5 Realizations in the first year of Independence

I sent this email out to the company this morning and thought that the learnings apply to people outside as well. Hence, reproducing it

With great power comes great responsibility
- A wise man

Only some of you know the story behind the buyout of Groupon India from Groupon Inc. 
As rare as the event was (Aug 10th, 2015), the 11th of August was a normal day. We had basked in the glory of the achievement for 24 hrs and now it was time to put the independence to work. 

The past 12 months have made me realize some fundamental truths about being a founder

1. You cant make everyone happy. Dont even try

The world suffers from a massive sense of entitlement.
It stems from the constant buzz that the world keeps echoing in our ears

"You are awesome - you deserve the best"
"Customer is always right"
"If you show up to work, thats a favor right there"
"The perks you get - you deserve them. All of them"

The pressure of catering to this entitlement is massive. Especially after people know that you control everything - post independence. 
Till the time you were someone else, people thought you had an excuse.
Now you dont. 

I have learnt that you cannot keep everyone happy. 
At some level you have to constantly keep listening.
And yet have the courage to decide what you think is the best in your view

2. There will always be people who will love you, for who you are

Never undermine the power of good. 
Good intentions
Good execution
Good actions
Good words
The power of good will always have people watch your back. They will love you.
At times with nothing wished for in return. 

3. You impact people

You have the ability to make your colleagues happy or scared
We went through some awesome moments in these 12 months. And most people were happy
We went through some hard times as well. And most people were uncertain. 

Every action of yours has an impact - whether positive or negative. 
Every word of yours has an impact - whether to bring a smile or reinforce a misconception
Every rule that you create to make your life simpler, makes the life of someone else harder

As an institution, the ones closest to your emotional ups and downs are the people you work with. 
As a CEO, realizing that they are influenced by your mood, your talk and your body language is scary, humbling and necessary to be aware of

Colleagues will leave - you control what they leave with
nearbuy alums have gone on to awesome things
Entrepreneurship
MBA schools
Senior-level roles
C-level roles

Most of them remember their time at nearbuy fondly. Most of them credit their upbringing to the time spent at nearbuy. 
They will always be ambassadors of nearbuy. 

Merchants want to grow, with you
The bigger names (KFC, Dominos, CCD etc) take most of the visibility on the platform, for the right reasons
But behind thse big names are merchants who owe their existence to nearbuy
They have found smarter ways to sell, cost effective ways to market and a measurable way to grow their business
And they crave for more growth, riding with your growth

Awesome people are drawn to awesome institutions

Whether it was Urvashi Yadav (the lady who started a Chola Kulcha stall to save her family from financial crises) who we invited to serve us lunch on our 1st Anniversary

Or whether it was that special mom, the one who doesnt need to be named because she is like all our moms,

Or Hrithik Roshan, who joined us to promote his movie, but was kind enough to have 6 nearbuy users spend time with him (and even sang + danced for one of them)

4. Nothing is more important than growth
Once you are independent, the only way to survive is to grow

As a business, grow financially
As a person, grow personally and professionally
As a unit, grow in your learning and from your mistakes
As an insitution, grow by thinking of tomorrow and not solving for just the present
As a CEO, grow by not being part of the problem

The day one stops growing, is the day this independence loses its value. 
You were better off in the shadow of someone else

5. And growth comes from the culture of growth
At nearbuy, our culture is
RESPECT. OWNERSHIP. PERFORMANCE

The moments I have failed are the moments when I have overlooked the importance of setting the right culture
The moments I have succeeded is when these 3 words have defined the right thing to do, irrespective of how hard the decision

Culture isnt what is said or written 
It is what it is
It is what is felt

The next year will serve different set of realizations, while reiterating the ones above. And I cant wait for those to hit me

Happy Independence Day :)

stay awesome
stay focused
do epic shit!