• leadership

During the first two years of our operations, a sales head, who had not been very successful, wrote in his exit interview that it was below his dignity to do the work he was being asked to do. Despite being a co-stakeholder in the company, to get such a reaction from a person who headed sales was shocking. I was livid but realized that there has to be other parameters in a person who would fit into a startup. People who fit into a startup are the ones who roll up their sleeves and do whatever it takes to be able to succeed.

Technically, Quatrro is my fifth startup but, for me, every business has been a learning curve. The biggest learning for me has been that you must get your employees excited about your vision for the company. If your team does not share a common vision and common understanding, there are bound to be problems. Each of my ventures has been different, complex, tough and unique. It is always a big challenge when you have to take an idea to people; your employees need to believe in your concept and take it to market successfully.

One of the biggest learnings I had, particularly at Quatrro, was when we got some senior people into our team. I did not realize that there was a wide gap between what I felt had to be done and what these employees had to offer. They only gave me lip service, which was not executed in the marketplace. It was an eye opener that despite their experience, we had to set up an effective monitoring mechanism and an effective communication mechanism.

There were instances when many ideas were floated in board meetings but something else happened at the ground level. You need a different kind of profile in a startup because only maturity and seniority are not good indicators of whether someone is suited to a startup culture. We celebrated when some senior people decided to join us, in the hope that they would do a great job.

However, in a startup, where there are no external stimuli, one has to learn from the customer. At times you need to grovel a little, which senior employees refuse to do. This is very worrying as it can take away months and years out of your go-to market strategy. According to me, for a startup there has to be energy and the first two years is the most crucial time in the life of a new venture. There has to be a different kind of energy, an ability to learn, experiment, take things to market, talk to the customer, convince the customer and at times beg the customer.

Team creation and being wise about your spend are also very important aspects of handling a startup. I learnt this the hard way. It is given that in the early stages of a company there is an euphoria around what is being created or what the entrepreneur is doing.

As a result one tends to become a little liberal with money. If you look back in the rear view mirror on your first two years, there will be many things which, on hindsight, you would not have done.

During the initial days at Spectramind, 11 years ago, I was sure I wanted to use only cutting-edge technology for my company. VOIP was the technology we used and we fitted out the cabling on the first floor only for this technology. Money is always in short supply during starting days and even if you have a VC backing, you would want to use the money optimally. When we tested it out, to our horror, it did not meet our needs. We had to rip out all the cables and re-cable it with the traditional ones that we used because we had taken a wrong call. Five years later, we realized we were ahead of the curve and today at Quatrro all workstations have the VOIP technology. Being ahead of the curve can sometimes hurt you and at Spectramind it was a very expensive mistake we made.

It is inevitable for an entrepreneur to make mistakes, but hard work and dedication should see him through. I will make a sweeping statement that most startups aspire to become very successful and big, but they are not willing to work hard. One has to slog it out and there are pains associated with a startup. The first two years are the main incubation period. But entrepreneurs want only the gains, not the pains.
There are some great ideas and concepts out there and I only wish these guys put in more effort. A startup is not a 10 am-5 pm job and one has to be consumed by it.

Raman Roy is the Chairman and Managing Director of Quatrro Global Services (P) Ltd.
©Entrepreneur September 2011

Tags:
company, entrepreneurs, quatrro, quatrro global services, Raman Roy, spectramind, startup, success