Chapter: Two : Philosophy – Who needs it?

YOU. You as an entrepreneur need philosophy the most. By philosophy, I don’t mean the constant pondering over the meaninglessness of life. I mean the code of values, the ethical foundation of your actions. Some people might dismiss philosophy as something of a theoretical nature and not something to be applied in someone’s life, but it is actually everything contrary to this belief.

Let me first illustrate why of all the people on the planet, you need to understand and apply it the most.

Any individual who is conscious and rational needs to have a solid ground of his ideals and ethics. They are as mandatory for the existence of a rational individual as the lungs in a living body. Sometimes, it just boils down to defining your rights and wrongs. Talking especially of the risk-taking entrepreneurs who constantly defy the set limitations and the rules, they need a background and a foundation on which they’ll build their judgement. This ground serves not only as the building block behind any judgment but also as a scale against which they can measure their success.
The power of having this ground at an individual level is so important that it becomes strikingly evident for a business model to incorporate these rules.
It is quite possible that the young people who are just embarking on the journey of entrepreneurship find it an unnecessary burden but as one walks on this path, he may find himself confronted with choices which not only challenge his logical abilities but also require him to challenge his ethical limitations and expectations. In cases like this, if you don’t have a benchmark based on which you may take sound decisions; you are not for the long race.

When we were involved with precimark, which dealt in the concept of precise marketing and head hunting for startups on social networking sites, we were faced with a crucial decision regarding spamming. Spamming is usually the fastest way to spread word about you and your company, but we decided against any form of privacy invasion and followed the longer route.

It takes time, but let me tell you, it pays to respect and understand the private virtual space of everyone. We had our ethics and moral practices in place and the journey was made easier. I don’t know if we had adopted the unethical way, how far we could have gone, but we thought the success achieved by such unscrupulous means won’t be worth achieving at all. There are times when you can’t shirk off your duties by believing that’s the way the cookie crumbles because the cookie is now in your hands.

Reverting back to philosophy, every would be- entrepreneur must enlighten himself and be prepared to face such issues head one without loosing one’s cool. Alan Greenspan in his book, the age of turbulence admits to being impressed by Ayn rand and her philosophy of objectivism. One is not supposed to read Aristotle but whatever feeds your intellectual hunger.

My Two Cents : Chapter One

I remember sitting in a physics class preparing for the highly brutal competitive examinations for entrance in engineering colleges when my teacher closed his mammoth problem book and gave us a small pep talk.

I confess, I don’t remember anything associated to that class even in my remotest memories but the pep talk remains fresh as ever.

He said that in order to do a problem correctly, one has a single way, but there are infinite ways to do it wrong. Even in a ten step problem, one could write the numerals wrong or do a silly mistake in addition, but when the problem is right, it is correct all the way. He said that we belonged to the Homo sapiens species and we are bound to make mistakes, so if we wanted to do the problem right in the examinations, we should practice it so much that the wrongs get eliminated.

What he said that day was of course valid for physics but is all the more valid for startups.

It’s a closely established fact that out of hundred startups only a few survive to breathe in the returns for the sweat behind them. What makes them so vulnerable to failure and what would you call a failure? What goes on in the minds of the college students or undergrads when they decide to take a chance with probability? What is the secret recipe or is there any recipe at all?

After have been associated with two startups, these are a few questions which haunted and intrigued us and I decided to share my two cents with all the entrepreneurs out there waiting and working to strike gold.

CHAPTER ONE: Eggs or the Hen?

What should come first in the order of things for the perfect startup stew? The eggs or the hen? The idea or the search? One might not find any co-relation between the two metaphors that I’ve used, but this is one of the starting dilemmas entrepreneurs face.

How should you startup or rather when do you decide that the time to start your own venture has knocked on your doorstep?

The answer is pretty simple and straight- when you decide to let it go.

You decide to let the fear go for a ride, you decide to let go the external controls which had you by neck and you let go the laxity you had in your day-to-day existence.

I had read it somewhere that entrepreneurship is not something you do; it’s more about something you are! More importantly, there is a difference between an entrepreneur and a person having an entrepreneur-like-tendencies. But we’ll get to this point later. We were discussing about the idea.

When our team decided to start, it wasn’t as if we were born with an action plan or we always knew what would click. So, we sat down together and decided to systematically hunt for ideas. One of the friends in my team made a small notebook, the idea notebook and he meticulously made note of what was working on the internet, what was fetching money and was easy to implement with a few modifications. Looking back, I don’t think I can call it the best strategy to start with, but we, as students did not have much options.

We didn’t want to be one small speck in the million heads but we didn’t know what to do? So, we racked our brains and searched on the internet.

So, did this strategy work?

Yes, it did and here’s why.

The way internet and the users on the internet are growing is faster than any bacteria multiplication. The main disadvantage for startups, especially for young entrepreneurs are the bourgeoning services based startups. Entry barriers being relatively low and the technology required to start a website being relatively commonplace, every one wants to have a website to sell something or claiming to sell you a service. As a result, the internet starts seething with websites who have more-or-less the same product and the same service to offer. Nowadays, there is a wave of fashion-trends on the web too, wherein for every new idea, there are more than ten different versions of it, each one claiming to be better than the rest. Now, as a budding entrepreneur, should you jump in the pool and contribute to these me-too sites? I would say, think before you leap.

