Proto.in Article2 : When, Why & How to start a business?

Proto.in4 covered various aspects of entrepreneurship. The session by Mahesh Murthy of Seedfund raised several critical points, which need to be seen before starting your own venture.

Novelty of Idea : The idea should have some novelty component. You should not read newspaper one day and think that the idea given in newspaper is worth exploring. If the journalist is publishing the idea in newspaper then either you are too late or idea is worthless to be explored. Try to evaluate the novelty and be a trend-setter. Try to venture into new areas and don't create a buzz about your idea in the initial stages. Evolve the idea and grow it to some level and let others talk about it after sometime. This way you can reach masses without spending a penny.

Right Time to Start : You should not get into entrepreneurship, because your current job is bad. The right time to get into entrepreneurship is when you have great idea which can change the world. You should have firm belief in your idea and should be able to sell the idea to others. If there are not enough takers for idea then definitely there is some serious problem i.e. either you are very bad at putting things and/or the idea is not that great. Don't try to be 20th company of any field. If you want to grow in any particular area, then try to be among first three companies.

How to Start : A lot of us feel that there should be enough market research before starting any business. We look at various reports published by Gartner, McKinsey etc. to see market trends and forecasts. The market research results go haywire many a times. The gut feeling and intuition clubbed with business acumen is very much required by any entrepreneur. Also for radical innovation from where are you going to get Market Research reports. A lot of traders ( quite successful entrepreneurs) from Gujarat & Rajasthan never read any research report and/or do any financial analysis. They just go by their gut feeling and passion to enter into new/existing business areas.

The keywords which holds highest value for entrepreneurship are trend-setter, out-of-the-box thinking, intuition, dedication and passion.