Push It Back!

A lot of times we feel stuck at some point in the start-up and then it comes; it seems like we are being pushed by the entire world, but the point is that the world has always remained like that. Really! It has always been like that... It always pushes down the losers. It always had! Don't you remember pushing down the people that you considered losers? That's how it works. And to add to that, people keep pushing more people towards the losers' side who are at the boundary. It sounds like 'Not me story', but trust me we all go through this point of worthlessness someday or the other. When pushed down or aside by all over, the best chance to survive is when you push back, and when you push back hard. It's all in our brains and some people can play mind games really well.

So, how do we know when we are being pushed down or pushed aside? When we start noticing that the work is getting stuck at some point and no calls are being replied even when you try the most, or when negative thoughts are thrown at you when you need them least (though this is like challenging the idea of a critique, but who cares for a critique who pushes you towards the valley of death). Isn't life complex enough to add the words of a critique when it's least needed? When people start coming out with negative thoughts and stories to make you feel like a loser, or when they make you feel that you were so much better before – trust me, it's a mind game or a mental trap. So, when we know that we are being vulnerable for mental traps, how to push it back?

First of all, we all need the right mentors in life and most of us have them as someone, but not having that in life makes you vulnerable for a slicing, and that's the worst when you are at the low. So first thing is to identify a good mentor, a big brother, close friend someone who can hear you out, learn your perspective and then add to your ideas in a constructive way. Secondly, loosen the grip a little and sound positive to even the worst of critiques since it would take them by surprise too, like one of my friend says their life is too pathetic already; you just need to show them a mirror. Anyways, third is to sit with your team and set realistic time lines and identify key bottlenecks, and start keeping track of the bottlenecks. Last but not the least, get your finances right, since no start-up is successful unless people trust you.

Before I close this one I wish all of you happy hunting in the mad world before you get hunted,  but it's worth fighting back the world as you are... your attitude reflects it all – push it back!

Is MNS on the verge of being banned?

There are few politicians in the country who simply don't understand the basic concepts of macro economics like brand image of the country in international arena or happiness index of the society, because what they care about is their 1 lakh votes. This is the current state of MNS, a local political party in Maharashtra, India.

Rediff quotes - "The 13 Members of Legislative Assembly of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena on Monday, 9th Nov 2009, created a ruckus in the Maharashtra assembly, after Samajwadi party MLA Abu Asim Azmi started to take his oath in Hindi, in spite of their demand that all legislators take the pledge in Marathi.As soon as Azmi began taking the oath in Hindi, the 13 member-strong MNS contingent rushed towards Azmi, snatching the mike away from the podium"

Today's shameful act by MNS MLAs has not only shown disrepect to the Marathi / Indian culture but to the law and order of the country. The way our leaders of MNS behaved today in the parliament made us feel ashamed in front of the entire world but I think we should not lose hope from our country's law and order. I hope there would be strict actions taken against these MLAs and the political party. This poses a follow-up debate - Is MNS on the verge of being banned?

Raj has threatened the legislative assembly saying, "If any MLA does not take the oath in Marathi, the House will see what happens,". Is this acceptable in any economy where law and order exists. Are these guys Indian Talibans?

Some views from people I know and which I found intriguing:

• MNS should be banned by Supreme Court and if not then PMO or President, else I will go and start shooting these street gundas
• If action isn't taken against Raj Thackeray and MNS then we will never feel like a democracy again. If action isn't taken on this incident then how can we ever feel like the law exists
• I love this city and we all do so how does it matter if we say Bombay or Mumbai
• This is a cosmopolitan place and we should all be able to live peacefully together

We would love to hear your views on this shameful act of MNS...

42 ‘harassed’, many in jail for seeking information under RTI in Bihar

42 ‘harassed’, many in jail for seeking information under RTI in Bihar

I blogged this article of Indian Express mainly because of two reasons, one that it is an attempt to highlight the current state of law and order in Bihar, and other that it paints skewed or only half image of the story. The heading of the blog itself is misleading since it mentions that people are being harassed which is correct but I guess this is the first time in the history of Bihar when the government is trying to bring in transparency in the system; CM has set up a call center for RTI applicants. 

I am thankful to the journalist of this article 'Santosh Singh' who brought this issue in lime light, but a misleading heading can lead to biased opinion about current state of law and order in Bihar. We know that its not the best in the country but it is definitely improving and there are some NGOs and independent bodies who are contributing to the state. We should boost up their morale by praising their efforts, and not highlighting the terror or harassment, which is true for states like WB, UP or Delhi also.

Excerpts from article: 

In Bihar, often a time, information officials harass RTI applicants by filing false cases against them. The Bihar Human Rights Commission (BHRC) has now recommended that all these officials be placed under suspension. 

BHRC member Justice Rajendra Prasad wrote to the state government on October 29 directing it to “look into the complaints of harassment of RTI applicants by lodging false criminal cases against them by, or at the instance of, state public information officers”.

The allegations, Justice Prasad wrote, constituted “a serious violation of the human rights of the people of Bihar in general, and the existing and potential seekers of information under the RTI Act, 2005, in particular”.

All information officials “to whom such (RTI) applications were given” should be “immediately suspended” and “departmental proceedings (should) be initiated against... (them) within four weeks of receipt of a copy of this order”, Justice Prasad recommended.

