Kickstarter creator, Mr. Ronak Patel, is a pure example of the fast-paced startup entrepreneur. After spending only 30 minutes talking to him today, his laser-focused and energetic style of speaking helps you understand how he has been successful in two startup ventures, and is already putting together a third.
Under the Kickstarter project page for his latest successful venture, Code & Quill, it reads ‘1,188 backers pledged $46,253 to help bring this project to life.’ This is impressive, but what’s more amazing is that his budget to build this was $500. ‘Bootstrapped’, isn’t even a good enough word for this.
I spoke with Mr. Patel today who works as an entrepreneur software engineer and asked him how he came up with the idea for the Code & Quill Book idea. His response:
“Software Engineers spend a lot of time writing code or drawing to get a better visualization for what they’re about to actually write on the computer to start developing their software. A lot of it starts with analog tools. I didn’t see any notebooks available with a page layout that would work for this kind of idea creation.”
Mr. Patel developed a two-page layout to help solve this issue by combining a dot grid on the left, and an Indentation Rule layout on the right to help indent lists, paragraphs, and code.
BACKGROUND
Mr. Patel’s passion for looking for problems and solving them, originated with his immigrant parents. They always encouraged him to be aware of his surroundings and look for better ways to solve problems. His parents were in the hotel business, and, in college, Mr. Patel started a tech company in New York City to help the hospitality industry. “Knowing that the existing hotel management software was very old, clunky and expensive, we developed a better and cheaper cloud-based product.” He eventually sold the company but rather than slowing down, he was hungry for a new venture. Enter Code & Quill.
Now, Mr Patel is expanding the tools Code & Quill offers, but at the same time, , he is already working on a new venture, this time in company branding.
ADVICE
Mr. Patel’s advice to anyone thinking about starting a company is to avoid all the excuses. “The barriers to entry into any market, save rocket engineering, are getting smaller everyday.”
“It is really all about taking that first step. If you have the passion to try something new, and you have a passion about a product that you love, and you know other people will love, it is really important to just start, and make that first step.”
If work isn’t something you look forward to, it is time to make a change. Take the first step to creating a better career, or even your own company, but don’t waste your life. Start creating something meaningful. If you need help on an idea, visit our Kickstarter to help provide you with the tools to get started.
Mike Linn, Founder
Copyright 2015 Original Content Books
