THE NEXT UNICORN FUELS MORE STARTUPS
Forbes India|May 21, 2021
When we share knowledge, experience, successes, and failures, we make entrepreneurship more accessible than before
GIRISH MATHRUBOOTHAM
THE NEXT UNICORN FUELS MORE STARTUPS

Once only for the bold, entrepreneurship is now becoming mainstream. More and more millennials are choosing to build a company instead of taking that first job. We’ve moved into an era of massive investments—with more funds available than ever before—and increasingly higher valuations. The speed at which companies can scale has never been faster. And we’re seeing new businesses every day that solve problems we never could imagine.

So, what is the future of entrepreneurship? From my personal experience, both in growing Freshworks and being part of independent angel investments, I see several trends pointing towards a bright future.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS A CAREER

Entrepreneurship used to be taboo—it was only for the bravest among us; those willing to take the risk. We were encouraged to get an education, find a job, build a family, and lead a safe and assured life. When balancing the risk of failure with the relative ease and safety of the traditional path, what would you choose?

When I started Freshworks over 10 years ago, being an entrepreneur was definitely not considered the safe path. But I looked at my decision as a no-loss scenario. I could try out my idea and if it worked... win. If I failed, I knew I would learn a lot along the way— training that would be invaluable for my next ‘real’ job... also a win.

Now perceptions have changed. Over the last decade, we’ve seen entrepreneurship become a viable career path. There are university programmes—business schools, engineering schools, master’s programmes and more—focussed entirely on entrepreneurship education. In the future, I expect it to be completely ‘normal’ for a fresher (new college graduate) to eschew the comfortable job and embark on a path of entrepreneurship.

This story is from the May 21, 2021 edition of Forbes India.

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This story is from the May 21, 2021 edition of Forbes India.

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