What they don’t teach you in Business School:
The real side of entrepreneurship
What do you imagine when you hear the words entrepreneur, startup, tech, etc?
Do you imagine an app? A software? A super successful company growing by the minute, literally? Do you imagine young CEOs? Free food, unlimited coffee, all those cool office perks? Series A-b-c-d-bridge … BIG valuation..
Capitalism without capital.
I have been working as an entrepreneur since 2004, back when the word ‘start up’ wasn’t used very often, if ever. You know, back when I was called a young businessman, and the only words of introduction I heard were young ‘company’ and SME, etc.
In those days, starting up wasn’t easy and having a job was the best option. A stable 9–5 was the benchmark and not many people looked up to Bezos or Jobs like they do now. But it wasn’t long before things changed for the better. Starting up today is not as challenging as it was in 2004. Today we have eco systems and govt bodies ready to give an arm and a leg to help new businesses grow. We have on- campus incubators, off campus incubators, accelerators, early-stage angels, early-stage VCs, and there is a whole system in place to help young entrepreneurs turn their dreams into reality. A reality that, without much help, would remain a dream, just an idea.
If you are a startup of any stage, revenue, pre-revenue, ready, protype, pre MVP or at any stage whatsoever, I would personally and humbly suggest you to see if there is an opportunity to get into an accelerator. It will help you a lot.
Here is my story…
I’ve been running a startup for 3 years called Finalrentals.com based in Dubai. We have come so far and are in revenue stage in whatever little sense, and as a small team we are living in the most ideal environment, as a company we have done a reasonable job. We have won awards and accolades and are respected and regarded as one of the best.
And before I knew it…
We were accepted in Poland Prize Acceleration program based in Gdansk Poland powered by TechSeed.meand Starter Inkubator in Gdansk, which is for startups who are looking to do the magic in Poland the Polish way.
In this program spanning over 4 months or less, you learn so much from the mentors as well as fellow startups who face the same challenges as you do on a daily basis and every entrepreneur and founder has a story to tell. Following are the most important aspects you learn from the accelerator.
The Tech Aspect:
Running a tech startup is challenging. You ask questions like: is my technology the right fit for the kind of market I am in? Am I up for real combat for the players in my field, etc? I got my answers in this acceleration program, and not only was I able to understand the strengths and weaknesses of my tech, but also how to improve my ability to battle it out at any level.
The People Aspect:
So you got your tech right…, now what? So what? I met some amazing experts who held my hand and showed me the end-to-end journey of how content marketing is done with customers at the center of the universe. How to create value for customers by saying the right thing at the right time, in the right place. Without going into much detail, let me tell you that even the label of your submit button matters.
The Social Aspect:
UG Krishnamoorthy, a philosopher once said: “The real peace that you want to find is not found in the mountains dark cornered rooms, the real peace is attained within the rush of life, it is attained by being among the people.”
Entrepreneurship is about people. The more people you meet, the more you learn, and the more they learn about you. In hindsight, you are actually pitching to them what you do. When you find yourself networking with people, you’re actually pitching yourself! You are the writer of your own story.
Design is how it works .. not how it looks
When I was in the acceleration program, I had the pleasure of meeting some of the most prolific UI UX experts who not only understand the design but also understand how humans would potentially interact with it .. that is wealth of knowledge that you do not learn in a design school.
Last but not the least, the art of giving
You are as good of an entrepreneur as much as you give back to the society. While I was learning from experts and mentors from Neoteric (one of the largest and most prolific software tech companies in Poland) I was trying my best to share my active experience with my fellow startups and founders and I feel giving back to people, too, is an art if helps people. It empowers people just like how I felt empowered in the acceleration program.
If you have come this far in reading this article, please consider sharing your knowledge and empowering people because you never know who you might end up impacting.
All my best,
Ammar
Special thanks to all the people who have helped me in this program.
In no particular order but love and respect.
· Agnieszka Cichocka
· Michał Szaraniec
· Tymoteusz Sikora
· Mariia Ruban
The awesome team at Neoteric. I love you all.
Last but not the least our binding force and our guiding light
· Tomasz Szymczak
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