building a startup is structurally similar to leading a social movement
As I was reading Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography "The Story of My Experiments with Truth," it dawned on me that building a startup is no different from building an effective political campaign.
He was a young lawyer who arrived in South Africa in 1893, and like many other Indians, was severely discriminated against in a system designed to marginalize non-white residents. He was thrown out of a first-class train compartment despite holding a valid ticket, barred from hotels, and mocked for asserting his dignity.
For Gandhi, this was not just personal humiliation, his worldview was shattered. The empire he had believed to be just and civilized revealed its moral hypocrisy. That moment of awakening became the seed of his first political experiment with truth, resistance, and organization.
- He held meetings with other Indians in the region to understand their problems deeply.
- He saw the subtle lies of the incumbent government and their discrimination against Indians.
- He built and clearly articulated his campaign against the discrimination to every Indian and got them to care about his cause.
- In the process, he gained friends, confidants, and followers.
- He successfully challenged discrimination and improved the lives of Indians in South Africa.
This pattern of identifying injustice, mobilizing people, and creating change—is the DNA of every revolutionary company.
- You go out, listen to customers and understand their burning problems.
- Incumbents in business often claim they serve everyone while ignoring entire customer segments deemed 'unprofitable' or 'too niche.'
- You clearly articulate the problem and why it matters to solve.
- You rally people to your cause. You gain friends, confidants and followers.
- You solve the problem successfully and make the lives of the customers better.
Once you understand this simple truth that mission-driven companies are structurally similar to social movements, your company becomes a movement that outlasts trends!
“Finally, this is better, that one do
His own task as he may, even though he fail,
Than take tasks not his own, though they seem good.
To die performing duty is no ill;
But who seeks other roads shall wander still.”
~ Gita