Here’s why – one word: Experience. Make that three words: Experience, experience and experience.

1. Experience with handling babies

Ventures are like babies. They cry for attention at odd hours, land themselves in shit sometimes and almost always have a mind of their own that never fits in with what you plan for them. Entrepreneurs are genetically tuned to be on baby-alert 24×7.

Workers, on the other hand, are too used to routine. Slaves of schedules. Barely capable of handling exceptions – forget handling them with style and panache.

2. Experience with living together

Entrepreneurs run their ventures in pairs. Ventures take a huge amount of commitment – time, resources, mindspace. So does a marriage (no?). Because we are used to making and standing by that commitment, we are better equipped to deal with the real thing when it comes along.

3. Ability to adjust/adapt to a partner

We are forever adjusting and adapting to the (business) partner’s ideas, wants, needs, moods and cycles. Invaluable experience when it comes to dodging the odd flying fork during post-marriage skirmishes.

4. Perspectives and psuedo-philosophy

A weird sense of humour, an ability to smile at the darkest of situations, live and let live, forgiveness, Gita-esque attitude to not work for fruit (I usually choose chocolate). Can any worker bring all this value to the table?

There is only one category of people that makes better husbands than entrepreneurs. VC-backed entrepreneurs. In addition to all the above, VC-backed entrepreneurs are also extremely adept at dealing with the in-laws.

PS – I do not intend to be gender biased. Him/her is same same. Husband/wife is same same.

Everyone I discussed this with wrote them off. “What? No money? Don’t even bother.”

But money wasn’t our immediate concern. I’d begun to realise that I had not really picked up too many ‘business’ things at that IIM. What we needed was some guidance, some advice and someone to speak to once a week – someone who would genuinely want to help us (and had been there, done that).

MVP fit the bill pretty nicely. And as fortune would have it, we fit their bill pretty okay too.

And here we are – one of ten start-ups in MVP’s latest  batch.

We’ve only just begun, but I have enough to thank already. It’s been a great journey so far. Sameer’s temperament is like a solid rock you can rely on without worrying about anything – he’s been there and done that for most things we throw at him Nandini is sharp as hell, but her easy laugh and infectious giggle won’t let you get intimidated ever. Indus we have only just begun interacting with (we’re not a heavy-duty tech start-up, so our interaction continues to be quite limited), but he comes across as one with a queer sense of humour – immediately endearing.

In many ways we see ourselves in these guys – they’re doing something that has not been done in India before, and they want to change a lot of things around here. At times, a lot of people don’t understand what they do. And most times, a lot of people don’t get how they make money All the questions and challenges that we face every single day.

Thanks for everything so far, and wish you the best, folks!

When so few people actually get what you’re doing, you start to believe that one’s business is wayy ahead of its time.

Is that even a legitimate excuse?

Shouldn’t we be shaping the time, setting trends rather than worrying that the time is not right for us?

It didn’t feel good.

It feels like one is married to one’s startup, and playing around with such ‘what ifs’ amounts to cheating.

I looked at the building with its shiny facade, smart security guards and stylish lights and couldn’t help but think that someone from my batch must be working inside. Well-shielded from this crazy weather, not having to make his way through muck and crap to inspect second-hand cars. The good life, in other words.

Then I decided to take off my helmet, get wet and enjoy the rain.

Perhaps there was someone in there, looking out at the rain and wondering “what the hell am I doing here?”

I think I am better off

Then I catch myself taking myself and my (mostly worthless) degree too seriously. Sure, it is a card that almost always works. Especially when you’re on your knees with hands in the wheel well trying to find out how much more the tyres will last, and you look up and tell the customer that you’re an MBA from an IIM. Eyes popping looks good.

But beyond that, it’s really no big deal. And it’s important to not forget that…

…or one ends up feeling strange about having done an MBA and being on first name basis with cleaners at most second-hand car dealers in Bombay

The other thing is that the initial employees are so crucial, you want to take your time taking them on board because they could have such a dramatic impact on the business.

In an almost desperate bid to get through the right sort of people, I ended up posting a co-founder requirement on a popular (free) job portal. A huge number of chaps applied, but most of them are not people we are looking for. These are great guys with 8-10 years of hardcore experience in the industry, but I don’t think that’s what we want at this stage. The other thing is that most of these applicants do not know what a ‘co-founder’ means. They still come in expecting to be paid a (fat) salary. “You know, I so badly want to work with a startup, I am willing to take a paycut.” The catch is that the chap is unaffordable even after the paycut.

The co-founder position itself is slightly counter-intuitive. You join my company, but I don’t pay you. What’s worse, you bring paid-up capital into the organization. Things go downhill from there.

We’ve had two botched-up talks with two different people. Both great guys who could’ve done a lot here. I don’t know if the fault lies in us. Or in the business that we’re running. Or perhaps in the fact that we operate out of random arbitrary locations all over the city

Quickly realising that everyone wants to work at a startup, few want to make the sacrifices it demands. (And they’re not much, as I am finding out – I don’t live the life of an ascetic in an attempt to save every paisa I have. I live comfortably, I go out with friends and still have a good time. I don’t splurge. And I miss my loan repayments. But that’s ok. I live in the hope that the money I am giving up right now will come to me in a big pot all at once.)

It’s not a win-win game, you know. You’re being paid your big bucks in your cushy corporate jobs for a reason. Because the work is crap, and money is the only thing that will make you stay. At a startup, you’re given great work, huge responsibility, no bosses and a chance to change the world in whatever small way you can (ask us, the high from helping good guys stay away from a bad used-car deal is matchless). The money coming in uneven flows is a small price to pay.

Few people seem to realise that. It’s almost fashionable to want to work at a startup

…and it’s a lot like arranged marriage. Here I am meeting people who I have never met before, talking to them about getting together into something that will mean so much to us, for such a long period of time.

Two things are very strange.

One, having to ‘quantify’ and ‘evaluate’ the chemistry. Chemistry is most important, and funnily, that’s the parameter that can not be tested/evaluated. You’ve got to go with your gut. And you’ve got to have balls to trust your gut on something so important.

Two, it is humbling to read ‘job applications’ from people who are much older, much wiser, and significantly more experienced than me – I don’t know whether I will be able to evaluate them objectively, if I do go ahead with talks with such people. Perhaps it is a case in point for an advisor, as another startup I have heard of has taken on board.

So there, it’s tough getting the right group of people to come together. It’s got a lot to do with destiny, I think. That’s a little like marriage. Or love perhaps

At IIMK, I always knew that all of us were making the same mistake – that of ignoring the one subject/area that will impact our business careers the most – Human Resources. Here I am, I don’t know how to take an interview, make an offer document or create an incentive structure that is motivating yet profitable enough to my company.

Have realised that it is imperative to get the house in order. If the selection procedure is flawed, there is no way one is going to get the right people.

I try to justify it by saying that I am alone in this. So I feel lost and lonely. But that’s scarcely an excuse really. That’s a shame, actually – to fall back on something so hollow.

I feel more incompetent than lost. I think the ‘lost and lonely’ bit is just a sub-conscious cover-up.

The feeling is paralyzing. I can’t function, can’t think, can’t do anything. It’s difficult to explain. I end up lying low, procrastinating till something (anything, a customer, a call, my partner) comes and rescues me.

I decide to take an off, and not be ‘too harsh on myself’. Then I realise I’ve just been through a number of ‘offs’. And then I hate myself.

Some days I am convinced I am neither built nor destined for greatness. That worries me.