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Explain what you have learned from your experience as a member of a team whose project was not completed successfully. Word limit - 500 words
I failed, I failed miserably! But, that is not what I am when I look back, a failure. I am much more than what that word describes. I spent the better of the last one year to set up a web-based startup in the domain of e-commerce, which is at the cusp of transformation in India, but unfortunately I failed. I felt the need to address a particular customer segment, which does not mind waiting for a specific product, if it is available at an attractive price tag or substantial discount. Based on some primary research, I quickly validated the idea - a tool which can allow customers to create their own shopping cart, place an order and defer their purchases until the product is available at a desired price. With the projected growth of the e-commerce/ e-retail business in India to reach $20 billion by the year 2020 from $2 billion currently, I saw a huge potential in the idea and decided to implement it.
Equipped with the idea of my startup, I embarked on a rollercoaster ride. Assembling the right team plays a significant role in a startup and can be detrimental to its success. Changing the team formation thrice proves that I have still not learned the art of selecting the right team. The third developer we hired stopped replying to our mails or answering our phone calls, we as a team had never expected it to happen especially when we were so close to the launch of our service. To our dismay, he even moved to a different place. It was even more painful to see a couple of other websites come up with a similar idea. Being the owner and Director of operations, I was responsible for this fiasco just like a captain is responsible for his sinking ship. After devoting significant amount of time, effort and money, I felt that more than anything else I squandered a great opportunity.
Not just I learned to manage a multicultural team but also learned some of the important following lessons through the above experience:
- Well laid plans can often go haywire. It is very useful to have back-up plans.
- Team formation plays a key role in a project's success.
- Time to market is very significant; otherwise a product/service can be rendered useless.
- Be prepared to improvise and think creatively or out of the box.
- Conviction plays a key role for a leader as everyone in the team looks up to the leader during uncertain times.
The one thing I am glad about myself is that the failure that the startup tagged me with was not a thing that stopped me from following my passion. Next time I go ahead and start my own company, I want to be equipped with better managerial knowledge and capability. Though I failed, I have a lot of lessons I learnt from this failure.
BR
Sam
Explain what you have learned from your experience as a member of a team whose project was not completed successfully. Word limit - 500 words
I failed, I failed miserably! But, that is not what I am when I look back, a failure. I am much more than what that word describes. I spent the better of the last one year to set up a web-based startup in the domain of e-commerce, which is at the cusp of transformation in India, but unfortunately I failed. I felt the need to address a particular customer segment, which does not mind waiting for a specific product, if it is available at an attractive price tag or substantial discount. Based on some primary research, I quickly validated the idea - a tool which can allow customers to create their own shopping cart, place an order and defer their purchases until the product is available at a desired price. With the projected growth of the e-commerce/ e-retail business in India to reach $20 billion by the year 2020 from $2 billion currently, I saw a huge potential in the idea and decided to implement it.
Equipped with the idea of my startup, I embarked on a rollercoaster ride. Assembling the right team plays a significant role in a startup and can be detrimental to its success. Changing the team formation thrice proves that I have still not learned the art of selecting the right team. The third developer we hired stopped replying to our mails or answering our phone calls, we as a team had never expected it to happen especially when we were so close to the launch of our service. To our dismay, he even moved to a different place. It was even more painful to see a couple of other websites come up with a similar idea. Being the owner and Director of operations, I was responsible for this fiasco just like a captain is responsible for his sinking ship. After devoting significant amount of time, effort and money, I felt that more than anything else I squandered a great opportunity.
Not just I learned to manage a multicultural team but also learned some of the important following lessons through the above experience:
- Well laid plans can often go haywire. It is very useful to have back-up plans.
- Team formation plays a key role in a project's success.
- Time to market is very significant; otherwise a product/service can be rendered useless.
- Be prepared to improvise and think creatively or out of the box.
- Conviction plays a key role for a leader as everyone in the team looks up to the leader during uncertain times.
The one thing I am glad about myself is that the failure that the startup tagged me with was not a thing that stopped me from following my passion. Next time I go ahead and start my own company, I want to be equipped with better managerial knowledge and capability. Though I failed, I have a lot of lessons I learnt from this failure.
BR
Sam
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