Entrepreneurship Success Guide

Building a startup is harder than I ever imagined. 14 lessons in the order I learned them: 1. Find your obsession. If it doesn't feel like your life's work, don't do it. Tinker till you find a problem that consumes you. And don't raise capital until you do. 2. Jevons paradox (efficiency increases demand) applies to nascent markets. When technology increases efficiency, demand surges. Gamma aims at people who need to communicate visually but lack tools. By making it much easier, we unlock more usage. New use cases = untapped TAM. 3. Your conviction is everything. Market opportunity means nothing without belief. "The world will ask who you are, and if you do not know, the world will tell you." 4. Word of mouth is the only thing that matters at first. Conviction drives products people brag about. Do their faces light up? That's what amplifies distribution. 5. Your luck surface area has 2 dimensions: Time and people. Surround yourself with people who share your values and level of ambition, and give yourself enough time to execute. 6. Compounding is the 8th wonder. Hard work compounds exponentially. 1% better daily means 37x after a year. If you just focus on winning today, you’re missing out on winning big later. Play the long game. 7. Parkinson's law (work expands to fill available resources) applies to time and money. Give people $1M budget, they'll spend $1M. Give one week, it takes one week. Constraints beget creativity. Learn when and how to apply them. 8. Power laws dictate outcomes. Allocation reveals what works. 2-3 features drive usage. 2-3 channels get users. Start broad, identify what works, double down. Experimentation is the key to understanding. 9. Know where you're at and when to evolve. v1 is for enthusiasts. v2 is for early believers. v3 is for masses. Seize the market and become the standard. 10. Strong brands have clear values. Nike is speed. Apple is aesthetics. Berkshire is integrity. “Don't be the best, be the only.” 11. Being ignorant is fine. Staying ignorant is not. Most hate sales thinking it's manipulation. Good sales is listening and solving. 12. Your story is your ticket. “People remember 2-3 things about you. Don't let them be random. Reality bends to whoever tells the better story.” 13. Become extremely literate. "Your success in life will be largely determined by your ability to speak, your ability to write, and the quality of your ideas. In that order." 14. All moats are temporary. Xerox is dead. Polaroid is gone. Kodak is history. Leverage anything you can to make your company antifragile. Skip obsession and your conviction crumbles. Skip word of mouth and distribution fails. Skip power laws and you reach local maximum. Master them all and they compound.

Is this a turning point in insurance innovation? This is what popped into my mind when I came across that chart from CBInsights (all links are available in the comments below). It shows the Silicon Valley is hot again in terms of startups revamping the insurance industry. As it is among hottest places Worldwide in terms of startup creation, I'm wondering what such a trend might say about the next wave of insurance innovation. Are we ahead of a new wave of insurance innovation? I tend to think so and connect the dots with several trends at work across Europe too. First and foremost, artificial intelligence. This is for sure the hottest tech trend across industries. And it's hot in insurance too. As you can find out in our latest monthly report, AI-first startups account for almost half of every deals announced in Europe since the beginning of the year. There are two clear categories of startups there: those addressing a specific use-case (clear positioning alongside the value chain or across business line) and those embracing a broader approche of "AI in insurance", working with incumbents to spot pain points and leverage AI to build use-cases accordingly. The second trend is a clear shift in terms of investments towards B2B models. Such players account for over half of all deals announced this year (as you can see on our live KPI tracking). And this is to be compared to 2/3 of money fueling either direct distribution of full-stack players, during the peak period of InsurTech 1.0. To me, this makes a lot of sense as there is a clear need around technology as incumbents struggle to attract and keep tech talents and to build innovation internally (due do the innovator's dilemma). Last but not least, insurers are facing growing challenges with several risks growinh. From climate to cyber, digital assets, health wellbeing or financial scams for instance, they require to spot and access new data sets, get sense of them thanks to algorithms and ultimately unlock insurance capacity. This "protection gap" - as highlighted in this Bain&Company report - is an opportunity for tech startup to tackle specific risks with technology and data. And we see more of these tech-enabled MGA or tech providers (offering technology to incumbents) tackling such challenges to build resilience. #insurance #insurtech #venturecapital

