Having invested in over 60+ start-ups and participating in 20+ follow-on rounds, I am sure each one of you must have built your own framework but still thought of sharing my thoughts
I am sharing below some key elements that I believe should be defined by founders for building successful start-ups.
- Higher Purpose (Soul)
- Core Human Values (Heart)
- Core Business Values (Brain)
- Operating Philosophy (Body)
- People Centricity
- Customer Centricity
- Investors Aligment
- Risk and Financial Framework
- Value Chain Partners
- Responsible Corporate Citizen
I am sharing my thoughts on each of the above-mentioned elements. The explanations are only illustrative to initiate a dialogue amongst the founders and these should be based on the DilSe connect which can be internalised and they can walk the talk:
Higher Purpose
- To inspire and energise the whole ecosystem of stakeholders with the company
- Devotion towards a higher purpose is key to align stakeholders
- Create a Moonshot
Core human Values
These are important for any interaction both external and internal to build a transparent and respectful culture
- Humility and gratitude
- Trust and respect
- Fairness and transparency
- Forgiveness and acceptance
- Patience
Core Business Values
These values define the philosophy of how and what is important to build and scale the business
- Hunger, curiosity, creativity and agility
- Win-Win
- Passion, pride and owners’ mindset
- Enjoy the journey
- Grit and hard work
- Outcome driven
- Learning and fail fast
- Family culture with all stakeholders
- Conviction and belief in the story
- Continue to disrupt and adapt to newer technologies
- Pride in association with the company
Operating Philosophy
Operating Philosophy defines how the business will be built and the way plans will be executed
People Centricity
- Leverage power of teams
- Performance and values driven culture
- Execution Focus
- Priority and respect for time
- Use next practices instead of best practices to scale exponentially
- Succession and growth planning for team members and treating them as family
Customer Centricity
- Outside in and inside out view
- Be the benchmark in customer experience and compete against yourself
- Build use cases to leverage on loyalty and synergies
- Align brand and customer persona
Investors Alignment
- As far as possible ensure DNA, aspiration and culture alignment with investors
- Investors should believe in the story and be a partner, more so in times of stress
- Company should under-commit and over-deliver
Risk and Financial framework
- Maintain focus on predictable, sustainable, profitable de-risked model to ensure growth and business continuity
- Define parameters to align with prudent financial philosophy including a framework of capital and resource allocation, profitability, cash flows
- Create a risk management framework, to be prepared for any eventuality by minimizing the adverse impact on the business
- As far as possible focus on the approach of access vs ownership by minimizing fixed investment and leverage the power of networks and value chain partners
Value Chain partners
- Create win-win
- Build long term partnerships
- Treat them as insiders and leverage the power of We
- Work jointly on value creation, opportunities and finding solutions
Responsible Corporate Citizen
- Ensure owning a couple of Sustainable Development Goals and internalise these in business thinking and execution
- Respect and follow the spirit of the law
- Play a role in Policy making and nation building, be a thought leader
December 2022
