Innovate New Albany’s Post

Visionaries don't make the best early-stage founders. I love me a good visionary. They get me excited about the possibilities. They're inspiring. But in my experience, the visionary doesn't always They want to have the ideas and then have a team execute. And that's great if you work in corporate or have earned your stripes in a startup. But that's not how anyone starts out. The visionaries early on have to be willing to strip the ideas down to execute on the tasks. Sometimes, really boring tasks. Because the visions are built brick by brick. Not house by house. So if you're a visionary and you want to see an idea through. Be ok with doing the dirty work. Put your visionary hat on the dresser and grab the tools. You got this. Hi, I'm Nomiki, founder and CEO of PDS Lab and I'm on a mission to bring access to non-technical women building tech.

Retaining in startup’s The concept of the solo entrepreneur is a myth. It’s crucial to have a team that can address problems swiftly and effectively. Many entrepreneurs wait until issues arise before scrambling to assemble a team. Instead, proactively build your team to be prepared for challenges. Understand that the startup phase is temporary. Don’t let high failure rates dishearten you; a small, well-managed startup can remain viable for several years. - Build a Versatile Team: Assemble individuals with diverse skills who can adapt to various roles. - Foster a Positive Culture: Create an environment where team members feel valued and motivated. -Encourage Innovation: Allow your team to experiment and contribute new ideas. - Provide Growth Opportunities: Offer career development and learning experiences to keep your team engaged. - Maintain Clear Communication: Keep open lines of communication to ensure alignment and resolve issues

On the lookout for early signs of great founders, at PeerCapital we have realised that there’s a lot common between entrepreneurship and physics. Viewing a founder from the lens of thermodynamics, can reveal a lot.  Thermodynamics evaluates the energy relationship between different ‘systems’. A startup is composed of two key systems: the founders and their team. An endothermic founder (so to say) consumes energy offered to them, while an exothermic one will energize the system around them.  While endotherms prefer stable work environments, where they want each one to focus on their particular tasks, exotherm founders are fast movers, engaging collaborators who lead their teams towards a colossal ambition.  Founder-market fit and founder-idea fit relies heavily on how the energy exchange happen between these systems of a startup. The right founder for the right business context is critical. Visionaries who drive action (exotherms) need thoughtful execution focused strategists (endotherms), but the latter may not successfully be able to rally a team.  Exotherms aren’t afraid to change trajectories, to be transparent, to tackle conflict but the need to constantly add energy can sometimes be draining.  In the early stages, exotherms need to carefully evaluate how to disperse energy across the system so that it’s sustainable, without increasing entropy unnecessarily.     If you’re one such founder, I’d love to chat. Karthik Prabhakar Rohit M A

Your start-up cannot survive without a supportive team of kind people. Startups are relying on the support and willingness of its people to go the extra mile, support their co-workers and work towards a common company-vision. Kind people are supportive, sincere and committed to growing with others as a team. For a start-up, this is a critical part of its survival. Kind people prioritise collaboration over competition. This ensures teams work more effectively and reach their deadlines and targets in a timely manner. As a start-up, when you hire kind people:  * You increase your organisation’s bandwidth to find effective and creative solutions to complex issues * You save in absenteeism and health costs related to team conflict because kind people seek collaboration over competition * Your employee retention rates increase because because kindness creates a more positive work environment. This ultimately cuts recruitment costs by increasing employee engagement and loyalty. Supportive teams are also more likely to go the extra mile to ensure targets are met and deals closed, meaning your start-up stays ahead of its deadlines. As a start-up leader, you are relying on the generosity and commitment of your employees to sometimes go beyond their role and make things happen. This is why we need to prioritise and reward supportive, kind employees that are the backbone of successful start-ups. To find out what kindness can do for your organisation, get in touch! 📩[email protected]

As a founder, you're not just a leader, you're a problem-solver and a strategist….   But what happens when you're faced with questions that have no answers?   You'll be asked to explain the unknown 😉 🔥How will you scale your team? 🔥How will you secure funding? 🔥How will you overcome unexpected roadblocks?   You'll be expected to provide solutions to uncharted territories 😯 🚩How will you build a product that no one has ever built before? 🚩How will you disrupt an industry dominated by giants? 🚩How will you create a market that doesn't exist yet?   You'll be judged on your uncertainty 🤯 ✨Investors will scrutinize your plan, questioning your viability ✨Customers will doubt your expertise, seeking reassurance ✨Team members will look to you for guidance, wondering how you'll navigate the unknown   Founders are not one-night fighters…. We're part of a community that understands the struggles of building something from scratch.   Being a founder is not about having all the answers. It's about being brave enough to ask the right questions and persistent enough to find the solutions.