Less than 2% of venture capital goes to women. Two percent. And if you’re a woman of colour, the number gets even smaller. I’ve seen it firsthand. When I started fundraising for indē wild, I walked into rooms where no one looked like me. Where I was questioned more, doubted more, and had to prove myself in ways my male counterparts didn’t. I came prepared with numbers, a solid business, a brand that already had a community behind it, and still, the skepticism was there. And yet, research proves that when women-led businesses get funded, they don’t just succeed. They outperform. According to Boston Consulting Group (BCG), women-founded companies generate more than twice as much revenue per dollar invested as those led by men. Forbes research shows that startups backed by First Round Capital performed 63% better when they had a female founder. Women-led businesses have also proven to be more resilient during economic downturns and foster higher employee engagement. Women aren’t lacking ideas or drive or results. We’re lacking access. That’s the part that needs to change. Funding shouldn’t be about who looks the part or who fits a certain mold, it should be about vision, strategy, and impact. Women don’t need more confidence. We need capital. And it’s time for investors to realize that betting on women isn’t just the right thing to do…it’s the smart thing to do. If you've been through this, I see you. If you're in a position to change this, I hope you do. #womeninbusiness #vc

Here’s a conversation I have way too often, and I wish I didn't. Me: Tell me about your Amazon launch plan. Brand: We'll launch our product and run ads. Me: How many reviews do your competitors have? Brand: Most have 500-2000. We'll get there eventually. Me: That approach won't work... Brand: What do you mean? Our product quality is great, much better than the competition. (except with no reviews, who would know that!) Me: Imagine you're walking through a flea market. What makes you stop at one stall versus another? Brand: The one that catches my eye, I guess. Me: Exactly. On Amazon, reviews are a MASSIVE part of "catching your eye." I won't even click a listing with 3 reviews. Most customers won't either. Brand: So what's the solution? Me: Math. If 3-5% of customers leave reviews, work backward. You need a strategy to drive significant sales volume early. Brand: But we can't afford to sell at a loss. Me: Your first 6 months aren't about profit. They're about becoming relevant in your category. Brand: How do we know when we're relevant? Me: If your competitors have 40,000 reviews, you need thousands to compete. If they have 1,000, you might only need 500. Brand: There has to be a shortcut... Me: The only shortcut is strategy. Aggressive pricing, lightning deals, subscribe & save, outside promotion. Your goal is to drive volume until you hit your review threshold. Brand: What about influencers? Me: Now you're thinking! If customers get social proof from trusted influencers, they rely less on Amazon reviews. It's all about building trust somewhere. The conversation has shifted MANY strategies. The truth is, there's no hack for Amazon success. But there is strategy. And strategy beats hope every time. Launch strategy matters → incrementumdigital.com

We thought Amazon would add fuel to the fire…  instead we spent months putting the fire out. Our mistake: we launched Amazon with the same exact flavors and same formats we sell in retail and on DTC. It worked at first, but as our wholesale channel began to scale… things went downhill overnight: // Other sellers (buying through our distributors) listed our products on Amazon at lower prices. // They won the sale… but shipped slower, packaged worse, and sometimes sent expired product. //Bad experiences from those orders led to bad reviews, which hurt brand trust far beyond Amazon. // Margins were already slimmer than DTC and wholesale, so price matching would have meant losing money on every purchase. // Our ad spend was driving sales for resellers instead of us. We had to shut it off entirely. The channel went from growing rapidly to basically zero overnight. We made a LOT of mistakes and have since been rebuilding with more success. These are insights I would have paid to have months ago: 1️⃣ Different SKUs = survival. Sell something different from what you sell to your distributors: different flavor, format, or in our case, a different pack size. 2️⃣ Treat Amazon as its own channel. Duh, but actually, make sure you have the bandwidth and resources to support it as a channel because it is definitely not set-and-forget-it. 3️⃣ Reviews make or break you. On Amazon, reviews directly drive scale. AND they also travel: people will look at your Amazon reviews while standing in the aisle at the grocery store or when deciding whether to invest in your brand. Nail product, price, and CX from day one. We are definitely still figuring it all out in real time.. But we’re finally playing offense again instead of just defense.

