Awarded the
“Rodinstar” Post
of the week!!
Many of you must have heard of, or even applied to Nasscom’s 10,000 Startups initiative.
I applied. And forgot about it. And just now, got a mail from them…
“We regret to inform you that we would not be able to take your application forward basis the feedback received from our partners.”
The mail listed 10 one-line reasons why they felt my application was not suitable, some of which I agreed with, and some I didn’t.
But this post is not about them, and whether or not I agree completely with their points. (By the way, the VCs and investors are not always right. If you look around, you will find that many of their investments happen in the wrong companies.)
This quick post is about you, the Entrepreneur, the rare breed of people who can withstand almost all adversity with divine composure.
So how do YOU handle rejections or setbacks? What do you feel when you get a mail from someone who did not like your idea? Do you feel you are a failure?
You see, someone once told me that we are winners since even before we were born. Out of the millions of sperms that vie for the egg, only one succeeds. (Now, I know there are twins or triplets or even quadruplets born. But you get my point!). So don’t you agree we are winners by divine design?
You as an entrepreneur, know your product best. As I said in one of my earlier posts “It’s your baby”. True, you can tweak or refine your idea as you move along. But no one knows your offering better than you. NO ONE! Guidance and mentoring strengthens your idea and defines it further. But it is YOU who had the courage to go against all odds and give wings to your idea.
If you believe in your idea or yourself, do not let anyone tell you otherwise. History is replete with stories of inventors, discoverers and torch-bearers who where initially shunned, but emerged victorious.
(I am currently reading a book called Digital Companies that Changed The World, by David Lester, and highly recommend you get hold of it. You will get lots of inside scoop about popular digital companies and how they crossed all hurdles along their way.)
Today, before I got a mail from Nasscom, one of my customers felt that ours was a great idea, and paid us $77 for a lifetime membership. Also, yesterday, I got a mail from a user telling me that he loves our concept as it is very unique (I have received many such encouragning mails in the past)
So as an Entrepreneur, whom should I listen to? And whom should YOU listen to?
Should we worry about the naysayers, or believe in those who give us enough reasons to take one more step forward?
I believe that every naysayer gives us a chance to learn and improve, and also gets us one step closer to someone who believes in us. And that is enough reason to rejoice.
I have just celebrated my success by treating myself and my developers with ice-cream. How about you? Maybe champagne?
Abhishek Agarwal is the founder of Revelri.com, a site that aims at making this world a happier place. He is an Internet marketing strategist and has been doing business online for almost a decade. He is a strong believer in the power of dreams, the Law of attraction, positivity and happiness.