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it was imperative for entrepreneurs to engage with experienced mentors and investors, and have them ask tough, hard-hitting, even upsetting questions about the entrepreneur’s businesses and value she is creating. I realised that an entrepreneur must be bold, forthright and demanding of revenues when building a business. I was hesitant to ask clients for money because I was afraid of losing them. Neeraj demystified my fear in a single conversation—something that I could have done much earlier, but held back because I was fearful. Finally, I learned that an entrepreneur meets many accomplished
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even though fame, fortune and glory are important, it is utterly futile and silly for an entrepreneur to sacrifice precious personal moments to chase transient business events. I believe that a person’s highest success is best demonstrated by the happiness of the people closest to him. The most significant lesson for me was that everything else could wait when it comes to one’s family and their happiness.
I bitterly learned that the best-laid plans could go up in smoke when the wind changes direction. Nothing was certain in business and a hero today could quickly become a zero tomorrow.
‘You never get money when you most want it, but it’s always available when you least need it.’
The hardest times provide the most excellent moments of clarity.
The most important lesson was about the critical and vital role of sales in a business. Without the ability to sell what you create, everything goes downhill, beyond a point. A key learning was that a founder must roll up his sleeves and jump straight into the heart of the business problem.
I always thought of VCs to be financial investors, but the partnership, funding and active participation by Softbank to set up our China business showed me how truly supportive, hands-on and valuable a VC relationship could be if they had the ability to incubate and launch startup businesses. In the event that startup entrepreneurs have a choice to choose between multiple VCs, they should consider giving extra points to those VCs who could help in executing their business as opposed to those who are only interested in funding the business.
an entrepreneur must strive to hire people better than himself to be his partners. I learned that nothing was impossible if you have an innovative and disruptive business idea—not
One of my biggest mistakes as an entrepreneur was inviting a strategic investor Siemen Mobile Accelerator (SMAC) to fund Mobile2win China instead of a financial investor. Simply explained, a strategic investor is someone who invests in a company or startup with a specific business intention. Strategic investors are usually large corporations (like Siemens) who make investments in line with their own corporate business plans. They often play an active role in the management of the company they fund.
Financial investors on the other hand invest to make multiple times returns on their money. They play an active role in helping the funded company find more investors and exit opportunities, but they rarely participate in the management of the business. Financial investors have a simple, single-point agenda—to make the maximum money possible and get out. Strategic investors on the other hand gradually acquire the company they invest in (if things go as per plan) or lose interest in the company if plans don’t work out.
pointing fingers was terrible etiquette in China.
The Mobile2win China experience really taught me about how an entrepreneur should carefully choose his investors and align his interests with the agenda of his investors, to succeed. Financial investors are ideal partners in the early stages of a startup and strategic investors are best suited to come in towards the end (as potential acquirers too).
I had always despised expensive consultants and their elaborate proposals, but the success of Heidrick and Struggles in hiring the perfect CEO for the Mobile2win China business taught me that there was a reason why the world’s top companies worked with such consultants. They delivered and really created value for their clients. More so, I learned that startup founders were not always right. In this case, I would never have hired Heidrick and Struggles, but the VCs did, and that decision catalysed the sale of Mobile2win China to Walt Disney.
even though operationally, startups can be very troubled and often badly messed up, the value they create through their struggle and strife is often attractive to external acquirers
In my entrepreneurial life, I have noticed that when there is an innovative, experimental and ambitious leader at the helm of the business, plenty of partnership possibilities open
it was important to have a clearly identified business goal especially when starting up.
I firmly believe that from time to time, an entrepreneur must focus his energies on a single ‘laser-targeted’ task and work positively towards achieving it, with a premeditated mindset of victory.
The second lesson I learned was to be open to the idea of finding like-minded co-founders and partners who were committed to making a startup business successful.
Then comes the need to be ‘street-smart’ whenever the situation permitted.
how important it was to demonstrate great ideas instead of just talking about them.
It is imperative for an entrepreneur to develop his unique marketing and presentation panache and deliver it in his unique style. One has to work har...
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My success with the Mumbai hoardings taught me that any industry or process could be reinvented and disrupted with creative and innovative energy.
never to underestimate success. As an entrepreneur, I had become so adept at facing rejections, defeats and multiple failures that any unprecedented success seemed to appear like a fairy tale to me.
‘creativity of naivety’. The concept is simple: when your mind is pure and not clouded by any preconceived notions, you have amazing clarity and breakthrough ideas emerge.
how great leaders help make big ideas become a reality. He also demonstrated to me that cultivating partners and trusting them was vital and crucial to creating long-term value in a business.
In this particular case, instead of begging and pleading with a demanding customer or yielding to his demands to get him to accept my offer, I said, ‘No. Not interested. I will not bow or bend to accommodate your unreasonable demand.’
for a successful sales person, sacrificing profit margins, underselling, competing blindly (often to prevent someone else from getting an order) should never be an option. You must boldly say ‘not interested’ and move on. Trust me, if your product or service is valuable and will add value to your customer, they will call you back. Finally, in the rare cases, where you need to act tough, you should act tough and get your deal done. It’s all good karma when it comes to sales.
