Aditya Kothadiya's Blog

#1. Every day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I’m not there, I go to work.

#2. For every action of mine, there is an equal and opposite government program. — Bob Wells

#3. I can easily identify people who can’t count to ten. They are in front of me in the supermarket express lane.

#4. I have always got struggling attitude, since I was sperm.

#5. I’m not a complete idiot, there are still some parts missing!

Note: To read more Funny Quotes from this series, please visit: Funny Quotes

Their Desire to Create!

Why do entrepreneurs take risks, endure pain, fatigue, and embarrassment? Because they desire to create!

Entrepreneurs might want money and fame things, but what drives them and what distinguishes them from over achieving employees is their desire to build something, to create something on their own. They have dreams to create new horizons for humanity. A vision, inspiration and most importantly the belief that, "I can do that", is the defining image of an entrepreneur.

If you tell any entrepreneur that “It can’t be done”, he or she will not buy that argument. They love impossible challenges and they will prove you wrong by beating those challenges. They see the things that others can not and want to create a change for good.

But entrepreneurs are not only dreamers. They have a strategic plan. The plan is to do things. They show a key ability to learn what is needed to make their dream come true – and to acquire and apply those lessons and skills. Successful entrepreneurs go past the dream stage. They do what they have to, to get to where they want to be.

Many have the potential to be successful. Many have dreams, great ideas and they may even be right. But the consistent efforts of entrepreneurs to build something makes them “successful” entrepreneurs.

Recently I read an article by Constance Bagley, Associate Professor in the Entrepreneurial Management unit at Harvard Business School on mistakes made by entrepreneurs. Her recommendations to the founders on handling legal issues of startup were very critical, so I thought of covering some of the most important points in this post.

During my first entrepreneurial attempt, we also did the same mistakes even after we were warned by my mentor. Now when I look back it, it makes so much of sense to follow these suggestions at early stage.

#1. Failing to incorporate early enough.
There are two main issues with not incorporating your venture early enough:
1. Partner who is involved in the venture at early stage, but eventually drops out, may show up to demand his or her share when company is ready to get financed or acquired. To avoid this, incorporate early and issue shares to the founders which are subject to vesting.
2. Also, incorporating a startup early before it creates a significant value and well in advance of any financing event helps to prevent potential tax problems for cheap stock.

#2. Issuing founder shares without vesting.
Vesting of shares protects the founders who take the venture going forward. If people remain on the team and are productive, their shares will vest. If they leave earlier, that stock can be retrieved and given to whoever is brought in to replace them.

#3. Hiring a lawyer not experienced in dealing with entrepreneurs and venture capitalists.
Many venture capitalists say that they often rate the judgment of entrepreneurs by their choice of legal advisor. It’s better to hire someone who has played the game, who knows what’s standard and what isn’t, and who will get the deal negotiated and closed promptly.

#4. Disclosing inventions without a nondisclosure agreement, or before the patent application is filed.
If patent protection hasn’t been obtained, or in cases where a patent is not available, the only protection is to maintain something as a trade secret. It is must recommended to keep inventions secret from competitors before they are marked as trade secret.

#5. Starting a business while employed by a potential competitor.
If someone is key employee at some company, he or she cannot operate a competing business, states the law. Current employer can file a lawsuit even if you just incorporate the company. Would-be entrepreneurs should first go to their current employer and either resign or tell the employer what they’re doing and ask them if they’d be interested in investing. Even after leaving the current employer, one still cannot use or disclose the company’s trade secrets. 

#6. Thinking any legal problems can be solved later.
The common tendency to think is to work on legal aspects once the funding is available or product is up and running. This can be a shortsighted logic. That also doesn’t mean that one should devote all of their time, effort, and money to the legal issues. That’s a good reason to hire a competent lawyer. It will cost much less to get it right at the beginning than to try to sort it all out later and correct it.

I personally found these tips from Professor Bagley are very critical for all would be entrepreneurs who are excited to start something but are likely to forget these important issues in their excitement. Make sure you don’t get trapped into any one of those situations during your exciting journey.

Play legal, play hard!

In this National Entrepreneurship Week, I remembered a famous quote from Tom Peters on personal branding. Lets learn why personal brand is the must requirement for an entrepreneur.

Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You. — Tom Peters

Here are two classic readings on personal branding:

Brand You - Fifty Ways to Transform Yourself from an ‘Employee’ into a Brand That Shouts Distinction, Commitment, and Passion by Tom Peters.

Personal Branding for Technology Professionals – Distinguish Yourself and Thrive by Rajesh Setty.

The personal brand can be defined using three important parts:

1. what you say about yourself.
2. what “paper” says about you.
3. what others say about you.

We all know the fame of brand name of the big companies and the way they leverage out of it. The employees of these companies also tend to leverage from their company’s brand name. When you tell someone that you are working for a so-and-so big corporation, you can see the change in perspective the way people look at it.

But for an entrepreneur, there is no such external brand he or she can leverage out of it. He or she has to build a brand on his or her own. It is an elevator pitch of an individual, which one needs to use to introduce him or her in a compelling manner. We as individuals are human enterprises, and just like a business, we have assets. We can receive the benefits of these assets by leveraging them to create value for others and ourselves.

