Vivek Ravisankar’s Web

As I was walking along the beautiful IIT-M campus yesterday evening, I bumped onto this inspiring entrepreneur who currently runs a startup in the education domain. I have met him earlier in a couple of events, but happened to talk to him only then. We kept walking, discussing various challenges in the life-cycle of a startup,how he solved, etc.. We kept walking for almost an hour when I thought it was time for me to get back home. Just before I took leave, (out of curiosity) I asked him about his educational background. He replied ‘I just completed my Masters in Entrepreneurship‘! What?! Is there a course M.S Entrepreneurship?! Sounded weird to me. I just nodded and left.

This thread kept running in my mind, difficult to kill (damn the geekiness!:)). I just questioned myself ‘What is entrepreneurship?‘. Entrepreneurship to me is a feeling – a passionate feeling towards your idea/product. It’s something that can *not* be taught in a classroom or can be studied from a textbook.

When you see a beautiful girl pass by, there is this sudden rush of energy,2 wires standing up,bells ringing on top of your head and nothing else visible to your eye! That’s exactly how an entrepreneur feels when he gets an idea! – can strike him anywhere, anytime, when he is taking a shower, or an evening stroll.

You cannot wait, but to gather more details about the girl. Is she from my college? How old is she? How can I impress her? Does she already have a bf? Is she an FCP? . An entrepreneur does similar things – is a similar offering of my service already present? What is my USP? let me google for similar products like these, can i conduct a survey to see the response?

Once all these cobwebs are cleared out, your phone bills are on the rise! Message more, talk more, dream more, etc.. On the other side, you start off with the prototype, keep improving the design,dream about making the product really big, innovate and add new features, etc..

Now comes the D-day when you say those magical 3 words to your loved one and you are fully committed! On the other front, it’s just 2 words (I quit!) and it’s definitely not to your loved one! . You are fully committed to your startup and its your life! And as the history says, ‘They happily lived ever after’ .

These thoughts occurred to me as I was on my way back home!. Now, don’t ask me an analogy for a serial entrepreneur