Are You Building Thoughtfully? Building a company is all about making choices. The market might be pulling you in one direction, but you have to chart your own path. Think carefully about the foundation you’re laying. Start with bootstrapping. Push through the early pain. Maybe your initial product team is overseas, led by someone with the right experience. Focus on profitability from day one. Be disciplined in how you approach fundraising. And always, always operate with high integrity. Care deeply about your team. Contrary to the Silicon Valley stereotype, being kind and considerate doesn’t mean you can’t be successful. In fact, it can be a key differentiator. Over the years, I’ve seen many ways to build companies. But the ones that truly stand out share a few key ingredients: Going unreasonably deep on solving a real problem. Carving your own path, rather than following the crowd. Moving incredibly fast, without ever compromising on quality. There’s always a tension between speed and quality. And that tension is worth wrestling with. A sense of urgency should never be lost in the pursuit of perfection. They should push against each other, keeping you sharp and focused. Because the balance between speed and quality isn’t just a tactic—it’s an art. And mastering that art is what separates the good from the great. So, are you building thoughtfully? Are you balancing speed and quality to create something that lasts? Remember, it’s not just about moving fast. It’s about moving fast with purpose. That’s how you build something enduring.

Many of you asked me - working in startup , safe or not. Who funded you? Everything is about avoiding the risk of failure. Often times we make decision based on fear. The problem lies in subconscious decision making. I came from a MNC world. Ran the whole regional office. Setup all distribution channel. Expected no revenue for certain countries and make them millions. Make millions for the company overall and received 5% increment. Being asked to let go of team members. Proposal to build a cabinet for the team that costs USD3k. Guess what ? It was rejected. Is MNC safer? Please ponder. You want success? Or you want a safe space and lose your time and serve all the stakeholders who choose to play politics than serving clients. Please ponder Ponder hard

One thing that successful founders have a lot.. and normal people lack, is not money. It's focus. Ask yourself. What if you focused on your personal project? You would have made progress right? But, unfortunately we don't focus. That's the advantage of successful people. They focus on one thing for a long time. And that's what made them "successful" Consider the examples [in the image] Also think of your own role models. They focused, you didn't. That's the only difference. And even more important is.. Focus on one thing, not many. Diversified focus ≠ Focus Diversified focus = Distraction Just focus on one thing. Become unstoppable. Note to people who mention Elon Musk. Of course he focused on many things. [PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla, Boring Company] But all his companies were like his 12 kids. He only focused on one at a time :P

Founders and team leaders, how do you make decisions? What influences the decisions you make? Through my observation, many founders make decisions influenced by the books they read and the actions of people they are inspired by. As a person who loves reading myself, I know how important books are and how crucial it is to seek guidance or see how others solve problems that you are also facing. But allow me to raise this debate. I’ve noticed that the majority of people read books and stay imprisoned by the teachings and theories of the books. Instead of using books to extend their knowledge, they follow the concepts and steps the writer took to achieve certain things. Now hear me out. In mathematics, the Pythagorean theorem states that in a right-angled triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. But this is not the only formula for finding the hypotenuse; you can also use the Law of Cosines, the distance formula in coordinate geometry, and the three-dimensional distance formula, among others. My point is that reading books should not jail your mind by always following what these authors, successful people, or motivators did or said. There is no one formula for achieving success and running a business. Trust me, your own formula is the best in most cases. I have been running a tech startup, and one thing I’d like you to know is this: never follow what somebody else did or what they are doing. Be naïve enough to monitor your situation and make decisions accordingly. If you follow this, you might fail, or you might succeed. Just make your decisions based on your evaluation, not based on what that billionaire said.

I have worked in a startup earlier and now working in a well established company. Startup: 1. The employee size is very small and the workload is huge. You may be asked to do the work of other roles. 2. The ownership of a given task is very high. 3.The growth trajectory can be exponential. You can reach on a leadership position fast. 4.There may be no systematic process. Established company: 1.The employee size is pretty good and hence workload is clearly defined. 2. You will be working with a team. So ownership is less. 3. You will grow step by step. 4.There will be a systematic system followed throughout the organization. Every structure has its pros and cons.We should join where it suits us the most. Please share your experience below.