Entrepreneur Life: Treacherous or Terrific Journey?

By Hunar Miglani

October 13, 2022

Convention’s Anarchist 

Opinion: Entrepreneurship is a treacherous path to take. I think this has turned out to be quite the pervasive definition associated with starting your own business, especially as a teenager; and I’m here to tell you that my endeavors in this field have taught me the most about the real life application of seemingly alien concepts such as those of being driven by passion, orientation and just a hint of that pixie dust – optimism.

To give you a bit of context I started my first company at the age of 12 to help reduce the carbon footprint on the road in the UAE through a carpooling application. I took this app to the Rome Summit where I met Mr. Marc Prensky who made me realize the skills and experiences that this journey endowed upon me were so much greater than the finished product. 

I had to wear multiple different hats – as a coder, designer, bookkeeper and so on – all because I understood the impact this would have on real lives. 

Today, I continue to explore the depths of this colorful entrepreneurial journey and revel in the lessons it has taught me.

Biggest Learnings of an Entrepreneur

• Learning one: Done is better than perfect. Let the market bring you to that point of perfection. With Spire Insights (a business we created during the LaunchX summer program, was inspired to to help sellers list their products on amazon) my team and I worked on just getting something out there and with the feedback iterate rapidly without spending too much money on an idea that the market doesn’t want. This not only helps keep users in the loop and make their experience more personalized but also allows us to stay in touch with the latest trends. 

• Learning two: It’s a ‘we’ thing, not a ‘me’ thing. The second you turn your back on a team member, your idea has already fallen apart. It’s impossible for one person to do everything which is why team collaboration skills are so crucial. I realized this after working on my non-profit, Edabbas. Whew! Was I bad at adjusting! I would make decisions without including my partner and try to justify them using unoriginal excuses until certain parts started to slip through the faults, deliveries weren’t made on time, and customers would receive wrong orders. That’s when we had pondered and came to the conclusion – it was all because of our lack of coordination. It definitely took a while to restore all our progress but we did. As a team. 

• Learning three: Stay tethered to your mission and vision. In this rapidly changing world, it’s difficult to predict market trends precisely, which is why it is important to not just provide a solution that will eventually fade to be obsolete but to also deliver a vision that iterates upon itself over time. The projects I worked on personally had to undergo major changes with every iteration and that’s ok. Edabbas (my non-profit aimed at helping people in hospitals get home cooked meals) went from being a platform merely connecting two parties to a cloud kitchen to a delivery system. The journey will cumulate to be much more meaningful than the final goal. 

Conclusion: Treacherous Path or a Terrific Journey?

There is an unrelenting desire to create in all of us, a desire to be and live outside society’s definition of reality because reality is a definition set by humans because we can’t even fathom the limitless skies that lie ahead of restrictive laws. And I choose to be in an uncertain limbo, always unsettled, always exploring, always convention’s anarchist. 

So is life as an entrepreneur a treacherous path or a terrific journey filled with treasure? For me, I would say it is a terrific journey of self discovery. The lessons you learn, the people you meet, and the opportunity to create is priceless.

If you are looking to enhance your skills and grow with a group of like minded individuals, then LaunchX is the place to do so!

Apply at apply.launchx.com