Startup Failures & Hidden Secrets (Part 2) - By Balakumar Ravichandran - 1Nov2016

Part - 2
Connecting the Dots
“Startup Failures & Hidden Secrets”
01-Nov-2016
© Startup Failures & Hidden Secrets By Balakumar Ravichandran Mobile: +91 9901919109 Mail Id: balakumar.ravichandran@gmail.com

I personally thank each and everyone, who had appreciated & encouraged me for my work on
(Please click on the above link, if you had missed to read the Part-1)
I received few feedbacks, to include some real-life examples on every topic and also requesting me to
cover other ignored factors on startup failures.
I would definitely like to connect the other dots. However, I have decided not to quote any examples and
allow individuals to relate my findings with their own real-life incidents and events.
My intention is to keep the content very simple
and allow readers to THINK and CONNECT the left over dots.
“Don't tell people how to do things (solution), tell them what to do & (what not to do)
and let them surprise you with their results.”
- George S. Patton Jr.
© Startup Failures & Hidden Secrets

Ignored Factors Leading to Startup Failure - 10
Business Opportunity Vs Unique Problem Statement
Business Opportunity
(Usual)
Unique Problem Statement
(Unusual)
Ask yourself, what do you look for while starting up, either a Business Opportunity or a Unique Problem Statement?
A very thin line clearly differentiating the two. But most of us get mislead, assuming both to be identical.
Have you ever come across founders speak about how they saw a business opportunity and came up with a business idea or founders
starting up on observing the “New Investment Trend” in a specific sector. Yes! You and I have the same answer.
Business opportunities lies everywhere around you and in everything you see, but if the opportunity does not address a specific
problem or solve the market need, then you are in a big problem. Never forget, “No Market Need” is at the top of the table. If you go
by looking at the current trend, you are already late in the race.
“Business is all about solving people’s problems – at a profit” – Paul Marsden
Dig deep – Hunt for the real problem – Having discovered one, fall in love with the problem – and now you have a reason to solve it.

Business Idea Vs Research
Business Idea
(Illusion)
Research
(Reality)
Ask yourself, how often you are advised to startup immediately, if you have good business idea?
I am not surprised to see, why “No Market Need / Building Something Nobody Wants” as a top reason for startup failures.
“If I had nine hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first six sharpening my axe” – Abraham Lincoln.
If the 42% of the founders had build a product/solution and later realized nobody wants it; then no doubt, they failed to do their
research. How can you decide to startup with just a business idea, without understanding the ground reality of that specific
industry & associated problems? Each industry is very complex in it’s own ways. Spend more time on your research, make it
uncompromising. The result of your research will be your indicator, whether you should go ahead or drop it at this stage. Don’t
force yourself.
Haven’t we heard about startups building a product and re-doing it completely from scratch. We worry too much about our ideas
and in a hurry to startup immediately. “Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody has thought”
– Albert Szent – Gyorgyi.

SWOT Analysis
Ask yourself, How frequently you exercise SWOT Analysis?
Even though we have briefly discussed about “Research” in the previous slide, I personally feel the importance to cover SWOT
Analysis in this series. SWOT Analysis is the blueprint of your business and determines the success or failure of your business.
More frequently, we find founder getting fascinate about the “Opportunity” and tend to forget or ignore to evaluate their
“Strengths, Weaknesses and the Threats”. I believe, every founder would have performed SWOT Analysis, usually at a very early
stage of your startup journey. But honestly ask yourself, how often had you re-visited your analysis and effectively work on it?
Most of us completely forget about it, after we have prepared it. As a bare minimal, do we at least evaluate the Pros & Cons, before
we make any business decisions? Not likely. Try to connect “No Market Need”, “Research/SWOT” & “Decision Making”

Founder Vs Employee
Founder
(Commander)
Employee
(Soldiers)
Ask yourself, does it really makes any sense in a startup environment?
Startup is like an Army in a War-Field. Where the founder is the commander and the employees are the soldiers (followers), working
together for one single cause “Vision of the Organization”. You will never win a battle without any sacrifices and losses. Be Prepared.
In a startup, whether you are a founder or an employee, absolutely makes no different. But for one reason and only one “Decision
Making” and that’s why a founder is a founder and an employee is still an employee. Decision Making is the most crucial role &
function of the founder, in scripting the fate of the startup. “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction” – By Isaac Newton, this
also applies to all the decisions made. Now if you are an employee, step forward and help your founders in making better decisions,
commit yourself and work for the vision. Never be a “Yes-Man” in any organization, especially in startup. Founders, watch out for this
“Bad Apple” around you, who might influence and impact your decision making. As a founder, you know more about your startup,
than anybody else. So, you make the decision and also own the responsibility for all your decisions.
Startups operates with too much of uncertainty and ambiguity. Never startup or join a startup with big expectation, but the vision of
the organization (cause), this applies for both founders and employees. You succeed, when your startup succeeds. So, work for it.

