Prashanthi Kolluru - Are You The Next Ceo?: A Guide to Starting a Business and Becoming a Successful Entrepreneur

Notion Press

No. 8, 3 rd Cross Street

CIT Colony, Mylapore

Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600004

First Published by Notion Press 2021

Copyright Prashanthi Kolluru 2021

All Rights Reserved.

eISBN 978-1-63745-479-4

This book has been published with all efforts taken to make the material error-free after the consent of the author. However, the author and the publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.

While every effort has been made to avoid any mistake or omission, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that neither the author nor the publishers or printers would be liable in any manner to any person by reason of any mistake or omission in this publication or for any action taken or omitted to be taken or advice rendered or accepted on the basis of this work. For any defect in printing or binding the publishers will be liable only to replace the defective copy by another copy of this work then available.

Any work is impossible without a team. This book is no exception. I would like to thank my family, friends, colleagues and associates who have contributed in their own way in making this book come to life.

I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to those who gave me detailed and constructive comments on one or more chapters, including Ms. Priyamvada Bulusu, Ms. Padma Akula, and Vijaya Reddy. I would like to thank Ms. Vidya Vellala, Founder of FaastHelp, for giving me insights into her experience in her journey of entrepreneurship and allowing me to present her viewpoints in this book. I got an opportunity to discuss the nuances of the text and to clarify concepts. I would also like to thank all those people who motivated me to stand for myself. I would like to acknowledge the hard work put in by my editorial team lead by Ms. Juhi Dhruva, Mr. Vivek Menon and Ms. Saheefa from Notion Press Team.

Finally, I want to thank my dear husband, Srini, for tolerating my incessant disappearances into my home office. A lifelong partner makes my journey worth discovering at every step. My heartfelt gratitude to my mom, my dad and my son Chandra Siddharth, who constantly supported me in my journey thus far.

Chapter 1

It was mid-summer. Sasha and John were seeing each other for quite some time. Sasha had just come back from work. Sasha was a user experience designer working at a banking company. John lost his job during the 2008 recession. He could not find anything soon. John was working as a data analyst for a market research company when he lost his job. He had close to seven years experi ence.

His friends Ron and Nick were working elsewhere. Every time the three of them met, they vaguely discussed starting up their own business. Their discussions mostly revolved around startups, funding, investments, etc. While Ron and Nick were only considering it as an idea, John had already started to conceptualize the idea. He was working on starting up on his own.

It was mid-October, 2008. John called upon Ron and Nick for a meeting at a coffee shop. They planned to meet at 11 A.M. at Starbucks that just opened a week ago in San Palo suburbs. Ron and Nick arrived and saw John was waiting anxiously, with few papers in hand. They understood that John wanted to discuss something really important. They quickly ordered some coffee and started the discus sion.

John said, Guys, we have always been discussing starting up our own business. While we were discussing, I was already working on a few things. I would like to discuss with you guys today. Please give me your honest feedb ack.

Ron said, Okay, John, thats great. Please let us know what help you n eed.

John pulled out his papers and showed them his plan of starting up a kids store which would sell toys and kids stationery. He told them about his plan of scaling up, opening multiple stores in multiple locations, etc. They discussed in detail, most of the business aspects including procurement, supply chain logistics, etc. It was a three-hours-discussion, and finally, Ron and Nick were convinced that John had indeed worked hard to put up the plan.

Nick said, Well, John, you have indeed worked really hard to put all this together. Appreciate it, man!

Ron asked, How do you want to get started? Do you have any investors who can fund you for the proj ect?

John said, Yes, I am looking for help from you guys!. Would you be able to fund this project? I am really looking forward to working with you gu ys.

Ron and Nick just had their Stop Mom ent.

Nick said, Come on John, we were indeed discussing all the interesting things during our previous conversations. But we never intended to invest our hard-earned m oney

Ron added, Moreover John, we do not even know if this idea will work. How can we invest and risk oursel ves?

They both advised John to find his own invest ors.

John was taken by surprise. He said to himself Oh My God, what was I thinking? I just gave in to their idea of starting up, without understanding their intent ion.

John apologized for having ambushed them without giving them a context of the mee ting.

He felt embarrassed. He left the meeting with a feeling of pain and guilt. He had believed that his friends would be interested in starting up and would help him set up things. This meeting cleared the air. He understood that they never intended to start/invest in a business at all.

John discussed with Sasha about what had happened. She was quite supportive and asked So, whats your plan? Do you really want to start your own busine ss?

John was not sure. He replied Let me think about it and let you know

Sasha was prepared to take a Yes or No. She was ready to find the required funding to help John. However, John felt he was not ready. He continued his search for a job.

Two weeks later, he received a call for an interview. He did it well and got hired at another market research com pany.

Today he works as a data scientist at a reputed market research firm that works on building AI/ML products. Surrounded by good colleagues, John feels happy with his career. He meets Ron and Nick over the weeke nds.

He never pursued that dream of starting up on his own a gain.

Mistake #1: Giving up too e arly.

It is not only John, we all give up on our dreams too quickly. We attribute our failure to pursue our dreams to external sources like friends, family, markets, government, etc. However, we never accept that we did not have enough strength to pursue it further. Do you relate yourself to the story of J ohn?

Never give up on your dre ams!

Check out the story of Anitha, who started her business, but failed. What made her fail, even after she pursued her d ream?

Anita was working at a kids playschool. She was working there for the past ten years. She knew the in-and-out of running a playsch ool.

During her vacation with a few of her friends, she discussed her idea of starting up her own school. All her friends supported her. She went ahead, raised some funds through her local church and community. She got sta rted.

She rented a beautiful property in the midst of the suburbs. She worked hard to finalize on the concepts like a brand for her school. Her community and her church gave her enough support and ecosystem. She invited a Senator to open the facility. Many of her friends and family turned up for the event. She was so happy to see everyone around. She thanked each and every one for coming in support of her.