“...All criminal cases filed against RTI applicants (should) be dropped wherever such cases have been initiated after the date on which such applicants or their family members gave applications under the RTI Act”. 

The Commission has asked the government to send “a report of the actions taken... within six weeks from receipt of copy of this order”, failing which it would be “constrained to invoke provisions of Section 18 (b) of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993”.

Section 18 of the Act deals with “steps after inquiry”, and includes provisions such as approaching the high courts or the Supreme Court.

The officials under the BHRC scanner range from the District Magistrate, Muzaffarpur (who was in charge in 2006) to sub-divisional police officers, circle officers and block development officers, down to officers-in-charge of police stations.

The Commission acted on a complaint by Bihar Right to Information, a voluntary group devoted to taking RTI to the people since 2007. Group coordinator Parveen Amanullah told The Indian Express: “We wrote to the CM thrice, took up the matter during his janta darbars, but there were follow-ups in only two cases.”

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has won accolades from the central government and other agencies for setting up the country’s first RTI call centre — a pioneering concept that has been replicated subsequently.

 

'Being an entrepreneur makes you a better person'

This post was originally posted on rediff 

Professor Nandini Vaidyanathan, an alumni of Delhi [ Images ] School of Economics, has spent 20 years in the corporate sector, working in a cross-section of industries -- security, media, pharmaceuticals, gas, office automation, equity market and animation -- all over the world.

She has been teaching entrepreneurship in premier business schools in India (IIMB), US (Princeton), Singapore (NUS) and UK (LSE) for the last four years. In 2008 alone, she taught over 2,300 students around the world.

She has been working in India, Afghanistan and the Sub-Saharan Africa. She is a mentor with New Ventures India, a joint initiative between World Resources Institute, Washington, CII Godrej [ Get Quote ] green building, Hyderabad and MentorPartners, an on-line enterprise support and mentoring platform for entrepreneurs.

She is also the mentor-promoter of a company called Startups that mentors young entrepreneurs.

Startups is actively involved with micro finance institutions in facilitating business models that transcend poverty lines and loan recovery.

She was in Hyderabad to speak at the TiE-ISB Connect 2009 on Incubation Centres and Mentors at the 'Start Up Your Venture' workshop. Soon after her speech, she was surrounded by young entrepreneurs for advice.

She took some time off from the young future entrepreneurs to speak to rediff.com.

You have spoken to many entrepreneurs all over the world. Is there any difference in the way Indians approach an idea?

I see two big differences. Entrepreneurs in India are more intelligent and better educated. That is the positive difference. But the negative difference is that there is no ecosystem in India that encourages them to be entrepreneurs.

In other parts of the world, when you say you want to be an entrepreneur, nobody raises an eyebrow. In India, if you say you have done your engineering and want to be an entrepreneur, the first thing parents ask is 'Have you gone mad? Why do you want to do that?'

Everybody will tell you that the opportunity cost of becoming an entrepreneur is very high and after you finish your MBA, you are offered fancy salaries and why would you want to give up that? I had a student in IIM Bangalore who told me, 'Ma'am, I have an offer of Rs 26 lakh (Rs 2.6 million). If I become an entrepreneur, I may not make Rs 26 lakh in my lifetime'!

This is the case with educated people. What about the not-so-educated people who start various businesses in their little space?

I work with women in the micro-enterprise space in India, Addis Ababa, Rwanda, Kabul, etc. Kabul is very difficult for women entrepreneurs.

Are these people bigger risk-takers?

They don't look at it as risk-taking. For them there is no other option to come out of poverty and build a meaningful quality life. So, they see entrepreneurship as the only option for a better life. This is how it should be.

I feel this should be the attitude of all. I was saying the same thing to some youngsters who said, 'We are engineers, how do we go about as entrepreneurs?' I said, first, you don't go for placement, be an entrepreneur. That is the only way you do it.

How does being an entrepreneur enhance the quality of life of an individual?

If you are an employee, it will take about ten years to learn all the aspects of business. If you are entrepreneur, you pretty much learn it in one year.

The downside of it is that you get grey hair faster when you are an entrepreneur! The upside is, the learning compression is phenomenal. And that makes you a better person. If you are working for somebody, you may be a marketing person or a finance person or a technology person but if you are an entrepreneur, you are all rolled into one.

The kind of exposure across functions and the ability to think on your feet, the ability to take risks, the ability to visualise tomorrow, the ability to plan for tomorrow -- I think those are skill sets you are able to acquire literally overnight. It's a hard knock. I am not saying it is easy. But you do it the hard way and you learn them at the end of it. That makes you a better person.

How should an entrepreneur look at becoming an entrepreneur -- as a wealth creator or creating something more for society?

Primarily, the motive of an entrepreneur should be creating meaning in life, enhancing the quality of life around him. It is not about making money. He wants to be an entrepreneur because he wants to create meaning for other people and himself. He is creating a better quality of life, the way it can be done.

The unintended consequence of that is wealth creation and wealth distribution, but that can't be the primary motive. Having said that, I don't mean he does it for charity; not at all. Every entrepreneur, every enterprise has to have wealth creation in the agenda. He can't keep making losses for the rest of his life because he can't sustain it. But that is an unintended consequence.

The primary reason why you become an entrepreneur is because you want to create meaning and you want to leave a footprint! That is the only way you can do it.

You said 'they leave a footprint'. In the last few years, can you name a few entrepreneurs who have impressed you?