Startup Hiring
Ask yourself, Why hiring for startup is very difficult? Because the industry (startup) created this situation.
“The world, as we have created it, is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking” -Albert Einstein
“Not the Right Team / Poor Hiring” is one of the Top 3 Reasons for Startup Failures, in most surveys conducted.
Hiring is close to my heart and an interest topic to cover in this series. Having spent more than a decade working for the Recruitment
Industry, I clearly see a huge shift in the trend, which is getting ignored completely (will discuss this in detail, in the following slides).
Startup Hiring is undoubtedly the biggest problem this industry will face, if they are not address immediately. Changing the current
mindset and setting right expectation is the only solution, this applies for both the founders and the candidates / job seekers.
More often then not, we find startups looking for Jack of all trades and also who had mastered them all, a rock-stars who can get
productive from day 1 and the founder’s expectation list is never ending. Never forget, expectation is at both ends. Ask yourself, why
should a candidate join your startup? What is his takeaway? And most of the time, it is remuneration. Aren’t there any other reasons to
work for a startup? If yes, leverage them. If money is the only tactics to attract talent, then let the almighty save this startup Industry.
If traditional hiring methods fail, tryout and adopt some unconventional methods which might work great for Startup. For eg. Many
startups believe in no compromise on the quality; why can’t we compromise a little for passion. Look for individuals who are
passionate, believes in your vision, willing to stay with you and walk that extra mile - this holds good for a well funded Startups as well.
Never forget your startup journey, before the Series A and the importance of “MONEY”. Don’t misuse the money for your hiring.

“In economic theory, the law of supply and demand is considered to be one of the fundamental principles governing an economy. It is described as the
state where as supply increases the price will tend to drop or vice versa, and as demand increases the price will tend to increase or vice versa”
Has the recruitment industry, realised the shift in the trend (Supply & Demand)? No! Most of the TA Product are still enterprise products,
focused to mainly solve the enterprise hiring challenges and also still targeting to monetize from the enterprise.
Solving jobseeker’s challenges and monetising them, can be a big business opportunity, which the industry is either ignoring or unable to crack.
In Early 2000 or Before
(B2B) Past Trend
Current & Future Situation
(B2C + B2B) Future Trend
Demand
Demand
Enterprise to Talent
Approach
Talent to Enterprise
Approach
Supply
Supply
HighHigh
LowLow
Job Opportunity Vs Talent Pool Availability Trend

Ask yourself, is Hiring / Recruitment a Candidate or a Employer driven market?
We often find articles and discussions on “Startup Hiring Challenges”, but we tend to worry less about “Employees Challenges”. Why?
How can anyone solve the startup hiring challenges, without considering the employees challenges at startup. Can any startup operate
without any employees. If “YES”, then there is a point to ignore the employees challenges, but the answer is a big “NO”.
Challenges faced by Startups connected to Hiring: It starts with hiring the Founding Team, Fund Raising Challenges, Unable to Attract &
Retain Quality Talent, Domain Expertise, Skill & Culture Fitment, Startup’s Expectation on Quality Resource, Candidates Expectation on
Compensation and Benefits, High Hiring Cost (CPH), Hiring Process, Hiring at the Right Time, Executing Reduced Labor Efficacy, Lack of
Brand Recognition and etc. Must read article on “50 Startup Founders Share Their Biggest Hiring Challenges”, to understand Hiring
Expectation & Challenges.
Challenges faced by Candidates in a Startup: Concerns on the Stability, Uncertainty about Job security, Salary cut, Long Working Hours,
No Work-Life Balance, Ambiguity in realization of Stakes or Stock options, Aggravated medical conditions, Micro-managing bosses, High
Work Pressure, High level of Anxiety & Stress, Loss of Recognition, Drop in Confidence & Motivation, Hire & Fire Startup Culture and etc.
Must read article on Economics Times (dated – 29 July, 2016), to understand employees challenges in a Startup.
With challenges and expectations at both ends, how to make this marriage happen? Now answer this question again, is Hiring /
Recruitment a candidate or a employer driven market? It is clearly a candidate driven market, never forget or ignore this while hiring for
your startup. Hence, it is high time startup industry learn to compromise a little on their expectations, and let that compromise be towards
Passion, “The candidate’s passion towards the vision of your organization”. Passion is everything in the startup world, period.
Startup Hiring – Challenges