Looking back, it’s funny to see how naïve I was as a first time founder. I blindly believed the numbers we plugged into our excel sheet. Hundreds of employees and millions in revenue within no time. A combination of naïveté and arrogance to build a startup faster and in areas where others had failed. I booked intro meetings with all the top tier VCs. My ego loved it and I was convinced this would be part of the job when I needed their millions to scale. The more I told the story, the more I began to believe it. But then the setbacks started. Pivoting away from the first idea, wasting a year, and making almost no money. That excel model was looming over my head and I haven’t opened it since. Now, having founded three ventures, I've learned a few lessons: 1. Good Things Take Time: Patience and perseverance are crucial. Success doesn’t happen overnight, and rushing can often lead to mistakes. 2. If It’s Too Good to Be True, It Probably Is: Early on, I was enamored by overly optimistic projections and promises. Now, I’m more skeptical and prefer to base decisions on solid evidence and realistic expectations. 3. Setbacks Are Inevitable: Challenges and pivots are part of the journey. Each setback is an opportunity to learn and grow, shaping a stronger and more resilient business. 4. Build a Community: A lot of our success comes from talking to customers on LinkedIn every day. Engaging with your community helps you understand their needs and fosters loyalty, driving continuous improvement and innovation. 5. Focused Networking: Instead of chasing every top-tier VC, I now focus on building meaningful relationships with partners who understand and are genuinely interested in the vision and journey of the company. 6. Team Over Ego: Building a culture where failing is okay and learning is key is crucial. Open communication and clear incentives create a strong, dedicated team. Success is a collective effort driven by the team's combined skills and passion. To all the first-time founders out there, embrace the journey, learn from each misstep, and stay resilient. The path to success is rarely a straight line, but with each twist and turn, you'll gain the wisdom needed to navigate it. The Picture is from Michael and I in 2018, him joining helped set us on the right path. #startup #entrepreneurship #lessonslearned #secondtimefounder #resilience

Reimagining Agriculture: A Roadmap for Frontier Technology-Led Transformation by NITI Aayog, Frontier Tech Hub (developed with Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Confederation of Indian Industry, and Google) is a strategic compass for startups and companies shaping the future of India’s agri-value chain. For early growth stage agri-tech and agri-value chain startups, this roadmap offers clarity on where to focus: Digital Public Infrastructure (#AgriStack): Build solutions that plug into farmer databases, land records, and subsidy delivery systems across sates. Each state has its own nuances. Frontier Tech Adoption: AI, IoT, drones, and biotechnology are not “future tech”—they’re immediate opportunities for precision farming, supply chain transparency, and climate resilience. Sustainability & Carbon Markets: Tokenization of carbon credits and digital MRV systems open new revenue streams while aligning with ESG goals. Market Access & Inclusion: Blockchain-based traceability and digital FPOs can help startups empower smallholders while scaling operations. For companies seeking sustainable growth, the roadmap highlights how frontier technologies can: Unlock efficiency and productivity gains across fragmented supply chains. Enable responsible scaling by embedding sustainability into business models. Provide a policy-aligned pathway to 2047, ensuring long-term relevance and resilience. Frontier technologies are foundational to the next era of Indian agriculture. Startups that align with this roadmap will not only attract capital but also build solutions that matter for farmers, consumers, and the planet. It is a call to action for entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, innovators, investors, and policymakers to collaborate and turn this vision into reality.  #digital_transformation #Agriculture #Frontier_technologies #Startups #entrepreneurship #Agritech

