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B-SCHOOL BLOG
Stuck On The Start Up Syndrome
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"There are two kinds of people who know what they really want to do in life. One, geniuses or the rather lucky ones. The second set of people is fools who don't really know but are deluding themselves that they do. You're a normal person, you should allow yourself to make mistakes and learn. What's the big deal if you do something and it doesn't work out too well? Would it really matter so much a year or so later?"
If I were to pick my most important lessons from life at my B-school, one would probably be this remark from Prof. Jha, not inside the classroom but in a personal discussion in his office. It eased me out of the dilemma regarding 'opting out of campus summer placements'. I OOPSed.
CAT 2005… a delightful interview with IIM-C… a fond farewell to four really amazing years of college life… a month at home… and a dreamy and lost pair of eyes landed at the resort-like campus of IIM Calcutta, Joka -- as it's called, in the summer of 2006. It wasn't too long before I figured that I wasn't alone in being unsure of what to expect and what I really wanted out of the MBA. There were other lost souls around. The maturing process, however, was rather fast, compared to the freewheeling careless times of college. Soon we were made to realise the importance and the centrality of placements in our life at IIM-C.
The entrepreneurial infection that had started with being a publicity coordinator for IIT's eCell activities had led me into being fascinated with this interesting way of life. While I skipped placements at IIT, running towards setting up something of my own was a stronger drive than running away from a job.
Opting out of summer placements followed and career wise, life took a somewhat serious turn thereafter. It caused a little drift away from usual campus life as I didn't get an inside view of one of the most important experiences of a B-school life – the grilling and draining placement process. It also made me an outlier in some ways, as I wasn't part of the preparation, meeting seniors for practice interviews, iterations of the CV, etc. Involvement with the student eCell continued here as well and my exposure grew even further.
Academics, though not a cakewalk, weren't particularly difficult either, if one wasn't particularly competitive about the grades. I quite enjoyed the project work and presentations so it was a comfortable sail, thanks to some good friends.
On the entrepreneurship front, having impatiently discarded one idea after another for over a year, I got stuck with Lifeinlines – an idea of being able to record one's life, originated in the head of a friend Harpreet, now running his own campus recruitment related startup - cocubes.com. Having been a fond diary writer since I was 15, and lately a hobby street photographer, I had personally been fond of capturing experiences and moments that touched me or made me think and sometimes just reacting to something and venting myself out.
It's like I was in a fast journey now, there was so much I wanted to capture, perhaps share with some people, so many times I needed to express myself and lifeinlines eventually grew into the perfect answer to all these things.
Work on this venture started in full throttle soon after my internship. There were just three people, one in Delhi, one in Mumbai and I was working out of Kolkata. The fourth term of the MBA just whizzed by as I had kept myself overloaded with courses so that I could have more free time later on. The work gathered steam; development of prototype started, and along with also began the buzz words such as revenue models and marketing plans!
However, two months down the line, it was turning out to be difficult to keep the pace going due to other commitments. Eventually, I lost track with other two partners and LiL took a backseat for a month or so. However, the enthusiasm was still there and the fifth term was rather light as well.
While my summer 'Oops' had taken people by surprise, and my senior -- also my mentor was aghast. But on the other hand, my friends generally appreciated and respected. Post summers, it had become a usual question if I was applying for the final placements or not. It was a while before I was certain enough to start telling people that I was opting out. Funny thing with start-ups is, you feel like a salesman every waking moment. Anyone asks you about what you are doing and you need to present the whole thing properly. It can get really taxing sometimes, but after a little practice, you start enjoying it.
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