Ask yourself, If a startup itself is considered as an experimentation for the development, why can’t hiring be experimented too?
Option 1: Many founders & HR’s would have definitely witnessed, candidates expressing their interest towards their organization and
exploring job opportunities, through an email or through LinkedIn or through your careers page. Each of them have a reason to apply or at
least assume they have done their part of research, before reaching out to you. Speak to them to understand their motives, If their
reasons are valid, give them a chance to work with you. Don’t look for reasons to reject, but to hire someone.
Option 2: “Failure is an event, not a person. Yesterday ended last night” – Zig Ziglar. Look for candidates who dared to take their share of
risk in working for a startup and might have failed once, twice or multiple times. Some of them might have a reason and the drive to
experience some success & fraction of them are no less than an entrepreneur. Should they be ignored?
Option 3: Real talent is everywhere, but the actual problem is our own expectations, when it comes to hiring. Unfortunately, we give more
preferences for pedigree. Do we mean to say graduates from tire 2 & 3 colleges or candidates from unknown companies, are less talented?
They have a reason to find a decent job to start their career and possibly stay longer. It is definitely worth trying out 8 or 10 trustworthy
& dependable hands, in place of 4 premium & expensive hands. Talent is not what you see, it is what you experience from an individual.
Option 4: Bill Gates (Founder – Microsoft), Steve Jobs (Founder – Apple), Michael Dell (Founder – Dell), Ted Turner (Founder – CNN),
Gautam Adani (Chairman – The Adani Group), Bhavin Turakhia (Founder – Directi), Ritesh Agarwal (Founder – OYO Rooms) and many others.
All of them have one thing in common – “Dropout”. It is unrealistic to expect an entrepreneur from every dropouts, but not a bad idea to
explore and experiment them for an employment. They have a reason to wipe their scar off, stay long and walk that extra mile.
Option 5: Experiment any other options which you believe will work for your startup. There are positively many other options too.
Startup Hiring – Solutions

Shortcuts & Malpractice
Ask yourself, are you gamed to gambling with your own startup venture?
In this competitive world, undoubtedly everyone wants to achieve success in their personal life & in business; but unfortunately and
unknowingly we are all actually running after quick success, we are so hasty for it that we fail to take time to be true to ourselves.
Get-Rich-Quick schemes are for the lazy & unambitious. Respect your dream enough to pay the full price for them – Steve Maraboli
We often try to relate Shortcuts and Malpractice to business tactics & smarter way to do business. But my orientation on this
approach is pure gambling and the result is very evident with increase in the YOY startup failure rate. Founders, please wake up from
the illusionary world and start living in the reality. Shortcuts don’t work.
I hope all of us would have witnessed, many startups adopting Bonus / Discounts / Cash Back strategies to attract customers. Ask
yourself, who’s money are you burning here? Does it really help in a long run? What is your expectations from your customer? Trust
me, any good product solving the market need, requires minimal marketing and they will sell on it’s own.
Many founders are tempted to exaggerate/forge data or get into some kind of malpractice/scam to attain quick success or for various
personal & business reasons. It might initially give some victory, but it can also lead to a big disaster. Satyam Computer, Foodpanda,
Value First Digital Media-way2sms acquisition deal are few live examples and this happens everywhere. Be honest to yourself, your
venture, investors, employees and last but not the least to your customers. “Serve the Intent first, your Desire will follow automatically”
“There is no quick wins in business – it takes years to become an overnight success” – Richard Branson.

Discounting Mistakes & Banking on Excuses & Fear of Failure
Fear of Failure
Ask yourself, Have your ever thought these 3 factors are closely connected?
If Startup itself is uncertain and experimental, the founders are bound to tryout new things and make mistakes. Can any founder admit
of making no mistakes? No and never expect anyone to even admit it. Few might have even realized their very first mistake was either
“Deciding to Startup” or “to Join a Startup”. We should actually appreciate them for they realizing it, they are not meant for the startup.
But what make one successful or failure, is how one deals & reacts to his mistakes. How many of us seriously accept, respect, admit,
investigate and learn from our mistakes? Very few. Not to blame only the founders, it’s actually very hard for anyone to accept and
admit their mistakes and more often we tend to Justify & defend them. Justification is nothing but “Excuses”. “If you dare to admit
your mistakes, then you are dared to make it happen”.
“Learn to admit your mistakes before somebody exaggerates the STORY”, your will never know that somebody can be your own
employees or people around you. When mistakes and excuses becomes your regular affair, you are most likely to feel the “Fear of
Failure” and you might fail one day. “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: THE FEAR OF FAILURE” –
Paulo Coelho.
Discounting
Mistakes
Banking on Excuses

