Million users blog post

No! my rss feeds do not have 1 million subscribers by any number .

1 million is a magic number for consumer startups. Once you get a 1 million subscribers/users, others start taking you seriously and you become pseudo reputed. VC’s, investors, founders, all like to speak in terms of millions of users, millions of dollars, millions of servers (Ok! not millions of servers!). A million is a tenner of startup industry. You get a million dollars in funding at beginning, means the grey haired fellow with whom you had lunch last afternoon and convinced him that you have the next google killer in your laptop, is already dreaming hundreds in return of a tenner. You get a million users, and you know that your will be getting your evening beer for a 3 more years. You can get the first “grey hair” to get more “grey hairs”, he wishes to minimize his risk, and others wish not to miss a piece in the pie . Arguably, all you need is a million users and an impactful “grey hair”, with many more in his facebook, orkut, linkedin profiles (Which again survive on this lifecycle).

One fine day, you end up burning everything. No need to worry. Get a 6 pack of beers and a good old friend. Discuss a new idea like “building a social network of all who take viagra”. Call a couple of grey hairs you earned through your failed startup, one will agree to meet you. Convince him that this idea can change the world and solve the healthcare problem. If you have learned something  from your failed startup, you’ll surely get a million again, and you know what to do next . Even if this fails, this time get a bottle of grey goose, as it will lead to fancier, funny and ferocious ideas. Since you have two failed startups under your belt, you’ll  be famous as “the fighter” in the circles. This time do not forget to give a motivational speech in the beginning. This will lead to a good preface, and the mist you create in listener’s mind, will not allow them to digest the initial fart. Again a million dollars, get a million users, and same thing repeats.

What? Someone is saying, what if this one fails too? Dude, there are plenty of other jobs around as well. Try to mould yourself into a motivational speaker, a product strategy consultant, an angel investor (forgot to mention to open a bank account and save a couple of million each time). You’ll be a big impact here and there.Try to speak to Robert Scoble. He is god, and listens to all forms of communication (Twitter, Friendfeed, Qik, Facebook, MySpace, FastCompany, Kyte.. he is everywhere. Reminds me of Narad Muni in Indian Mythology). You can combine your rhetoric skills developed over time after replying to millions of emails, with some analytical skills you invented while talking to VC’s, with a couple of buzzwords like traction, valuation, viral,  and be the next Duncan Riley.

Last but not the least, if you think its time to retire, then go ahead and read a couple of biographies, and then prepare your own. It should sell some copies atleast. All people whose startup life is Zero, will definitely buy a copy to learn what mistakes not to be done in the industry.To Summarize, startup industry will never let you out of options. There is a big ecosystem out there. You just need to find what suits you best