I had earlier written about how Kejriwal's success has many parallels to Clayton Christensen's notion of Disruptive Innovation. As the time passes by I find more similarities between the trajectory of AAP and a successful startup.
- The first and foremost rule for a startup is don't die. After lok sabha elections when many members left them in a hurry - they could have shut the shop and gone back to running NGOs. But they kept their chins up through it all and let it pass.
- A common strategy popular among startups is fail fast and fail cheap. That's what AAP did in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Contesting the elections nationwide taught them that they didn't have enough resources to do so but also that they have a fertile ground in Punjab. After that they put all their energies and focus on Delhi refusing to contest even Haryana assembly elections.
- Customize and go local - reflected in their strategy to follow issues as per the seat they are contesting in.
Now that AAP is certain to win the Delhi elections or come a close second it's clear that Delhi has become a different territory from Rest of India. Strong NGO circuit, high political awareness and AAP would change the face of Delhi politics forever. It's surprising how have they done it when they have to counter Narendra Modi, BJP with all their money power and RSS.
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