Our 20 Principles for Startups (and the Stock Market)

Startups are messy. They aren’t built with perfect plans or glossy pitch decks, but with scrappy ideas, stubborn decisions, and a lot of mistakes you learn from.

At Finology, we’ve had our share of all three. Over the years, certain principles, some borrowed, some discovered the hard way, have kept us grounded, and we wanted to share them with you because, sometimes, choices in business aren’t so different from choices in investing.

Here they are:

1. If you’re confused, the answer is “No.”

In startups, a half-hearted yes is a silent killer. It drains money, time, and energy. The same is true in investing; buying a stock because you’re thinking, “not sure, but let’s try,” is usually a recipe for regret. Unless it feels like a screaming yes, it’s probably a no.

2. Don’t fix what’s not broken.

Coke’s disaster with “New Coke” is a case study in messing with a winning formula. Startups often overthink, tinker, and ruin what’s already working. Investors, too: selling a stock that’s compounding well just because you’re bored is a costly mistake. Sometimes, doing nothing is the best action.

3. Make a decision, then make it right.

Indecision is expensive. A wrong choice can be corrected, but sitting on the fence costs opportunities. In investing, too, the “perfect entry point” doesn’t exist. Once you’ve researched, act. If the call goes wrong, adjust. Commitment beats hesitation.

4. Be frugal. 

Revenue ≠ permission to splurge. Our platform, Finology Select, earns lakhs every month, but still runs with a single-person team. That’s discipline. Similarly, in investing, living below your means frees up more money to put to work. Compounding doesn’t just depend on what you invest in, but also on how much you actually have left to invest.

5. Pay more, hire less.

A small, well-paid team outperforms a bloated workforce. Startups thrive when people are valued deeply, not when headcount grows. Investing is similar; it's better to hold fewer, high-quality businesses than scatter money across 50 average stocks. Quality compounds.

6. Bigger isn’t better.

Startups get obsessed with “scale.” More people, more revenue, more commotion. But growth comes with bureaucracy, rigidity, and bigger risks. Investors, too, get tempted by giant portfolios. But a bigger portfolio is usually messier, harder to track, and full of filler. 

7. No to meetings. 

A one-hour meeting with 10 people is actually 10 work hours wasted. The same is true with stock market chatter. Endless “tips” and “market outlook” discussions add no value. 

8. Be a good listener.

Customers, colleagues, and investors all want to be heard. Listening doesn’t mean agreeing, but it means respecting. In the markets, too, “listening” is about paying attention to fundamentals, management commentary, even price action, without blindly following. Sometimes, listening quietly reveals more than reacting loudly.

9. Great tools are overrated.

You don’t become a great singer with a better mic. Similarly, startups don’t succeed because of fancy CRMs, and investors don’t succeed because of shiny broker apps. Tools are amplifiers, not substitutes. What matters is your core product or your core investing thesis.

10. Exceptional customer service.

Startups live or die on customer love. Customers are your revenue, your feedback loop, and your brand ambassadors. For investors, customer obsession is also a litmus test: companies that treat their customers exceptionally often turn out to be exceptional wealth creators.

11. We will not take funding.

Bootstrapping keeps us free: no VC breathing down our necks, no artificial targets, no inflated valuations. You already know how we built Ticker, without IIT engineers or VC money. In investing, too, staying self-funded matters. Don’t over-leverage, don’t borrow to invest. Freedom > pressure.

12. Promise less. Deliver more.

Customers remember surprises. Under-promise, over-deliver; that’s how trust compounds. In investing, the best companies do the same. They guide conservatively and then exceed expectations. Those are the ones you want to back.

13. Never compare.

Comparison is poison in business and in investing. There will always be a startup raising more money or an investor boasting better returns. But comparison only steals focus and joy. Learn, observe, and move on. Your lane is your strength.

14. Do less. Do better.

Nike sells shoes. Colgate sells toothpaste. Focus is underrated. At Finology Quest, we chose affordability + speed over bloated features. Similarly, in investing, a concentrated portfolio of businesses you understand deeply beats a sprawling one you can’t keep track of.

15. Real success is longevity.

Startups that fizzle out after 3 years of hype aren’t real success stories. Survival and relevance matter more. Investing is no different; real wealth isn’t made in quarters, it’s made across decades. Staying invested > chasing quick wins.

16. Companies make mistakes.

At Finology, we’ve botched launches, underestimated demand, and had to apologise, too. It’s part of the game. The same applies to listed companies; what matters isn’t perfection, but honesty in admitting and fixing mistakes. Investors should seek that culture.

17. Be clear. Be polite. Be transparent.

Transparency doesn’t mean sugarcoating. It means being upfront, whether it’s telling a teammate they messed up or telling customers we messed up. In markets too, transparency is gold: clean disclosures, no shady footnotes. If a company hides, it’s a red flag.

18. Launch on time, always.

Perfect is the enemy of done. We launched Insider (this very site you’re reading the article in) on time only because we ditched half the planned features. And it worked. Similarly, in investing, waiting for the “perfect” price often means missing the bus. Act when you’re prepared, not when it’s perfect.

19. Tell your customers more.

Corporates hide. Startups often copy them. We try to do the opposite: be upfront. If a product is delayed, we tell people. If something breaks, we admit it. Investors should look for the same culture in companies; those who disclose early, often, and openly are usually the most trustworthy.

20. Success is not about doing everything.

In startups, chasing every trend spreads you thin. In investing, chasing every “hot stock” burns you out. Real success is about doing fewer things, consistently, with sanity intact. That’s where compounding lives; in focus and patience.

There you have it!

These principles aren’t ours alone. A lot of them are borrowed from thinkers like 37signals and Jason Fried, and many more were reinforced by watching companies like Zerodha, Zoho, and Zappos quietly change the rules of the game.

We’re 7 years old and still figuring things out. Some days we learn, other days we unlearn. But if there’s a common thread across all 20, it’s this: Do less. Do it honestly. Do it well.