This article is the twenty-first, and the penultimate, in the Startup Series on FirstPost’s Tech2 section and first appeared on August the 21st, 2017. “I failed. Now what?” Whenever I hear these words, the first thing I do is remind the founder: People don't fail or succeed, ventures do. A “failed” venture can mean various things … Continue reading “I failed. Now what?”
Category: governance
Founder conflict: disagreement on fund raising
This article is the nineteenth in the Startup Series on FirstPost’s Tech2 section and first appeared on July the 12th, 2017. Is there such a thing as disagreement among founders on fund raising? Isn’t external fund raising seen as some kind of marker of validation for startups, one that sets them on the growth path like a … Continue reading Founder conflict: disagreement on fund raising
Of untenable CEOs
The positions of two CEOs are being discussed this week as untenable. One of them is the British Prime Minister Theresa May, fresh from the weak and wobbly win at an election where she campaigned as the "strong and stable" alternative. The other is Travis Kalanick, the CEO of Uber, who is currently running an … Continue reading Of untenable CEOs
Founder Conflict: Key Asset Ownership
This article is the seventeenth in the Startup Series on FirstPost’s Tech2 section and first appeared on June the 7th, 2017. In this and the next couple of columns, I shall write about founder conflicts commonly encountered but not often easily resolved. Some are foreseeable e.g. what happens to the equity of a co-founder who … Continue reading Founder Conflict: Key Asset Ownership
Attracting talent
This article is the sixteenth in the Startup Series on FirstPost’s Tech2 section and first appeared on May the 25th, 2017. Apart from having a strategic direction and enough money to execute on the vision, the key challenge for founders is talent. Based on my experience, I will go out on a limb and say … Continue reading Attracting talent
Early employees and the art of equity distribution
This article is the fifteenth in the Startup Series on FirstPost’s Tech2 section and first appeared on May the 10th, 2017. As a professional and an advisor, I have been on both the founder’s and the early employee’s sides of the question of equity for early employees. In an early stage venture, equity is an … Continue reading Early employees and the art of equity distribution
Leadership and the importance of changing one’s mind
Martin McGuinness, former deputy first minister of Northern Ireland and also former IRA commander, died today. I was shocked to learn he was only 66. Shocked because I have known his name since I was a child growing up in India, and had always thought he was much older. But he wasn't. In that short … Continue reading Leadership and the importance of changing one’s mind
Risk culture and your startup
This article is the tenth in the Startup Series on FirstPost’s Tech2 section and first appeared on January the 23rd, 2017. A healthcare startup founder I know was in a dilemma. For a pretty sizeable chunk of the equity pie, she had agreed to take on as cofounder a tech development guy. He would in … Continue reading Risk culture and your startup
Governance is no “Indian wedding”
When India hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2010, the then-sports minister compared the event to an Indian wedding, saying that while preparations go on until the last minute, everything comes together on the day. I am reminded of that as I watch the stories coming out of India since the sudden demonetisation of two major currency … Continue reading Governance is no “Indian wedding”
Building your startup’s culture
This article is the ninth in the Startup Series on FirstPost’s Tech2 section and first appeared on January the 9th, 2017. To be fair, building organisational culture is usually not on many founders’ radars in the early days, when much must be done in very little time. However as I have written in earlier columns, … Continue reading Building your startup’s culture
