Two critical factors govern entrepreneurship success : Focus and Tenacity : The entrepreneurial leap and entrepreneurial leadership clearly explained. The four critical missteps of entrepreneurs and how to avoid them and finally Measure of Life !!

1. Entrepreneurship
&
Growth
George Molakal : CEO
ALCOR Fund - Chicago
Nov 21 2016
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2. ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND GROWTH
Index
Entrepreneurship leap
Two key features of successful Entrepreneurs
How to sustain growth
Entrepreneur leadership
Growing through M&A tools
Success Measure – Do we ever plan to fail
Summary

3. ENTREPRENEURAL LEAP
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Idea looks Awesome and so
the dream flows to the final
success with Euphoria and
High Energy
Take the Entrepreneurial leap
and reality strikes and you
have a hard fall. In 99%, this is
the case.
Focus and Tenacity will help
you start your upward climb,
which is slow, painful and
needs determination. You don’t
quit.
You climb and keep climbing
with support of others.
Finally you reach Success
Adapted from HBS
Article

4. TWO TRAITS ENTREPRENEURS NEED
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FOCUS
TENACITY
Albert Einstein said : Insanity is
doing the same thing over and over
gain and expecting different results.
Ross Perot said : “No doesn’t mean
No- just “not now”.
INTRALINKS – 8 months, 215
presentations, $50 million. 214
meetings were “No”. Were they
insane ?

5. SUSTAIN YOUR STARUP TO A GREAT COMPANY?
Hire specialists in functions such as sales, HR, marketing, R&D, and manufacturing. This lets
them tackle work more efficiently and catalyzes future growth by creating slack in the rest of
the organization.
Add management structure. A few people at the top can’t effectively supervise everyone’s
increasingly specialized daily work—and it’s hard for employees to stay focused and engaged
without guidance and processes.
Establish a framework of plans and goals. Otherwise, improvisation may amount to aimless
riffing.
Sustain the culture. Articulate the founding values in mission statements and job descriptions,
and hire and reward for cultural fit.
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Micromax -2010-2015

6. ENTREPRENEUR LEADERSHIP
King Henry V – Shakespeare
The political situation in England is tense: Several bitter civil wars have
left the people of England restless and dissatisfied. Towns and villages
lived in fear of the French raiders.
Prince Henry lives a adolescent past, consort with thieves and drunkards.
Prince Henry lives among the low lives (vagabonds, villains, village
rowdies and rascals) and people wonder, if he ever becomes King, what
will happen.
On a Friday, King Henry IV has died, and his son, the young King Henry
V, has just assumed the throne on Monday.
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7. ENTREPRENEUR LEADERSHIP
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Shrewd old
man
Mercenary
A NerdTimid old lady
Peacemaker
Realistic
Creator
A good King Able Warrior

8. ENTREPRENEURS SALES MISTAKES
Start Earlier
• Company founders would have cut development time, or exhaustive product investment, if
they started earlier. They get to know the details and flaws of their products, systems, models.
Cousins, Friends don’t count
• The transactions yield revenue early, but when purchases are motivated by love, obligation
rather than market demand results in wrong customer feedbacks and delayed sales.
Be choosy for strategic buyer
• Companies try to generate revenue through a wide bucket and often miss the real customer
and then go on the wrong path.
Avoid Discounting
• This sets a pattern, diminishing value in the long term and hurt cashflow.
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9. EARLY HANDS FREE DEVICES

10. GROWING COMPANIES – M&A
• License fee (Territorial marketing rights)
• Growing business through selling products/services for a specific region or territory
• Royalty Agreements
• Growing business by paying a royalty fees and then manufacturing/selling the services in a
region/territory
• Strategic Alliances
• Growing business through direct sales relationships for outsourcing, contract manufacturing,
customer servicing and the like
• Joint Ventures
• Jointly serving customers with a direct equity relationship in either an greenfield or brownfield
(integrated model) : Tata Motors for Indica had 24 integrated Joint Ventures
• Mergers
• Selling minority or majority equity to another firm and merging with the larger firm.
• Acquisition
• Acquiring companies who can add tremendous shareholder value, creating at least 3X to 4X net
wealth gain over five years.
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11. MEASURE OF SUCCESS
• Blackberry (market leader in 2000)
• Did the CEO of BB in 2001 tell the Board – In 2013, we will plan to
declare bankruptcy ?
• Nokia
• Did the CEO of Nokia in 2004 tell the Board – In 2013, we will have a
strategy that will make us bankrupt ??
• Japan
• Did the Prime Minister of Japan in 1985 plan from a leading economy to a
fragile economy over two decades ??
• A successful CEO of a Indian listed company
• Did he plan to have his children drop out of college, off marriage, etc in
20 years?
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12. DO WE PLAN FOR FAILURE?
• Governments, Companies, People, all of us – do we plan for
failure, if not, why do we fail ?
• Life is made up of Nested Units
• Nations
• National governments
• State governments
• Companies
• Departments
• Teams
• People
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Is it poor investment into the future or poor investment into the present ?

13. INVEST SHORT TERM & LONG TERM
• Our focus is always short term.
• We work, plan and live for today, this month, this quarter, this year.
• Stock market pressure makes us managing global corporations sacrifice long term investment for
real short term investments returns, else the CEO’s will be replaced.
• The same goes on for our lives. We invest, plan and live for the next few quarters or a year ahead.
• We fail to plan a decade ahead or two decade ahead.
• Because the investment today for a decade ahead, will not help us, get social approval, get stock
market approval or family approval, as we live in a social, fast paced society.
• Only those companies, those people, those families who invest for two decades ahead, can see
fantastic results over time.
• Reflection in personal lives :
• What joy will a parent have, even if he is a super success, if his does not spend enough time with
his children, that his children grow below expectations in schooling, marriage or worse…get
diverted into drugs etc. If only the parent had invested enough time in the early years, to build
character and vision for the children, they will be a super success 20 years later. So, for
continuous rewards two decades later, take time to invest now in things that will yield results two
decades later. !!! – Same goes with companies, to avoid BB situation.
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Adapted from Prof. Clay Christensen-
HBS

14. IN SUMMARY
• Be focused and tenacious
• Build the right business strategy for the company, starting with
geographical growth, product growth and value chain integration
• Use the right models for global growth (M&A Tools).
• Secure adequate funding for the company to grow. (Angel, VC,
PE)
• Focus to develop the right leadership in the company.
• Focus to set priorities right by investing in long term as well as
short term, keeping the balance right.
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15. 15
• Success is not Final and
• Failure is not Fatal.
So be bold and take
risks, lead with
courage and you will
succeed.
Questions ?