New Media, Marketing and Entrepreneurship

A recent post I contributed to the IndiaMART Knowledge Services Blog:

The business needs more minds on board: lets get Co-founders

At the start-up stages of a business, while it all starts with the passion and dream of either an individual or a team of friends/ common connects together, who are committed to adding value by creating services/ products for addressing the market needs.

Two to tango: look around

Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, all these major businesses have been built by two or more partners. There is a certain chemistry that works wonders for a growing venture when like-minded people come together to create an enterprise. There sure are many successful businesses, which have been created by entrepreneurs single-handedly and there will always be, but even they have felt the need for getting more people and especially those, who are smarter than them, on board to drive real value of their ventures.

Sports teach many a lessons in business. The relay race in which the baton is passed by the first runner to his/ her partner, who carries the same further to the finish line is a perfect example of an enterprise being set-up by a core team/ co-founding team.

There is a sense of strength, bonding, sharing and mutual growth in such teams which actually takes the venture further to achieve greater heights. Many a times, when an entrepreneur loses steam and feel down and out, its the real jet setting that is received by the core team sharing the same vision and dream, which gets him. her back on track! The core team is like a band of brothers which plays the same tune at all times and knows each others moves with just the look of the eye.

We have seen and met many ‘single’ entrepreneurs who have expressed the need of actually getting someone on board at a senior level with them, but one of the major most challenges they face is the passion.

A major learning we received from such entrepreneurs is, finding such people is easy, who are passionate initially looking at the opportunity, but there have been instances when that passion fizzles out and the steam runs out.

Strikingly, we have also seen instances where the teams have dis-integrated post the joining of members on board who have great potential but are a cultural mis-fit to the organisation and hence not really well aligned with the growth of the enterprise.

Hence many a times people (ready to mingle) say its good and bad being Single.

Like in a marriage, in business, a few rules do apply. Its always good to have more people adding real value to your business in more ways than one. But you must see that your Co-founders must have the same set of values, principles, goals and vision for the business.

In the highly complex business ecosystem today much of the human reactive approach is aspirational. And aspirations may change with time and may also hence instigate a change in the behavior and needs and wants of various people. The same may also happen with the co-founding team of a business venture.

Yes, marriages are supposed to be made in heaven, but God helps those who help themselves and hence you have to work towards making a successful married life. A strong bond, a relationship forever.

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Before I venture ahead into this post, I would like to extend an honest “Thank You” to everyone who has stood by me, towards raising up Until ROI. Though I may not be able to put all the names, let me try and recount all I can in the time I have:

My Mom, Kamal Sir (my graduate school professor), Avinash Raghava (the turning point of my professional life), Neha (a great support), Sarika (one who knows, I’d be too lazy to work on what she says always, till she scolds me bad ), Sonam Budhiraja (a great support to Until ROI), Akanksha Seth (a great friend), Gargi Sharma (a great support and a fantastic human), Geetu Mam (this is one lecturer whom I used to adore in college times , one lecture I never bunked)

The first turning point in life

Just a little over 3 years back I bumped online into someone who, with his insights and thoughts, actually helped me evolve as an individual. Avinash Raghava from NASSCOM. Avi has been both a mentor, guide and a friend of sorts.

I remember, when I had this super lucrative job offer from a large company, Avi called me up and actually helped me decide by saying: Paritosh, Job or Until ROI. And he said, if you utter Until ROI, well, we wont discuss the job part again. And we did not. And today Until ROI has challenges, but we are poised to create a success story, a part of India’s growth story!

Avi, as I call him, and many others too, extracted the best out of me by making me always push for raising my level of performance. And I am so thankful to him always for this.

The Second Time, Life Took a Turn

This one encounter with a gentleman called Rajiv Mittal, has been one of the steepest learning curves in my life. Rajiv Sir as I call him always, is a Mentor, not just to me but for Until ROI. He is one of the best people undoubtedly who you must work with once in your lifetime in the industry.

Rajiv Sir, has helped me evolve as an entrepreneur over the past 6 months and is now helping me transition into a well bred CEO. And Mind you, he’s not another mentor, who will come and share his insights. He actually has sat with me overnights, late at work, helping me work on various aspects of business, running a venture, raising capital and much more.

I am not sure about the others reading this blog, but how many times the mentor actually takes your work and does it?!

And well, in all honesty, its not really the fact that he’s just been a client, its a relationship on a different level. Try telling your boss/ mentor/ Chief, that I dont agree to you and go up against his views and put up a fight, well, chances are somewhere it snaps. With Rajiv Sir, its on the other level. We argue, we listen, we learn and at the end of the day Iv always actually seen that his experience wins. His insights into what may happen right/ wrong actually proves right.

For Emerging companies, having the right insights at the right time is very crucial and obviously you as an entrepreneur, must always be ready to learn and un-learn from such people in your life. Be open, and you will create magic faster!