There are many. In the last three years, I worked with over 300 entrepreneurs. Each one of them is unique. To me, every one of them is a hero. They are doing something phenomenally out there.

What will you tell those young people out there who have a desire to be entrepreneurs?

Go ahead and be an entrepreneur! Don't keep saying, 'I want to be an entrepreneur' and 'One day I will be one'. There is no 'some day'; just go out and chase your dreams!

The Importance of Company Branding | Franchise Money Maker

The Importance of Company Branding - This article is written and owned by Alan Gillies
A Company Brand is a definitive way of communicating to your customers who you are and what you represent. It is specifically designed to help people immediately identify your company. It may be the logo, tag-line, slogan - or any similar thing. Brand is equally important for both major corporations and small companies. However, the path taken by these two examples is very different, primarily owing to the financial constraints experienced by the smaller organizations.

We generally associate brands with large companies, but keep in mind, a carpenter posting up small pieces of paper showing how and where someone can contact him is also a branding method. So, we can clearly see that branding is not a privilege reserved for the large scale organizations, because even businesses operating at a very small scale can easily start building a brand. However, you should be cautious about choosing an identity too quickly, and when really considering a prospective logo seriously - test it out, and make it familiar with as many people as possible prior to investing any substantial amount of money into it.

Also, hiring a professional to help you with the branding process will usually be a smart move. For instance, building a website and blog or participating in various local business events are all very effective options which can greatly help you with your branding process. So, building a brand is just as much a realisable possibility for small businesses as it is for their big business counterparts.

Though market penetration is often taken as a synonym for effective branding, it should be understood that the number of people who know a brand by sight is just one aspect to be considered when weighing up whether or not you’ve got a really good company brand.

Associations with the people we regularly deal with as part of our business directly contribute to the building of our brand. We all have in our neighbourhood a family business which has been running since - we can’t even remember, and it hasn’t only survived, but thrived. This is possible because of the long lasting interactions which have been developed in their communities. So, a business such as this example is no less exceptional than a large-scale counterpart in terms of truly successful branding.

To conclude, building a brand is not about trying to make every person on this planet know your logo by sight, but bringing to perfection every possible business related act, right from the way you take an order to the packaging of a box. These things may need some changes, specifically in the way in which your organization operates - but once done, your business will take off in leaps and bounds towards a branding success. Small businesses need to break the mould relating to the concept of branding, and make use of every advantage to the fullest. The myth that “building a brand requires lots of money” and the idea that “large scale market penetration is synonymous with branding” are notions which need to be overcome if an up-and-coming branding success is to be achieved.

What does India need today?

This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta
India has 1/6th of world's population, best technology institutes and biggest democracy in the world. We have lots of other things to feel good about and we are in the direction to make this country best of the places to live in the world. There has been numerous preachers, thinkers and philosophers existing for thousands of years who have given directions to the countries.

What have we got today? We have got the work force, the energy and the zeal, not to compete or think relative w.r.t. other countries, but to evolve at an absolute level, at a level much higher than any other level existing, much broader than anyone can imagine. What we truly need today, is a leader and its not anymore the ancient Roman empire where everything can be governed by a Church.We truly need first generation entrepreneurs, who have the vision and appetite to eat the world.

If I ask the honorable Prime Minister of India that where is our country heading, he will very humbly say 'to the future', but he can only provide us the means and show us the direction. What we truly need is a thought, a virus (keeda) which can lit up millions of souls in this country to create business and to sell it through out the world. Its not because it would solve the employment, infrastructure, literacy and growth problems of the country; but it would provide a platform for innovation and excellence to cultivate. Innovation that can take us to the next millennium, to the next level.

I have always believed that we live not in our times but in our dreams. If we can dream the future and help thousands of other people do the same then we, the country of India, can contribute a ton, for the growth of the society.

Whose responsibility is it at the first place to redefine what is already defined? Or, let me reframe the question, who is expected by the common man to redefine what is defined? India invests crores of rupees on the Technical institutes, Management institutes (IITs/IIMs/NITs) and its our responsibility to not crib about the system but deliver and preach what we have learned.
I have heard thousands of people all over the world cribbing about the social conditions, economic policies, infrastructural issues etc existing in India. If its a way to justify yourselves that you don't want to contribute in the corrupt system, then you were never destined to do that anyway. But if you have slightest doubt that you will feel sorry for not paying this debt back, then its not worth a life.Thousands of IITians and IIM grads move out for everything that they curse don't exist here. Who would the government look up to solve these problems?
It has happened forever that some people crib about the system in their entire lives, while others go out and solve the problems. We are born in a time when we have the freedom to choose and think about our futures. At least use it to contribute and not to crib and plug in negative energy in the system. If you can't do anything about it, then at least support the people who are willing to do the same. That would be better than sitting in your balcony and cribbing.

Remember one thing, if you choose this or ignore this, don't mean a thing to anyone. Its bound to happen in the coming time, you would feel good in the end if you work for it.

This is what they call Gunda Raj

Date: 21st Oct. 2008, I woke up in the morning and like everyday, I switched on my TV. It was some news channel with its “Breaking News”. To my surprise, news this time was indeed breaking news. It said 'MNS Chief, Raj Thackeray arrested in Ratnagiri at about 2:30 AM'.

