Intuitions are priceless!!

Perfect business idea, Perfect business plan, Perfect management team (skill sets), Perfect execution skills, Perfect market conditions, Perfect financial support - tons of "Perfects" together at one place, yet a failed enterprise. Wondering why? Do you think lot of big companies or big ideas, with tons of business experts at their disposal that fail, are not worthy of being the successful ones - who knows? since they never reached the point of success and speak out and in this world only success speaks and defines the rules. People might try to justify one reason or the other for the failure, and no one would know for sure whether that piece of "Perfect" would have saved the company.

I believe that this list is endless and can add up to lots of Top 10 or Top 100 lists posted by many great leaders - yet when it comes to the falling enterprise at present, we add up one more concept to the current list. May be that is called "evolution of science". But with this concept may be Akbar would have never been a great King to rule the country many centuries ago. What I truly believe is that every entrepreneur is gifted with a power of intuition, very much like Lata Mangeshkar is gifted with a magical voice. 

We just don't realize the power of Intuition. Lot of times, important decisions are taken by thought leaders based on mere intuition, and that differentiates success from failures. This might sound common sense to some and bullshit to others, but at lot of places innovation is curbed, and a lot of emphasis is given to procedures (may be it is correct for the employees to follow it), but if the same is followed at the management level then you are slowly drifting towards failure.

Successful companies are run by true leaders or consultants who are gifted with the power of intuition and they truly believe in their powers. They take a note of their intuitive inner voice while making any decision and destiny leads them to the true path. Ignoring it won't take you anywhere since it is beyond our reach - it is some thing we are gifted with... Intuition

Preserve company vision during tough times

Most of you who visit my blog are either entrepreneurs or are interested in being part of the startup ecosystem. With this blog post, what I have tried to share is a philosophy that, I believe, differentiates start-ups from one another in a long run.

Every start-up team today starts with a business plan - company vision, mission, problem, solution, revenue projections and how the team plans to tap in the market opportunity. In most of the cases, the business plan changes a lot as startup proceeds and meets the real world. A lot of valuable inputs come from the side of customers, investors and advisors.

Startups face lot of challenges everyday and most of the bandwidth of the management team is taken up in solving these issues. Important tasks, like product roll-out strategy, investor relations, marketing & sales strategy, become the focus of the team. What gets lost in the middle of all these tasks is the vision of the company... the team becomes result oriented, starts focusing on revenues and new business laterals than ensuring that the decisions being taken are in synergy with the vision and philosophy of the company. 

At times, when the startup is money crunched, the management team takes detours or takes up tasks which have nothing to do with the vision of the company. Though nothing is wrong in taking the detours while the startup is money crunched, but it is extremely important that the management team gives a serious thought to the problem. At times like these, a quick help can come from the panel of advisors and mentors. 

A visionary start-up would know the value of a good advisor panel who could help the management team in preserving the vision of the company. A good mentor ensures that the bigger picture of the company is preserved during tough times. But only being visionary doesn't help in protecting the company vision, it also requires lot of strength and character, as at times, the team needs to fight against challenges of real world like saying 'No' to quick money or project that doesn't gel with the company philosophy. I guess that's where the character of a start-up team is tested.

I believe that a start-up is only as good as its team and advisors, and the team can only progress towards excellence if the team is clear about the vision of the company. While there are many factors which make a company successful in a long run, I believe having a clear company vision and preserving it can move a start-up from the list of good start-ups to the list of excellent start-ups.

This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta

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!

It's not Rocket Science, Trust me!

I wrote a blog post back in 2007 (blog post) where I discussed what's the right time to dive in for a start-up, and to tell you the truth very frankly - no one would have this answer. I didn't have the answer when I was happy with my job and I don't have the answer when I am working with my start-up. You can hear 1000 stories, feel motivated and jump for it - I won't call you stupid, in fact I would help you with whatever you lack and praise you for whatever you have good. On the other hand, you can take 30 years building the perfect ship to sail, and yet you can't board it - I won't call you stupid, I would help you find that courage.

You can look out for the best teammates in the world and yet you can fail - that's the fact of the world that you need to live with everyday, but it's the battle that matters and not the outcome, and yeah fighting with the best knights cuts down the odds of failure. On the other hand, you might have no idea at all when you start and yet you can be the role model of tomorrow. So what is it that differentiates one guy from another, or let's say one start-up from other. What is the golden rule that differentiates the two sides?

