‘Just be alive for the next three years. Don’t die within next three years.’
- – Nithyananda, Paramahamsa
There is a sage advice within business community. In Punjabi the saying goes – Hatti, Chatti, Tay Khhatti, each expression representing a year of losses or debts, break even sales and profits respectively. Though it does not work in private credit driven software market; some fundamentals are fundamental to success.
I personally am averse to debt or even taking money from people. My first investor did not follow through on his commitments; disappointed of course I was, but now it seems blessing in disguise. But, we will see.
Once upon a time, there was an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years.
One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically, “you must be so sad.”
“We’ll see,” the farmer replied.
The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it two other wild horses.
“How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed! “Not only did your horse return, but you received two more. What great fortune you have!”
“We’ll see,” answered the farmer.
The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. “Now your son cannot help you with your farming,” they said. “What terrible luck you have!”
“We’ll see,” replied the old farmer.
The following week, military officials came to the village to conscript young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. “Such great news. You must be so happy!”
The man smiled to himself and said once again.
“We’ll see,”
As I have mentioned earlier these blogs are less about fundraising but more about my journey of building Machine Dalal. It is growing but at a snail’s pace but growing nevertheless – although important and optimistic; I cannot afford to be cavalier with my finances.
From what I have learnt investors want unhinged visionaries who believe in the dream; they’re okay if you get a little ahead of reality. I, for one, cannot. It is not in my nature to risk capital without understanding known unknowns but more importantly unknown unknowns.
That begets the question – am I riding a dead horse and that perhaps the best thing to do is get off it?
I thought about it. It is a slow horse, tardy at times perhaps. Not dead though. Maybe I can use a stronger whip – sounds masochist but it’s a metaphor. Although from what I have heard, stronger whips work.
Another advice would be to get the ducks in the row. Get organized. Have necessary plans in place and eat the elephant. I am building a monopoly and that is a massive overwhelming task that I must break into smaller manageable ones – for our small efficient team to put them into action.
To that end we start our day by eating the frog. And in the event I have two frogs, I eat the uglier one first.
Living my life what I have learnt so far that there is no magic to this just consistent fundamental progress. But nevertheless I shall not disappoint my readers and share my genius plan to owning the market, in animalspeak no less.
Father bull and son are up on this hill and looking down on a bunch of cows. And the son goes to the father, “Dad, why don’t we run down there and fuck one of these cows?”
Father says, “Son, why don’t we walk down there and fuck them all?”