entrepreneur eco-system

You get to hear the two extremes of a venture - all the glamour and all the dust. A lot has been said how 8 out of 10 ventures fail, so does this mean that the other 2 are on top of the world? There are a lot of ventures which continue to operate and grow steadily over a period of time and hence not mentioned and then there are so many more who continue to operate but fall out because of the pressures and expectations of this economy. Perhaps, many can be saved.

An entrepreneur mostly starts with a new idea to make a change - either to himself/herself or to the world. Many of these entrepreneurs struggle on various fronts initially starting from structuring the idea, meeting the right people for advice/feedback/inputs etc., and then to get the MVP done by coding themselves or seeking help from friends, while they try to get some interest from the target market for validations and positioning. Once this is done, the time to either go to market directly with a prototype or start building the product - all depending on the product, market, target etc., 

At this stage, some of them start working on the valuation or many of them start thinking about going live and generate revenues. This means raising funds for both these types becomes inevitable. After having gone through all the initial struggle, a new type of struggle begins. Angels, friends, families etc., enter the picture of they have not already. Getting a structured funding at this stage means you either need to have an established history of economically successful ventures or you are basically a well networked person with a lot of people ready to bet on you right away. If not, then the only other way is to fall back upon angels and close friends. 

Cutting the story short, the above mentioned entrepreneur has gone through significant stress for a period of 6 months to 18 months (or more in many cases) trying to prove the idea, building a team, raising funds, taking help from friends and family while not being there emotionally for them.... the list goes on.

The entrepreneur is bound by rules of what to talk. Any show of being "down" would result in long lectures from friends and family. Angels would step back, customers would get wary of giving more work, structured investors would anyway not smell you. Over and above all this, the self also kicks in. A thin line between being confident and defensive. In today's world judgements come in from all sides - known and unknown. 

A lot of entrepreneurs are not necessarily extroverts and flamboyant. They rarely get to speak to people and pour out their hearts just to wake up the next day and start with the same vigour. They have to handle the situation all by themselves and at the same time keep looking and showing confidence in front of friends/family, team, investors and customers. 

Who will provide solace to the entrepreneur?

Not to say that entrepreneurs are martyrs. It is a choice made by them. They just need that bit of a support where they are not judged by a few events. A lot of studies are being undertaken to understand this and remedies are coming by. A simple eco-system where entrepreneurs can talk about the problems not just for a solution, but to be a part of a group which understands and hears them out - a la anonymous' 

The last 15 days was a roller coaster - from missing a flight to ditching my friends for the annual meet to raising a seed capital, planning to get operational on our first pilot to a sudden increase of interest by a few structured investors and all this started with a serious working capital crunch amidst visits by some customers to check on us!! 

P.S: I am not starting a whatsapp group for 'entrepreneurs anonymous' and please do not leave your numbers!