Glamour in entrepreneurship?

Glamour in entrepreneurship?
By Ashish Kumar
Ashish Kumar is the co-founder of Tekriti Software. Before founding Tekriti, he has worked with Microsoft where he was involved with the development of different products.


I was once interviewing a person for a position in our company. Trying to read more into the candidate's mind, I asked, "What do you really hate about your job?" The answer that came out was 'lack of flexibility' He said he had to go to the office everyday even when he didn't feel like it. On further probing, he thought that the way to fix this problem was 'having his own company'. He will have no boss, and he will have the flexibility to work only when he felt like.
However funny it may sound, it was not the first time I was hearing such a statement - though not necessarily in a job interview. I could see the sparkle in the eyes of the candidate in my interview when he mentioned "having his own company"

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There is some kind of glamour around entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs - sort of what we have around the film industry, albeit with less intensity. More people are getting smitten by this, which is apparent by the number of entrepreneurs who are nominated in the various 'Indian of the Year' lists - traditionally populated largely with cricketers, film actors and politicians. I am beginning to get fascinated with this fascination and delusion. Not to say that I don't like it when it happens to me - I, honestly, love the attention that one gets because of being an entrepreneur - but I want to point out a few things which any entrepreneur/ budding entrepreneur should keep in mind, to maintain being fascinated about, and not meet the fate of most reality show winners after the show is over.

It is easy to guess that what the gentleman in my interview wanted to achieve through entrepreneurship, is not possible and is a myth at best - I must add that it is not the only one. The number one rule in being an entrepreneur is to know that you will, more often than not, work the hardest (and hopefully the smartest), will have the most number of bosses (stakeholders, employees, customers - with you being answerable to all), will have to make many personal sacrifices, and will end up annoying your girlfriends/ boyfriends/ spouses/ parents like they have never been annoyed before. And, in spite of all this, at the end of the day - you have to hold up yourself well, motivate your people and get going with work. From my personal experience, I can tell you that looking glamorous isn't easy. Drawing a parallel, I can only feel for those Bollywood actresses who have to put on their makeup even at 3.00 am in the night - it's time that we all learn to respect Mallika Sherawats and Priyanka Chopras.

And, remember that in any glamour industry, you are not known as much for your effort as you are known for the final output. And, despite this, an entrepreneur needs to be selfless not to think about the output. They say that behind every successful man is a woman - similarly, behind every glamorous entrepreneur is a list of failed companies and hands-dirty-with-mud-entrepreneurs. Even in successful companies like Infosys, Narayana Murthy was the one who became much more talked-about than any of the other six co-founders in the company. The intent is not to take away anything from glamour boys like Murthy but to emphasize that it is more common for you to find yourself in the not-so-glamorous list than the glamorous ones. And this is something which is common to all companies that have made it big.

You would wonder what I am trying to do with this article, other than bringing examples from Bollywood from time to time. I, certainly, don't want this to act as a discouragement to any entrepreneur. Instead, I want to point out that after taking the plunge, don't spend time and energy being glamorous. Easier said than done-but it is easy to forget your main vision which will land you nowhere, if you focus your energies on being talked-about. Remember that in the circle that really matters (for your business, money, vision), people will look through the glamour and see the actual stuff - being glamorous is also a short-time excitement and you get over it pretty quickly. You will very quickly realize that it's futile to seek attention; a better strategy is to focus on work, honestly thinking about the change you wanted to make and your vision - and leave the rest to media. They need heroes, plenty of them to keep their audience interested - they will find you sooner or later if you have substance … and luck.

In the end, let me conclude by saying that if getting glamorous is really your number 1 goal, it is a better idea to try your luck at Bollywood - that may be easier.