After running a startup for two years in college with 3 lakhs in revenue and 100 cycles in operations, I think I can safely tell you this: Being a student entrepreneur is not easy. Most of the times you will need to keep backing yourself up in every wrong decision, and I promise that there will be many of those.
Our story
We love to tell the story of how we four co-founders were randomly talking in the middle of the night in our college room. And how overnight we thought about the problem of college commutation and decided we are going to do something about it. That moment was the birth of our startup Wheels on Roll. Wheels on Roll or as we liked to call it WoR, was aimed at delivering efficient and comfortable commuting options, by providing you a cycle on a minute wise basis through a one-touch app anytime & anywhere, with the help of digital locking mechanism.
My story
I’ll be honest. I had never planned on having a startup in college. Hell, I didn’t even know what entrepreneurship meant. The best way I can describe my entry into the startup world is like a jump into the void with really no worries. I just wanted to help solve a problem, and hopefully, make an impact.
I would be lying if I said that I did not dream about all the fame and riches that came with it. Every night in the first week I would dream of how we were going to conquer the world of campus commutation, our IPO, our private jet, everything. I had no idea what I was in for and I was going to find out really soon.
Know when you have to be fancy
When you are running a startup you will realize that the startup always comes first. You will have to choose between working on your startup or attending a party. In your head, it might be easy but it is not. When you are in your room with your co-founders working on your product and a friend comes by, asking you to join him, that is when you will feel the pinch.
I remember how one day we were in front of the mechanical department meeting a customer. We were surrounded by our friends who were dressed for a party, I think it was a farewell or something. Our customer’s cycle had no air in the tires. We did not think twice before filling it ourselves, in the silent stares of our friends. For us, the customer was king and we tried to stick to that philosophy throughout our journey. Everything else came after that.
Change is the only constant
When you are running a startup, you have to constantly keep iterating your product. You have to be flexible and be ready for any change. If you do not adapt you will be replaced. If you think you have figured it all out, then you are dead wrong. The customers will send you curveballs left and right and every other direction possible.
There was this incident when two of our co-founders were working with our amazing tech team in Mumbai on the product. They were doing everything they could to get our product ready to launch. At the same time, I and another co-founder were in Lucknow, working on our business model in iB Hub’s startup acceleration program, Startup School. While working with the iB Hubs team, we realized that our current solution was flawed and that our current model was heading towards failure. How do you break this news to your superhuman tech team, who were sacrificing their summer holidays, without pay, away from their home? How do you tell the team that the product that they were working on around the clock was not going to work out? Is that the moment when you close shop? That was one our toughest moments. But we worked on it, and with the team, we pivoted and made a comeback. It is amazing how much you can accomplish with open conversations and a little bit of empathy.
You will fail
Startups are more about failures than success stories. You can do a hundred things right and still end up failing. There will be moments where you will feel overwhelmed, moments where you are spent. But I’ll be honest with you. Nobody is listening to your complaints. Nobody cares about your whining. The feeling of privilege is pointless, not just in your entrepreneurial journey but your life too. Nobody owes you anything.
Our biggest failure was the closing of our startup. But that does not mean we are done. None of us are anywhere near being done. Being a student entrepreneur cultivates an entrepreneurial mindset in you, and we think that is more important than any other learning in your journey.
Endgame
Being a student entrepreneur is not easy. It is not cool. It is not fancy. It is not a life that everyone can be okay with. It is not meant for everyone, despite the popular view where everyone wants to be an entrepreneur. It needs focus and commitment at a whole new level.
So when I say, don’t be a student entrepreneur, I mean to say don’t be a student entrepreneur if you are not ready for the work and if you are not ready to spend the time on your product. Don’t be a student entrepreneur just because everyone around you is talking about being one. Don’t be a student entrepreneur for the wrong reasons.
Find out who you are. Find out what you want. Find out what makes you happy. And then just go be the best at it.
Is it worth it?
If you ask this question to any of us four co-founders, we will all say the same thing. “Yes, it was!”
Our journey has taught us invaluable things. It has empowered us to dream bigger. It has taught us how to work better in a team, how to delegate, how to adapt. We have met so many amazing people and spent hours exchanging ideas.
Personally, it is a milestone in my life. It has changed the way I look at things. It has taught me to give myself the space to fail but to never let failures stop me.
– Amartya Gupta