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4 essentials to understand a startup A commonly pervasive myth is that you need an MBA with loads of cash to spearhead one

By Akash Shukla

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

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The chaotic wave of mushrooming startups has not just encouraged some but it has also created an apprehension among many others. Since every venture is an adventure and not a systematized sequence of events, it would be better if acknowledge and call "spade' a spade.

1. A startup is not a "mission impossible'

Many dreamers spend half the time in their MBA qualification as to how to flesh out a business plan with perfection. They spend the other half on: SWOT analysis and on effective networking in league with the press management.

Many-a-person have quoted on several occasions that they went for a startup because they had a passion for it. They pursued it because they wanted to problematize an already existing problem at the societal level.

Shivya Nath, formerly with the India Untravelled, shared her experience on a social media platform, "We wrote no business plans, attended no entrepreneurship networking sessions, wrote no jargon filled strategies-- but brainstormed hard and worked smart, and within the first month of unofficial operations, we scored our first big clients."

The key is to keep your spendthrift binge to a bare minimum so that it may allow you to hire the right kind of employees. This is an essential before you land up with your first performance award and way before you land your first investment offer.

A commonly pervasive myth is that you need an MBA with corporate experience and loads of cash before you can dive and begin to swim with the other startups in the entrepreneurial pool. The fact-of-the-matter is that only the go-getter gets it!

2. Moolah and emotion: The twain shall never meet

Never mix business with pleasure! The maxim is such an apt entrepreneurial line. A startup always begins with passion but when money begins to pour in and it inadvertently fuels the cause, monetization somewhere stifles it as well. A startup usually witnesses two emotions—"passion for concept' and an "intense desire for revenue'. The problematic part is that the former is not complimentary to the latter. Only the acknowledgement of this contradiction can help one sail through the quagmire of aforementioned desires.

3. People who work in cubicles are more free than those who attempt a startup

Many employees who try to jumpstart a project barely with the motivation that I will be the boss and my project is my ticket to my ultimate creative freedom have witnessed in the longer run that they are constantly ridden with guilt that they have to give to their best shot at their dream project or they won't make a cut a above the rest.

As an employee you can sign off on the weekends, but can you do the same for your own baby? Perhaps not! A startup will be your 24*7 work and then maybe you will need some more.

4. Internet would help you gain momentum

A startup's 90 per cent media coverage comes from "Facebook', "Twitter' and "Blogger'. Mostly, the effort falls flat if the media endeavor is mistimed. Do it right and the press coverage would work wonders for you. Overall, experiments with social media never disappoint a startup in totality.

On the whole, I'm convinced that use of Internet to spearhead a startup could help a neo entrepreneur hit the bull's eye.

Akash Shukla

Former Sr. Features Writer, Entrepreneur India

With four years of journalistic and editorial experience from two leading English dailies, namely, The Pioneer and Hindustan Times, Akash dabbles in Applied Linguistics and mainstream journalism. His interests include book writing, travelogues, Gender Studies and Shaivism. The author is a senior features writer cum sub editor at 'Entrepreneur Online' and has a dual masters in journalism and English Language Teaching (ELT).

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