Raj Thackeray has addressed the issue of growth and opportunities of Maharashtrians (“Marathi Manoos”) all the time which according to him meant growth of Maharashtra. It's good to see that he cares about its local people much more than most of our leaders who visit their constituencies once in a while just to ask for their support. Somehow I am not quite convinced about his intentions and approach. In his campaigns, I see same old tactics of politicians to misguide voters and common men, just to grab power and public wealth.

Just to mention, political career of Raj Thackeray started when he quit his Uncle’s (Bala Saheb Thackeray) party (Shiv Sena) and started his own political party “Maharashtra Nav-nirmaan Sena (MNS)” to gain some power and establish his own identity. Most of us already know how a virtually non-existent leader of Shiv Sena grew up to become one of the most popular leader of Maharashtra almost overnight. Since then he is trying to prove his superiority over his counterparts in Shiv Sena.

Now my concern is that if this is someone’s personal matter then why common men is being dragged into all this. How can anybody expect to show his superiority by openly challenging law and order? It’s certainly not possible in an educated society, but I guess it’s baseless to assume such things in our country where you can convince anyone to fight and even kill others for incentives that can be as small as a bottle of liquor and meal for one time.

These leaders (I do believe MNS chief is not the only one. Almost 90% of our leaders are doing this) make use of this population and misuse their powers, resources, infrastructure and above all man-hours. All of above mentioned things are to a large extent tax payer’s money. So directly or indirectly it is affecting all of us.

Let us analyze few incidents that happened in the recent past:

At the time when our popular leader got arrested recently the very first reaction of his own party workers (who I assume share same feelings for their very own state) is to torch buses, taxis, bus stands, toll plaza. What are they doing now? Is it a agitation against North Indians as half of the labor employed in these places are North Indians, or is it agitation against the system which did not take any action against their leader till it became inevitable. I assume, in the end, that it's nothing but agitation against growth and progress of wealthiest state of the country.

In the end they are doing same things against the reason for which they are fighting … poor people!!! Or maybe they have been ordered by their chief to destroy everything that has any association with North Indians. :)

Secondly, let’s go back to from where it all started? How is it possible that our dedicated leader has realized that this state is being dominated by North Indian population just when state elections are close? Why is he doing all this? If this is just to be in power, I have a different opinion on it. Assuming MNS might come into power by all of this. What next??... Raj Thackeray will become new Chief Minister of the state. He will have few more powers to influence local people or maybe he can go ahead and ban North Indians from working in the state so that his very own “Marathi Manoos” get a preferential treatment in their very own state. But wait!! He is doing all this right now and maybe he is doing it much openly and effortlessly than he will be able to do when he is in power.

What else might be the reason to do all this? Next thing which I can think of is monetary gains. But in common man’s language we call it corruption. Oops!!! Knowingly or unknowingly quite a few of us have supported a potentially corrupt leader in this case.

Huh!! Not again. It’s hard to believe so much blind followers of a person who has indicated his greed for money and power. If this is even 10% true, I simply feel sorry for the future of this state. There should be a law that can impose a life time ban on political careers of people with such intentions. But, we are living in a democratic country where anything is possible if you have power. :)

There is no doubt that standard of life and opportunities in few cities in Maharashtra is much much better than any other city in India. Having said that, we can’t deny that it's a collaborative effort of more than 50 years rather than efforts of a particular community or group. So it’s my sincere request to our Marathi friends to not get carried away without any reason and collaboratively contribute towards the growth of the state.

If incidents like this keep on happening, I, being an employer, don’t find a reason to continue creating jobs here when I don’t feel safe and I am forced to employ workforce on the basis of their origin rather than their abilities.

This is just my personal opinion and everyone is free to agree or disagree. I chose this platform just because I could not organize a rally in some huge ground or gain media attention like our esteemed leaders to express my opinion.

Singur Nano story - Was Bengal ready for it?

This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta
Nano (Lakhtakia) has remained in the news channels, summits and discussion forums worldwide for various reasons; be it the cheapest car tag, car for poor tag, India's technology showcase tag, Tata's promise to poor tag or the dispute over the farmer's land.

This story brings in the foreground the other side of the emerging Brand India, where some States are not ready for the change or atleast the political leaders are not ready for the change. It's the beauty of democracy which gives us the right to get the public cooperation and turn around things, and India is a living example of this concept. I would also like to bring up that if we really want things to move as planned by the government then we should move to the concept of Communism like China, but do we really want that? I would vote for 'No' as we cherish Freedom - freedom of words, thoughts, ideas and we believe in the same. I am sure that Tatas would have done great job for the future of Bengal, no doubt about it but is it only Future that we should invest in? I want to quote an example out here to give a lateral picture of what I am thinking - I always used to curse people who steal National property but never thought why they do the same. Some do it for fun and I still curse them, but there are some who are hungry and hunger comes before National identity; they steal because they are struggling with their Present. They laugh at these speeches because they are not sure about their Present and leaders are busy planning for Future. The leaders are putting money for Future but are they fulfilling the dreams of the Present? I don't know the answer to this question because all of this is politically driven but I think its a good mathematical problem as to what proportion of the national funds should be used for Future and what for Present?

