second one when I was 23 and my third and current startup when I was 26. In between, I worked for a little over 15 months for two different startups. Over the last few months, a few people have asked me whether working at a startup is helpful if one plans to start up soon.

The simple answer to that is, yes! In reality, the answer to this question is much more complex. There are good startups and there are bad startups. I am not referring to the business performance here. Rather, I am referring to the environment and culture. The right kind of environment and culture can teach you a lot of things that will be important when you start up on your own.

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Hurdles For an Aspiring Entrepreneur From an Indian Middle Class Family

Since I decided to take the path of an entrepreneur, I have met a lot of people in the past one year. A lot of them have genuinely asked me this question, “How did you convince your parents?”

Well, I belong to a very typical middle-class Indian family. No one in my family has even run a business, no one. In fact, most of my family members are into government jobs. When I told them what I was up to, they thought I had lost my mind. Well, they still think so. And this is not the story just for me. In fact, this is a very common occurrence and I am sure a lot of Indian entrepreneurs can relate to this. Continue reading →

The Professor as an Entrepreneur

All those who know me well know that my ultimate goal in life is to be an entrepreneur and a teacher. If I combine both, we get a new term “Academic Entrepreneur.” And that is what I want to be. And like Prof. Randy Pausch said in The Last Lecture, “If you can sell, why not sell education.”

I have always believed Professors are entrepreneurs. Now don’t go rolling on the floor laughing about that statement. I am sure many of you do not agree, maybe because you never had that kind of teachers around you. But I am sure some would agree as well who have had the chance to study and work with some of the academic entrepreneurs around the world. In simple terms, that is what I think Professors should be. They should be entrepreneurs, academic entrepreneurs. Continue reading →

Three Important Things I Have Learnt So Far In My Entrepreneurial Journey

It has not been too long since I decided to take the plunge. I still don’t consider myself an entrepreneur though. I would rather call myself a wantrepreneur (wanna be entrepreneur). But the little time I have been around the entire entrepreneurial ecosystem, I have learned a lot of things. Today, I pen down three of them:

1. It is important to fail

Yes, you read it right. It is important to fail. Why? Because from what I have seen, many young CEOs who have achieved far too much success at a very young age tend to be too cocky. The experience of failure – financially, professionally, will make you an infinitely better businessman, teacher, and a better person, for that matter. Continue reading →

A 9-Year Old Entrepreneur and How His Video Got Viral!

A 9-Year Old Entrepreneur and how his video got Viral!

He made a make-shift Game Arcade out of cardboard boxes and offers loads of games through it. A $1 ticket gets you four spins at one of five arcade games and a $2 ticket gets you 500 spins. The industrious lad also sells $15 T-shirts — like the one he wears — that display “Caine’s Arcade” on the back.

That attention has turned into big bucks for young Monroy. It’s not clear how much money he’s made from ticket and T-shirt sales, but in donations alone, Monroy has already raised more than $178,000 through his website, CainesArcade.com. Those funds are devoted to paying for his college education, he says.