Introduction

It is probably best to start with a brief introduction for this blog. Baskar and Rajesh are the contributing authors to this blog and both are aspiring entrepreneurs (Is there any other kind?).

As employees/managers at a small organization, we change business strategies once a week, have a near-term horizon of 2 days, a long-term horizon of 3 months, and spend 75% of our collective time fire-fighting (Truth be told, Baskar does most of the fire-fighting) and pat ourselves on the back if we go one week without a crisis. We realized that this is probably the case with most entrepreneurs and thought it would be best to share the pain/joy.

We discussed three things in our last meeting - 1) Not to get worried about revenues every day. (I think this resolution will last about 3 days) 2) To capture our thoughts and biz plan more clearly and 3) Maintain a log of our ever-changing business plans and communicate this to the rest of the team as well. This is the idea about this blog. If it takes off, it should give us clarity, help us have some fun and capture the day-to-day goings-on at a small firm. If it doesnt take off, well it should still be worth a few laughs.

Generally entrepreneur write-ups are of two kinds - One is of the smug, I had it all-planned kind and the second is of the self-deprecating, it was fun and we kept changing stuff, but it all worked out kind. This essentially means all write-ups are ex-post. We wanted to break this and write about the here and now without rationalizing post facto.

This is the basis for this blog.

Test of entrepreneurship potential

Entrepreneurs need to have a lot of things going for them to succeed - Intelligence, never-say-die spirit, dedication, luck etc. We guys just thought about one thing required and devised a small test to test whether you have it. This is a simple foolproof test to figure out whether you have it in you.

Answer the following questions

1. Does India have a chance of producing the top two fast bowlers in test cricket over the next decade?
2. Will India behave with more humility than the US or Great Britain when (not if) we become the superpower?
3. Can India win an Olympic gold medal in the next 25 years?
4. Can India have a corruption-free government in your lifetime (this is not a trick question. you can be of any age, it does not matter)?
5. Will America be successful in promoting world peace?

Now, for the results. if you have answered all the questions with "Yes", then you have loads of that essential quality required to be an entrepreneur. Optimism. Without this lifeblood, entrepreneurs cannot survive even days. No funding, no revenues, no business, no business model - all these problems can be overcome. But, if you dont carry enough optimism - God save you.