Let's discuss Singur plant story, Tatas are finally planning to move out of Bengal and Singur plant is shut. Somewhere over the net, I read that its a black day for Bengal and India, and I will say Yes & I might support No too. Ratan Tata said it right that if Bengal doesn't need them then they will go away and they stood by their words. It's the decision taken by the State of Bengal to not support Tatas and they will see impact of the same in coming years, but who knows they might be happy with it. Mamata might get people's support and become CM, people would feel happier with no industrialization in the State and Tatas would get a better deal in other State. So, in the end everyone might feel happy, except the current CM who wanted the change but didn't check whether the time is right or not. You can't bring a change until the time is right. Among all of this chaos ,what will happen to the youth of Bengal. What about their Future? No issues, people move to other places if there are gaps in the system. IITians used to move to US in 80s & 90s for the same reason. People from all over the country come to Maharashtra for the same reason. We might see the Bengal government after 15 years cribbing about brain drain problem. But what should a good leader do in between all this bullshit?
Some weeks back I was given a brain teaser, when this whole Singur issue was connected to Indian partition issue in 1947. Jinnah's role was assumed to be played by Ratan Tata who is interested in Nano project only, Nehru's role was assumed to be played by Mamata Banerjee who is interested in West Bengal only, Nano plant was assumed to be Pakistan which either stays with Bengal or go away (with Ratan Tata), West Bengal now was assumed to be India and Mahatma Gandhi's role was assumed to be played by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. I didn't know that answer then as I wasn't sure whether moving out of Bengal (or parallely having a separate country) was a better solution or not, but in the end its about safety of our people and in democracy people come first. So, Bengal people decided against Singur and Tatas are out. People call 14th August 1947 as a black day for India and we are still fighting because of that one decision. Gandhi in 1947 was looking for peaceful lands which didn't turn out as planned. Same might exist over here too, but living in the same land and fighting is not the solution. I don't know whether it is right or not but I am sure that there exists many dimensions to this whole story.

Will this have impact on India shining story?

Answers turn up to questions now

This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta
Dynamics of the world economics is at the verge of changing and it will impact, in a big way, our age old thought process and the way we used to solve problems. The failure of US financial system questions back the authenticity of all the answers and solutions known and taught for decades. This situation also questions back all the notions told in the existing lecture series, workshop sessions and other study material.
Now, a kid can question back in the class that if a 150 year old bank can collapse with all the smart people around, then what is the guarantee that the theorems taught in my class will solve the world problems; and we should stop faking that we know the answers. We should look for new approaches, then simply looking up to some one to come up with answers. We can crib for almost everything around saying that this is the way this business is run, but we are living in a time where history is written and we should learn from it.
You might find these words bookish but this is my solution to the problems around, and if you think other wise then it's good too because any successful economy requires two types of people - Leaders and Followers. People in between these two categories create problems in the system.

Things around are about to change; many big giants will go down and new empires will emerge. It's not a time to feel bad about the lost money. Soon we will see many new empires defining new rules and changing world dynamics.

Lets see how things shape up ......

Feeling that you have a thought to add, go for it!!

Skip weeds on the boulevard of dreams

This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta

When we start our journeys on the so called less traveled road, we meet lots of people; some learned faces, some worried souls, some shrewd minds and lots of successful bastards who tend to slow our journeys down. They might be narrating their success stories or telling us the lessons that they learnt along their ways to success (which can be very different for us), but most of them try to convince us that their paths were tough. They knowingly or unknowingly pump in lots of negative energy in our positive system.

We all have met these kind of people at some point in our lives and we chose to ignore them because we knew that they would distract our visions. The difference in this case remains that we choose to go to these people and hear their success stories, which is nothing but a carefully edited piece of the same age old story, decorated beautifully to sound attractive. We will refer to these successful bastards as weeds for time being as they suck in our positive energy. :)

It's our fault that we go to weeds and ask them about their paths. At the end of the story, we feel that it's really tough to move ahead on this path and before we even understand the positive energy within us is sucked. On the contrary, a real teacher/mentor helps us feel good about our passion and guide us with the next steps, but a weed makes us feel small about our plans.
These weeds forget one important point while naratting their stories which is that we all are traveling or we all chose to travel on this road because we all were looking for absolute peace of mind and a solution for restlessness lying deep within us.

An important lesson learnt in the early school days, of ignoring people who try to distract us, still holds true. These weeds (successful bastards) confuse us by their manipulated arguments (changed over time) but they forget that it was the passion that took them where they are, and not all the stupid arguments that they give. It happens with people when they succeed and we should not blame them for that. Every successful individual looks for audience to listen to his /her success story, be it Donald Trump or Richard Branson. It also happens because once a person becomes big then his/her focus shifts from idea initiator to business prosperer. When they started their journeys they were like us - Wanderers, but they remain no more like us.

It's like asking a rich person about how he became rich, and he would tell you the story of his hardships because he needs someone to prove himself that his journey was tough. History is written by successful people and that's why I always question it's authenticity. We should always remember that it's an absolute journey of ours where we stand alone all the time.
It's the journey against time and ambitions and we should not distract our visions because some successful bastard said that it's not the right way; because when we ask some one, the journey becomes relative. We are born with a road map and we all understand our paths, and if we hear from deep within, we will all know the answers. It's the question of not getting distracted by weeds and keeping faith in our destinies.
If you don't feel for this post, or don't understand it ..... don't bother - it was never meant for you. :)

Who cares about all that bullshit anyway!

