Every new business owner will face this problem at some point. The product is good. The vision is easy to understand. But the part of the business that deals with everyday operations like who to hire, how to spend the money and whose advice to take is a complete mystery that nobody prepares you for. You can find a lot of guidelines on the internet, but most of them are not written by people who have actually gone through the tough times of building a business more than once. The business operations are an issue for every first-time founder. 

That's the gap we are trying to close with #AsliAdviceForFounders. It is a series where we talk to founders who have built and grown companies. We ask them questions that new founders are too shy, too busy or too uncertain to ask. 

We are kicking off this series with an interview with our founder, Sandeep Balaji. He has spent twenty years in the startup world. Sandeep Balaji still approaches building things with the same excitement he had when he first started out.

Sandeep Balaji

Sandeep Balaji is the Founder and CEO of IncrementumX. It is a company that helps new businesses grow and get bigger in markets. He is also someone who invests in companies and helps them operate. Sandeep Balaji has been working with companies for almost twenty years. He does not just give advice from outside. Instead Sandeep Balaji has been fixing and scaling companies from the inside. 

He has a vast knowledge about go-to-market strategy and building companies. This means he understands how people, technology and the way a company sells its product, which is called GTM execution should work together. Over the years, he has seen the same mistakes happen over and over in companies no matter what stage they are at. Which is exactly why this conversation is so useful for anyone building their companies right now. 

Here's what he had to say.

How did you hire your first team members? Any tips on finding the right people early on?

After raising the first round, how did you decide where to spend the money? What should founders prioritise?

There’s so much advice out there. How do you figure out what really matters & what to ignore?

Is there any one tech tool, platform, or resource that has helped you the most while building your startup?

What’s one underrated thing about building a startup that you wish you had known sooner?

If you could stop first-time founders from making one mistake, what would it be?

How did you deal with burnout or stress while building?

What was that one decision or strategy that gave your startup its first big breakthrough?

Looking back, what personal skill or habit helped you the most in your journey?

What was the toughest growth challenge your company faced, & how did you overcome it?

How did you acquire your first 50 customers? Any growth hack that worked surprisingly well?

If you had to start your company today, what would you do differently?

If there is one thing that Sandeep always talks about, it is this: trust, patience, real relationships and real problems are more important than any quick fix that looks good. This advice is not complicated. It is just hard to follow when everyone wants to move and look good.

For founders building a business, the most important thing to remember is that you do not need a new plan. You need to have the discipline to follow the plan you already have.