Entrepreneurship is not about taking a lot of risk.
Most entrepreneurs operate on the principle of a very big upside if the venture suceeds and a small downside if it fails.
If as a young person you have a big idea and you give yourselves two years to give it a shot what do you lose and gain over a lifetime if your venture fails. You lose some compensation but save 30% on the taxes on that extra compensation. You gain valuable experience which probably makes you do better as a corporate executive if you decide on that route. In Silicon Valley quite a few move on and try again. Some of them join promising start ups instead of trying to do their own.
I think most of the successful entrepreneurs in India over the next decade will not be from IIT or IIM because of their view of opportunity cost.
I am sure lot of you who read this post will have views on this topic. Personally my view is that being a lead entrepreneur is right for very few, joining an early stage start up is right for a lot more and being a corporate executive, investment banker or VC associate is the right choice for the majority.
With the current environment in India are the opportunity cost dice loaded in favor of entrepreneurs ?
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hi,
would u elaborate-
“I think most of the successful entrepreneurs in India over the next decade will not be from IIT or IIM because of their view of opportunity cost.”
Ironically a study shows that even economics don’t understand the concept of oppurtunity cost well. This post at marginalrevolution on oppurtunity cost is worth a read.
http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/09/opportunity_cos.html
Rajan
Very well said Sanjay, I agree more than 100% on your thoughts on opportunity costs. This is the exact way I thought before founding my first company eventbee.com
-Bala, http://bala.desihub.com/weblog