A startup journey is all about unchartered territories. Places you have never been, things you have never done, people you have never talked to — all will come to pass in your startup ride — and this also means that the ride is going to be a bumpy difficult ride. And optimism is going to be your steering wheel.
A lot of unexpected problems can come up — What if a founding employee quits? What if you get funded once but the next round doesn’t come in? What if we hit initial success and then fall a declining slope? What if you give in your precious years to an idea and it just doesn’t work out? There are so many ifs and buts in this ride and inadvertently some of these will come to pass. I have had a key employee resign mid-way, and it took me a year to get a humble angel round, had to shift places to better afford the startup costs and what not — but if I weren’t optimistic, the car wouldn’t have survived.
If what you were doing was so easy and so obviously successful, many big companies might have tried doing that long back. Very few people would agree to your idea. Very few people will trust that you will make it till the end. I remember one of my aunts coming to me the other day and telling me how I was under some sort of black magic that made me leave a high paying job and start this comics venture; and how a specific puja can grant me wisdom.
With so many disbelievers around, you can only imagine what a constant nagging your employees might be hearing every day. And where are they supposed to get positivity from? You of course…the founder! Your team will feed on your positivity because only you can truly visualize how the startup is going to look at the end of the road.
Good ideas come out of optimism. A happy team can be more creative than a sad and demotivated team. But let’s also talk about how do you keep everyone optimistic?
1) Celebrate all milestones. Let your team know what you all have accomplished. Share the joy at a café.
2) Reward them for their contribution. A simple gift or a token of gratitude — whatever works.
3) Plan one day in a month for team building activity. Get them together and make them know that everything is going quite smooth.
4) Try not to discuss your fears with the team. Your cofounders or advisors are the ones you should discuss your fears with.
Next week we will be discussing another interesting attribute — Perseverance.
For any queries, drop me a note on Rajeev@TBSPlanet.com