Successful startup: 90 to 95% of business startups fail as per various figures available across the internet. Although there are many reasons listed for the failure, the International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, United Kingdom paper published in July 2017 denotes the success or failure of the business is largely dependent on effective time management by the manager. In the case of startups, the manager is any person who is behind all the action, in most cases, the founder.
It is thus the duty of the manager to organize and execute all activities in a strategic manner so that the pre-determined group goals are achieved.
According to some recent estimates, about 305 million startups begin every year, globally. This extremely high number raises the bar for new startups and with such a high “mortality rate”, time management becomes all the more important for young entrepreneurs to take into consideration.
“Learn the art of learning”
Recently, at a discussion at the Shri Ram Economics Summit, 2023, held in New Delhi, Rakesh Ranjan, Chief Business Officer of Zomato shared his views on time management. He stressed the “art of learning” and how it involves many intricacies and is not about just following the rut. His address on time management revolved around the learning process and how if the process is followed thoroughly, managing the time for the outcome becomes easy.
He urged the student audience to follow the latest trends in learning and made them aware of how what the students tend to learn today, might become outdated in a few years. This raises frustration among individuals that during the learning phase, the attention was spent on something useless and this in turn creates time management issues in the business venture that the young entrepreneurs pursue. To make up for the loss of knowledge, the founders tend to devote more time to learning something new and hence cannot do justice, either to the venture or to the ability.
Ranjan included another aspect of the topic of time management and linked an entrepreneur or manager’s commitment to the problem statement. Every business venture or enterprise addresses a particular problem and it is the entrepreneur’s commitment to solving the problem that makes a huge difference. The discipline with which the venture is carried out and everyday activities are conducted decides the time management aspect of a venture.
“It is very easy to get carried away”
Hitesh Oberoi, MD and CEO, of Info Edge, another panellist at the discussion, while speaking on time management said, it is very easy for young entrepreneurs to get carried away and lose direction. Doing too many things at once messes with the time management function of the business. He urged the young crowd to figure out their exact interest and what exactly do they want to do. It is very important to go deep into the details of the interest and learn everything that surrounds the field. According to Oberoi, getting in-depth knowledge of a field makes one stand out in that particular field and easy to carry out the work at hand. This further helps in managing time during the course of the venture, as one already excels in the work. In his closing remark on the subject, he urged everyone to learn to focus and avoid distractions to avoid mismanagement of time.
With more youngsters dreaming of making it big with their respective idea of startups and leaving a mark in the larger market, time management is something which cannot be ignored.
