I was a buff of old west shows that were very common when I first got to US in 1967. One thing I remember is cowboys triying to buck broncos(tame wild horses). Broncos have a mind of their own and they jump wildly and try to throw the rider off while ride struggles to stay on. This battle of will lasts several sessions before both the rider and horses start to understand each other.

I think of entrepreneurs as cowboys and markets broncos. It takes a while for them to understand each other. What does market really want? What is it willing to pay? What does it value? Speed, price or quality? Of course a very high quality product, priced real low delivered yesterday will be a winner any day of the week!

A methodology called a lean startup has developed in SV over the years, It says that entrepreneurs should get out with a Minimally Viable Product (MVP) as soon as possible and start testing (riding) the market. The product should then evolve and perfects in market under commercial conditions. Entreprenure should understands what market wants and what it is willing to pay.

No scaling should happen before that. Any other method is just playing with fire.

Indian middle class ethos are pretty clear. There are constant exhortations: Beta Doctor Bano ( Son become a doctor); Beta engineer Bano (son become an engineer). No parent ever says “Beta entrepreneur Bano”. There is further advice to settle down, find a good job, time to get married, become responsible. Not to forget the advice to have discipline, meaning do what is expected of you. A job with a MNC and a marriage with a family picked girl are seen as smart things to do.

The problem is that these are things that steer you away from listening to your heart and do your own thing; like becoming an entrepreneur. Becoming an entrepreneur goes against every thing that is expected of you.

Further, it is a very lonely and hard journey if you chose to go down that path. You should not expect and will not get any sympathy anybody. People will laugh at you for being foolish. So why do people become entrepreneurs any way? Because they have to prove something, to themselves. You have to sustain that fire from inside. Nobody from outside should encourage you to put yourself through the hardship. Desire to make money is not enough to sustain it, as it will be a while before you get back to make a market salary.

It is for sure not for everybody.

Only one in fifty people in general population succeeds as an entrepreneur. Not very good odds, I must say. No wonder parents are not in favor of it. But if you take the first step of leaving your job and sustaing your dream for about a year, your odds improve 10 fold, That is because you are now a part of select few, about 10%, who have opted in. Your odds of success have gone from about 2% to 20%! Those odds are not so bad when a win could mean that you are set for life.

In any case, most entreprenurs succeed on second or a third try. I was lucky. I made it on my first try.

So, are entreprenurs gamblers? In a sense yes, but they are taking a calculated risk. Logic alone is not enough. One has to make a leap of faith. Entreprenurs combine primal and intellectual in a unique chutney; instead of finding 10 reasons why they can’t do it or shouldn’t do it, they find one reason to go for it.

Longer you wait, harder it is to do it. You start to become more sensible, more practical, more responsible and more set in your ways.

You still have to a bit foolish to do it.

I am often asked if experience is helpful? Simple answer is yes. I have worked with thousands of entreprenurs. I have been directly involved in almost 200 startup. But I am still surprized from time to time. I can never tell who is going to succeed but I can tell with great accuracy, who is not. This has served me well as an investor.

First time entreprenur is an even bet. One never knows who will transform and rise to the occasion. A once failed entreprenur is a great bet if he owns his failure. He has twice the fire in his belly, he has something to prove. The failed entreprenurs who blame others for the failures are likely to blame others again. I don’t want to be the one who gets blamed.

First time successful entreprenurs are a poor bet, genrally speaking. They think they have the magic. They don’t sweat the small things any more. They delegate rather than do. They want a much bigger success. They already are living a good life, the success will not transform their life in any meaningful way. Failure will not hurt as much either.