Polygamy and Business

This was the title of a talk I delivered in Bangalore last week. Coincidentally, this was also the day that Tiger Woods decide to come out into the open and admit to his philandering ways! The title was chosen to provoke and energize the audience (owners of small and medium businesses) to get out of their comfort zone, and to consider the fact that they may well be poised for some breakout growth, and to figure out how they would go about getting there.

I started my talk by describing how, a pubescent young man sees the other gender with only thing on his mind. As we all know, this is a simplistic and naive way of approaching adulthood and relationships. As he grows into adulthood, and begins to get closer to getting married, he realizes that what he is actually looking for in a woman who is could become his wife, actually needs to provide him 'a complete package' which includes companionship, financial, social, spiritual as well as mental support in addition to physical needs. Once married, he slowly realizes that his spouse is indeed capable of providing all these things, and very well at that. While women tend to be more supportive and inclusive, this argument holds good for them also, and they too look for a wide range of support from their husbands.

Against this backdrop, I then described how this model relates to business. Entrepreneurship is different from marriage; because of this things do not quite work the same way..

In the early days, a young aspirant to entrepreneurship decides that he (or she) is not going to work for anyone, but be one's own boss and control his own destiny. As he gets closer to his dream of embarking on an entrepreneurial venture, he realizes there is more to starting up than just getting excited about entrepreneurship; he needs help with domain expertise, understanding of technology, corporate issues and a host of other matters. And so he resorts to finding all of that in one person, one mentor or adviser. As he progresses through his entrepreneurial journey he realizes that not only do his needs vary and change with progress as well as time, but also that one person just cannot be an expert in all domains, functions or matters. And if the mentor is seasoned enough, she would very soon tell him in which areas she cannot be of help. But since she has been around for a while, she will surely direct you to others in her network who may be in a better position to guide you in various areas that you seek input. This 'polygamous' model is the basis of the MentorSquare delivery mode.

We have assembled for the guidance of our Members a broad and comprehensive network of Mentors from across the globe who are specialists in their respective domains and can provide ideas, guidance and input across varied business domains. Hence, there are no questions or concerns or challenges that a member could bring up that would completely stump the collective experience of the group of Mentors invited to the conversation. The MentorSquare platform is therefore an invaluable asset that the Member can leverage to best advantage even as he or she forays into new products, services, markets and business models. Besides, the rich pool of talent, knowledge and experience of our Mentors on the MentorSquare platform also facilitates your plans for raising capital, generating leads for market expansion, upgrading technology and enhancing your team.

Hence a polygamous way of tackling business challenges...