things that I learned from my startup experience Suhas Dutta

Context This was my third startup. – The first one was right after college, many years back. Parental pressure killed it. – The second (delhigate.com) in the mid 90s, had lot of potential and we saw some success too. We just couldn’t devote enough time. – The third and the latest one (koolskool.com) had the most potential, went through rounds of funding and was successfully sold. What I am sharing is all experiential in nature and no preachy advice. Everything in here might not be a perfect fit for you, but most should.

Background Hello! My name is Suhas Dutta I have had a fairly successful corporate career spanning more than two decades, worked in multiple countries across IT, Technology, Retail, Consumer Products, Outsourcing, Strategy and Consulting. – Have had an entrepreneurial streak, which has surfaced more than once – Besides my day job, used to speak at various forums and industry conferences internationaly. – Occasionally dabble in a bit of consulting with some of the big names. Why am I sharing? – There are many things that we did right, and many which we did wrong or clearly could have done better. If you have the entrepreneurial bug, and are about to step into the unknown, hopefully my experiences will help in learning without having to make a costly mistake. I know that we could have done with some practical advice in the beginning. I have broken the slides into volumes to avoid a large deck which can get boring very quickly. So, here goes…

PART 1 – The building blocks

The building blocks These are the blocks I am using to categorize the 30 things; 30 things which run across the various areas of building and running a startup. I am sure you could categorize them in different other ways too; but am using this for ease of reference and explanation. Idea StartingExecuting Results FundingMarketingSelling PeopleEmotionsLearning

The building blocks This is even before planning. Still in your head, and perhaps on some sheets of paper. You might have done some basic calculations. Idea StartingExecuting Results FundingMarketingSelling PeopleEmotionsLearning

The building blocks Both these are action oriented and essentially are about putting your ideas on the canvas of reality, rubber meets the road kind of thing. Idea StartingExecuting Results FundingMarketingSelling PeopleEmotionsLearning

The building blocks These are essentially about selling (or preparing to sell) – to your customer, to your investor etc. Doesn’t matter who you are selling to (or preparing for), it is about how strong your story is and how you narrate it. Idea StartingExecuting Results FundingMarketingSelling PeopleEmotionsLearning

The building blocks These three are all about the softer side of the business, and to a large extent about what goes on in your head and heart! Idea StartingExecuting Results FundingMarketingSelling PeopleEmotionsLearning

The building blocks Results are what you are doing all this for. Will you get to the desired goal? What happens if not?...and very importantly if you are doing it right, how do you do better…or if not doing right, how do you fix it. And thus the loop back from Results to Idea and Execution. I won’t have a separate section for this, but the setting up and measurement of goals, and results would be a constant theme across the decks. Idea StartingExecuting Results FundingMarketingSelling PeopleEmotionsLearning

Now that you understand the format, go on to Part 2 where I shall cover the ideation stage of a startup. In each of the decks, I shall try to add in some relevant tips as well. I might add / modify / delete material as I go along creating the decks and that might cause a loss in uniformity. The material will get published on the web as I create. So, if you are one of the early viewers, you might not be able to see the entire set up for viewing right away. BTW, many of the things that you will read I (we) would have done well in the past. But, there also are things which were not done and there was some suffering because of that.

If you a little help in terms of mentoring, reviewing material, vetting a plan or the like…I would be happy to help another entrepreneur start her/his journey. It will cost you just a cup of coffee. If you have already started and could do with some strategic advice, helping create your business plans or your investment pitch, marketing strategy, fulfill your company’s training needs, need advice on the pitch etc, please feel free to reach me. My coordinates are: – – linkedin.com/in/suhasdutta/

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