Are you wondering, if this topic has any relevance to the Startup Industry & Entrepreneurship? Of course it is.
What is Vedic Astrology? Vedic Astrology refers to Indian or Hindu astrology, a system that originated in ancient India, and was
documented by sages in the Vedic scriptures (5000-8000 Years back). What is Birth/Natal Chart? Is a snapshot of the sky at the very
moment you were born and the planetary positions of each planets in the zodiac signs and the effects of each planets on the individual.
I am not an astrologer and we are not going to discuss about astrology here. But the significance of Vedic Astrology and Birth Chart on an
individual’s Career / Profession. The 10th House and the Dasamsa/D10 Chart in the Birth Chart, is what you should look for to
understand your career/professional path, which can actually bring you success and fame, instead of you running after. You will also
get to know if you are a born entrepreneur and run your own company/business or ideally a salaried employee or you should be doing
something else. Success can be achieved either ways, but unknowingly most of us are knocking the wrong doors.
Trust me this really helps, if your are serious about your career/profession and ambitious to achieve success. I decided to cover this
topic, with an intention to help people, who are struggling in their career, ambiguous about what they want to do and those who are
stuck in the illusionary world. If Technology is Science, Astrology is Science too.
If your don’t have your birth horoscope, you can generate one for yourself at www.clickastro.com. If you like to seek a consultation from
a renown astrologer, I would personally recommend Dr. Dharmesh Mehta (in India) and Mr. Kapiel Raaj (In the US). Notably, Mr. Kapiel
Raj has more than 2 Lakhs+ followers on Facebook and 1 Lakh+ followers in his YouTube channel KRSchannel and the one and only
astrologer, who had received the Silver Button Award from YouTube.
There might be few, who don’t believe in Astrology, I definitely don’t intend to change your believe system and you can skip this part.
Vedic Astrology

Are you still not convinced about Astrology & Birth Horoscope and the effects?
You can view the birth horoscope analysis of some of the greatest legends & celebrities in the world and to understand how & what made them successful.
The horoscope analysis of the following leaders & celebrities was performed by Mr. Kapiel Raj. “Trust me, Success never came easy to them”.
Most of them had a very challenging childhood, which created a strong desire and will to become what they are today.
Vedic Astrology
Steve JobsBarack Obama Narendra Modi Amitabh Bachchan Albert Einstein Angelina Jolie
Adolf Hitler Michael Jordan Shahrukh Khan Sunny LeonePrincess Diana Priyanka Chopra

Brief about Myself:
I had been a startup aspirant since 2009, explored and worked with couple of early stage startups, completely engaged and
contributed at a strategic level, everyday was a roller-coaster ride with high hope of succeeding one day. Unfortunately, none of
them really made it big and that one day never came. Back to back failures was very frustrating. Failed to create an identity for
myself. Sacrifices, Disappointments, Critics, Financial Crises were part of my start-up journey. I was open to fail, I was aware 9/10
startups are expected to fail. Had no regrets, rather feeling proud to have taken those risks. My ultimate takeaway was humongous
learning experience.
Being a victim of this startup-phobia, I was very curious to understand the hidden truth, why many startups fail? I didn’t have an
answer then. Spoke to few senior leaders, none of them gave a convincing answer. I decided to discover it all by myself, from my
own experience, learning and by mere connecting the right dots.
I would like to dedicate my findings to all the Startup Aspirants, Entrepreneurs and to the Startup Industry.
Objective of sharing my findings:
• To help many aspiring entrepreneurs to understand what it actually takes to Startup.
• To help many founder who are struggling to discover what it takes to achieve success in their Startup Journey.
• To reveal the secret of solving problems, by mere connecting the right dots and encourage people to THINK.
• Also to caution about various risk factors involved in starting up, it is definitely not that easy, as we perceive it.
“The root cause for any problem, lies beneath. You will never be able to find it, unless you dig deep”

“When all think alike, then no one is thinking”
Thank You!!!
By Balakumar Ravichandran Mobile: +91 99019 19109 eMail: balakumar.ravichandran@gmail.com
I personally thank each and everyone one of you, spending your valuable
time reading this document.
Kindly share your feedback and your experience reading my series on
“Startup Failures & Hidden Secrets”

Startup Failures & Hidden Secrets (Part 2) - By Balakumar Ravichandran - 1Nov2016

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