Lessons in young entrepreneurship: Advice that Gaurav Saxena has to offer toward creation of something out of nothing

Gaurav Saxena is a successful entrepreneur who has created sustainable business ventures in developing markets and has transformed the under-served market; he has learned a lot during his time and has shared the best of lessons with the next generation. His journey is an eye-opener and reference on how not only to be innovative, but also to survive as an entrepreneur through resilience, focus and the ability to start where you are with what you have.

And the first lesson of Gaurav Saxena is not as simple as it looks: You should start even when you do not feel ready. As usual, wannabe founders fall into the trap of believing that the timing is perfect. There is no perfect time when all the variables are going to match. We have to be prepared to do the first step when it has not yet been stated well. During his early days when he started an initiative to establish a microfinance in Uganda, he had to deal with incomplete news, scarce resources and distrust with those already operating. Nonetheless, he concentrates on action as the source of clarity. An idea is polished through prototyping, testing and hearing authentic feedback, not through days, months or years of theorizing in a vacuum.

The second principle in this philosophy of Gaurav Saxena is the necessity to understand those that one seeks to serve. His tip to young founders is to gain more time in the field, watch and listen. To design his initial lending product, he spent much time in traveling around rural Uganda and visited the owners of small businesses and farmers. He says that you have to live in their everyday lives and desires. That is how you can make something meaningful something that sticks. He warns against the temptation to develop solutions in isolation or as he put it, the belief that what succeeded in certain setting automatically should be so in a new location.

Gaurav Saxena also provides a business opinion that may motive money-fearing entrepreneurs to realize that it is not the same as not having the right connections and or capital to finish up as an entrepreneur. He repeats over and over how they bootstrapped the business on a shoestring, and instead used partnerships, community goodwill, and the endless flow of creativity. According to him, resource limitations have the capability of spurring innovation. When you have less money, you cannot just swim in the sea of monetizational opportunities you have to think straight what actually is the problem. You can only allow no vanity metrics and distractions, says Haberecht. This is practice, which was developed on lean years, and which formed the basis of a sustainable growth in the future.

It is also vital to develop the right attitude towards failing as a way of learning and not a way of losing. Gaurav Saxena would be the first person to confess to failing pilot programs, regulatory issues, and unexpected cultural obstacles. But every false move gave him lessons which eventually made his businesses more powerful. The lesson that he has to tell young entrepreneurs in trying to provide advice, is to describe failure as a teacher. He says that when you fear failure then you will not risk trying out something. Experimentation is the key to finding new directions not perceived by others too.

The need of establishing team culture based on trust and learning is also emphasized by Gaurav Saxena. He cautions against the hiring based on credentials or technical expertise as the only basis. Rather, he values curiosity, flexibility and purpose alignment. He says that you should have employees who can develop along with the company, who feel that the mission is of their own. He thinks that this is the method that gives small organizations the ability to punch above their weight.

Lastly, Gaurav Saxena encourages young entrepreneurs to become their own definitions of success. With everyone living in such hyper-visibility and cross-comparison, it is hard to not gauge progress against highlight reels of others. He urges leaders to follow the impact they make and the values they preach instead of the egotism of press coverage or valuation. Well, he says, at the end of the day you had to be able to have satisfaction that you built something that counted.