From ‘de facto’ to ‘de jure’ entrepreneurship

Let me introduce myself as a journalist-publisher of online magazines that are about books, entrepreneurship, business, and spirituality. My previous job, till about six months ago, was as a staffer in a print newspaper, where I learnt, over 16 years, many operational things that continue to be useful in my current start-up.

What gave me the confidence to launch my own online magazines is the productive immersion I had in social media, as an ‘extracurricular’ activity even while working in traditional media. For instance, blogging about my interviews, and uploading the videos of interactions, added whole new dimensions to the story writing work; apart from offering transparency and a workflow view, the stories became lot more accessible and relatable.

My routine would have continued the same way, in the print newspaper, if not for a whistle-blowing exercise I had done through an internal group email highlighting gender and racial prejudice within the organisation. As someone low down in the hierarchy, I had voiced, in my mail, that such prejudice at the very top level was against the culture of the organisation. Well, to cut a long story short, the predictable and abrupt end of my ‘intrapreneurship’ as an employee became the turning point: from ‘de facto’ to ‘de jure’ entrepreneurship.

A long journey going forward, as I see it. It has just started, and is already keeping me doubly busy and satisfied.

(Modified an earlier post and filed for ‘TiE Chennai Mentoring Camp : Runway to Success on 23rd March at IITMResearchPark’ http://www.lhexperts.in/runwaytosuccess.aspx)