Building a startup is a grind. We practically begged our first customers to take a chance on us. Now, just this past week, we added more ARR than we did in ALL of 2023. The road to scale has been full of lessons. Here are my top 3: 1. Resilience is the #1 quality for your early team. Startups aren’t for perfectionists—they’re for people who can take a hit, get back up, and try again. So many high achievers struggle in startups because they’ve never faced repeated failure. Here’s the truth: most of your plans will flop before you figure out what actually works. Success isn’t linear—it’s messy, frustrating, and full of false starts. As Mike Tyson famously said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” You need team members who don’t just survive the punches but learn from them and come back stronger. I’m lucky to work alongside some of the most resilient people I’ve ever met. 2. Build your foundation the right way, from day one It’s tempting to take shortcuts early on: skimp on culture, ignore operational efficiency, or delay thinking about defensibility. But those shortcuts always come back to bite you. Imagine building the first 10 stories of a skyscraper out of wood and then trying to switch to steel. It’s a recipe for disaster. The same goes for startups. A flimsy foundation can’t support scale. Invest early in doing things the right way. You’ll save yourself from massive headaches down the road. 3. The best startup ideas resonate with “everyday people”—and are mocked by experts. When we pitched our idea to industry experts, they had a laundry list of reasons why it wouldn’t work. But when we explained it to real users—a YC founder, a dog trainer in rural Texas, an HR leader at a Fortune 500 company, a hairdresser—they immediately got it. That’s the magic of a great idea. Experts analyze it to death, but your target audience? They see the value instantly. Oh, and a bonus lesson: perspective is everything. I used to stay awake at night worrying about potential disasters that (thankfully) never happened. Now, as a new dad, I’ve got a completely different reason to lose sleep. And honestly? I wouldn’t trade it for anything. To everyone in the trenches, remember: the punches will come, the skyscraper will take time, and the experts might not always get it. Keep going.

 I've met over 500 founders, and the ones I admire most are those who: 1️⃣ Build Great Products: They don't just know their products; they create solutions that make a real difference. Their expertise is not just in features but in how those features solve real-world problems. 2️⃣ Solve Real Problems: They look beyond the surface, identifying and addressing the core issues their customers face. Their drive is to create impactful and meaningful solutions. 3️⃣ Understand Customers in Their Circumstances: They dive deep into the world of their customers, understanding their challenges, aspirations, and daily lives. This empathy drives every decision and innovation. 🌟 As founders, our mission is multi-layered and vital: ➡ Product Innovation: It's not just about knowing your product; it's about evolving it. Understand its impact, adapt to emerging needs, and always aim for excellence. ➡ Customer-Centric Design: Build with the customer in mind. From their struggles to their successes, your product should be a key player in their story. ✅ The Dos: 1. Engage Deeply with Product Innovation: - Stay ahead in innovation, ensuring your product leads the market in solving real problems. - Regularly use and challenge your product to understand and improve the user experience. 2. Prioritize Customer-Centric Solutions: - Maintain open, empathetic communication channels with customers. - Use customer feedback as a cornerstone for development, not just an afterthought. 3. Lead with Empathy and Insight: - Anticipate and address customer needs proactively. - Foster a culture where every team member values customer satisfaction and understands their role in achieving it. 4. Continuously Adapt and Innovate: - Encourage innovation focused on real-world problem-solving and customer needs. - Regularly assess and evolve your product, staying in tune with market dynamics and customer preferences. ❌ The Don'ts: - Never Ignore Customer Feedback - Avoid Complacency in Product Development - Do Not Underestimate the Value of Team Collaboration - Do Not Neglect Market and Competitive Analysis We must be innovators, driven by a passion for solving real problems. We must be empathetic listeners and insightful observers, understanding not just the market's current state, but its potential and direction. What do you think defines a truly impactful founder? #entrepreneur #founder #startup #business

In 1959, seven women in Mumbai came together with just ₹80 and an idea. The idea was too simple for any investor to chase: to make papads. No business degrees. No social media. There was just purpose, trust, and a belief in dignity through work. They built Lijjat Papad, brick by brick, while managing homes, families, and expectations. There was no CEO. No org chart. Every woman was an owner. Every hand that rolled a papad helped shape the business. Today, that ₹80 has grown into a ₹1,600+ crore cooperative. Their model is taught in MBA classes. There is neither a valuation hype nor a billion dollar tag. Just real impact shared by thousands of women across India. Lijjat was a revolution indeed.