When you start your own business as an entrepreneur, it's instinctual to expect things will go right.
But things don't go right, and most companies, especially startups, fail. The entrepreneur blames himself or gets blamed, but the reality is more complicated.
In my case, I just ran out of funds. Software development, as you can tell from the salaries, is an expensive investment. If there's a delay in receiving investments, you have investors who don't make good on commitments, or if clients don't sign up, the company dies. And when it is dying, everything bad that you thought could never happen to you happens—or worse, in my case, because people around me were professionally, morally and culturally decrepit, it's taking me a little time to come out of the ashes.
But generally in these situations, overnight relationships vaporize, friends either distance themselves or become instant adversaries, and suddenly the prospect of affluence is lopsided and you owe money to a lot of people, all in a hurry and knocking at your door.
Nothing but reality can give you this experience. You just can't learn it from reading about somebody else; it wouldn't sink in. I live on the same planet as everyone else, but mine is a different reality entirely.
Success isn't that straightforward.
In my field of healthcare analytics, clinical trials, or other data-intensive systems, it can only work if hospitals are using data. All there is right now is hand-waving, cover-ups, and rampant corruption.
India hasn't matured to the point in its discipline where a technological revolution is possible. They have to force a data culture. Unless that's mandated by law or stringent insurance requirements make it essential and training practical, it's not going to happen. We are destined to play the fiddle and be the IT coolies of the world.
Without proper coding standards and their strict implementation, any system based on them wouldn't make sense, like a bridge over a dry gorge. The nationalist marketing would only take you to promises they couldn't keep. I fell for it. They are goons in makeup, just good for grandstands.
The main issue in India is that professionals don't have clarity, even in their own fields. What they say is indistinguishable from what they'd say to get something done. This superficial, inadequate knowledge and intentional deceit sets compatriots down the path to disillusionment or failure. I see a smorgasbord of this variety on LinkedIn.
From the leaders down to the lowest functional designations, moral bankruptcy makes healthcare a nightmare. Forget IT, forget research; only a minority can afford good care, or any care at all.
Just living an afterlife of my unique struggle. My intentions were never really the superficial ostentatious paraphernalia that comes with designations; I just wanted to do the right thing, but I chose the wrong place to do it.
But I'm proud of it. And I'm not biting my tongue for anyone, and not giving up.
