What Does It Take to Succeed
A thought that strikes me often is: What is it that distinguishes winners from losers, what does it take to succeed with a start-up company. We have many examples around us of start-ups that clicked and those that did not. Though there are a lot of variables at play in each of these cases, a few things that go to make the difference are:
Passion: Nothing can beat passion in making things happen. There are two ways to approach any challenge: One is to say that it is very difficult and give reasons on why it is so, this typically happens when the passion is missing. The other is to be so passionate that everything seems possible.

Management team and their dynamics: The management team makes a world of difference. The direction, vision, urgency, attitude displayed by the management team is what ultimately drives the company and its people to drive and excel.

Working Smart: There are two ways of working: The Slog approach and the Smart approach. The Slog approach involves longer hours, lower productivity, and higher stress. The Smart approach involves skill based work allocation, driving measures to improve efficiency across the organization and avoiding duplication of efforts (More on this in my next posting). The advantage of the Smart approach is a workforce that is motivated, more efficient, and relaxed. Basically make process improvements a company wide practice.

Investments: Another important factor is to have the vision to make investments in resources in people, infrastructure, and machinery when the time is right. You expect growth 2 months from now, from some new emerging markets/government policy change, Act Now.

Am sure each one of you will have your own thoughts on the key drivers to succeed in a start-up and would love to hear your views.

Start-Ups: When to seek venture capital funding if at all
There are two distinct schools of thoughts, one that believes that venture capital funding is a must for service industries to reach the next stage of growth and the other that believes venture capital funding is not required. I must confess, I belong to the second school of thought.

So what are the key drivers that lead an organization to seek VC funding? Some of them are:
1. To meet a requirement of additional funds for expansion purposes
2. To use the expertise of the venture capitalists
3. To use the business connections of the venture capitalists
So are these compelling reasons for VC funding?
A service industry with the right control and operating practices can operate at profit margins ranging from 50-70%. Careful and planned investments of these profits can help drive most of the expansion requirements. And all this can be achieved without diluting the equity of the founders. The expertise of the venture capitalists are valuable inputs, but their involvement needs to be evaluated from the following perspectives – active or passive role, any competing companies in their portfolio, their contacts for marketing and their experience in similar service industries.

But the process of seeking VC funding is an exercise that I believe should be undertaken by all companies even though the ultimate objective might not be VC funding. The key steps in this exercise are:
- Prepare the business plan that includes a executive summary, company overview, management and ownership, products and services, market analysis, funds requirements, marketing plans, pricing, competition, operations and five-year projections.
- Prepare the financial forecasts.
- Include some industry experts on board
This exercise provides direction, gives confidence to stakeholders and helps meet and devise aggressive marketing plans.

So can we conclude that companies should never seek VC funding? No, as these will be dictated by business, industry and market factors. But it is important to realize that VC funding is not the end-all of business. You should be clear on the reasons for seeking VC funding and the value-additions to the business from this funding before deciding on VC funding.

Awaiting some views on this, definitely from VCs and companies who have gone through VC funding process.

2004 has been a memorable year for me, the birth of Kern Communications Pvt Ltd. It is now more than a year since I joined hands with two of my close pals with the vision of creating a leading learning services and usability services company. Over this period, we have struggled, grown, learned and enjoyed every bit of it. It has been a tremendous learning experience, experienced more so by my colleagues, co-founders and friends, Ripul and Geeta who have been in the thick of things at all times what with setting up an office, expanding, building a team (have to mention this, our team today includes a bunch of really talented and enthusiastic people, a special mention of the first threesome on board - Anu, Sowndarya and Deepa).

So what is it like to manage a start-up? When is the best time to start? How to start? I am sure these are queries that strike each of us when we think of starting a new venture. That’s when the thought stuck - Let me share my experiences. So keep visiting this page as I share my thoughts, views and experiences on – What triggered off this decision, what is it like to manage a start-up, useful strategies and lots more over the coming months. Stay tuned.