Why I left a venture capital accelerator to join a start-up

Artur Akhmetzyanov, founder of Russian start-up VENDi tells Tech in Asia why he moved from a VC to dive deep into the start-up environment

It has been six months since I moved from Pulsar VC to its portfolio company VENDi. Many people asked me why I left this prestigious VC/accelerator job to dive deep into the start-up environment?—?the quintessence of extreme uncertainty, psychological roller coasters and everyday challenges. Sure, my work was great but I felt something was missing. I felt like a fish out of water and desperately needed some changes. So I quit.
 

Why did I leave? I was not sure I was truly adding value to start-ups at that time. I had never built any ventures before, never gone through those endless battles with everything (technical problems, competitors, customers, money and time), never failed and started it again. I simply had not deserved the right to advise an entrepreneur yet. This thought was sobering. It’s all about the timing. In the future, I will be more than happy to pay back to the community, the ecosystem and advise young entrepreneurs on how to build successful companies but now I have to work hard and learn how to do business by myself.

Where am I now? I am currently going through the transition from the employee to the entrepreneur mindset. Trust me, it’s tough. I feel uncomfortable and stressed being snowed under with multiple tasks. I struggle with balancing operations and strategy, decision-making, acquiring new skills, fighting with procrastination and prioritisation along the way. But it’s definitely worth it.
 

I firmly believe that entrepreneurship is the best way to challenge yourself. It demonstrates your real abilities if you are not afraid to try and fail. It gives you a chance to become someone you’ve never been and do things you’ve never done. If you believe in your vision, trust your team, love you customers and create value, everything is possible. Just never stop learning.
 

This has been sourced from Tech in Asia. You can access the article here.