Should your next job be at a startup?

Vaccine availability is still uncertain, unemployment rate continues to ride high and an end to the pandemic is still out of sight. Should one even think of launching a new business in this environment?

Absolutely! In a recent blog post, investor Haresh Chawla, Partner at private equity fund True North, emphasises. In fact, there could be no better time to be an entrepreneur than right now, he goes on. Counter-intuitive much?

The upsides are plenty, he explains. Penetration of digital transaction businesses, digital services, payments, e-commerce, content – all have bloomed in the last one year. So much so that what could not have been achieved in five years, has been achieved in six months. Consequently, the cost of reaching the consumer has come down making it the best time to start a business.

What about applying for a job at a startup right now?

The necessity and rush for digital transformation of businesses has also affected a rush for talent with digital skills. “There is clearly an opportunity in the core digital businesses. SaaS companies, digital startups, even large companies like Flipkart, Walmart, Amazon – they’re all going to grow and they’re going to need talent. I call it the Y2K moment that’s come back again,” he chuckles.

Watch the entire video and read the interview below:

Q] One challenge startups faced last year was hiring and onboarding employees remotely. Has this pandemic created an opportunity for marketplaces to gain prominence to hire for project-based work? Are entrepreneurs using this as an opportunity to rely more on short-term hiring of skilled labour?

A] Yes. Technology companies had learned how to collaborate in an asynchronous manner. They don't need to be in front of each other. They don't need to be in the same time zone, but keep each other updated and work on the same piece of work. Those skills have to be learned again. Companies are slowly realising that they won't have to get restricted by hiring people in the same location. My sense is you will be able to offer your skills to maybe two companies at the same time.

Definitely the gig economy (will grow), especially if you're a technology or a growth person or a person who understands SEO, SEM, because that talent will be in huge demand.

Q] For a fresher who's looking for a job at a startup right now, what would be the utmost important skills required?

A] The first is clearly in the core digital businesses. I call it a Y2K moment that's come back again - the global opportunity as companies across the world are forced, I repeat the word, they’re forced to transform digitally much, faster, much quicker. The demand for talent from those entities can be serviced by India. We've seen the larger firms like Infosys, TCS actually deliver fantastic results, but that’s just the beginning of this boom. India has a huge number of unemployable, educated graduates. That skill gap has to be filled where people have to learn how to code.

The second thing coding does is it relieves you of physicality. You can work for a business in Bangalore, but stay in Hoshiarpur. This whole coding demand of talent that is needed across the world and in India will open up opportunities to women as well. If you're a graduate or you're working for two, three years, go learn the skills that digital companies need - Coding, digital content, search engine optimisation or cloud management. If you're someone who’s never done coding, doesn't matter. You can pick it up in a year or so. It changes the employment prospects completely.

Q] You mentioned about the millennial bug and the Y2K operations. Would you call this a similar inflection point? Is there is scope for generation of tech hubs as back then, especially now that jobs can be done from anywhere?

A] Imagine a situation where I'm living in a small colony, in a small town in India, and now there is a neighbour of mine who's spent six months learning, coding, and ended up getting a job in a business in Bombay or Bangalore. And he's working remotely. His salary jumped by 3X. These signals are reaching people now. It'll reset the aspiration because the demand is astronomical.

You’re not worse off than anybody else, because everybody is in the same zone, they have to update themselves. The digital front will never leave you behind as long as you're willing to update your skills, you learn Java, Python, a new language. Learn how DevOps works. It's an amazing opportunity, much bigger than Y2K. We put talent out back then. This time we can put talent and products out of India.

 Q] How should a startup convince an angel investor after the pandemic?

A] You have to remove six months of the last one year. I think funding is about to accelerate. It already has accelerated. What one needs to do is refine the idea carefully. The best thing to do is to go with some proof of validation to get funding.

Step back and see how consumer base has changed and then analyse a gap in the market. Go out in the market and get some validation before you try and raise money on just a deck that's looking nice. If that's not coming through, move on to the next idea.

Q] Edtech has seen a huge boom during 2020. Will that trend will sustain?

A] The boom is not going to go away at all. It will just change the winners and the losers. Even if you go back to the classroom, the fact is you're going to a weaker institution. There's no reason any Indian need not learn from the best professor. Suppose you want to learn math. You want to learn it from the best lecturer anywhere. That lecturer was inaccessible or undiscovered earlier. Now that person is discovered and he's accessible. So the whole sector will see a boom. Within that, weaker players will die out.

Coaching institutes are obviously on a down. The ones who don't adopt digital tools or don't create hybrid learning tools will just disappear. I agree it's not as if the whole world is only going to be digital. The better, digitally suited players are going to grow dramatically. And we're seeing that their hiring is up.

Is this a good time to start a business? Which areas are seeing big opportunities for businesses and jobs right now? Share your comments below.