What does a failed entrepreneur do?

Founder Udham (or “Fudhu”, as his friends called him) was feeling down, depressed and lonely. His co-founder Bhagwan Singh had lost his entrepreneurial dreams. After 4 years of putting his blood, sweat, and tears into their start-up, he decided to move on. Bhagwan was not seeing adequate success with the start-up and had taken a corporate job. Fudhu could not believe it. He called up his friend Kuber Patel, who had built a large business in #agritech. Fudhu and Kuber sat down over a beer.

“Corporate job? That’s for losers…not for start-up heroes,” Fudhu said in an exasperated manner. Kuber was calm, and explained, “Not necessarily; sometimes people crave stability and a hefty pay-check of a corporate job after start-up madness”. Fudhu said, “But I always thought once you have taken up a start-up journey, that is the only way to go; there is no Plan B”.

Kuber said “You need to be practical. You are a hustler. You have a true Founder mentality. You slogged it out. However, let’s say your start-up is struggling to grow beyond a point. You need to evaluate your options - what do you do with this particular start-up / what do you do next as an individual? Don’t worry, you have several options.”

1. Get acquired - Assuming there is a buyer out there for your business, this is a good option to have. It works well under two conditions …a) You are excited about the space where you are currently working and the problem you are solving and b) You are comfortable with the Founders/culture of the company that is willing to acquire you. In the Indian #agritech space, DeHaat has done a bunch of acquisitions - YCook, FarmGuide, HeliCrofter. All these companies had a good team, built decent offerings, and raised a certain amount of capital…but beyond a point just thought it pragmatic to join the much larger entity, DeHaat. More recently, INI Farms merged with Agrostar. INI Farms is a highly respected entity in the Agritech community, having built a strong, profitable venture much before #agritech became a buzzword. However, they also decided to join hands with a larger and better-funded entity, to scale faster.
2. Start fresh with a new start-up - This takes real courage. To close one start-up chapter and restart fresh. Shows true resilience and persistence. I personally know a few people who have done this in Agritech. Saurabh Saxena founded HolaChef, then ran Anirut Urban Agro, and is now running Praman. Abhilash Thirupathy was the Founder of GoldFarm, and is now running his next start-up Agrifi. I have the utmost respect for these individuals.?
3. Join a VC - Not too many people make this transition. Dev Bajaj was one such person in Agritech. He sold his start-up M.I.T.R.A to Mahindra, and joined Kalaari Capital as a Venture Partner. Now he is part of Dream11. Beyond Agritech, as an example, Rajiv Srivatsa sold his company Urban Ladder to Reliance, and moved to Antler.
4. Teach entrepreneurship - I used to do guest lectures at MBA campuses. And my friends used to joke “let us see if you go and teach entrepreneurship as a failed entrepreneur, or if you become one with a successful exit”. Jokes apart, if you have a bent of mind to teach, this may be a good option. And you may appreciate a slower pace of life after the hectic start-up world.

Fudhu started to slowly absorb all this. Personally, he was still super-excited about his venture, and was determined to make it a success. However, he also started appreciating what others in his fraternity may choose as alternatives.

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{Ram (https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/ramakrishnanm) has raised money for his start-up, as well as invested in other start-ups. This is part of a comical series on how the entire start-up ecosystem - Founders, Investors, LPs, Investment Bankers, Accelerators - are constantly selling dreams to each other}