A Cognizant Founder

A short discourse of my most important learnings as an entrepreneur.

I firmly adhere to the notion that one can bend anything if they know how to mend their ways! I believe certain qualities make an entrepreneur, and that the greats are born with these qualities. However, knowing how to employ these abilities is a different conversation altogether. I decided to put one of my “notes to self” out in public because I wish I had discovered and been more mindful of these insights earlier in my journey. So here, I attempt to summarize my most significant learnings from the past six years as an entrepreneur.

As architects of the reality that the rest of the world enjoys, our preliminary objective as entrepreneurs should be to dream immense dreams, ones that go beyond conceivable limits. Think of the most monumental thing you can, then ask yourself, what is bigger than that? A legendary Tamil proverb, “பெரிதினும் பெரிது கேள்,” which translates to “ask for that which is bigger than the biggest,” serves as a remarkable mental model to keep in mind.

Two Abilities Every Entrepreneur Must Master

1. Capita (Hiring)

A great entrepreneur is not someone who sits and executes everything alone. A king, although he fights his wars, his primary task is to hire the right generals and army, then train and arm them. If you aspire to be among the greats, it’s crucial for you to be adept at hiring the right team and building an ‘A team’ block by block. Execution is key to a startup’s success, as ideas are a dime a dozen. The way to execute well is to not do everything by yourself, but instead, build an A-team capable of exceptional execution. Spend time coaching and course correcting them, rather than doing everything on your own.

2. Capital (Money in the Bank)

This is a challenging aspect. Assuming you have a great team, the next most important thing is to have sufficient money to enable your team to execute. I do not mean that you need an absurd amount of capital to move forward, but you will need the right amount of capital to make monumental progress at breakneck speed. As an entrepreneur, it doesn’t matter if you generate income from your customers or raise external capital, you need capital either way. After all, you must afford a payroll on top of the execution-related expenses.

If you manage to excel at these two aspects, you are indeed 80% of the way there. The remaining 20% of your time should be dedicated to tackling the most daunting problems of the day — those tasks that you do not yet have a team member to address. As a founder, your role also includes undertaking the most challenging tasks of the day, ones that no one else can do. However, never get too comfortable with your abilities to zip through it; it’s no achievement to be overly proud of.

If you repeatedly find yourself facing the same daunting problem, it is likely a signal that you need to bring on board someone who can handle this for you. Hire!

Persistence: The Final Ingredient

Incorporating the above points puts one on the path to success, but without adding the final ingredient, things could come tumbling down like a house of cards, leaving nothing to show for all your hard work. That last ingredient is persistence. Entrepreneurship is not for the faint-hearted. Remember, it doesn’t matter if nobody believes in you, the world laughs at you, or the winds are pushing you downhill. There’s nothing that persistence can’t mend. The hardest diamonds will crack open if you keep at it and never give up until what is rightfully yours is yours.

We are the dreamers, and we are also the realisers of the tomorrowland. Go on now and move the world!

-G Chola