Focus, or Not

I have been working and studying in USA for a couple of weeks now. I revisited USA after a decade. I am looking at the country with more experienced and educated eyes now.

I don’t see these guys are genius. They are not more hard working either. But each individual here does very good at what he does. They focus on a single area, and be expert of that. When you have a working system based on trust, when components add up to form synergy, you are better off focusing on your niche.

In a developing economy where almost nothing is built you need to build everything from the scratch. You almost end up building every component of the system to reach to a sustainable model. Is this efficient? Surely not. But you have no other choice. That is why Muhammad Yunus, starting with micro credit, ended up founding so many businesses, and now talking about even more. That is why great entrepreneurs like Sir Abed, Akij and Samson H Choudhury built so many businesses. That is why Henry Ford ended up integrating from mining to retailing.

Now that they have other pieces of the system working, they can really focus on a single piece. Keep doing whatever they are good at. Excel on that.

We, on the other hand, are still at the Henry Ford phase. We got to be generalist, keep integrating forward and backward. You can’t imagine the first human being on earth, Adam, was a specialist, can you? He was a generalist!

When no working system exists you need a good number of generalists to build one.

Bumpy Road of a Startup

It's a continuous high and low. We receive an award on one moment, an important client becomes non-responsive on the next. We get a nod from a major client, one of our engineers leaves for a multinational on the next. If you like roller coster ride, bungee jumping, adrenaline rush, horror film or something of that sort, you gotta love the ride on a startup.

No guarantee of a paycheck at the end of the month, you punch your ATM card not to see the account is topped up by an invisible one. You got to plan for your next dollar, but you never know where it is coming from. Usually it comes from an unusual source. Boy! You gotta love this one.

So, how do you survive these? After all surviving is success for a startup, right?

You must know how to dream. Dream of a glorified future on the expense of the bumpy road ahead. That's the entry barrier to this territory. That's why it is not everybody's cup of tea.

Moving from a large organization to a startup

Yeah! You need to be a risk taker, first. You got to love challenges, adrenaline rush, and dealing with unknown. 

If you feel bored with your current job, not because the job isn't paying you enough hard cash, but because it's not giving you enough challenges, scope to prove your potential, and opportunity to learn and fast forward your career growth, this piece of blog might worth your time.

To establish some credibility, first, I need to define myself, I guess. I am a marine officer turned corporate manager who did his MBA from the best school in my country. I took my job in my second career in advertising first, then in a telecommunication company -- again the largest corporate house in the country. In between my 5 years of (second) career I bagged two decent promotions, to join to a IT startup as the Head of Operation and Sales which promised to grow as a CEO. I don't want to sound it like bragging, but so much so for establishing the credibility of the blogger :)

The Downside

1. you would miss many back patting. Especially your friends, your relatives will not look proud to introduce you to others. You will suddenly stop receiving many calls, birthday wishes, new years, and other season greetings.

2. Stratups will offer you fewer fringe benefits. No fancy cars, no escorts -- in anywhere of the country , or world, no health insurance, no children education cost, no unlimited sick leaves etc. Well sometimes you might find many of the benefits are never used, but for some it may be essentials.

3. People with need will stop calling you, rather you may have to start calling to people for your needs. As you know small firms run after the large corporate houses, and its never the opposit, no matter who is vendor here. :)

The Upside

1. You will suddenly start enjoying your work. Ahem! is that not worth facing all the stated downsides? Well, of course, I only guarantee you job satisfaction if, one: you are my type i.e. the the type as stated at the first couple of lines of the blog. Second, the employer should not be bitch type!!    

Tips

1. Maintain a mental preparation to move to startups or SMEs. Don't get to too used to flamboyant life of large corporate houses.

2. Be prepared to do-it-yourself when you join a startup. While for large organizations each job is segmented, and there are dedicated persons or vendors assigned for each miniscule piece of work, in startup even being a CEO, you probably have to do it all. It might sound scary for some, but for me it was complete fun.

3. Keep your networks alive. Rekindle your connections. While in giant organizations there were many people, vendors, colleagues used to call you just to keep a warm and fruitful relationship with you, now it is your turn. so, prepared to do that and keep it rolling even before you switch.