“As the Founder of The Body Shop, I often get asked to talk about entrepreneurship – even by hallowed institutions like Harvard and Stanford. It makes me smile that the Ivy League is so keen to ‘’learn how to be an entrepreneur, because I’m not at all convinced it is a subject you can teach. How do you teach obsession, because more often than not it’s obsession that drives an entrepreneur’s vision? How do you learn to be an outsider, if you are not one already? Why would you march to a different drumbeat if you are instinctively part of the crowd? “

–Anita Roddick

Although there is no “one size, fits all” theory for entrepreneurship, but in my observation the three raw essentials that determine success in any entrepreneurial venture is proper planning, Passion & Motivation, and finding appropriate business partner.

Planning:

Entrepreneurship is about building a business from scratch while managing limited resources (including time, money and personal relationships). It is a long-term commitment (like you would pick a spouse – assuming you are not a serial divorcee), so do not rush. Many people will advise that Entrepreneurs should be go-getters, they should take action first and later learn from mistake. I am not contradicting the fact but in my opinion planning for everything and having a ready solution for all possible risks may also prevent you from unforeseen circumstances and help you successfully launching your ideas.

Assume the Best; Plan for the Worst

—By Connor McDonald

Do a feasibility analysis; identify time and capital thresholds; take the deep dive with your limited resources. If your thresholds are crossed, look for alternatives and be prepared to take the next exit.

Passion:

If there’s one word that describes the fundamental trait in an entrepreneurship, it would be passion.

This one is tricky because it’s not clear whether passion causes success or success causes passion. Everyone assumes the former is true, but let’s be honest: it’s easy to get excited about a business that takes off, so the later may be true too. Still, success may take a long time, so you’d better at least not hate what you’re doing.

Partner:

The next big step is to find some soul mates to go on your adventure

Successful companies are usually started and become successful, with the contributions of at least two soul mates – think when Apple founded.There were Steve Wozniak(Who made the product) and Steve Jobs(who sold it).Founders need to complement each other to build a great organization.According to Sivers,the first follower plays an important role because he brings credibility to the leader.Subsequent followers emulate the first follower,not only the leader.

“The first follower is what transforms the lone nuts into a leader”

But try before you buy!

There are some critical considerations for choosing the Right Business Partner.

• They should have similar vision or intuition regarding how the startup and market will evolve.
• They should have the same expectation level regarding size of the business. Not everyone wants to build an empire. Not everyone wants a lifestyle business.There aren’t right or wrong,there are only expectations that match or don’t match. So, while starting,its nice if they are on the same page.
• Founders should share the same level of commitment.
• Founder and Co-founder should have different domain of expertise.

Finally,a few words of wisdom! Do not add founders to enhance fundability. The reason to bring in additional founders – and any other employee but especially founders – is to make your startup stronger and more likely to succeed. Ask yourself, “Would I hire this guy if we didn’t need funding?” If your answer is no, you’d be insane to hire him.

So get going. As long as you’ve a great idea(Planning) , team(Partner) , belief(passion) and the crucial ability to listen, learn and work very hard,you can become a successful entrepreneur.