New Beginnings in 2023

The New Year heralds the single biggest opportunity for people to reset or resume life with new beginnings - whether setting personal goals, professional goals, or if you are an entrepreneur, setting company goals and directions. Most personal or individual resolutions rarely last more than a few weeks - however for entrepreneurs and startups, the New Year almost always is full of hope and excitement that permeates through the organization.

Over the years of having been an entrepreneur and having now been an early-stage investor in close to 50 startups, here are some simple tips and tricks that I’ve found work wonders.

Review the past year and focus on three key things

1. Did we achieve the top 3 things we intended to do - if not why not
2. What surprised us, positively or otherwise - how did the team respond to it and what lessons do we take away to improve our plans
3. What are the top 3 things we need to achieve - how do we measure our success, and what do we have in our control to accomplish them

Use this opportunity to improve communication both internally, among investors, and externally - especially on the above 3 points. I’ve seen founders send me simple Whatsapp messages, some write good emails, some write blogs that are publicly shared, and some produce elaborate videos - the format rarely matters, but the content is important.

Most importantly introspect and try and fix the culture of the organization you’re building - I find the New Year is one of those rare moments when everyone is open to embracing changes in their style of working, communication, and approach to others in the organization - and it's critical to capitalize on this short-lived enthusiasm and openness before the cynicism sets in.

The journey of an entrepreneur is often lonely and challenging. I’ve always maintained that life in a startup is 5 days of glory and 360 days of grind, but entrepreneurs and early employees in startups live for those 5 days. Indeed the best entrepreneurs rarely focus on the finish line - but focus on enjoying the journey.?

Visualizing something that’s never been done before, doing what others have done 10x better, and selling the dream to family, early employees, naysayers, investors, and early customers can be a daunting task - but that’s what entrepreneurship is all about. Rarely do you get these boosts of adrenaline - and as the new year starts, don’t miss the opportunity to embrace the moment and start the New Year afresh.

Ultimately that destinations are often unknown and you're not always in control, but you may well land up at a better place than originally envisioned.

Enjoy the journey of a startup - here’s to a great 2023.