Starting Up is Kind of Sexy – S1E2

Hold up, didnt you write a post saying that this was absolutely unsexy and all sorts rubbish disguised as a blog post – well New Year New Me folks or as the kids say these days “mah life mah rules” ( wait.. do kids really say this ? smh )

So how does something unsexy become sexy in the six odd months that it took me to “write” this – its not like an assistant director comes along and quips – “Sir, thoda aur glamour chahiye” and proceeds to strip off a couple of articles of clothing from an already scantily clad item girl ( thats peak objectification right there – my analogy game seems to be weak AND sexist at the same time – note to self – stop watching bollywood movies )

For many starting their own company is a way to be your own “boss” – AS IF! (side note – this couldnt be farther from the truth – suck it up and continue working for your corporate overlords if you think otherwise ). What makes all the unsexy part of it worthwhile – and i dare say pushes it into the zone of sexiness – ( i actually paused for a minute here – im usually typing away like an over eager puppy) – is the number of people you inspire – colleagues, relatives & anyone for that matter. Any modicum of success that you may achieve is immediately used as ammo by the people who like reminding their kids about “Sharmaji ka ladka”. I’ve actually had people hunt down my number from the internet – they proceed to explain to you on how they are starting their own venture and/or how their kids are super inspired by you ( 9/10 times its in your chosen domain only 🤷🏾‍♂️ ). It’s oddly therapeutic to watch your company take a life of its own – there comes a point where it just functions without needing you at all 🥲. Allows you to write inane pieces of advice on the internet masquerading as blogs.

It’s uniquely satisfying to read amazing things said about your company, getting big name clients on board ( not going to name drop) – and in the process make some money. The cherry on the cake is always the fact that nobody REALLY believes that you could do it. Honestly. No body really believes – not even yourself – well at least i didnt. Cut to 7 years later – we have 3 stores nationwide – and are number one in e-commerce for our category ( it is a pretty niche category though – whatever it takes to be number one eh ?) . Knowing what i know NOW about business – i would never think that shipping super duper high end custom build PCs across the country would be a good idea – it even reads ridiculously typing it out.

Its pretty sexy the work we do, I could’ve said we do pretty awesome work – but i CHOOSE to write sexy. As with all the wrong things, habits & fetishes i have in my life at the moment – i blame the internet. “Sexy” is often misused to the point of being a parliamentary substitute for the word “Fuck” (and that my friend has instantly made this blog post not safe for children – sorry shaktiman)we do a fucking great job btw. Which brings me to the next thing i want to get off my chest (brain?) – Its kind of sad how the internet has compressed the collective vocabulary of the world , along with razor thin attention spans – i squarely put the blame on cat videos and gold digger pranks. The absolute rubbish content which i consume these days is not even funny and is infact borderline sad (well technically some of it IS funny – rubbish nonetheless)!

What’s really sad though – is how nobody cares about written content any more – I’ve had wet-dreams of becoming an author, a famous “blogger” – pen is mightier than the sword kind of bull-shit. I mean imagine if i was saying these things about startups – WHILE i was twerking in hot pants – how many views would that get ? (please dont picture that – instead PictureThis – its awesome the work we do here 😀 )

Do drop a comment – and let me know if this assortment of random characters held your feeble attention span for longer than a fucking cat video.

Until the next time i have absolutely nothing better to do,

-BHAI

Starting Up is not Sexy.

I follow my fair share of thread-sharers, productivity ‘hackers’ and general ‘Warikoos’ on the internet. I rarely if ever hear about the ‘other side’ – All the content thats ever written, recorded or spoken about enterpreunership is skewed toward how amazing it is to start a business, how entreprenurship changes lives and is all things sexy. Its about these ‘insights’ and ‘truths’ which have life altering and transformative effects on you – follow me for more threads like this, 19 year olds compiling random threads – ad nauseam. It gets a bit tiring really.

Entrepreneurship is not about burning through truck loads of investor money, its not about getting the next round of funding or firing 100’s of people over zoom calls. Our modern day “disruptors” have given a lot of us (entrepreneurs) a bad rep.

DISCLAIMER : Personally, im not too fond of this term “StartUp” – when does a business cease to be a startup ? Got to search a thread for that one – do comment if you happen to know =)

Entrepreunership is frustrating, thankless, humbling, stressful and SOMETIMES rewarding – its basically Eldenring / Dark Souls in real life. Why would someone want to put themselves through all of that – if im super honest – at times I still search for that answer. The ‘answer’ is different every time i wander down that path. Its the small wins. Its about getting to the summit of the mountain which seemed an eternity away. Its that amazing review or feedback that a paying customer writes. Sometimes its just taking a step back and watching all the cogs in your machine run exactly like you thought they should. Its about watching your team mature over the years and totally nailing it. Its a lot of things. Its NOT about the money – thats never the answer.

It does teach you a lot though – its a roller coaster like no other. The high-highs and the abysmal lows. I’ve learnt patience, public speaking, listening (its a skill), motivation (when i look back – its a miracle how i managed to motivate myself). Its a crash course in being the best version of yourself – incrementally – every single day. I would barely recognize myself from the time i was a regular employee. The most satisfying part about doing what i do is – there are days when i pleasantly surprise myself.

I do speak with a fair bit of personal experience – 7 years and 3 running concerns later – I find myself looking into the mirror, with a whole lot of silver in my hair than ever before. I like it – i do realise that i may be forever un-employable in the traditional sense. Wouldnt have it any other way.

In the interest of catering to the low attention span of the reader – I will end this here – to be continued.

Until the next time.

MB.