Startup advise from Baguchi
Subrato Baguchi, the CEO of MindTree [They just went for an IPO, and made it sucessfully] has an interview with Knowledge@Wharton, where he gives some serious advice for entrepreneurs.
The first piece of advice is to just do it. No amount of simulation is equal to the act. You absolutely have to do it. That’s why the last portion of my book I had written that it’s like falling in love. It’s also a little like having a baby. No amount of spasm is a substitute for conception. So be seized with it, get pregnant and, for heaven’s sake, deliver.
Having said that, here is my second piece of advice, if you are 20 something, don’t be in a big hurry to be another Bill Gates. You should work for a while, for somebody because you know that in today’s world, you have 40, 50, 60 years. We started the company when one of the co-founders was in his late fifties. Three of the co-founders, including myself, were 42. The rest were about 35.
So the message here is that when you are about to build a large sustainable organization for a long time to come, take your time, see the world a little bit. Understand how other people build organizations. Go try and sell to some real paying customers on behalf of somebody else. Gather all that experience and build a little maturity before you start an organization. While there is no law against starting a company when you are 19, 20, 21 or 22, by all means you can try and do it, yet you will acquire more “street smarts” and that comes only when you have walked the street.
Don’t be in a big hurry. The world will wait for you to come and change it. Go observe, absorb and then go and do something that is memorable and worthwhile. These are the two messages. Do it but don’t think that the world is rushing past – the time to do it is now. The time is now if you have done all the things right. You have done the mission, vision, core values we’ve talked about, and you have put a complementary team. You know you have a good reason why somebody should invest in you. You think you can go out and get a paying customer. Then go and do it!”
Read the full article here: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/article.cfm?articleid=4188
Siva
on May 4th, 2007 at 2:28 pm Said:
I am not sure if Mr.Subrato Baguchi’s argument works for the current Indian scenario.
The reason being very few Indian tech companies create something new that their employees can learn and become entrepreneurial. I am yet to meet a mindtree employee who says his experience at mindtree is helping him/her to create new technologies and become entrepreneurs! The IT/BPO teaches more about process innovation.. Its all about cost arbitrage, adding people, executing projects and building scale!
So the prospective entrepreneurs in India can follow their heart RIGHT NOW rather than working somewhere just because someone has told them…
narain
on May 5th, 2007 at 9:34 am Said:
Siva,
Thanks. I appreciate your comments. Lets understand things from the Indian spectrum about his views. Very few Indian companies create something worthwhile, while others talk about cost arbitrage. But process is an important task which we need to take the cue from Baguchi.
Entrepreneurship need not always be doing “something different” its about understanding the market and solving problems. Baazee was a sucessful exit, which is not cutting-edge technonlogy or “something different”. Take Rediff or Indiatimes, everything falls into the same trap. Point of view is, what is the value you are able to create for your enterprise.
As an entrepreneur myself, the adrenalin is definitely kicks your butt, but your balance sheet & burn outs brings you back to the reality
Entrepreneurship is not like cinematics or heroics, it involves a lot of dirty, boring job including managing a lot more things, which i believe Baguchi has clearly outlined in his discussion.
siddharta
on May 5th, 2007 at 11:19 pm Said:
One more point to think about is that different companies need to do different things to succeed. A lot depends on context and environment. I do not believe in the ‘one true way’ of doing things.
For example, he says
But Paul Graham says (from http://www.paulgraham.com/notnot.html)
Both have been successful by following their own rule.
Again take the case of process heavy companies like Indian services companies, and at the opposite end, take Google. They are complete opposites as far as process is concerned… but both make money.
In the end, there are no “golden rules” that are the “right” way to do things. Everything depends on a large number of factors.
Roj Niyogi
on May 21st, 2007 at 9:52 pm Said:
Correction: Bagchi – not Baguchi
Roj
Kesav
on June 13th, 2007 at 6:16 pm Said:
It is not “Subrato Baguchi”, It is “Subrato Bagchi”