Personal branding is not a destination, rather it’s a journey. And we need to work on it in a consistent fashion. In this National Entrepreneurship Week, let’s start working on building our personal brand. I strongly recommend to read above mentioned books to learn how to build personal brand and how to levarage out of it.

February 24 – March 3 is a National Entrepreneurship Week. So far I have written quite a few blog posts on entrepreneurship in “What Makes Them Entrepreneurial?” series, read quite a few startup related articles and business books. But one thing, I never asked to myself in this effort towards entrepreneurial journey was, why I really want to be an entrepreneur? Why I always desire to start something on my own?

On this ‘auspicious’ occasion of entrepreneurship week, I tried to find an answer to this question. Here are my motivations and objectives to become an entrepreneur:

Because I want:

1. To change the world by true innovation and solving critical problems.
2. To add values to users’ lives by making things better which used to be just good enough.
3. To apply my vision, passion, potential and extra energy in a good cause.
4. To learn, learn and learn.
5. To generate more challenging employment opportunities.
6. To create a dynamic work culture and an ethical organization.
7. To build, lead and work with a smart and intelligent team.
8. To make more money and generate extra wealth.
9. To donate that extra money and wealth to non profit organizations.
10. To live a meaningful and challenging life.

I am not sure whether will I be able to accomplish all these objectives in one entrepreneurial effort or not but the idea is to keep working on it throughout the long run. I am going to post this top 10 list in my cubicle, which will help me to stick to my objectives. 

I am sure you must be having your own reasons to become an entrepreneur. Please feel free to share it as it might benefit others to learn if they are missing something. 

You have a very innovative and challenging entrepreneurship week!

Seth Godin says ‘All Marketers Are Liars’. As per his book, every marketer tells a story. And, if they do it right, we believe them. We believe that wine tastes better in a $20 glass than a $1 glass. We believe that $225 Pumas will make our feet feel better than $20 no-names… and believing it makes it true. Successful marketers don’t tell the truth. They don’t talk about features or even benefits. Instead, they tell a story. A story we want to believe.

In my recent trip to India, I came across couples of incidents which made me to ask this question – are all salesmen also liars?

In one of the incidents, I was in a shoe shop and wanted to buy a formal shoe. Salesman showed me one with size 10. After trying it, I requested him for one size bigger shoe for more comfort. He said he will get it and went away with that shoe. After 3-4 minutes, he came back with a new pair and asked me to try that. That also didn’t fit me very well, so I looked for its size on the shoe. There was no such specification so I asked the salesman for the size of the new pair.

“10.50”, he replied.
“As per my knowledge, Indian shoes don’t have 9.50 or 10.50 sizes. Generally they comes in 9,10,.. and so sizes.”, I questioned with a puzzle.
“Yes. But this brand has it. It’s an imported Italian shoe.”, he defended my claim with confidence.

Well, I was not an idiot to buy that argument so easily, so I asked him to show the ‘previous’ pair of shoe. The ‘smart’ salesman brought the smaller size pair to prove that both sizes are different. That ‘previous’ pair didn’t fit me at all, which he was claiming to be size 10. That made my doubt clear that he was lying. 

The fact was, that salesman didn’t have anything bigger than size 10 but he didn’t accept that fact. Instead, he argued with me that 10 and 10.50 are of same size only. He was trying to sell the size 10 shoe by lying it to be size 10.50.

I understand the spirit of salesmanship. I also understand that you want to convert a visitor into a customer so you try all possible ‘convincing strengths’. But this was the height of an unethical salesmanship. If you want to sell it, sure, go ahead and sell it with a big mouth, but with the real facts. What was the point in making customers fool? What made you to think that lying is also one of your selling strengths? 

This was just one incidence. I came across similar at least 3-4 experiences, and every time I had to prove to the salesman that he was not selling something, instead was lying. I am not exaggerating.

At the end of my trip, it became very hard for me to believe that someone can sell with the real facts. Whenever someone tried to sell something, I saw a lair in him or her. 

What do you think? Did you come across such experience before? Did anybody try to make you fool? Do you also think that all salesmen are liars? Please share your views and suggestions to make salesmanship spirit an authenticate spirit.

# 1. On matters of style, swim with the current; on matters of principle, stand like a rock. — Thomas Jefferson

# 2. Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful. — Samuel Johnson

# 3. If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. — Isaac Newton

# 4. Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes, but no plans. — Peter Drucker

# 5. God will not give you a burden that you can’t handle. If you ever find yourself in a mess, which seems impossible to resolve, take it as a complement. God thinks you can do it.

As a part of the series – "Adeologue – One Page Book Review", I am posting the review of a book "The Present" by Spencer Johnson.

Please find the background of this series in my previous post.

This review is available for FREE to download.

Download the One Page Book Review here: The Present

So please feel free to forward this review to your friends or colleagues. It will help them to gain more in less time and also for me to spread the good word.

If you have something to share, please do not forget to write your opinions in the comment section.