In an exclusive interview with Ashutosh Asthana, Assistant Editor, Thinking Aloud, Prasad Shejale, Co-founder & CEO - Logicserve Digital, speaks about the challenges he faced as an entrepreneur and his mantra for success.
TA: Why an entrepreneur nothing else?
PS: Sometimes on a journey, you feel that you can do much more than what you are actually doing, that is when the trigger happens. This feeling was simmering in me for a longer time. That is when I wanted to do something new. The problem was, I didn't know what to start with, so I took a break. I was working in a company but I resigned and for about a month I started thinking what needs to be done. Planning is very important. It helps in building something of your own. It also helps in understanding a particular problem and then solving it. Putting together, it's about your build, accidentally getting something, start working on to it and lastly your luck.
TA: What challenges did you face as an entrepreneur?
PS: I think I will split the challenges into four pointers. Assuming that I have a great idea, great product, and things are working for me, first would be finances. Sometimes you feel that your team is not understanding you and it happens periodically once in a while, so second is the vision and how the organisation is functioning. Third is health and fourth is your friends and family. These are the four main areas for me and for every entrepreneur. So as an entrepreneur, we start concentrating on any one area and neglect the other areas. In such case the neglected problem becomes very big. So, to solve a problem, do an analysis, understand the problem, setup basic rules and
start taking care of those things.
TA: How do you bounce back from failure?
PS: It may sound cliche, but there is nothing called failure. Everything is about experience. If you think there is failure and if you are ashamed of that then it won't work. Firstly, you should not look at your experience as a failure, you should not be ashamed about it, you have to accept it and look into whatever has gone wrong and then start working to improve it. Life would always give you a better chance so as to improve your mistakes.
TA: What is your advice to budding entrepreneurs?
PS: To become a great entrepreneur, firstly, one should have that insatiable hunger. Second important attitude is never giving up. Thirdly, be very humble and try to tweak things because nothing is going to work on day one. You will have to keep working on to it. If you hit a roadblock, see how it can be circumvented and keep on working on to it. This is the first stage at the beginning of the first one year or first quarter. So you need to have a huge amount of belief in you and unlimited energy and unlimited passion to work on it. As the organization starts growing, then that is the time when a lot of introspection is required. Thirdly, you have to decide on a mentor. Keep on bouncing ideas to him, keep on sitting in front of him, if not every month, at least a quarter and tell him what you fear about. Get his inputs, many times when you actually verbalize your fear or the problems that you are facing you get the answers because mostly the answer lies within you. Many entrepreneurs don't talk to others, they think that they can do things on their own. So mentor is very important.
TA: What is your mantra for success?
PS: My mantra for success is the hunger for knowledge, being passionate, sticking to what you strongly believe, a bit by bit sometimes or delta by delta. Every morning you go to work but cannot do disruptive stuff every day. Even if you what to do something great, it will not happen in an hour. Every day wake up and say that today I am going to change delta, and when a year passes, you will realize that you have really changed a lot of things.