People name it as team, idea, market, investors etc., while these all are pillars of a successful enterprise, but are these all? Wait, we haven't yet mentioned passion, drive, intensity, enthusiasm and all other qualities, but are these all? Is this a must to have list or good to have list, since some people say passion comes with idea and market or let's say money, and some say idea and team are secondary, all you need is passion. I don't know the order and I don't want to discuss it, since this list is endless. Did I write leadership, focus, companionship, vision - oh my god! this list is actually endless. :)

Let me put my answer in my simple language for you. I don't claim that I am a genius or Mr. Right of this topic, but this is what I believe, and it works for me, than remembering the endless list (often used by successful entrepreneurs to put their success in words). I rarely write philosophical blogs these days, since it's hard to prove them or quantify them. If you don't find my answer helpful, I apologize in advance.

I believe that we are guided by a power, actually a belief, something that we don't have control over,something way too powerful to be put in a list . I think what differentiates a successful entrepreneur is the power of believing the power of trust. We just need to trust the higher cause ,of the organization, trust the leader, trust our instincts and that's trust, which actually brings in enthusiasm, focus, drive and intensity in the workforce. In fact, that's trust which pushes us to create the best products for our clients., a trust we don't want to break It's the trust and belief of the leaders of the company that drives the course of the company. The power of believing and trust helps in creating a bonding between people, ideas, problems and solutions. Investors, customers, employees are all humans and they all need to trust you to make you successful. For others to trust you, you need to trust yourself and your thoughts, your instincts. Rest all will fall in place.Trust me!

One more thought before I close this blog post, I think there is nothing to win or lose in the world, there is an awesome journey that goes on forever. If you love being part of the cruise, be part of it, love it, enjoy it, live it, else  simply jump off. There are thousand others awesome things worth doing than being an entrepreneur who doesn't love what he/she does.. Would love your comments on this one, really, because I trust that feedback works :)

A little later dude!

Funny it may sound, but I got inspired to write this blog post while talking to a friend about start-ups, and I realized that its perception seems to work as an oasis in people's life. Well lately, I started noticing that while discussing ideas and dreams, or say being philosophical, people share their dream of doing something on their own terms or having their own company where they can work on a problem as they choose and add to some thing as they please. There seems a different tone to the discussion (almost always) like a very different note in music, a talk coming right from the roots, a dream that comes right from the heart - thirst of an intellectual. It almost sounds like an assurance coming from within that I want to work on a problem as I please and I would work on it some day. Most of these talks end with the tag line - "Some day but not today... a little later dude!"

I used the word oasis in the last paragraph, since it does the same task of keeping the thirst of entrepreneurship alive amongst potential entrepreneurs and encourages them to keep moving towards it. Only difference being that it exists for real, but remains an oasis for >95% of us. All of us want to reach it but are stuck with lots of problems, questions and confusions. It's not important when we start or how we start, it's important that we know we want to start some day, even if it means we know - "A little later dude!"

We learn lot of lessons along the paths of our lives and become better prepared to fulfill our dreams in future. Well it might not be the right time for some of us to start the journey but it always help to ensure that we collect the right stones along the path.

• Remain in touch with start-ups and entrepreneurs to understand the problems they face every day and to appreciate the start-up life better
  
• Save money for the dependents and rainy days, as start-up life is full of surprises
  
• Start noticing market trends by tracking new ideas and businesses to understand the future market better
• Last but not the least - make good friends who would help you cruise the start-up life

But whatever happens, never ever give up on the thought of reaching oasis, even if it means to have a cup of coffee and say - "A little later dude"

Hunt for Jokers

Joker is considered as a wild card in the arena of gambling and is often used to complete a sequence of cards filling the 'required' gap. Role played by a joker, in the game of cards, resembles a lot with the role played by perfect startup employees. Most startups don't have huge pockets and hence can't afford the perfect employee for all the roles. Instead what they hunt for and prefer is a parallel figure of 'Joker' in the real world. Joker can prove to be a real bargain for limited startup funds and, in a long run, can prove to be a real asset to the company. How else do you expect a startup to compete agianst giants sitting out there in the market?

Real problem that exists with jokers, is their scarcity added with their career expectations and hence, finding a joker with a long term perspective, is the most difficult problem for a startup. Once you get hold of some jokers then other cards start making sense and hence over all chances of winning increase by multiple folds.

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.

