No Problem, No Business
Kiran Devarakonda
Reliance New Energy Ex- Bolt, Ex: TVS, Mahindra and Quantum Energy. Forte: Electric Vehicle, Cluster / Speedometer, Telematics - Product Manager
There are a lot of young folks who have a dream to do something big in their lives. I know a guy who has started working for an MNC for 3 years. Yes, he used to crib about his ratings in his annual appraisals given by his manager. Obviously, managers have also some instructions given by HR as constraints so as to divide the ratings. This guy used to fall in the mid category of rating. Now he decided to do something on his own and got a great idea (according to him). But, he didn't know how to start.
He approached many of his known friends and colleagues. None of them could match with his views. He approached me and even I could not be a perfect fit for him to be a cofounder.
First of all, it is not easy to start something on your own. Just because you get irritated by your boss you cannot think of being on your own. To me, there has to be a strong reason for you to quit your job. Business should have a real peoples problem that you are solving. Remember, no problem no product/service, no product no business. It is a very painstaking journey to be on your own. Just because you have an idea do not start a company by registering. Ask for an advice or do proper research with the idea that you have.
To find your cofounder list down all the activities that need to be done before going to market. Some of the list of activities for your business.
- Customer insight - know your customers thoroughly
- Validation - Validate whether your prospective customer is really going to be happy with the product or service that you intend to offer.
- Market research - know how big is the market for your products, predict what will be your market share
- Landing page - try to build a web page and know how many people are really interested in your product or your service
- Value proposition - If you don't have a unique value proposition, though you have a kick-ass product/service there is a high chance that it could be duplicated immediately after your initial stage of the business start.
- Competitive analysis - Do proper competitive analysis. if you do not have a direct competitor, take the nearest competitor.
- Business model Canvas - It is always better to have a business model canvas to explain to any VC, (of course this is not sufficient, but to do an elevator pitch definitely it will help you).
Remember being on your own is soo tough than working for somebody.