This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta

We all must have read or heard somewhere about the ‘India becoming a Super power by 2020’ story or debate and interestingly some of us do believe in it, and rest of us don’t give a damn to it… who cares about all that bullshit anyway!

Why do we need all these Multi National Companies, Investment Banks and Consulting Companies that pay us some percent of our efforts as salaries and get work which is worth 10-20 times? Why can’t we get the ball rolling from India so that all the money comes to us only? Why does every IITian and IIM grad aim for NYC, London, Hong Kong or Sydney placement - Google, Microsoft, BCG or JPMC? I guess everyone has his/her reasons for choosing a particular career path and that’s what freedom is (Freedom we all are born with!) but let’s not go over the Idealist discussion board and all that bull shit, but one thing is for sure true; these best of the class companies have given us an exposure of money and an understanding of being big, have given a push to our lifestyles to take it to the current metro style level where extra adrenaline is something that flows in our veins all the time.

We are in a sense hypnotized by the new buzzing fields – Consulting, IBs, KPO and IT and we have started cruising towards them. What bothers me the most is this sheep mentality which stops us to become visionaries or future faces of the country. Then there comes that very thought with which we all are born, live and die each day. Who cares about all that bullshit anyway!

I won’t make huge remarks or right wrong statements out here but, will love to discuss what, I think, can lead us to our destinations. I know that most of you are not going to like my philosophies, ideas and thoughts but I am not here to write cute bullshit love stories or some masala news; I am aiming to target the 5% souls who I think will represent the Indian future.

To initiate, let’s discuss about the direction where the cream of Today’s India is cruising. It is dreaming for all the best packages, and tends to oversee what it is not shown. These dream Jobs of top notch college grads (JPMC, Google, Microsoft, Mkz, and BCG) come along with huge pay checks and learning opportunities. Some of us choose to learn the lessons first, by joining a good firm and then applying those lessons in future to reach our destinations. We all are free to choose any path but what ends up happening with most of us is that we become slaves to our luxurious lives, expensive wines and discothèques which these jobs give us as drugs. This insecurity later dissolves our magic energy and we end up missing the Ship; the Ship to Ithaca. To add to all this, we don’t give a damn to this missed opportunity as those magic words help justify what we did - Who cares about all that bullshit anyway! We are smart enough to come up with philosophies to justify our paths.

What I think is that we need to learn the skill to move up the ladder from the Pay check collection department to Pay check generation department. A total generic line, heard 1000 times and that is most ironical that we all hear it, understand it and choose to skip it. J

It’s not like we can’t do it or haven’t done it before. We have our superheroes that too are ‘made in India’. Indians have shown the potential of buying the most promising brands of the world and expanding in the territories where even big players of the world find hard to enter. With TATAs proving the potential of generating dream car for Common Man and Reliance proving potential to go over multiple dimensions, we are all set with our set of role models; and we need to move ahead of the cribbing part where we say that we need people to lead us. We can choose to say the famous, carefree, lovable slang - Who cares about all that bullshit anyway! J

Who will lead the way? I have met many people with innovative ideas and most interestingly, you can notice that we all have the entrepreneurial capabilities and live with an Idea down in our heart. We need people to set examples, proving that going for your own startup is not a risky career option and is a career which generates careers. This is the only solution which can lead India to the place where we want to go – India becoming a superpower.

I still remember the preparations for the 2k millennium parties and the discussion forums, groups declaring that India will become Superpower by 2020. I am pretty much sure that we are on the right path but I see couple of problems with the path; and the solution exists in the society itself but what we need is an army, to live with the dream and spread the magic.

India has a group of big house tycoons and thousands of budding entrepreneurs. These big tycoons will set the stage but one who will lead the future is our 20s age group crowd and we need to shift their focus from followers to leaders. I am not here to blame any one as all of my friends say that they are happy with their packages and the path they are moving towards and those who are not, are preparing for GMAT. A great way to cash in huge pay checks but surely, some of our youth (~5%) need to turn towards the Entrepreneurial path to ensure that we sell things in every dimension to the world and get in as much pounds, dollars for the country as possible.

It’s not like that those who are leading us don’t know all this. It’s the list of day to day problems that they all are busy solving and I agree that we can only think about future when we are happy with our present. The problem is that we are missing a CEO, visionary who can work over numbers for the overall growth of the country not only to make us self sufficient but to become Super Power.

I think the American President and his team is smart enough to invest in the Present and Future. I saw an opening for the Asia Pacific region Lead of Ashoka who will report directly to the US President. What I understood is that the American CEO is monitoring what world is moving towards i.e. they are keeping a tab on the future. We all have heard the famous dialogue of the movie ‘Wallstreet’ – Every battle is won before it’s ever fought. It’s the information that keeps you ahead of everyone around and that’s something that Americans know really well.

We need a CEO for India who can think over new dimensions to monitor where the world is moving and gauge where it might be in next 25 years, and this way we will exactly know whether our future investments are going in the right direction. Is it that simple an equation? I don’t know but I truly believe that the concept at the heart core level is as simple as concept of Gravity then why can’t our leaders do that. I think the answer to this is simple too. If you are frustrated and know the answer then stop cribbing and go for it. Anyway, there were lot of revolutionaries before Bhagat Singh too but he didn’t crib and tried his way of solving the problem.

