I want to start with a confession. Three months ago, when I joined this cohort as a mentor, I was sure I would write a piece about how mentorship gave six women the confidence to launch. That is not what happened. What happened is more interesting and slower and harder to put in a headline.

Day one, six businesses, two of them disguised.

Of the six women in this cohort, two arrived with businesses that were not, in fact, their businesses. One was running her husband's accounts and calling it hers. Another was making craft for her sister-in-law's brand at a 70% discount and being told it was a "family thing". By week four, both had renegotiated. By week eight, one had separated. By week twelve, both had a name, a separate bank account, and a costing sheet they had built themselves.

The cohort's shared workspace, week three.

The shared spreadsheet — the only artefact that matters.

Three months in, the cohort has produced a lot of things: collections, photographs, Instagram bios, pitch decks, packaging. But the artefact that actually changed the cohort is a Google Sheet. Six tabs. One per business. Identical columns:

  • This week's revenue (yes, including the small ones).
  • This week's hours, by person.
  • One decision made, with name attached.
  • One thing parked, with date to revisit.
  • One ask of the cohort.

Every Friday, six women open this sheet. They read each other's tabs first. Then they write theirs. Then they meet. Twenty-five minutes. This is the mentorship. Everything else is decoration.

"Before this, I would say, 'business is okay'. Now I open the sheet and I say a number. The number is sometimes small. But it is mine." Cohort member, week eleven

The six businesses, in one line each.

  1. Indigo & thread. Hand-dyed cotton stoles, made in Bhuj, sold to one stockist in Bombay.
  2. Studio Mira. Block-printed home linen. Now on its second collection.
  3. The Karachi Kitchen. Heirloom recipes, jarred, shipped pan-India. Sold out twice.
  4. Loom & Lull. Bedding made with North-East weavers; a long-term mentorship subscriber.
  5. Saraswati Craft. Brass and clay tableware. Quietly profitable.
  6. Cohort six. The most recent founder — a children's-book press. Three titles drafted.
Studio Mira sample two, photographed for the catalogue.
Loom & Lull bed-linen sample, week ten.

What I wish the cohort knew on day one.

  1. It is not your job to be inspirational. It is your job to be specific.
  2. "Imposter syndrome" is mostly a vocabulary problem. Learn the words. The feeling goes.
  3. If a co-founder, family member or partner cannot read your costing sheet, the sheet is wrong, not them.
  4. Your first hundred customers are the hundred you can name. Don't go after the second hundred yet.
"

It is not your job to be inspirational. It is your job to be specific.

The next three months.

We are in the second half now. The first half was about owning the business. The second half is about scaling honestly — which is a very different exercise. We will have a "halfway dinner" in May, hosted at the 2323Designs studio in Shahpur Jat. I will write again, then, with what we have learnt about the second half.

Until then, the spreadsheet keeps the cohort honest.