My Two Cents

Some time  back, I started penning down my experiences on entrepreneurship in the form of a short book, which I named " My Two Cents". Due to some reasons or pure laziness on my part, I abandoned the project. Now,the writer in me is calling me again and I'll pursue it till fruition. But, I've decided to give my readers a chance to know what all I am writing and to know whether they like it or not. I request you to be a  part of  my book and all the readers/contributors who give me suggestions on improving upon it  will be included as co-authors of the book. :)

Prints...Foot and Fingers

I have been gifted with a photographic memory.
If the above sentence makes you feel envious of my innate gift, let me tell, you have no idea how doomed I am with this horrendous gift. It�s another thing to sit back sipping coffee one lazy afternoon and track your life and it�s altogether different when pictures come flashing right before your eyes, disastrously close. So close, that you are tempted to touch them and erase something or put some finishing touches.
Pictures of your childhood spent in utter bliss, your first friends, your first love. All lost now. Everything comes right here. Haunted memories.

I must admit I must be having a billion pictures in my database. The day when I hanged up on my best friend not to talk again for three years, for having left someone so dear to my heart, for having to forgive the people I love for the same crimes I would hang anyone else. The characters from the many books I have read. The defiance and antagonism of young blood, the gradual changes in opinions and behaviors, the painful adaptation of your ideals, the day when I finally realised that the right is not always the rewarded one here, that cricket and hockey are not the only games people play, that religion is a very weak glue and that people have been killed to defend idols of mud and gold. That I will move on, no matter what. I don�t want to be the one who looked back on her deathbed, but I tell you, it does not solve any purpose. Looking back time and again. Because you will only see the opportunities lost, friends betrayed, found and lost love.

I am not in a low phase, everything�s as good as they should be. But the backlog of memories scare me. I don�t know how will I treat them when they decide to catch up with me one lazy afternoon�time will tell.

INTJ's galore !!

More about INTJ 's :)

Of the four aspects of strategic analysis and definition it is the contingency planning or entailment organizing role that reaches the highest development in INTJs. Entailing or contingency planning is not an informative activity, rather it is a directive one in which the planner tells others what to do and in what order to do it. As the organizing capabilities the INTJs increase so does their inclination to take charge of whatever is going on.
It is in their abilities that INTJs differ from the other NTs, while in most of their attitudes they are just like the others. However there is one attitude that sets them apart from other NTs: they tend to be much more self-confident than the rest, having, for obscure reasons, developed a very strong will. They are rather rare, comprising no more than, say, one percent of the population. Being very judicious, decisions come naturally to them; indeed, they can hardly rest until they have things settled, decided, and set. They are the people who are able to formulate coherent and comprehensive contingency plans, hence contingency organizers or "entailers."
INTJs will adopt ideas only if they are useful, which is to say if they work efficiently toward accomplishing the INTJ's well-defined goals. Natural leaders, INTJs are not at all eager to take command of projects or groups, preferring to stay in the background until others demonstrate their inability to lead. Once in charge, however, INTJs are the supreme pragmatists, seeing reality as a crucible for refining their strategies for goal-directed action. In a sense, INTJs approach reality as they would a giant chess board, always seeking strategies that have a high payoff, and always devising contingency plans in case of error or adversity. To the INTJ, organizational structure and operational procedures are never arbitrary, never set in concrete, but are quite malleable and can be changed, improved, streamlined. In their drive for efficient action, INTJs are the most open-minded of all the types. No idea is too far-fetched to be entertained-if it is useful. INTJs are natural brainstormers, always open to new concepts and, in fact, aggressively seeking them. They are also alert to the consequences of applying new ideas or positions. Theories which cannot be made to work are quickly discarded by the INTJs. On the other hand, INTJs can be quite ruthless in implementing effective ideas, seldom counting personal cost in terms of time and energy.

Aristotle

All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire. Aristotle

New Raj in Mumbaistan

The mathematics textbook of my thirteen year old cousin has these words on the flip side of the front cover.
WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC.

Assuming that the children in Mumbai are also reading the same textbooks, one can realize the disparities in practical, moral and ethical teachings imparted to them by the people in power (rather emerged in power). Yes, I am indeed talking about the great Raj thackerey whose phenomenal rise to stardom has been backed up by the phenomenal ignorance exhibited by the people of India. The whole episode has indeed been a lesson in probing about the general intelligence quotient our people foster.
Unlike others, I would not go about the bashing of Mr. Thackeray, rather I would like to congratulate him on his foresight and risk taking capabilities. In a country where multiplying people is as simple as dividing them, its no wonder that such mathematicians weave magic.
Infact, I have a few suggestions for our great leader.
1.Since the filthy people from other states corrupt the opulence and the majesty of Maharashtra, I think politians from other states should stop corrupting Delhi’s assembly with their “outsider” status.
2.Sharukh Khan, Amitabh Bachan and family, Saif Ali Khan with his muse should start packing their bags for a long journey to their respective states. People from Maharashtra are denied entry in the industry they own, because of such unscrupulous people who come from nowhere and make Mumbai their home.
3.A certain strata of society in Mumbai should not be allowed to rise above a particular level; rather they should be kept poor, so that they can serve as menial workers for household jobs.
4.Finally, a word for such obsessed patriotism should reach the countries where outsourcing of work is allowed for pity reasons such as profits. You can actually hold seminars to throw some light on the perils of snatching away the bread of your countrymen, however incompetent may be for some Indians thousand miles away?

But you know sir, I have a strong intuition that you won’t pay heed to my suggestions, not because they aren’t good, but for a simple reason :
"There is no substitute for competence."