I agree to not cribbing and moving ahead, but how can I also ensure that not only 5% but 10% population is motivated to generate jobs, salaries and go for the less traveled and over hyped road, but a thought comes up to my mind too.. Why the hell do I care about all that bullshit? Who cares about all that bullshit anyway!

Join Bold Journalism than just reading bullshit

Watching news channel has become comic & total time pass these days; and gossips are something that media focus on all the time. Aajtak, NDTV, Channel 18, IBN7, LIVE India or be it any other news channel focus mainly on third grade news rather than covering what really needs to be captured. I have heard complaints mainly from Youth section and which in itself means future India, which implies that bull shit is not something that is gonna sell for long. Lets capture the problem from various angles.

What news channels currently focus on?
Trespassing privacy of Bollywood Stars is something they love. Be it King Khan, Kareena Kapoor or Aishwarya Rai. News like Aishwarya - Abhishek's marriage, their honey moon and first Karwa Chauth is something that news channels die for. Other focus point is Cricket. No need to describe any further, just go to any news channel.

Why do news channel focus on Bollywood, Cricket and Hindu - Muslim issues all the time?

Because it sells. Because people love to hear about bollywood stars, Cricket and other fun stuff. Fair enough but does that mean that real news should be kept at the back drops. Problem with people is that they complaint all the time about the stories but buy the same stories.

Is real journalism still alive?
Indian Express has been selling news for decades and hopefully will keep doing that. Its tag line has always been Journalism of Courage. Tehelka has come up with so many sting operations, being a team with no support around. I have seen so many interviews of Tarun Tejpal and the times when he had no money to support his team. People supported him from behind but no one came up in front.

How can we support the real news, media and Journalism?
We can either support bull shit or we can get associated in some way to Tehelka, Indian Express and support real Journalism. We can work with spreading awareness about what powerful people are trying to hide with their power and money. I think Internet is the best source to come up with support teams, groups, organizations, websites and express our views.

Why do we support real news?
You won't believe but there is a thin line between lying this side or that side of the territory. Once you are on that side, you will understand the need of real journalism. There are thousands of people here in the country who are cheated knowingly or unknowingly but they can't do anything. Even if you know that your tax paid money is being misused, you can't do anything. Even if you know that you are correct by law but you crossed the path of a powerful man and hence doomed is more frustrating than anything. Also, if you are here at Startupsinindia means that in future you want to work on your own, having your own start up and that means you want a proper Judicial system in the country and people (be it politician or actor) should follow the rules. We need to support the cause than to wait to see the results.

Cross questions that follow up --
First of all, whose fault is this that these bull shit news channels are making money? Why are they keep getting all this news and how can this be ended? Does this mean that media is dead and we don't have people who know the meaning of Journalism? Can someone sell bullshit if no one buys it? Can someone do something if they can't generate money out of it?

Answer lies in the fuel of India - Youth and I believe that we will in sometime understand the need of real media.

Risk-Returns Rule and Need of Greed

This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta
Risk involved in an idea and Returns expected from it are directly proportional and hence the rule of the game is simple - More risk more returns, Less risk less returns. Every super intelligent person in this world looks for minimum risk and maximum returns and hence in order to play safe, remain on the other side of the boundary wall or in other words, he/she faces a entry barrier created by him/her only. Crossing this barrier doesn't mean that he/she is a 007, it only means that he/she thinks big and is willing to take risk in life.
Our appetite for risk has always remained less and that is inculcated in us by our culture.We have always been taught that Greed is an evil, and money minded attitude is negative. But if we are not greedy, why would we go for ideas with maximum risks... Who wants to take more risk if he/she doesn't need more money? I asked my colleague, who left his job for a start-up, that is it the zeal to be different that drags him for the startup or is it money and he said very clearly that its only money that drives this industry and those who say that they want to prove themselves to the world or something are those people who are affected by the basic rule of our culture which says that money minded people are bad or something. In other words, our culture make us risk averse but if we say that we want to lead/rule the world then at one point or the other we have to produce more global companies like TATA, Reliance and TCS and we will need to take more risks.
Risk and Returns rule is simple but the guarantee card of security or minimum risk and maximum returns mind set causes all the problem. To go beyond a certain point, we need to think innovative and dive into the race of creative firms.
Current service based economy is also bringing dollars and that too in a great pace but it is only a fraction of what goes to the owner companies and once the rates of rupee against dollars go up, this boom will bust and we will need to enter into a base market, base of Indian market known globally.
When we are taking of maximum returns which is generated by US in the present scenarios, then we ought to take maximum risk and for that the very basic definition of Greed needs to change.

Root cause of Brain Drain

This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta
I have always questioned the idea of working for other countries, and have been thinking about 'Brain Drain' issue for quite sometime now. Giving it a deeper thought, I figured out that it is not an issue, it is an Escape; Escape from a system which claims to be clean and clear but is hollow from inside, which claims to be promoting Youth and Future India but is actually hindering the growth of very basic quality of leadership among them. I realized that most of the people don't care about whom they are working for or why they are working for them. They work for a peaceful and happy life where they can live with Self-respect and enjoy a free life. If you look at the present scenario, people are not crazy about America, they are crazy about the quality of life there. American economy (for example) doesn't ask its citizens to work for their companies only or live in the country; they just provide a clean, independant and accountable system where a common man can sit, relax and enjoy. They preach Freedom, Liberty and Independence and even though we preach the same, we just ignore to provide the freedom of self-respect to a common man. Common man can't defend himself if a powerful man goes against him, his family or his life.