I surely am excited to be on the path to raising up a successful enterprise and contribute to the nation’s growth thank you all again, look forward to your support always!

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LIVE Blogging the NASSCOM Friday’s 2.0 48th session, and well we are going to make it interactive says the session lead Mr. Kumud Goel who is also one of the founding members of NASSCOM and the founder KLG Systel a leading power solutions company in India.

Incidentally its a great day, coz the NASSCOM EMERGE Community turns one today, I must congratulate Avinash (NASSCOM) for the same and now we have the session underway

Mr. Kumud Goel a technology veteran for over 25 years, is leading the session. We have Ankur Lal, CEO, Infozech Software introducing to the audience and well as usual we have the participants introducing themselves to the entire audience.

I am surely glad to be LIVE blogging the 48th session and well, always get excited to feel as we near the 50th session. Interestingly we have quite a diverse audience related to the product space today.

I am a case study of failures – shares Mr. Kumud and though this was said at the end, I would want to start my blog with it.

Kumud is interestingly sharing an incident from his life and my respects to the man as for young entrepreneurs like me, its surely highly invigorating and a great learning to interact with learned people like Kumud. And well, let me not keep it a secret anymore. Kumud is sharing the story of NASSCOM.

When we went to COMDEX years back, nobody used to talk to an Indian

That is when this desire of fighting these people came in me and I had a lot of experience in programming and I started my company which had only emotions behind it and no business plan.

On my first wedding anniversary my father told me that you have no money in the back and hence I gave away my dream of creating software for the rural India. At that time most Indian company did the right thing by making things for the foreign market but we were again at the step when we were looking at a product for the Indian market.

After 25 years of my experience I today feel taht what is more important out of a business model and a feeling is feeling, coz I believe that the business model shall follow

Once you have made an emotional decision of making a product for India, there were two drawbacks…I was at the Silicon Valley two weeks back and I met this guy who is regarded as one of the best deal makers in the tech space, and he told me that Kumud what you are doing is worth 500 million dollars and since you are sitting in India it is worth 20 million dollars. I had to go to the IBM’s of the world and get a recommendation that my technology is good.

All the great companies in the US have come about and have based out of the fact that the government has helped them. The SME’s in India who innovate do not have their path as easy.

The tendering system in Government of India is such that an SME cannot ever go up.

Today US is making money out of innovation and not selling someone else’s goods. Kumud now shares a highly interesting insight into the Chinese government way of working and wow I am amazed. Well, I think this is an applausible moment and I am saying this for the first time in a NASSCOM Friday’s 2.0 session, Kumud has broken the wall and is now talking about what NASSCOM should really be doing for the SME’s.

Start-ups and small companies have to get reservation in the government and NASSCOM should take care of that

There Is NO CORRUPTION in INDIA

Do what they want you to, don’t fight them…its your dream, coz you are giving them a poison which will kill them automatically. Corruption is not a hinderance, it is a way to survive. And for the first time I am supporting Kumud on this coz he shows tthe audience the bigger picture.

• Your cash flow has to be positive, your spirit should not go negative, you have to live through those initial years. for sometime you need to live like a rat if you want to survive.

And now Kumud shares a story on a book he read “the saga of Dharampuri”, which he is relateing to the Indian IT industry. We have so gotten accustomed to the white man that we cannot think of anything out of it.

This life for ME is so shameful that after being 25 years into the industry, I still don’t have a world class  product

The govt. of India will spend 5000 crores dollars to the MS’s of the world and lets say there are 5000 SME’s from India, now if I divide 5000 what do you get? But how many companies are standing today for it?

Psychologically we need to start thinking of ourselves as better people than the foreign lands. We need to just break out of this trap, coz we actually are better than anybody. If you need to create the best OS from India, you need to have that feeling into you and only then it would happen.

The Indian out there is GOD shares one of the participants from the audience.

You have a dream, great! But you anyhow need money to make sure that you survive and take your dream further. You need to somehow find a way by hook or by crook, to reach that 50-100 crore level, otherwise your so called innovation would die.

I made 3 websites when I had 15 crores in the bank and I wen t overboard, we advertised like hell and people came to us. But because we believed into our stuff so much, we never realised the internet bust, and I went bankrupt. So now we had no money, but we had a dream!

Audacity, Audacity, Audacity and Arrogance

We raised money for about 11 million dollars and that came to us only because we had audacity.

The next I thought what is the next problem in India. And I chanced upon power. You need to be like the James Bond, who would take it the way as if the world wont be no more if my software wont be there. I went and borrowed 137 crores and I developed cleantech technology. And I bet my life on this.

And I bought myself a BMW, because I was going to change the world.

Personally I was broke, my stock is pledged, house with a bank, my wife and kids were the only tangible assets I had. And then I happened.