Sell to the Customer

Markets are booming (Sensex crossed 20k mark) as economy is shining; opportunities are lying everywhere and jobs are popping up each day for bright souls, but is it all that is needed for giving that extra edge to the presence that you want to have in this more than 6 billion junta of the world. 5.9 billion punters will say 'No' but still follow the same route as they are stuck in one or the other traps while the remaining 0.1 billion will say that they already have their presence and they want to see more people enter 5.9 billion wala side. Everyone wants to outshine but don't want to give up the easy life or you can say - Ground rule of Zero, where you want to get maximum returns out of minimum efforts. In college, we used to call it a 'Mind trap' but is it just a trap?, and if you decide to move out of that trap then are you done?
This strategy of deciding and moving forward works for some and fails for other, but the discussion point here is way too intrigued then just a matter of mind trap. Even if you choose to go ahead, questions pop up like do I have a selling idea? what if my idea is not unique?, and what if Ambani bhaiya jumps for the same market? Answers to these questions are not simple but working in a strategical way might work. Consider these lateral examples - Is it Reliance as a business group or as a brand that sells? Is Cricket or idea of watching/playing cricket sells? Is Provogue/Wills Lifestyle's quality, product sells or the brand value sells? Or, is it the irritating Girl or idea of having a girl with you in the pub matters?
If you haven't yet deciphered a way of moving towards the solution. Here is a guiding principle. 'Reach out to the customer in a way he/she wants'. Understanding the customer is very important in business and if you take the parallels then in life too. North Indian junta's tendency is to show off and hence decent salaried youth will always go for known brands (which violates the basic rule of earn in rupees and spent in dollars; Reverse should always be applied). Or, for that matter cricket has been taken to the Indian streets to the extent that not knowing Cricket is a social crime today. Dhoni is a National hero today where as Vishwanathan Anand is just a good chess player. :) Anyway, rule of thumb is that you should always know your customer and for that matter how to get close to them. Get close to them, play tactics of using Hinglish or Idea Cellular, Tata Tea type marketing fundae. Don't ever show that customer segment is unfit for you. Try to project that any one else if enters will not be a suit for the match. Like Reliance is targeting bottom of the pyramid, they can't sell blackberries to the CEOs.
Always look for a particular segment and create a buzz that lasts forever which will be backed by good quality products, good service and customer retention through timely follow ups. Phone call follow ups help. Marketing plays an important role in setting the right impression amongst your customer. Create a buzz so that even if Anil bhaiya enters your arena, he falls short of something.

Think big but play safe ...... It is easy to think big but it is hard to compete there

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.

I 'Chose' Not To Be One Of Them

I wish, I could point out, the exact day, time and the catalytic incident that pushed me over to the other side of the fence. But as an afterthought, I guess it would have made it more of a fairytale. Less convincing. Though let me admit, it would have surely made for a better story to tell... ;)

If I were to point my finger at one particular incident that was responsible for making me want to be an Entrepreneur, I think I would stick with my 'Attitude Problem'. I think its been forever that my Mom was summoned to the Staff Room at school, only to be told that although her son was a wonderful and intelligent student, his attitude was pulling him down; And Mummy would return from each of those meetings, all the more convinced to encourage me to follow my own thought process. Not to blindly follow, but to question.

If school was bearable, college was an unending saga of insurmountable agonies; incompetent teachers, preaching mediocrity, praising under achievers. It was a farce, in the name of education. Originality was deemed a sin. A questioning mind was termed arrogant and considered unfit for disciplined formal education.

What was worse, was the blind rat race, that the students themselves opted to become a part of. Everything else faded into the background. All that mattered was Marks. Percentage. A University ranking. And this stifled me. Suffocated me. This was not what I had come to do. This was not what I was meant to do. This was not what I wanted to do. And yet, it seemed that this is what I had to do.

Visionaries lead the way

This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta

“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.” An Irish author said this, but does an idea need to be dangerous to be called an idea? An Idea needs to be dangerous to bring money to a person. I don't think so. You can support the existing system and fill the gaps to generate money. Leave aside IPR, copywrite issues for time being but a market is eaten up by the big fishes once the market is created and hence idea loses its credibility to generate money even if it is dangerous.

You might think that my idea needs me but often times its not true and what you need is a team of best people around and visionaries to fill all the loop holes. A good team is as important to the success as a dangerous idea and I would say that there is nothing as a dangerous idea. We are talking in relative terms and whatever can generate more sustainable revenues is a better idea.

There is never an idea only which succeeds, there is always a well implemented idea which requires a team of Jewels to make it succeed and defend it. It is true that same idea implemented differently can beat the one before. Revolutionary ideas can do good to mankind but for money making Idea needs a back up.

Pull it over

This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta
These three words are scary when you have an idea; just leaving your comfortable position to pull it over. It happens with all of us but seems like you just need to dive when you have the right ammunition. Right? Isn't it a relative term? Of course it is and it prevents us to make the first move. Then whats the key to make an Idea successful? Lets figure out -

1. Getting right people in the team
2. Doing an exhaustive market research
3. Figure out uniqueness of Idea
   
4. Blah Blah

I am sure that we all can find all these theories at million places but I want to know from you a unique feature that can make an idea successful.

