Sushrut Bidwai

Few times I have observed that people tend to barge into decision making process where there are not supposed to. One of such important domain in technology budget.

Agreed that startups will have tight budgets and have to optimize the budget. But that does not mean Mr CEO that you should decide who will call shots related to it. Just give your budget to CTO/VP Engineering and let him make calls. That is HIS job not yours.

There are numerous other reasons why such decision making powers should be given and later respected. One of the more important reason is that - Only a tech person will understand the continuous importance of having good programmers/developers in the team.

When a non-tech person starts making decisions which are related to technology like hiring of programmer, partnership with outsourcing vendor, then such decisions are more likely to go wrong. This person may not have understanding on cost of losing out relationship with a good programmer, development partner. As it is not his direct responsibility to deliver next release.

So all such decisions, communication should be always and always handled by a person who’s direct responsibilities and ability to deliver can be compromised.

Sure you are CEO of the company but that does not mean you are in charge or even capable of doing everything your company requires. So focus on things you are truly good at and let others take decisions and manage relationships in there focus areas.

Process, Startup CTO, decision making, Startup

Vishal Gondal writes a blogpost about why he thinks that Wipro-TCS-Infy are evil and how they are converting IT talent to “outbots” , term coined by him. Now I understand from where is coming and I also understand that his perception might be very different from my own. I admire him for the kind of success he has achieved but I dont think his views are correct in this debate.  Here are my own view points as a startup entrepreneur myself.

When I started thinking about starting up, I also had similar thinking outlined by him, when I interacted with initially hires, interns I also laid out similar views to fresh grads. But when I started thinking more deeply about it, I realized that everybody does not want same things in life. There are very few people who wants to take up challenges, specially in India, continuously work hard, learn things. Professional satisfaction and personal satisfaction may not have equal importance for everybody. Some people wants to have laid back life, where their dreams are limited to having a healthy, moderately successful and fulfilling life.

This gets interesting based on what a person wants in life. People who are entrepreneurs, like Vishal and I, may derive our satisfaction from successfully taking up challenges. This essentially means sacrifices on personal front. Lesser time with family and friends, lesser vacation. Not much time to pursue a hobby. Off course you can do all this even while starting a business or working in startup. But its very hard and I speak this from personal experience. So is it compulsory that every one should look for these same challenges in life? I would say, no.

Everybody comes different background, has different dreams. Or may some people just dont have dreams. And that is perfectly fine from my point of view. Not everybody wants to become Sachin Tendulkar. Calling these service giants as evil, is similar to calling BCCI evil. That BCCI makes so much money that no kid wants to learn and master hockey and hence BCCI is evil and should stop earning that money!

The way I see it is - IT services sector has given opportunity to lot of professionals to earn a good life style. Off course these companies will keep on evolving as time goes by and may turn into much better organizations and remove the flaws that we see now. I think the credit crunch might be good in that way. These organizations, at least from what I heard from my network, are becoming more value centric and are willing to take a bit more risks, which is definitely a good thing.

Now what we can do as startup entrepreneurs - Most of the time we come to this debate that services companies are evil because they are taking up all our talents. So what I thought is a good way to build talent pool for my company is connect directly to fresh grads, interact with them. Try to open their minds to certain professional goals they can have. Try to give them that spark and motivate to them pursue a career with startup like environment. This takes lot of time and hard work, but I think that is the best way forward. Instead of trying to solve the problem from top-down by saying services companies are evil etc, we should be a bit more constructive and solve it bottom-up by collaborating with educational institutions, students, interns and building at least few people who will understand our views, passions and may be 10 years down the line all startups will have better time in hiring. At least thats what I do by going to colleges and talking about technology, product engineering and career orientation (presentation) .

philosophy Services, Startup, Talent

Been long long time since updated my blog. But as you know, I write only about things which really moves me to write and unfortunately I havent come across any thing in last few months that did the same. As an update - things are progressing well on my side and all is well. Very excited about the next weekends first company outing, hope to understand my team better in the process. Anyways, here are something I want to share my views on.

