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!

Apologies - Out of Touch and ME Confused

This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta
First of all, my sincere apologies for remaining out of touch with the blog for quite some time (almost 4 months). I have been doing some research of the real world but somehow couldn't find time to scribble it down. I have remained really confused for a while now and I am still confused and all these days I was looking for a reason to continue with writing. Today, I thought why not share my confusion and some thoughts I have been struggling with all these days.

Also, I should admit few things before going forward with the post - the definitions written, concepts documented, ideas implemented, situations known, problems discussed and the solutions proposed so far by renowned writers are not as simple, easy and straight forward as they might have described. People describe all of these concepts in the form of simple words and justifies them with examples but in reality time justifies these concepts in some situations and at the same time completely discards others and so there is nothing right/wrong when described. No matter how big, famous or learned a person is, even he/she is bound to commit mistakes and those may not be mistakes while the event happens but becomes one when repeated or over a period of time. They write different concepts and try to work out a model for these concepts but there is nothing UNIVERSAL.

I am struggling with some thing like UNIVERSAL definitions of all these situations/terms, something as simple as concept of GRAVITY. Defining situations, problems and solutions becomes tricky and hence it seems like all of these are man made concepts and hence should not bother a focussed sole.

Like how can we define a 'Problem'? - Something which bothers a person or something which can disturb his/her easy life. Here comes the confusion - I am trying to define everything in terms of words and FOCUS is also a word and when I try to define it, something else confuses me. Also, I am confused with the complexity of time as problems change with time and so is their perception.......

This confusion, if discussed with some one, is beautifully described by him/her, but as I mentioned in the first paragraph of this post - solutions defined by people are either people dependent or situation dependent and are also always function of time. I believe these concepts are UNIVERSAL and hence need to be defined in a language which is independent of time.

We need to come up with a concept like say Concept of Fixes (for eg.) which would say that people look for the first or the second exit while in a problem, but they are in a problem because the situation is described in their mind by some thing else and which is something similar to GRAVITY. Lets call it XETA till next post. But, is it in the mind frame that is the problem or is it some thing else which is actually trying to stop him/her to generate positive energy in the world?

In the next post, I would like to discuss how I think the cell phone would look like in 20 year time frame and how will we do our day to day work.

Till then help me define problems, solutions with some other language - I don't know either.

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

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.