VCs were not interested in making other VCs rich
most entrepreneurs sign mountains of complex, draconian contracts when they raise money. Embedded inside these documents are deadly clauses, such as the one called the ‘drag out’ provision that allows the investors to literally drag out the founder-promoter in the event of a sale or change in management of the startup.
VCs could destroy and wreck a great startup if left uncontrolled. Mobile2win India might have declined in profitability but would not have been sold at a throwaway price if the VCs had retained some entrepreneur DNA in it. The incident taught me about people and their motivations. I learned that it was not fair on my part to expect loyalty forever. This deal also educated me a lot more about VCs and investors. Many of them did not understand the day-to-day, granular details of running a business and assumed that a business model was just an excel sheet that could be projected to grow by
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As salespeople, we meet all kinds of buyers. Many tough ones; some who are challenging to manage and service; a few who are plain confused; a minority who think they own you just because they have given business to you and of course, plenty who are professional and courteous.
As a seller, I have learned that come what may, I will never lose or compromise my self-respect for anything, leave alone a business deal. Losing dignity means stooping below the threshold of purpose, intent, and effort. As a salesperson, your pride in your work should come shining through. No matter if people laugh or try and play tricks on you, you must hold your chin up high, smile and keep striving. In the case of folks who just want to have fun with you, you must politely set them right. Having said this, a great salesperson always keeps his ego aside when doing deals. Sales and Ego never
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these unexpected and unplanned outcomes could keep struggling entrepreneurs motivated to keep going until they realise that it’s the journey and not the destination that finally matters.
You have to keep doing your best and keep at it. Just remember to be patient, because everything starts small.’
As an entrepreneur, I’ve learned that no one knows the power and destiny of an idea when it begins to get executed. Projections captured in Excel sheets, beautifully sculpted Powerpoint business plans and future roadmaps seem inconsequential when you look at them a few years later. Intriguingly, almost always, an entrepreneur underestimates the significant potential of his idea, the success and the accomplishment it may bring. What I have learned well is that all that the entrepreneur must do is keep building his business hour by hour, day by day, year by year. When doing becomes more
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Sales is a ‘Holy Science’. After all, it is the magic of sales that led me to create my startups, attract VC investments, hire people, woo customers and even find buyers for my businesses.
Sales is ‘the moment of truth’ of any product or service. Most entrepreneurs know the universal law—no matter how great their product or service is, it is worth nothing until it sells. Also, sales may not always be for money. It is also about consumption—the ability to get people motivated to consume what you offer. As some of the most valuable companies in the world providing free services such Facebook, Google, and Dropbox have proven—if consumers love what you can offer them, and can’t get enough of it, plenty of money flows in eventually.
everyone must acquire the skill to sell.
The first sale usually happens if the seller is very passionate, determined, acquainted with the buyer, or offers her product or service for free. The second sale to the same customer is a tougher one. The seller needs to deeply establish a more in-depth ‘why’ for the buyer to buy again. Usually, the benefit of the first sale is examined and becomes the raison d’etre for a second sale. As a seller, if you try hard enough, you do get a second sale. The third sale to the same customer is what I consider to be the ‘real’ sale. The third time, the buyer buys if there is real, tangible value in
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In the case of mobile games, after the first or second visit, almost 60 per cent consumers don’t go back to the game because of the lack of tangible benefit (in this case, entertainment). The third time repeat sale is the real test of a seller, and if you do manage to create a product that repeatedly sells to the same buyer over and over again, you will have created a precious and profitable business.
eyes should magically twinkle when they sell!
The passion, the energy, your joy of offering your product or service should be so intense that the person on the other side feels your deep conviction and says, ‘Done deal’ without hesitation. This divine energy cannot be sprayed on like perfume. The seller must be so involved and in love with his product that he casts a spell on the buyer. I have seen this magic happen when entrepreneurs and inventors manage sales themselves instead of hiring professionals to sell on their behalf, especially in the early, formative stage of their businesses.
I make it a practice to observe everything when I enter my buyer’s office. This practice has worked well for me. From the education degrees hung on the wall, I deduce if my buyer has a vanity fetish. If yes, he will most likely buy a solution from me that will make him look smarter in the organisation over other people. I listen to how he speaks to his colleagues and his boss. If he is very subservient, he will not be able to take the final decision. If he is a bully, he will most probably give me a hard time and do his best to beat me down.
I make it a point to observe my buyers’ gadgets, toys, collections, anything that can give me something to start a discussion about.
Selling is a skill acquired by training. It takes oodles of common sense, passion and the love of people and product to make things happen. There are no finite rules of sales. You can invent your own. Awareness above all, is a salesman’s best friend.
speaking was a great strategy for being an effective salesman.
realised how important storytelling was in addition to just speaking and sharing learnings.
A great speaker and storyteller makes a great salesperson. You must practise public speaking. Try and accept as many speaking invitations as you can.
