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Why hasn’t it been done already?

Unless one does not go through the logical and emotional journey of discovering this answer, you are almost always destined to regret going down this path without the diligence it deserved.

There are 3 possible responses to this question

1. It’s been done, I just don’t know of it: Happens 20% of the cases in my experience
   1. Spend whatever time you can, in finding about them.
   2. Experience them as a customer
   3. Experience them as a competitor
   4. Talk to people who have experienced them
   5. Don’t settle before you know everything about what is it that they are doing and how you are going to be different
2. Its been done, and it failed: Happens 79% of the cases in my experience
   1. Find out why it failed, as if your life depends on it. And it does.
      1. You will be fascinated by what you find – market conditions, unfavorable economics, market size, customer adoption, technology non-readiness.
   2. The goal here is to make your solution work, when their failed. Doing it better is not good enough. Repeat – Doing it better is NOT GOOD ENOUGH
3. Its never been done before: Happens 1% of the cases. In my experience its never happened
   1. I am, on an average, no smarter than the world
   2. So what I have thought of – is something that millions would have already thought of
   3. Don’t give yourself more importance than you deserve. Go back to points 1 and 2 above

The sharpest, most successful brains will tell you to not care two fucks about the world when starting up. Let your passion be your force.

The same brains would have spent countless hours figuring why the world is the way it is. And how, what they are doing, is going to change the way the world is.

Don’t be around people that bring you down 

Don’t be around people that make you feel useless

Don’t be around people that look for reasons to point your mistakes 

Don’t be around people that do not know how to respect people below them 

Don’t be around people that don’t say sorry 

Don’t be around people that don’t respond when you say sorry 

Don’t be around people that say “I told you so”

Don’t be around people that mock your decisions when they don’t pan out well

Don’t be around people that consider your success as “you got lucky”

Don’t be around people that show you down in a crowd

Don’t be around people that aren’t happy when you are

Don’t be around people that don’t believe in you

Don’t be around people that believe in you only when you succeed

Don’t be around such people just because you can’t be with yourself 

Don’t be such people yourself 

Here is the deal about wild bets. 

They are wild for a reason. 

If one knew what were to happen, they wouldn’t be wild anymore. They wouldn’t even be a bet. 

So stop attaching a probability of success to them. Don’t try to tame them. 

By the same measure, lack of conviction instantly kills any possibility of success. 

Wild bets thrive on irrational belief. Don’t doubt them. Keep them wild. 

In the past 4 months, nearbuy has built merchant tech that has never been built before in India, and I would argue perhaps the world. 

And I have spent the last month on the road showcasing this tech and gathering feedback. Investors, customers, merchants. 

The response is usually that of astonishment and amazement. 

“This is so cool” 

“Is this even possible” 

“When is this launching” 

“Why are you giving it away for free. I will pay for it” 

I also know, this tech is so bold and audacious, it might never work! 

But it’s cool. 

And people get it intuitively. 

In the past 4 months we have also built out a notification tool (called Sonar, which I think is a great name). 

Sonar is intelligent to know what notification to send to whom and when. And smart to know when it shouldn’t.

In less than 2 months, it accounts for 30% of our mobile app business. 

But it’s boring. It’s detailed. It’s unsexy. It’s lines of code and hours of work. It isn’t visual. 

But it works! 

Being cool will always draw the crowds

Being boring will get the work done

You have to be both

At the same time

All the time!

What leads to procrastination?

Most social responses will center around laziness. The inertia to not move. The need to remain status quo. 

Most internal reflections will discover that it’s the world’s judgement of the output that scares people. 

If I do this now, it won’t change my image, as against doing it later. 

I have to do this now, else my image will change. No choice. 

Fear has led to more procrastination than laziness ever will 

You didn’t call me

Yeah, but you also didn’t call me 

You scored less

Yeah, but you also scored less

You hurt me

Yeah, but you also hurt me 

You didn’t work to your full potential

Yeah, but you also didn’t 

You don’t seem to be grateful

Yeah, but you also think the same way

You don’t think twice about the things you do

Yeah, but you also are quite reckless 

Tell you what, this isn’t a competition.

Each time you counter your flaws by pointing to someone else, worse still the person opposite, who has the same flaw

Is each time you say no to accepting who you truly are.

Is each time you stop yourself from doing the right thing because someone in your opinion has legitimized the wrong thing.

Doing the right thing is not relative. It’s an absolute. 

Everyone of us entrepreneurs is trying to solve a problem. 

A live problem. 

Something worth solving. 

Something hopefully worth a lot, once solved. 

But here is the deal about problems. Everyone has them. 

If you are about saving money, even the richest guys likes to. The extent varies. 

If you are about convenience, even the poorest guy wants it. The extent varies. 

If you are about speed, even the guy with most time appreciates it. The extent varies. 

The immediate question to ask, once you have identified the problem, is “who am I solving it for?”

“Who is my customer” 

Everyone is almost always the wrong answer. 

Good products do not speak to everyone. They know who they speak to. Ironically, that is mostly the reason why the products starts speaking to everyone eventually.