Startups are like “2012″!

I don’t know how many of you have watched the Movie “2012”, but I watched it 2 times and found it an extremely interesting one! It’s not just about the story, the way a person can relate to Movie is also appreciative. But somehow I thought that the movie teaches many lessons, especially from an Entrepreneur’s point of View.

There are many instances where a Startup can easily see it’s own picture on the Screen. When I watched the movie second time I could relate some dialogues with my own life. It was quite funny too. For instance there is a scene in 2nd half where they talk of selling shuttle seats for some billions of dollars to a Saudi Sheikh – They argue that it’s unfair – To this US Mayor yells “Do you think without billions of dollar aid from Private Investors this mammoth task was ever possible?”.

Startups also think the same way- don’t they know what we are creating is huge? Why don’t they understand that without some initial investments this mammoth task is impossible :)?

The Movie (for those who haven’t seen) is based on Mayan’s Calendar and Nostradamus’s prediction that this world is going to end by Dec 21st, 2012. They are predicting that due to the increase in temperature of earth’s core, there would be various natural disasters like Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tsunamis on a huge scale which would eventually lead to our extinction. The only survivors would be those people having political influence or huge cash reserves.

Initial one hour of Movie is filled with extreme adventure and thrill! It feels like a rollercoaster ride. Very similar to startups -Right?

Initial days of a startup are filled with extreme adventure – taking an idea from concept stage to reality and creating a team of passionate people involves a lot of fun, hard work and luck! At times we face a dead-end (or it looks like one) and then from somewhere we get a ray of hope and things start moving forward. If everything is well by the end of this phase, both startups and movie move forward!

There are many incidents in between where I saw similarity – for e.g. key-people (read Investors here :)..) don’t believe that the problem on hand really exists in first place, even if it exists they believe that they themselves can solve it. But true fighters keep on fighting, until the world stands up and watch what they are doing.

And when the problem reaches a certain level and its visible those key-people buy our idea and then we have to work for them! They even demand that no one else should know about the idea.

Did that happen to you anytime?

The movie is filled with such Dramatic scenes which are pretty much relevant to an Entrepreneur’s life. In one scene there is a conversation like-

“If god wants each one of us to die, then why are we trying? And who all will survive?”

“I think that God only chooses who all will survive. We are lucky that we’re chosen by God”

In the same way, though Startups face intense competition at start only a handpicked are survived and are able to make it big! That’s why entrepreneurs just listen to their heart and don’t worry about competition.

In the end Movie is about saving humankind from extinction. It’s about facing the end, and see how your solution works against all odds to save your life. Facing “The Day” is so similar for startups. The day people are ready to experience your product, it’s like a survival game. But it’s also about the team and how your team members behave during crisis situations. You can’t be selfish enough to not think about others. Unless you learn humanity and work with dignity, you can’t survive!

2012 has it all. Do watch it if you haven’t watched it yet. Even if you have seen, try it again with my point of view :).