- What Next (Longer Version)
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I am on a short break to figure out what to pursue next.
My aspiration is to do something on my own. In the next couple months, I am hoping to figure whether I can start right now or if it makes more sense to work for few years before I start.
Three main things to think through
- Who would I do it along with?
- My preference is not to pursue anything solo.
- I started up in '05 (solo) & '16 (w/ a partner)
- Where am I financially?
- Can sustain 2 years with low income.
- Cannot dip into savings.
- I/we (me & a partner) can bootstrap; create traction and then look for funding.
- Taking up a job would help me build corpus and I can start 4 years later.
- What is the idea/What is the problem to solve?
- What I am more keen on is to get the [Partner + Me + Idea] equation right
- Specifically, the partner and I should want to work with each other and then be excited about an idea. Partner first and Idea next
Various criteria in my search
- Distance to Founder: Lesser the better. For ex:
- I am the Founder/Co-Founder: Distance is 0
- Reporting to Founder/CEO: Distance is 1
- Reporting to CXO or SVP or VP => Distance is 2 or greater
- Role:
- NOT limited to an area: Tech/Product/HR/...
- I do not see myself as a Techie or an Analyst or Product Owner or HR
- I see myself as a problem solver and do-er
- For ex: I’m ok doing HR reporting to Founder
These are the possibilities
- 1. Doing something solo
- Distance to Founder is zero
- Bootstrap -> Find traction -> Get Funding -> Keep moving
- 2. Doing something with a partner
- Distance to Founder is zero
- Bootstrap -> Find traction -> Get Funding -> Keep moving
- 3. Doing something early stage:
- Distance to Founder is one (reporting to the founder)
- 4. A job like the one I had when I left Flipkart
- I was probably one of the 150 Directors at Flipkart at that time.
- Distance to Founder: 2 or 3
I am currently focussing on 2 & 3 above.
- Who would I do it along with?