Taking off

Firstly, I must say - what a class. I'm doing a technopreneurship minor - but the spirit of this week's class taught me more about the reality entrepreneurship than any of the modules I've done so far!

What I learnt:

• Its all about taking off. With a solid idea, the right people and the passion.
  
• Search engines are the way people find stuff today. If you want to be known - be up there.
• Ultimately, networking matters - a lot. If you aren't good at it, get to know some people who are.
  
• Have the passion. Be motivated. It may be about making more money than the President of the US. Or it may be as simple as getting to try more food at new restaurants :P
  
• Entrepreneurs can also sleep well. (Contradictory to my prior notion - because of some people I know personally - who stay up all night and sleep for 5 hours in the day! )
• It is about helping people realize the need.
  
• Know that unique thing about you. Wearing a turban may be a daily task for you. - but millions of other people can find it amazing - and fun.
  
• Opportunities come. Take your calls. Decide which ones will help you grow.
  
• Try and think about the future, even with no money in hand.
  
• Get skin in the business. It should matter enough to you to give it your 100%.
• Don't try to be everything. Be one thing - and better be the best of the best there.
  
• Understand your limitations. I noticed that many of these people prefer to sell off their ventures after attaining a certain growth. That is important too. Knowing when and where to stop.
  
• Talk and interact with your end customers. They are ultimately key to your success.
  

Some points I'd rather not accept at face value:

• Entrepreneurship can't be taught. I disagree. Though the success rate is around 1% it is still worth the chance. I personally know some people who have come from the same background as me (where a traditional mindset is to get a well-paid job after college) who have learnt and succeeded. Though it is not everyone's cup of tea - entrepreneurship can be taught in the sense of encouraging people to get to know other existing opportunities. So that if and when it knocks on your door, you won't shoo it away.
  
• Pride in your work. Sales. Contradictory sometimes. Why? Sales can be demeaning. Especially for a new start-up. Think about this strongly before starting up. Will you be flexible enough to take pride in getting the deal through? If not, find someone who will.
  

Hmm..what to say. It has been a great week. And I have learnt a lot. How have I applied it?

• Make MM search able and findable. We renamed Mishmash 2 times over the last week. And we think we finally got it right. search for photo collage - MM is on page 1. search for photo album - MM is on page 1. search for collage - MM is on page 3. (working on it.) Hopefully our tagging strategy and the new Fb homepage layout will help publicize it even more.
• Get to know your key performance index. What kind of growth are you looking at? At MM over the last week - we have garnered a total of 750 users with more than 400 monthly active users. :) We need to think of the future and get our features up there performance and returns wise so that we keep our users interested.