Think Like a Business Owner To Propel In Your Career
Are you stuck in your career, wondering how to reach the top? especially in tech, one often hears about the importance of mastering technical skills, honing coding abilities and delivering flawless projects. However, what often gets sidelined is the crucial aspect of thinking in business terms, a skill set must for going to senior or executive levels within an organization.
Many companies are driven by the pursuit of growth and profitability, whereas developers typically focus on personal growth and project delivery. Let me tell you a story from my time at Cardekho that changed my perspective entirely.
During my tenure, I led the development of a robust LMS/CRM system for the new cars division, which turned out to be a success. Due to this achievement, my team got the opportunity for the used car segment. We burned the midnight oil to meet the deadlines.
Just before we launched our next project for used cars, news broke that we acquired gaadi.com, which had a better system already. Our hard work seemed wasted.
Me & my team thought of quitting, due to our egos and frustrations. But then, I had a chat with Amit Jain. He told me something that changed everything: To calm me down, First, he said ok. Let's launch the product you guys built but first think like a business owner. At first, I was confused. But then, he showed me how.
He asked me to compare our system with Gaadi's and think about the time and money needed to catch up. It hit me: being good at coding, only thinking about the efforts we put in wasn't enough. I needed to understand the business side too.
He prompted me to evaluate our CRM's competitiveness against Gaadi's, assessing the investment of time and resources required for bridging the gap. That made me realise that merely focusing on technical excellence wasn't sufficient; understanding market dynamics, customer acquisition costs and the competitive landscape was equally necessary.
Moving forward, I started seeing things differently. It's not just about writing code; it's about understanding the market and the company's goals. And while setbacks happen, they're lessons in disguise.
Remember, you can't go up the corporate ladder by placing yourself at the centre of the universe. It's about leveraging your expertise to drive organizational success and create value beyond individual projects.
I am not saying it's okay that your project got shelved. Before making it all about yourself, your ego and your efforts. You need to understand why it happened and next time how you need to avoid it. No one wants to waste their money including the companies.