I
had heard somewhere that the best way to connect with someone is to show them
that you are as crazy as them.
Six months back She called me 10 days after the breakup and told me that the breakup hasn’t happened yet and then she broke up with me the very next day again. I was sure this was the girl of my life and almost sure that I will end up marrying her. Did it hurt? Well, the only time I did not feel the pain was when I was sleeping and that’s why I slept most of the time. And then I skipped couple of days of work.
It wouldn’t have mattered much to a company if I were an employee and would have taken leave, but the problem was that it was a company I had started and I was the so-called CEO of the company or startup, if you prefer. Between the lines advice: unless you are building the next Whatsapp, it’s better if you run your startup like a company and not your company like a startup. If you didn’t understand that, someday you will.
About the author Gaurav Munjal is an entrepreneur from Mumbai who started Flat.to after facing accommodation problem during his college years. Previously a developer at Directi, Gaurav loves making educational videos for his youtube channel Unacademy in his free time. You can follow him on twitter @gauravmunjal or read his ranting at blog.gauravmunjal.com
Six months back She called me 10 days after the breakup and told me that the breakup hasn’t happened yet and then she broke up with me the very next day again. I was sure this was the girl of my life and almost sure that I will end up marrying her. Did it hurt? Well, the only time I did not feel the pain was when I was sleeping and that’s why I slept most of the time. And then I skipped couple of days of work.
It wouldn’t have mattered much to a company if I were an employee and would have taken leave, but the problem was that it was a company I had started and I was the so-called CEO of the company or startup, if you prefer. Between the lines advice: unless you are building the next Whatsapp, it’s better if you run your startup like a company and not your company like a startup. If you didn’t understand that, someday you will.
Coming back to my heart break, what
is even worse is when this is the company which you had started after putting
whatever you had on stake, after quitting a seven digit salaried job which
people yearn for; after not listening to your parents to study further.
In a
relationship, as in a startup, there is something called as the honeymoon
period where everything seems perfect and filled with passion and you are
excited that you have just found your love (or started something you have been
dreaming of). It’s filled with some of the most awesome moments the happy
times, telling people about your happiness and sharing with them. It seems like
things are all sorted and you are always in a certain sense of high. Then
reality kicks in…
What happened with me was that the honeymoon period of the
relationship and the startup actually started at the same point, so did the
aftermath. When you realise running a company is more than telling everyone
that you are the CEO of company that has just raised funding and you face the
bigger challenges i.e. hiring/firing (your lead developer getting an offer from
Flipkart and you trying to retain him), operations, money in money out,
marketing, product and more importantly survival. So the problems while running
the company had just started when she broke up with me, the so-called love of
my life (damn Shah Rukh Khan, I hate you for this, but I love you for the
entrepreneur you are).
And
then I hit rock bottom, what’s the use of going to office? Does anybody care? I
just want to sleep and not face reality. But then there was another voice
saying, ‘isn’t this what you craved for Gaurav?’ This adventure? This low
followed by high followed by another low? Isn’t that what you were getting into
when you left your job and started your company? And obviously it’s never
supposed to be easy. If it’s easy it wouldn’t be worth it, will it? But my
chest hurt, I wanted to cry, I wanted to call her and ask her to stick with me
in these bad times so that I have the courage to fight them (lame reason you
give yourself during worst of times). But I didn’t call her and I did the
following things:
- I called up all my friends and talked to them, went and met them, especially the ones who inspired me always
- I started reading a lot. Started with two books, ‘Choose Yourself’ by James Altucher (thank you once again, James) and ‘Steve Jobs’ by Walter Isaacton Found good mentors and listened to them on how to fix things and get back on track.
- I brought positive changes in my life, more exercise, less junk food, less alcohol, less Facebook. More work, more discipline.
- And not to fall backwards
About the author Gaurav Munjal is an entrepreneur from Mumbai who started Flat.to after facing accommodation problem during his college years. Previously a developer at Directi, Gaurav loves making educational videos for his youtube channel Unacademy in his free time. You can follow him on twitter @gauravmunjal or read his ranting at blog.gauravmunjal.com
I had heard somewhere
that the best way to connect with someone is to show them that you are
as crazy as them.
Six months back
She called me 10 days after the breakup and told me that the breakup
hasn’t happened yet and then she broke up with me the very next day
again.
I was sure this was the girl of my life and almost sure that I will end
up marrying her. Did it hurt? Well, the only time I did not feel the
pain was when I was sleeping and that’s why I slept most of the time.
And then I skipped couple of days of work. It wouldn’t have mattered
much to a company if I were an employee and would have taken leave, but
the problem was that it was a company I had started and I was the
so-called CEO of the company or startup, if you prefer. Between the
lines advice: unless you are building the next Whatsapp, it’s better if
you run your startup like a company and not your company like a startup.
If you didn’t understand that, someday you will. ... read more on yourstory.com
I had heard somewhere
that the best way to connect with someone is to show them that you are
as crazy as them.
Six months back
She called me 10 days after the breakup and told me that the breakup
hasn’t happened yet and then she broke up with me the very next day
again.
I was sure this was the girl of my life and almost sure that I will end
up marrying her. Did it hurt? Well, the only time I did not feel the
pain was when I was sleeping and that’s why I slept most of the time.
And then I skipped couple of days of work. It wouldn’t have mattered
much to a company if I were an employee and would have taken leave, but
the problem was that it was a company I had started and I was the
so-called CEO of the company or startup, if you prefer. Between the
lines advice: unless you are building the next Whatsapp, it’s better if
you run your startup like a company and not your company like a startup.
If you didn’t understand that, someday you will. ... read more on yourstory.com
I had heard somewhere
that the best way to connect with someone is to show them that you are
as crazy as them.
Six months back
She called me 10 days after the breakup and told me that the breakup
hasn’t happened yet and then she broke up with me the very next day
again.
I was sure this was the girl of my life and almost sure that I will end
up marrying her. Did it hurt? Well, the only time I did not feel the
pain was when I was sleeping and that’s why I slept most of the time.
And then I skipped couple of days of work. It wouldn’t have mattered
much to a company if I were an employee and would have taken leave, but
the problem was that it was a company I had started and I was the
so-called CEO of the company or startup, if you prefer. Between the
lines advice: unless you are building the next Whatsapp, it’s better if
you run your startup like a company and not your company like a startup.
If you didn’t understand that, someday you will. ... read more on yourstory.com
I had heard somewhere
that the best way to connect with someone is to show them that you are
as crazy as them.
Six months back
She called me 10 days after the breakup and told me that the breakup
hasn’t happened yet and then she broke up with me the very next day
again.
I was sure this was the girl of my life and almost sure that I will end
up marrying her. Did it hurt? Well, the only time I did not feel the
pain was when I was sleeping and that’s why I slept most of the time.
And then I skipped couple of days of work. It wouldn’t have mattered
much to a company if I were an employee and would have taken leave, but
the problem was that it was a company I had started and I was the
so-called CEO of the company or startup, if you prefer. Between the
lines advice: unless you are building the next Whatsapp, it’s better if
you run your startup like a company and not your company like a startup.
If you didn’t understand that, someday you will. ... read more on yourstory.com