Innovation is like a black Hole, after a certain time you are dead. But once you are dead what can you do – STOP WORRYING!

You have created the aura of being the biggest player in the power industry and since you have already invested into it, you can demonstrate what you have already implemented. For 25 years you have been waiting to say it and when the big companies of the world come for you, to partner, what do you say…Go to !@#!

If you want to be an Innovator, You have to be a great Gambler as well

Anybody who does not listen to you has to become irrelevant!

The last lesson would be – your dream has to be bigger than the world, you will create the biggest product, all you need to do is to make sure that you get some cash in.

Kumud ends the session with some NASSCOM bashing, which he started the session with on a lighter note. I am certainly with Kumud, as this would surely be great for the entire SME community in India.

Small companies should file for patents and should do them religiously. This shall make sure of a winning road for you.

Now we have the participants sharing their thoughts on the entire topic and I can see the thoughts coming in together in the similar direction.

And now we have the session in the Q&A mode.

Thanks Kumud for an amazing session, I have been blogging the NASSCOM friday’s 2.0 for long, and certainly find you one of the best speakers, sharing from the heart.

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No, there is no problem with the language; every entrepreneur would understand the above mentioned line!

Welcome to Proto.in, a premier Startup Community Event that has made a niche for itself by successfully putting together a pool of resources which is relevant to the emerging entrepreneur in leveraging the business or the idea.

Proto.in, provides an innovative platform to the entrepreneurs who could have their ideas displayed to the prospective VC’s, Angels and other prospects as prototypes! A working display makes an IMPACT!

The Mantra

Create, Contribute, Collaborate says Proto’s mantra which clearly reflects in their events, that help emerging entrepreneurs in increasing partnerships, network with the right people and put forth their ideas to like-minded and well connected audience!

Network – Hi! I am…

The day was a huge draw. An hour before the event started participants had started pouring in. Corporate, Investors, Partners, Entrepreneurs, Students, it was a collaboration of an unprecedented level.

It all started with a Hi, I am…and people networked along! Something that really struck me, was the inviting nature and a smile on the faces of people who are placed and ranked up there!

The event provided ample opportunities for entrepreneurs to network around and hit bulls eye!

The Delhi chapter (July ’08)
The Proto event kicked off at IIT Delhi, on Friday July 18^th 2008 with Mr. Kiran Karnik (former President, NASSCOM) delivered the Keynote address, in which he stressed on “the Time is Right” for India!

The address was a perfect beginning to the event, with every aspect which could not be negotiated by a startup being addressed by Mr. Karnik. From service industry, to creating Intellectual Property to looking at the right places for the availability of funds, he gave the packed auditorium, insights into the whole concept of entrepreneurship!

It was the man and the experience speaking, and the combination couldn’t have been better to flare up the present “Ignited Minds”.

Adversity and Diversity

Sounds similar huh? Well, Mr. Karnik, gave a lesson which in these fast paced times we tend to overlook. Upon being asked a question on: “Are we focusing enough of Global ideas” Mr. Karnik replied every adversity brings with it an opportunity and the diverse Indian culture, that’s our strength!

Put on your seat belts, here we go…
The event was scheduled as follows:

The sessions drew a huge participation! The audiences were participating with intelligent questions which made the whole event more lively and interactive.

Murugavel Janakiram fromBharatMatrimony.com initiated the sessions which had audience in splits (when Janakiram confessed getting married through his own web site!) and awe of a self made man!

Bhavin Turakhia from Directi, was as different as “DIFFERENT” could be!

How would you see a man dressed in cool denims and spiked hair standing on a stage of a startup event? Wrong guy wrong place….well, everything is RIGHT but WRONG!

A young lad in late 20’s who comes across dressed cool in denim, and the moment he gets introduced; the first reaction from the audience goes “really”? Did he do that?

The concept of introducing business as a game and help in making sense of numbers to each and every “player in the team” (your employees) was interesting!

A logical conclusion to 7 steps that Bhavin shared clicked instantly with the audience. It was a good learning experience sharing Bhavin’s thought process.

The speakers that followed were equally interesting, sharing highly specific insights and point by point answering the questions from the army if audience.

The art of marketing your startup by Mahesh Murthy and Kiruba Shankar, was a big draw.

If you are outsourcing your essentialfunctions to a partner, its better thatI fund the third party partner than you,their business becomes a proven conceptif you believe in them
-         Mahesh Murthy

The sessions on Viral Marketing concept and reconciling investors and entrepreneurs were highly accepted and generated quite an interest and draw!

Day 1 drew to a close with an open session on Freeconomics which was well debated!

At NASSCOM EMERGE forum we strive to create more such platforms where entrepreneurs could interact and create a knowledge grid which is Glocal!

Link to the post at NASSCOM EMERGE blog: http://blog.nasscom.in/emerge/2008/07/20/startups-your-day-protoin-delhi/

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