This is an open letter to all the big guys from the industry.
My pranams to all of you.
Whenever we talk of creating a conducive habitat for
entrepreneurs, typically the stake holders that we include are investor,
government, and civil society. Rarely do we include the large and established
players in the business, like yourselves. How come you are exempt from this key
responsibility? Shouldn’t you be my role model? Aren’t you ideally in a
position to be the best mentors for newbie entrepreneurs like me? I’m making
out a case on two counts.
Firstly, let’s say I am a new entrepreneur and have an
enterprise facing product. My customers are the big guns like you in the
industry, both Indian and multi-national. I know I have a brilliant product and
I am sure it will enhance the intrinsic value of your products. My product demo
has been successful, and I’m sure we are getting the contract. My euphoria
lasts only till I see the terms of the contract. Unreasonable SLA’s, impossible
non-compete clauses, outrageous pricing and a completely one-sided,
no-holds-barred contract.
As a thinking human being, I should actually shred it
into pieces and throw it in the dust bin. But as an entrepreneur, I do the most
irrational thing, I go ahead and sign this preposterous agreement.
Why did I do it? I did it knowing that if I didn’t, I
would lose you, my customer. And you have so much brand equity in the market
that I simply can’t not have you.
As we start servicing the agreement, I realize that
the biggest killer in the contract is not just the price but the payment terms.
It says clearly that it is 180 days after delivery. So to make sure I keep my
end of the bargain, I borrow on my credit card, cajole other vendors to give me
credit, and generally drain myself and my fledgling company dry so that I can
deliver the product on time. On day 180, when I’m waiting anxiously for my
cheque, comes my first moment of disenchantment. The signatory has gone missing
in Africa, the invoice has got misplaced, the person who was to have processed
the invoice has left the company, there are audit objections as approvals were
not taken before placing the order, and the nastiest of them all, that you are
not happy with my product. But up until yesterday, you told me that you were
delighted with my product, says poor hapless me!
To make matters worse, I am also told, very
patronisingly I must say, that if i want to succeed as an entrepreneur, i have
to be prepared for such delays!
Why should I? Why can’t you big guys be supportive of
entrepreneurs like me and not make it your mandate to push me to a corner? Why
can’t you have separate policies that are friendly to people like me? Why can’t
this be your new diversity policy, maybe even your new CSR? Mind you I’m not
asking for any favours. I’m only asking you to be reasonable because we are
part of the same habitat where we are all interconnected and if you annihilate
me today, you are going to die tomorrow.
My second case is that as a big guy in the industry,
why don’t you be my mentor? Instead of either dismissing me as competition or
ignoring my existence, why don’t you take me under your wing and nurture me?
Not only will my chance of success improve dramatically but you are my best
hedge against risks! I don’t want you to give me money, I want you to share
your experience and learning with me so that I do all the right things to build
a great enterprise. Won’t you be happy if I succeed? And won’t it be in your
interest that I succeed? Can’t we all happily co-exist?
To misquote John Donne, no entrepreneur is an island,
entire of itself. Every man is part of the main, a piece of the continent. Ask
not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Yours humbly,
A rookie entrepreneur
Visualizing this happen itself made me really happy.If this really happens some day the entrepreneurial scene would go to the next level ! Really superb thought ma'am !
ReplyDeleteHello Nandini,
ReplyDeleteSeveral big shops have started setting up an Entrepreneur's wing or an Incubators promising to convert entrepreneurs dreams to creating big companies like themselves. I have personally known many entrepreneurs, some of who have burnt their hands, some of who succeeded, but whose work was stolen and monetized by the big guys. A couple of them claim to have benefited with such setups too.
For most part, these big guys have the money, the time and a crazy budget for R & D which they have to spend by hook or crook. In return, they would want some cool ideas, great products and also the IP from the entrepreneurial community. In return, entrepreneurs lose IP, get very little money and end up going back to who they are - very little known people. There might be organizations who are genuinely creating a great ecosystem. If they exist, they probably need to work on their marketing ;)
I strongly believe that there needs to be a system in place to curb such crazy hangovers and help ensure creation and sustenance of a healthy ecosystem. Since big guys are big guys, government intervention might help. To what extent, only time can tell. I am told that every district collector has a fund of 1 crore that needs to be used for funding entrepreneurs. How many of us know that?
Good read. Thanks a ton!
This is a hard fact that a big fish always eat the smaller one in this selfish world except in rarest of rare case some bigone becomes helpful.
ReplyDelete