Gen Next!!

Written by Gaurav Gupta


What do you used to do before the invent of irctc.co.in, redbus.in, makemytrip.com, bookmyshow.com, eBay.in or several other portals which bring all the stakeholders at one platform and make the services centralized? Well most of us used to pay a hefty sum to the brokers or we used to avail the services by facing lot of hassles. Before the birth of these portals it used to be very difficult for us to know about all the information about all the available options. Well nobody ever thought that this information would be just a click away. Instead of running from shop to shop to know about the availability of such services these portals give you the overall picture and provide us lot of options to choose from.
Centralization of things be it offline or online brings better price discovery as well as efficiency into the system, but the ever increasing e-savvy population demands for online services. As the internet penetration is increasing at the rapid pace the need for such services which are online in nature is increasing in the direct proportion. The common link between all the above mentioned revolutionary ideas is the nature of these services i.e. online.
One more such revolutionary idea is http://www.irtex.in/ , it is in area of logistics sector, this idea claims to bring efficiency into the system. It is a brainchild of 3 young highly energetic and ambitious entrepreneurs from IIT Bombay. The idea is to bring all the stakeholders of the road freight industry such as shippers, booking agents, transport houses and the companies on to a common platform. Irtex is India’s first organized freight booking service and they want to become the biggest aggregator of truck or freight in the county.
All these services are bridging the gap between the next gen population of the country & the available services and are the next wave of growth in India. Next Gen prefers to bring e tickets to train, planes or even cinema halls.


This blog post is copied from Gaurav's blog --  http://writergg.blogspot.com/2010/06/gen-next.html

Is it a cake walk?

Often times, people look at my smiling face and ask me whether I am enjoying this new life. I am not sure about the answer though as I am not through the tough days yet, but ya I have heard lot of success stories where people justify that they thoroughly enjoyed the journey. All said and done, I doubt whether anyone loves this state of uncertainty in the startup life when it is happening.
Obviously! when I am through this, I would justify that there was a lot of uncertainty and I would love to dive in that life again, but to answer the question from my experience so far - No, it's not a cake walk till now and I am not perfectly happy to live in this state. I, like many other entrepreneurs, clarify lot of my doubts using my faith and commitment. So, if you are waiting for my answer that I thoroughly enjoyed the ride then I can answer only when I am through it, but if you ask me whether it's a cake walk, I would say.. nice joke buddy!

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.

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!

Mayfield Fund’s Yogen Dalal on IIT, India and Entrpeneurship

Yogen Dalal is the managing director at Mayfield Fund, in Silicon Valley. In an interview to Kamla Bhatt of "The Kamla Bhatt Show" (http://kamlabhattshow.com/pdcst/about), Yogen answers Kamla's tough questions, like what to do if your venture fails, and how to handle failure, generally.

Yogen currently sits on the boards of Affinity Labs, Consorte, Packet Design, PacketHop, Podbridge and Revenue Science. Yogen's past notable investments include Arbor Software, BeVocal, BroadVision, Concur, Nuance, OuterBay, Packet Engines, Snapfish, TIBCO, Vantive and Whistle.

Prior to joining Mayfield, Yogen was a founding member of two successful startups, Claris Corporation and Metaphor Computer Systems. Yogen was also a member of the original Star and Ethernet development teams at Xerox and a co-author of the TCP Specification while at Stanford University.

Yogen earned a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Stanford and a B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay where he was recently honored as a Distinguished Alum.

Yogen is a Charter Member of TiE and a board member of the Entrepreneurs Foundation. He also serves on the board of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, a nationally acclaimed professional non-profit theater company in Ashland, Oregon.

Check out Kamla Bhatt's podcast link to hear his views.

If you are facing problems with the link then simply copy and paste following link in the browser.

http://www.podtech.net/home/3631/mayfield-funds-yogen-dalal-on-iit-india-and-entrepreneurship