Story of a Bootstrapped Start-up, Legalxgen. #1 How it started?

Entrepreneurship and Getting Married are something that fascinates most people, irrespective of age and gender. Both Entrepreneurship and Marriage have their own consequences and challenges which are realised only once you get into it.

Many people do say about an Entrepreneurial Brain:

'???? ?????? '?? '???? ????? '???? ?? Deadly Combination ?? |?

?? ????? ????? ???? ????? ?? ?? ?? ??????? ?? ?????? ??? ?? ?? ???? ??? |?

Bad Luck and Sharp Mind is a Deadly Combination. Both of these can easily lead you to ruin.

The Marriage Connection

In the context of marriage, I recall an interesting sequence of a web series, which I find very much true also:

In the family pressure, a boy goes to meet a girl for the marriage. When he reaches the café, he sees the girl sitting in a corner. The boy was thinking, 'How do I say No to the girl?' Anyways, with all such emotions in his mind, the boy joins the girl.

Boy to Girl: Hello, I’m….....

And, they start talking to each other.

Girl to Boy:?I like you and would like to marry. 'BUT ONE THING!' hope you don’t have any plan for Start-up and all! I'd rejected my earlier marriage proposal, BECAUSE! the guy was planning for some start-up. And I don’t want to get into the troublesome days.

The boy knew now, how without saying NO to the girl he can spare himself from getting married.

Boy to Girl: Oh! I did not tell you then, I’m also planning for a start-up. It worked, and he could save himself.

So, believe me, if this 'Deadly Worm' Entrepreneurship has entered your brain, it’s not going to be that easy to get married unless you get an equally crazy person. And, if you’re married, it could bring you to any disastrous situation. I've seen both men and women in the comfort zone hate start-up. So, please be prepared!

Somehow I could survive my marriage. Thanks to GOD!

1.1 Dream of Start-up

If I talk about myself, though I’ve been a mediocre student, but business and start-up was something that was always a dream.

After completing college, I started my carrier in Bengaluru. When you get into the realities of life, the Start-up thoughts and discussions mostly goes dull and become limited to office gossips and over drinks with friends. Somehow, I could manage to have the spark alive within me.

Soon I got married. But the dream of starting up was still there. But when I used to discuss it with friends and family, I was always discouraged stating various reasons. One of the reasons used to be, I was a single earning member of the family, and this decision could impact the kitchen and make the family life miserable. Which was a valid point and has happened as well at some point in time.

1.2 The Decision-Making Time

So many thoughts have been going into the mind. Things which used to disturb me a lot were, what I’ve been thinking to do in my life and now what for I’m running behind? Now dreams were getting smaller. Buying a small car and 2-bedroom flat. These were the kind of goals I’ve been setting up for my life. Though I still drive a small car and have a 2BHK flat only. But I’m happy because I could do what I always wanted to do. It’s the state of mind which makes you happy not the materials. Entrepreneurship is something where you face challenges every day and you learn something new every moment and it always keeps you charged.

I don’t know who wrote these lines but are too close to heart.

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????? ?? ??? ??? ????, ?? ???? ?? ????? ??? ????|

(The Journey was ahead, and the Beloved was behind. If you stop, you will miss the journey and if start, you could miss the Beloved...)

Many such thoughts were going on but one fine day, I concluded to pursue my dreams. I decided to leave my decently paying multinational job. I thought, if I don’t do it now, I’m going to blame my wife and son life long, that I could have done it, but could not do because of them. Instead of blaming them, I preferred to try my luck and blame myself only, if I fail.?

1.3 The Entrepreneurial Journey Has Begun now

Believe me, I was not having any sense of business except the 'Passion'. But passion is the key and important ingredient for starting up, soon you start understanding the business part as well.

There was a time I use to be extremely busy and suddenly I was not having any work at all.?No phone calls, no emails and no meetings. I’d to create these engagements for myself once again. This was the time, being self-disciplined and having a positive attitude helped a lot.

I’ve mentioned in one of my earlier posts how the schedule used to be during the early days.

Importance of Discipline for Startup Founders

When you are starting up something, it’s only you who believe in it, no one else. In most cases, the initial couple of years are extremely tough. It becomes even more difficult if you’re a first-generation Entrepreneur, I was falling under this category only. The idea was always to build a Product, but just to keep the kitchen running, we were trying for some services engagement, which took some time.

But I must say India is a land of opportunities and a great place for start-ups. You’ll find so many energetic people who are ready to help. But you should understand one thing, not all the help are in terms of materials and funds. It could be, help with some expert advice or connecting the right people and a lot more. Such bits of help is more valuable for a Start-up than funds and materials. I’ll be covering such people whom I met but in a separate article, ‘The Key People’ which will follow soon.

1.4 Economic Crisis Phase & Difficult Times

There was no income at all. I was using credit cards for almost everything. At some point in time, both my cards were completely exhausted in terms of credit limits.

I recall an incident, I got a call from my son's school for the quarterly fee payment. I prefer to speak the truth (telling the lie to wives is exempted sometimes). I said clearly, Ma'am I don't have money at the moment, give me a weeks time it'll be arranged. Since the son has been going to the same school for the last couple of years, they agreed to it with some late payment fees.

I'd read these lines somewhere (WhatsApp University) and find it literally true.

God tests your Patience but never goes beyond the limit.

These are the times when you need support from your friends and family. I was fortunate enough that family and friends both supported me a lot economically as well as emotionally. I wish if could write few names, but it makes me worried if I miss even a single name, it won’t be justified.?

Also, soon we started getting some work as well. These were not big transactions but it acted as the fuel to continue the journey.

1.5 Some Painful Memories

Time heals many things but some moments are irreversible.

Son was just 4-5 years at that time. Once in a while, he used to get some birthday invitations. Those parties used to be attractive for the children. After attending such events he always asks me, papa, this time we'll celebrate my birthday like that only and we'll keep the Spiderman theme or something else, I don't recall what he used to say. And those were the days I was not having 5-10K to arrange such a party at any places.

We hardly go out for dinner or movies, never gifted anything to wife, we don't buy anything new for the home.

These are the tough times almost every entrepreneur goes through. I know it's hard at the moment when you're going through such a phase but it teaches you many things. Most importantly how to live a simplistic life.

1.6 Building the Product, LegalXGen

As mentioned, I was always more inclined towards building a product. And soon I'd realized as well that Software Services Business is not my cup of tea. Though, we continued with some engagements but started on the product idea.

LegalXGen's was something which was into mind since college days only. Decided to work on it.

Few things I would like to mention about LegalXGen:

• We're one of the few startups, which are Self Sustained and Profitable. Without any VC Money.
• We've not lost even a single customer from day one.

Ohh, I did not tell you "What LegalXGen is?" LegalXGen is a Vertical SaaS ERP platform. This offers multiple applications to run the business in a single sign-on. Why don't you get some information about us at www.legalxgen.com

1.7 Few Tips to New Founders

• Believe in your Idea first.
• Remain Positive.
• Patience and perseverance are the keys.?There are no shortcuts.
• Money Saved = Money Earned.
• Money is a byproduct of hard work and honesty. If you're honest, it'll come its own.
• Before thinking about 10X scale, ensure you've a stable product and Happy Clients.

Hope you find it useful! Thanks a lot for your time to read the article. I would love to have your thoughts in the comments section.

What's Next?

Stay tuned for the upcoming articles.

Story #2: The Key People

Story #3: First Sale