Vishal Khandelwal

~ Est. 1978 ~

Startup

Choosing NOT To Fail

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I have learned a lot of life lessons just seeing my daughter grow up. Like when she was just a year old and was trying to take her first steps and repeatedly fell down, she tried again…and again…and again.

Sometimes she laughed. Sometimes she cried. Sometimes she laughed and cried at the same time. But she kept trying and trying…laughing and crying.

She did not label her experience. She just enjoyed it.

Unlike us adults, our babies don’t know the possibility of a failure, so they happily keep falling down until one day they take a few steps, and then a few more. Before long, they’re jumping and running. All their trying pays off.

They fall but never fail.

As grown-ups, what if we also simply choose not to fail?

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The One Thing You Need to Grow and Prosper

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There is one thing that is common to you and me. We have this as the root of our relationship.

It is also common to any organisation, nation, economy, and civilization.

This one thing, if absent, will destroy the most the most successful business, bring down the most powerful government, put brakes on the most thriving economy, destruct the most influential leadership, the greatest friendship, and the deepest love.

But if developed and leveraged, this one thing has the ability to create unparalleled success and affluence in every dimension of life.

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Simple Secret of Startup Success

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If there’s one big thing I have learned through my study of startups that did well over a long period of time and went on to become great businesses, it is that the secret of their success was simple –

  1. They made products that were so good that many people bought and recommended them to others, and
  2. They made more money than they spent on each customer

Such startups only get better as they get bigger.

Then there are countless others that start with the only idea of ‘selling’ to the investor, and don’t solve the real problem of the prospects they wish to convert to customers.

Such startups only get worse as they get bigger – losing more and more money per customer.

It’s a simple math that startup founders fail to understand, at least 90% who fail to see their second or third year.

And therein lies a big lesson for you, if you are just starting up.

Focus first on the customer (only then on the investor). Solve the problem that worries her the most. Be generous and offer her some things for free. But don’t lose money on what you sell to her, at least not on a sustainable basis.

Your ‘3 Idiots’ Guide to Success

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“Pursue excellence and success will chase you… pants down.”

Remember this dialogue from Rancho to his friend Raju in the 2009 blockbuster ‘3 Idiots’?

This was amongst the several lessons that Rancho delivered throughout this movie, to his friends Raju and Farhan.

But the biggest lesson among them was that if you worry about what you’re doing (or not doing), you will be on the path to desperation and failure.

This not only applies to individuals, but also to companies that are worried about whether their next plan will succeed or not.

You see, success is such a peculiar thing.

When we focus on our failures, or try to minimise or avoid them, it will not help us become successful. This is because we will be devoting our energies focusing on minimising or avoiding failures.

But then, when we go after success, there’s no guarantee that we will really succeed.

So how do we succeed?

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Your First Step in Building A Tribe

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People don’t care about what matters to you; they care about what matters to them.

If you want to attract an audience, you need to stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about how you can help people.

Seth Godin says…

What people really want is the ability to connect to each other.

A tribe helps like-minded people find each other. It gives them a story to tell and something to talk about.

So how do you build such a tribe?

Here’s an idea: Be generous.

Give away stuff generously. Maybe an eBook, or a complimentary download of your new song, or a daily comic.

Generosity is the best first step in marketing you’ll ever do. And nothing builds a tribe faster than giving away stuff generously.

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