A Startup is an Intent

Any startup is an intent. An entrepreneur plans for a startup with a specific intention, and everything else including the strategy, budget and processes are planned to realize that intent. You plan a product to make life easier for somebody, including your own. Isn’t it so wonderful?

A Different League

Whatever we use in our life was once an idea of an entrepreneur. Be it the water purifier, a video game, a task management app, or the night bulb. All these things have brought some difference in our lives. As an entrepreneur, how it feels to be a part of this league where you are trying to make a difference in others’ lives!

Just think how we have been working and collaborating if there were no Slack, Dropbox, or Asana. How SaaS businesses would have been working if there were no Stripe or PayPal. How I would have known about new products if there were no ProductHunt or BetaList. The list goes on.

Most people think that entrepreneurship is primarily about money which is not true. Look at the success rate of startups, the odds are not in the entrepreneur’s favor. Money is the spin-off of what they do and they need it to run the business, to support their family, and to continue to make the difference by their products.

The Intent

Intent means the core purpose, the Why. Most entrepreneurs have the intent clear as Why and How combined. How doesn’t necessarily mean technology or roadmap or user journey. How means how they are prepared to make a decision at different milestones, towards that intent. There is passion flowing inside them that makes them work 12 or 14 or 16 hours a day to make things work, and without thinking of any rewards.

You pick up a success story such as of Airbnb, Slack, or Zendesk and you will notice that there was an intent, a purpose to solve a specific problem for the people. The plan may not be too meticulous in the beginning, and there are challenges and roadblocks; however it is the intent that keeps them going and ultimately the world is a better place for their audience.

A huge plus that entrepreneurs have is that they are accountable to self. I personally believe that you cannot give your hundred percent if you are accountable to someone else. This is because you will rarely go that extra mile, and you are always looking to others for the threshold whether for results or rewards. Entrepreneurs work for themselves, and they often set pretty high standards for themselves.

If you see any new startup in your local community or online, it is an intent to make a difference. Are you in the league?

PS: I wrote it originally at my blog; this post is revised for minor edits.

Vinish Garg, @vingar

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