5 screw-ups, 5 learnings, 5 things right

Suresh Sambandam, founder and CEO of OrangeScape, a cloud service platform talks about the most important lessons he's learned from his entrepreneurial journey. Illustration by Dominic Xavier

A few years ago, I had listened to Suresh Sambandam, founder and CEO of OrangeScape, speak about 5-5-5, that is, '5 Screw-ups, 5 Learnings, 5 Things Right'.

"Can you please send me the 5-5-5 PowerPoint you used at SiliconIndia? Wanted to do a telephonic interview on that," I messaged Suresh, last week.

Little did I expect Suresh to engage wholeheartedly in those slides and come back with a whole new set; but that is what he did, in right earnest.

"It was a learning experience," Suresh said, when we got to talking about 5-5-5, on a Sunday morning.

Here he unveils the lessons he's learned from his career journey for aspiring entrepreneurs to read and take notice.

5 Screw-ups

• Misjudging ramp up of new geography.
• Engaging 'experts' doesn't help always
• Health equity is worth more than sweat equity.
• Personal wealth -- Putting all eggs in the 'start-up' basket.
• Tell bad news early -- easier said than done.

5 Learnings

• Sales is intuitive, marketing is not.
• Platforms need an application façade.
• Money comes in different shades of green.
• Networking doesn't help beyond a point.
• Mentors > Advisors > BoD -- less vested, more value.

5 Things right

• First learn, then delegate, make them successful.
• Keep cool at all times, live the present.
• Roll up the sleeves, growth changes only the task.
• Spot and hire good talent -- team is all.
• My wife, son, and dog still love me.