It was in year 2018 .
.two individuals came together to solve a problem. They formed a Startup which provided Customised Workflow Automation. They came up with a specific products for Government Agencies....something which will sure lessen the burden of all the paper work...
One Partner knew "how" to get things done and the other knew "what" all tools are required to get those things done.
Friends, after having lived with a certain problem for over 17 years, as a family member of the one who suffers, I knew precisely WHY I wanted the problem solved.
Just four month old, this Startup participated in the innaugural Maharashtra Startup Week 2018 organised by Maharshtra State Innovation Society.
The other 2 patners very confidently selected me to pitch the idea in front of jury..
Even I thought have lived the pain in and out so this is perfect opportunity for me to share my experience and I just grabbed it.
Now the scene is we are in the top 100 startups out of 1500 plus participants.
The Jury had Senior IAS officers and eminent industry leaders.
We had an amazing power point presentation ready.
Now the moment comes when I take the stage and start my pitch - my story, my pain and the why.
As I started my presentation with the very first slide I started reliving my experiences. Infact I was in a trance and I just forgot to even move the slides of the PPT ahead My story was no doubt heartfelt and the jury got connected instantaneuously. I may have been on fringes, but my pain was true.A Senior IAS officer asked for my visiting card even before we had wrapped up our presentation and in that moment i felt like we had won the ₹ 15 lakh award.
And indeed big evening we got the announcement that we are the winner..
Though my entire presentation was on how and what, however I just went on speaking about that why of the product.
The hard learnt lesson was sell the problem not the solution .
That's the topic of todays episode - the why of every startup and your listening to Saturday shots with Dr Sabiha
When I gave that pitch though all that was new for me I strongly believed in my own NLP skills and consciously I followed the concept of the golden circle by Simon Sinek which points out that everyone in an organization knows "WHAT" it is that they do, some know "HOW" they do it, but very few know "WHY" they do what they actually do.He points out that the reason can't be to make a profit. That's a result, and it will always be a result of providing something of value.
By "why" I mean: What is your purpose? What is your cause? What is your belief? Why does your organization exist? Why do you get out of the bed in the morning and why should anyone care?
Asking yourselves "why" is generally a reactionary response after we have done something. Why did I do that? Or, why do I continue to do something?
In the start up world, "why" cannot be an afterthought. It must be your forethought. Properly and successfully defining your "why" is an important element when defining your startup.
People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers had little in common, but they all started with WHY. They realized that people don't truly buy into a product, service, movement, or idea until they understand the WHY behind it
Now, this “Why” exists in the part of the brain that control feelings and decisionmaking but not language.
That is why it's a challenge to many of us to articulate the why in words.
But, we can learn to put those feelings in words and those who learn are the ones who are better able to inspire action in themselves, among their colleagues and also the customers.
People don't buy what you do, people buy why you do it. The why is within you and once you find and know your why the only part is to remain true to it.
This is the first part of the golden Circle - the why of every startup.
Stay tuned to Hum Tum aur Startups for new episodes every Saturday to know the next part of the golden ci