My vote is just a spirit to pull it over as I believe that idea contributes to only 10% to a venture's success.

What do you think?

Is there a perfect way (time)?

This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta

Ideas, when come to our minds, afresh, carry a lot of potential and enthusiasm but with time, its freshness fades away and so our mind’s interest in it. But does this mean that we should just fly with the idea from day one and jump in the market to explore it or shall we prepare well to dive with a hope to succeed but eventually lose our interest in the idea & see our idea getting outdated.

Welcome to the Psycho beam balance game, where we can’t go to the extreme of either sides for success. If we go extreme left, we are unprepared to execute the idea and on the extreme right, we are over-prepared & miss the opportunity (or lose the interest). It’s a game along time and knowledge dimensions to determine when and with how much knowledge we should enter the market (i.e. deciding the time from day one when idea clicked in human brain and with the knowledge to execute it). Seems like an easy game but people who have missed the chances with brilliant ideas would have understood the complexity of the game. Most of us just keep on figuring out the perfect way (perfect time) to enter the market. We just keep on going to workshops, meeting VCs and other entrepreneurs to know how they did it. It is hard to realize that there is no perfect way for success; we just need to figure out our own way.

Ways are relative i.e. they vary from person to person and so the answer of this question but if we ask any successful entrepreneur, he/she won’t have unique answer to this question. Everyone tries to explain it in his/her way. But, if we think logically, there are two ways to solve this mystery; one is that we just dive in with our idea and deliver our 100% along with learning and gaining experience, to see what we can get from the world. We may succeed, we may fail but we are going to learn a lot through this way. Going through this way requires lots of guts and some people think it unwise (immature) to go this way but as my previous blog mentioned that success speaks, and hence if we succeed through this way then we are role model for millions. There is no exact way of going in the market or executing the idea. We may need to gauge our risk appetite, our strengths and accordingly decide what is best for us. Will going this way solve the purpose for us or not? If not, then look for alternatives.

Other way is to prepare well, do all the homework and then dive in the market. This means that we have gauged the potential of the idea, estimated the competitor’s strengths and figured out uniqueness of our idea. Going this way seems to be a right way as we have been always taught that if you have done your homework then you will succeed. But, many people, after working along an idea, lose interest in it and start thinking over new ideas.

Some people feel that they should just dive in the market with the idea as they fear that they might lose interest in it with time. But if we have a fear of losing interest in the idea along with time (i.e. while preparing) then we should just wait to lose it because if we lose the interest in midway then we will be trapped in the storms of thousands of unanswered questions. Trust in the idea is required to sustain with the bad times of the business.

We can start with writing down the idea and discuss it with our close friends; survey the market to gauge the potential of the idea and then go ahead, but there is a trap here too. With this approach, we may go into endless discussions about the idea and idea, in itself will lose the enthusiasm required. There are thousands of traps but you need to figure out the right way for you.

So, diving in at the right time with proper knowledge about the idea and competitors is another way of succeeding with the idea, but is there a unique way, perfect way, I don’t know. I will speak when I succeed because success speaks.

Every dark cloud has a silver lining - Is it true?

This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta

Mind boggling questions surround you before you hit on the road with an idea. Long list of 'What ifs' haunt you - What if I get stuck on the way? What if I don't find a road ahead? What if there is no one to guide me on my way? What if there is no silver lining to the dark clouds that surround me? What if I die fighting at this place? What if I can't make it? What if..........

Many ideas die in the hearts of millions, just because we are yet not convinced that we can spark the light on every street. We are yet not convinced that we can follow our souls. We are yet not convinced that we can rule the world.

Unconvinced by our strengths, we are still following the direction where the sun sets. I don't know whether I am making sense or not but these questions make a unrepairable damage to the instincts of bright Indian future. Provoked by these questions, we demolish the empire we make in our hearts just because we don't know the answers to these intrigue questions.

To solve the mystery, we need to know - Who has the answers? Who can guide us to our destinies? I don't think we know the answers yet and misguided we are just following the sun, heading towards west. Or, you can say, our confused souls are following the developed economies. I truly believe that there is a need for change; change of mindsets and change of ideologies and we need to understand that if we want to rise we need to rise on our own.

Don't you think that there must be an opportunity to unleash that storm that lie within us but who will give us that opportunity; nobody. We will need to grab that opportunity. We just need to make ourselves strong enough to believe that there remains a light after every long dark night, there remains a light after every long tunnel and every dark cloud must have a silver lining.