The guaranteed way to success (if there’s one)

It depends, founding a startup is a 24/7. For me, I need the time that 9-5 jobs provide after work for my health issues. Also my current company is doing a lot of layoffs so everyday I start with uncertainty and anxiety, but cannot quit cos I need the income. We are definitely moving backwards in growth in this corporate slavery, expensive education and inflation. In India, Our entire identities is based on our jobs as though your life is useless if you don’t have one!!

What you said is very true, it's why I started up myself plus for greater autonomy. The real struggle when starting up is realising none of your past experiences or the school college you went to is actually going to be that helpful. "I did xyz under abc company". Sure buddy, as if you didn't have the benefit of the company and an already established brand in the market. You only leveraged it, anyone else can do it too. Can you create a likeable brand from scratch? Do you know marketing and sales enough to get revenue on your own? Can you hire good employees, or train them to be better, or hire someone who's better and more experienced than yourself? These are the real questions which kill egos and humble even the biggest narcissist. Starting up at least once in life should actually be mandatory training for college kids and experienced folks alike.

Hey man! I'm also planning to start something of my own, would you be open to working as a co-founder on my idea or making me your co-founder for your idea? We could talk more and figure out if this interests you!

I would just replace startup with business.

I'm soooooo tired of being in the hamster wheel 🛞

All points taken & agreed. But one has to understand that life is not for everyone. Although due to to media & hype it might seem every other tom duck harry next door is starting up, its not true. Its takes very specific personality & mental traits like perseverance, stubbornness, overconfidence to an extent, jugaad mindset, etc & luck ofc. The mental toll from uncertainty (financial, in relationship etc etc) is simply not for all, however glamorous it might be. My 2 cents :) Btw i am planning starting up too soon :D

Yes and no. If you see probabilistically, the opportunity cost and the odds of scoring at least 1 successful exit is almost 0. Moreover, and I’ve seen this play out personally, spending 10 years of your life 24x7 to get to say - 30 cr out of the startup (again if you’re lucky) vs getting ~ 15-16 cr from an elite high paying tech career. would it be worth that? It depends from people to people. I’ve had a failed startup, and a semi successful exit, I’d definitely like to start up again , but not due to monetary reasons.

I’ve already started my own business and startup , absolutely no regrets and enjoying every minute I’m spending on growing it.

Being observant and resilient

I feel it’s a grass greener on the other side thing with a startup. The MCA database is a literal graveyard for companies that couldn’t make it and many more get shelved in the initial implementation phase only. As someone who flirted with the idea of creating a product for the healthcare field, I can tell you that it is incredibly hard to sell. You can build a product/ MVP with very little resources, but who’s buying? A lot of VCs go on pedigree (Tier 1 college, know somebody who knows somebody or knows somebody in a business) & the chance that someone will back you is minimal. Odds are you might get meetings, but that is only to gauge your product and see if someone in their existing portfolio can implement it. The winners of one race are at an advantage of every other race. Some VCs MIGHT be interested in your product, but the path to finding that right VCs depends on luck, timing and then your product. If you’ve a lot of money, you can bootstrap - but it gets very expensive as you scale and you will have to be profitable from day 180 to sustain. Then comes the services angle & consulting. Here also pedigree matters - which company you worked for, what work you did, etc. Even with that pedigree, you’ll have to either be an executive or a technical person and very rarely you can manage both. When you prepare a cost sheet, you’d think you can make decent money with 2 projects / year. But maintaining an active portfolio, getting those 2 projects and getting them to completion is as hectic (if not more) as 9-5. And you’ve all the stops pulled. Your definition of success needs to be written in stone before taking any call. For me, it’s job switches to match market pay or demanding a pay correction where I am. It’s easier for WLB and very little firefighting if I have to be absent for any reason. I’ve tried building product. Currently building a services vertical. But HONESTLY speaking, the effort to reward ratio in cash components is bleak.

Win probability 5 % max

When everyone is selling, who is buying?

100% agreed…Shellllllll 👍🏻🦁

Not everyone can cycle or marathon. likewise, startup is not for everybody. Its takes a specific mindset to be successful in starting own. Since covid and the ZIRP that followed, we have seen too many startups coming up, rising funds and then startup founders making generational wealth. So everybody thinks starts up are the way to go. Starting a business from scratch is difficult and requires a lot of support from your near and dear ones. Not everyone has that luxury. Let aside the financial part, the mindset part is even more critical. Not everyone can do this. The 0.1% market share sounds easy. but its juvenile at best. The toughest part before getting that market share is developing that product/service. The real pain is before that stage. Most fail at that level. the business gets established when some one captures that 0.1% market share. Anyone who feels corporate life is tough, multiply that by 100 times, that's entrepreneurial journey. For every kamath who comes and gives gyan on podcasts, there are 100's if not more Kamath's who have lost money, time, family, everything. The last 4 years are an anomaly due to covid. Anomalies always gets corrected. The wake of this stagflation will leave enough bodies that will make WITCH companies great places to work.

Let's be more specific. If the end goal is money, then there are better and more focused ways to earn money. Primary requirement is to be able to skip taxes. Otherwise govt taking away 50% of your income is complete roadblock to your dreams of being super rich and anxiety free. One other way is to exploit. You can exploit people, or exploit system loopholes. That gives you an unbeatable boost in your earnings. To be a billionaire, you essentially need one or both of above approaches. Opening a startup doesn't equate to any of that.

You can just start indie hacking instead of starting a full blown startup. If your side project is successful, you can register your project as a startup. I've seen successful Indian dudes get as high as $100,000/month. Take a look at levelsio on X. He has >3 successfull projects and makes more than $200,000 from them. The upside is no investor/funding drama. The downside would be a lot ot experiments in finding the right niche. Good luck!

From a professional who has pivoted twice in his career - In the last 4 years or so post Covid, the reaction times for companies have decreased tremendously. This has led to knee jerk reactions leading to both hiring and firing scenarios. This has led to a lot of uncertainty among salaried folks who need predictability in life. This predictability is also a conditioning that a job does to a professional. The challenge that I saw in my previous employment was that there was always a pressure - whether it is your manager or your peers or a potential replacement who is getting ready - waiting in the sidelines. So I took the plunge to build my own business - while things have not been exactly golden, I have the peace of mind - I am doing something that is unique to my skill sets and connects. I myself alone is responsible for my outcome and no one else. I can set the course of my company - whether it is growth or it is profit maximisation. I am currently geographically agonist and choose my working hours. This allows me to fulfil my social commitments which would have been impossible due to crazy work hours that an employer would demand at leadership levels.

Would like to know further from the folks here who have faced this real life. Please dm if possible. Open to collaborate

Passive income diversification is the key. Starting up is a very tough job.

Just find the tech product that you can build for businesses around your area, even if you find 50 clients paying 10k per month for your Saas then its 5 Lakhs/month revenue. Seen many tech folks doing it.