With all the buzz around startups and entrepreneurship, I just thought about people who are employee and work for small and large companies and are not entrepreneur. What about them ? Just because entrepreneurship is getting limelight and lot a coverage in print and electronic media, does it make them the super mortals ?

I’ll say to all my friends who work for others that it is fine if you are not an entrepreneur. Infact, not just fine, it is great like that too. Even the entrepreneurs or founders of the company hire great talent and you are one of them. Everyone in this world plays a role and you are playing a role of an employee. No company can survive and grow beyond a couple of years without its employees.

There are thousands of people who work at Google. There are hundreds of thousands of people who work at Reliance, Tata group, and many other conglomerates. These companies hire the best brains to work for them and help them grow. Remember that newspapers cover only the success stories and even the failure of an entrepreneur is glorified. Out of 1000 startups, only 1 becomes a unicorn, 10 become greater than $250 million , 50 remain between $1 million to $10 million, and rest of them die over a period of time. If you look at current trends, it is a rare thing for a startup to be profitable or self-sustaining. There is mad rush for VC money. and VC money is not raised only because of very strong business proposition or fundamentals. It also gets raised on various factors including your academic background, your network and references, your team, the grit put behind the idea and so many other factors.

Entrepreneurship is the most expensive hobby in a person’s life. It sucks everything out of his life and he still feels happy.

An entrepreneur’s life is not a Richie rich life. It is full of loneliness, blood, sweat and tears everyday for years. When you see a successful entrepreneur on TV or read about him, do think that it’s a face he is putting up. At the back of his mind, he is worried whether he can even pay salaries for next month or not. Being an entrepreneur is not being your own boss. But you are answerable to customers, partners, employees, board members, investors and like everyone else, your family. As per statistics, with 90% of startups failing in first few years and many even in first six months. No one is trying to prove that they are heroes. It is silly to be a hero if you cannot calculate a risk. It’s not about making money. An entrepreneur starts up on his own because he has a plan. He wants to do something different which he is not able to do in a job and then, he plans it, calculates his risks and gambles his life.

An entrepreneur does not enjoy what you enjoy in a regular job. First of all, you get a great salary which is regular every month. Second, you get timely vacations and time offs so that you can attend those family weddings or plan holidays. Third, you get to see you family everyday and a meal with them everyday is a possibility. Fourth, You can enjoy a great social status as you still have a great job at a great company. Fifth, your stress levels will be much lower as you are responsible only for yourself and your family without worrying how the revenues of the company look like. Sixth, Any criticism or bad performance on your part, and you can just switch to another company quickly.

If everyone becomes an entrepreneur and starts up, who’ll do the real work everyday ? Being an employee is equally important as being an entrepreneur.

Don’t quit your job or studies just because your friend has a startup, govt. is relaxing norms, media is giving it a hyped up coverage and it is like a water cooler gossip which gets you frustrated. If you are serious about entrepreneurship, join a startup, work for an entrepreneur for a year or more and then, take a call. I am sure your decision will be much better than what you decide by reading news.