A favorite bedtime story most of us would have known, about Lord Krishna and the King of Udupi. During Mahabharata battle, there was not a region that did not take sides and fought the battle depending on their proximity.
However, the King of Udupi was depressed with the war, decided not to take sides on the issue, and wanted to remain neutral. Hence, he approached Lord Krishna and briefed him about his views. He further added that he would like to serve both the sides with food for the fighting warriors. Impressed with his ideology to serve all with humanity, Lord Krishna agreed.
Since day one, King of Udupi served the warriors with nutritious meals. Everyday there were innumerable causalities on both the sides. The king was very calculative while cooking and not a soldier went hungry to bed and not a morsel of food was wasted.
In reality only by the next day beginning the number of casualties were calculated by both the sides and the number of the fighting soldiers were known only well after the morning battle commenced. Yet the preparations for the food started early before the actual figures were released.
The onlookers were astonished with his impeccable calculations and approached him to know the secret behind his strategy. He narrated that every night he would meet Lord Krishna in his tent and serve him groundnuts, which the Lord ate before going to bed.
The King would remain, collect the shells, and throw them away as a service to the Lord. Incidentally, he would count the shells and if there were, ten shells he calculated that there would be nearly 10000 dead the following day and in accordance would prepare the foodstuff. That was his secret for success. As a startup, there are a few lessons to learn from the story.
On the sidelines, just think if we are out of town and we are hungry for a good vegetarian food we will always look for a Udupi restaurant, to gorge on the sumptuous sambar and snacks, agreed.
The morale that this story teaches from the entrepreneurial angle is follows:
RIGHT PRODUCT– The King chose the right product by serving food, vegetarian, to the warriors, the consumers are not filtered and everyone likes veggie foods. Had he chosen non-veggie stuff then there would be a division of thoughts.
RIGHT MENTOR– He took the guidance of the Lord who was the most versatile person of the era.
RIGHT INTUITION– The Lord never told him the number of causalities but the King did his homework well and achieved the right balance.
RIGHT MARKET–The King was clever enough to choose the gourmet division in which they were proficient. By making the right choice, he accomplished with ease.
By adhering to the above principles, the King achieved SUCCESS and in turn is a BRAND EQUITY, to this day.
WAY2WORLD feels that every startup-preneur must follow the above guidelines to scale heights and turn their dreams into reality. With inputs from internet – Rajkishan