Romance of the underdog (or why startups are sexy)
Recently I saw a nice Hindi movie called Iqbal. The movie is about a mute and hearing impaired boy whose passion and dedication towards cricket takes him places and eventually lands him in the national team. The movie is very well made and by the end of the movie, you find yourself cheering for this kid hoping he makes it big. The story of pretty much anybody who can manage to find a place in the national team would be fascinating. Yet, there is an altogether different thrill in cheering for the underdog. In the recent football world cup, in the game between Japan and Brazil, Japan had scored first and was actually leading for sometime. I remember all of us had dropped what we were doing and had headed out to the nearest pub to catch the game live. The chances of Japan actually winning the game were very less - almost nil - and yet in the back of the mind, eveybody was thinking - can they really pull it off! Everybody loves the underdog. I like to call it the romance of the underdog.
Startups are also underdogs. They have odds heavily against them. Every day is a struggle for them. They get pushed around by the big guys. They often have very little money, a tiny garage for an office and the CEO is also the office boy. What thrill could one possibly get out of building a startup, or working for one or even simply supporting one? The answer lies in the romance of the underdog. For many people, being the underdog is more fun than being a top dog. It is like climbing Mt. Everest knowing well that many before you have perished in this quest. It is like being David in David v/s Goliath - only this time you don't know if David will win or not. This quest for the improbable is what makes entrepreneurship seductive. This is also why startups find popular support - both in terms of attracting people and attracting investments. Because everytime you see a promising underdog, you wonder could this possibly be the next Google?. The chances are nearly zero but not exactly zero. And many are willing to take the bet on those odds.
Comments
Gaurav, Well written post. It is so true. Startups are really sexy. I would any day do a startup and even fail rather than working for a huge company where financial stability is guaranteed.
Posted by: Krish | August 4, 2006 03:04 AM
The best thing I like about startups is that you can grow as much as you can. There is no politics involved and you can choose what do you want to be...
Posted by: Amit Goyal | August 4, 2006 12:30 PM
People mature with age. In the beginning of your career (3-5 years), a person is more willing to take risks than at later stages of his career. That is when youngsters fit into the start-up mode of things. Ideally, for a fresher, a start-up will do more good then established firms in terms of learning curve.
Posted by: Kishor Cariappa | August 5, 2006 09:12 PM
hi
Posted by: Anonymous | August 6, 2006 05:25 PM
hi
Posted by: Anonymous | August 6, 2006 05:37 PM
Start-ups stem from one's desire to pursue what he/she is genuinely interested or loves doing. The opportunity to be the driver of your car, rather than being driven. A chance to develop something which you own solely own - your own brain child. Start-ups are like baby sitting your own kid, you love doing it, the better you do, the bigger the returns and satisfaction - sky is the limit. I reckon working for an established firm is like baby sitting somebody elses kids. And that is no fun and not rewarding at the end of the day either.
Posted by: Shabbir | August 8, 2006 05:22 PM
Thanks Krish!
Amit - I agree completely. There is more to do and fewer people in a startup. So there is no limit to how much you can achieve!
Kishor, you are right that startups are good choice early on in one's career. But it does require having the courage to take the road less travelled. Not many freshers have that courage or confidence.
Shabbir- those are nice analogies...especially the one about babysitting others kids :)
Posted by: Gaurav | August 9, 2006 07:20 PM
Interesting cbeing under or top dogs.
Posted by: Anita | August 18, 2006 01:40 PM
Congrat Gaurav! this is a nice post. I think people like us should establish a network among ourselves. One basic problem that every start-up face, is running out of money, while the BIGIES can hire talent at any cost start-ups really face tough challange in this case and also this is the reason why they fail to get big contracts. Here networking can really come handy. INSTEAD OF WORKING INDIVIDUALLY IF LIKE MINDED PEOPLE COME TOGETHER TO BUILD A WORLD CLASS OPEN CULTURE ORGANISATION --- THIS WAS ONE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND FORMING INFOSYS.
Feel free to contact me at tatai_gh@yahoo.co.in
Posted by: Sourav Ghosh | August 24, 2006 02:03 PM