If looking closely to the problem of corruption at the lowest level, in US, there is a system of tipping and people who earn less are tipped and hence they don't need to ask for bribes. Why can't we look for similar solutions? Why are we always asked for bribes? Why only licenses issued easily to powerful people and a common man has to fight it out? Why are we supposed to pay bribes for each and every government work? Issue is Accountabilty, Issue is ill use of power, Isue is Bol Bacchan Amitabh Bacchan... Leaders say tonnes of things but the very basic problem of ill treatment of common man is not targeted by anyone.

If you look at the issue of Brain Drain closely, it is not that people are betrayers of the country if they work for foreign companies or go to foreign countries to work. They want to live with self-respect and they don't want to see all this mess lying here. Law of the land is to protect yourself and your Family and provide them a good quality of life. Law and Order in India is forcing all those who can ESCAPE, to escape from the system. If you have lived in this country, you must have seen lines of people around MLAs, MPs, Ministers and if you want to lead a good quality of life, you ought to know these people.

Here arises the problem.. In good colleges like IITs and IIMs, students are taught to be the best in whichever field they enter but when they enter the world, they see the power lingering around the politicians and messy Law and Order situation. It is the loop hole in our economy which is forcing this talent to leave the country and American politicians are smart enough to attract this talent.

Seeing all this situation in the country, the reflex action is to escape, escape to a place where common man can dream, live and has a accountability if something wrong is done. Practically speaking, there is no such place but some places are better if Law and Order situation is compared.

Some scenarios commonly seen which force me to think to escape; you are going with your sister and you hear a comment or you hear abusive words. You are robbed on a street and you go to police station for help, but you are blamed for everything. Your son is missing and you are a common man. You are asked for money for a driving license even if you satisfy all the criterias. If you think about these situations closely, not everyone would like to go and fight, but every powerful man will say; Dare someone say or do this thing to me. This country is great for Powerful leaders, Politicians, Collectors, SPs, renowned Doctors but no one cares about the common man. Even if I am at a good post, I can't see a common man treated like that and so my reflex action is to go for a free land or to do something to change law and order situation of this land.

Brain Drain situation is there because those who can, just escape. I think 75% population, if given chance will escape this system, not for money but for a better life. And, the remaining 25% are those people who have power and need common man to show that power. I am not saying that corruption is there in India only, all I am saying is that in this country common man is ill-treated.

We all think about the ways to solve the problems existing in the country. I have always believed that generating employment, opening new sectors and streamlining the system can solve the problems. For most of these is required to retain the brains of this country to remain in the country and work for it. To tell you the truth, seeing the current Law and Order situation in India, sometimes I feel like living in a developed country. If you want to retain the Youth then you ought to give them respect and make leaders out of them and not coward, scary followers of this frustrating system. All that is needed is accountabilty if something wrong is done anywhere in the system.

Venture Capital is over rated - Komli Founder

In a blog post, Amar Goel, CEO and founder of Komli Media, has shared his thoughts, experiences and learnings in raising venture capital, how it works and what it’s like. An excerpt-

“If you are not sure about wanting to build a large business then do not raise venture capital. If you are concerned giving other people a lot of say in your business do not raise venture capital. If you never want to sell your company or go public do not raise venture capital."

“If you would like to build at least a $20M business over 3-5 years and ideally a $100M+ business over 5-7 years you are a prime candidate for venture capital. If you want to build a $3M business over the next 5 years do not raise venture capital."

“I find lots of people who seem to get really excited by the prospect of raising venture capital. Don’t be… The sexiness of a press release saying you raised venture capital from XYZ and ABC lasts about 1 day."

“VCs are not in the business of coming up with crazy ideas and then throwing them against the wall and seeing if they stick. That is the job of entrepreneurs. That’s why most VCs will be loathe to invest in some “idea” you have that will change the world that nobody has ever done before."

“Venture capital is a very expensive form of investment for your company. If you are the typical early stage startup you are going to give 20-35% of your startup for $1-4 million of investment.”

Check out : http://amargoel.com/

Chasing west with unfair calculations

This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta

What matters more? Earning $5000/month in US or earning 50000 INR/month in India. Same job salaries are these only in US and India respectively. Theoretically speaking, these two salaries are one and the same as Price parity ratio between US Dollar and Indian rupee is 1:10. As long as you are earning in India and spending in Indian products this concept works fine but as you go and buy US companies' products, difference comes into picture. Sounds weird - Consider a simple example -
Levis 32'' jeans cost 2000/- in India and $40 in US. 4% of our monthly salary in India and less than 1% of our salary in US. Products like clothes, Electronic items are cheaper if bought by earning in dollars but does this mean that we should go to US to take advantage of this unfair conversion rates. Most of the people do that and I am not saying they are wrong or right. It is their personal choice and let them go with it.
I would like to make everything in India at 10000/- that US makes for $1000 and then the PPR concept will work fine. There might be products in Indian market that are made locally and are sold for 1/5th the rate as US product.
I would like to say that I am a fool if I am earning in INR and spending in dollars. Either move to US if you are dying to be called 'Made in US' or develop the same product in India at 1/5th rate and let people come to same standards. Solution is simple if we stop chasing west with unfair calculations or make them chase with fair calculations.