An Entrepreneur’s Promise

Editorial Notes: This post is influenced by Mukund’s An Investor’s Promise article.

Having tried-failed-tried, small success & lot still to do, I know how hard an entrepreneur’s life. I have been helped by many people who loved what we @ my startup tried, some questioned, some ignored, some laughed, some scolded, some suggested and some cheated. But that is part of life no matter what we do.

I got excellent support from few people and at the same time was surprised to find many simply avoiding to support. When I spoke to many fellow entrepreneurs, the feedback is same. Hence this post is based on my experiences and aims to influence more to be supportive to other entrepreneurs & startups.

As an entrepreneur, I promise the following:

Open network

I will continue to keep my network open i.e. connect friends, contacts, (ex)colleagues, other entrepreneurs, mentors, advisers to you.

Participate

I will continue to participate in hearing your idea/ concept / evaluating your early prototype / try beta apps.

Communicate

I will continue to respond your queries/mails.

Endeavors First, Friends Later

I will respect your endeavors without getting biased whether you are my friend/contact/an associate. If your product is good, I will recommend and use your product even if it is built using my competitors product!

Don’t cheat

I will continue to treat you fairly well but never cheat.

No location bias

I will continue not to be biased whether your startup belongs to one city/another. I will respect you as an entrepreneur, your endeavors & your hard work

My Mantra of being an entrepreneur : “woh entrepreneur hi kya jo aur entrepreneurs ki kaam na aaye” ( He/she is not an entrepreneur if (s)he is not supportive to other entrepreneurs).

What’s your promise?

[Guest article contributed by Santosh Panda, founder of Ayojak. Reproduced from his blog.]