1. Often I come across various views on Indian startups and lot of BS about it. One thing in particular - Why cant Indian startups build global product companies? This one question is posted by many writers, advisors, mentors and VCs. What I ask is - why should we focus on building global products? Whats wrong in working on local products. Off course if we see an opportunity for global product like dimdim, slideshare, zoho we will work on that. But that does not mean if I am building product from local Indian enterprises or consumers then I am not competent. I just dont have opportunity in sight and hence focusing on something which is in sight irrespective of target market. So if you are a wanna-be-entrepreneur and some one says to you, why you are focused on India market - just ignore them. Its their job to sell you global dreams. They have vested interest for you to dream global.

2. Dream a billion dollar market - well thats good to have. But should I just let go of opportunities which are lets say 10-15 million dollar market? NO. HELL NO. If I can sustain a business with big enough profit margin then isnt that good enough. I think so. Most of the VCs and advisors will tell you otherwise. VCs because they dont need to invest in such business. Advisors typically will also think similar to what VCs think.

Only thing matters while taking decision to pursue an opportunity - do you feel passionate about solving the problem? And if successful can you do that most of your adult life? If yes, go ahead and just ignore this big, global, kick-ass etc BC.

Startup, philosophy entrepreneurship, Startup

I have written last two posts on founders/co-founders. There are few more things I would like to write about, so thought it will be great to make a check list.

First of all, whether you need a co-founder is itself a big question. This post is not a discussion about that question. I will try to address that question in a separate post.

This post is about things that you should look for in a person before starting a venture, from a very India perspective.

Checklist - 

1. Piggybacker - Is he trying to piggyback you? If yes, then may be he should not be an entrepreneur, but more of an non-executive member of the team who is just providing some financial support to the team. Call him an angel if you want, but not a co-founder. Details about such piggybackers can be found here.
2. Daydreamer - I have discussed this point thoroughly too, and you can read it here. So if s/he is one of those daydreamer, then may be not a good idea to have him/her in the team.
3. Vision - How far can he see? Can he think ahead of time for the responsibilities he will be shouldering? For example, if he is going to be technology head in the company, can he see where geek community is moving? Can he be one of those person who will lead the community in right direction? 
4. Social - I strongly believe that you can not create culture in the company. You and your founding teams personality is directly reflected on the team. So if your founding team is not very social, your company will not have lot of social aspects. People will be just coming and working there with out much of interaction. I dont prefer such companies. Hence I would like a co-founder who is social like me.
5. Sacrifice - Taking financial risks and career risks in one thing. But sacrifice even some part of personal life is a big thing. If your co-founder is going to be attending each and every family event with out even considering current work pressure then he is not a good fit. One of my mentors and a serial entrepreneur told me a very good story about himself. When he started his first company, his wife was pregnant with their first child. Yet he used work from 7am to 2am everyday including weekends! Now he is very successful with millions of dollars. I am not saying everyone should make such sacrifices, but there has to be some. Its a tough thing to be an entrepreneur, no matter how hard you try there are going to be taxes on your personal life. You cant talk to your girlfriend for hours and still be part of next big thing you know.
6. Reason - Why a person is looking for entrepreneurship? What is a driving force for him? What keeps him awake at night? What will keep him motivated in the journey when your burst you tyre/s ? If money is the only reason, then dont even consider him. Most important reason I would look for is does he drive to be the best in what he does.
7. Comfort zone - Lot of people have tendency to get into comfort zones. With hints of even a small success such people will start underperforming big time. They will start spending lot of money too. Plus since they cant be fired from the company, that puts them even deeper into their comfort zones. This attitude will soon be reflected on people who work directly with them and so on. Not a good fit. An entrepreneurs needs to be agile in bad times but equally (in fact more) agile in good times. Momentum needs to be carried forward and forward.
8. Originality - Some people are original in their thought process initially. But after a while since they are not may be reading things, learning new stuff or not interacting with peers/mentors, they lose their originality. Does your co-founder have a drive to find solutions to problem on their own? Is he original enough and does originality drives him? 
9. Team person - Its absolute essential for him to be a team person. He should be work for the betterment of the team. Any thing and everything he can contribute to the team, should be contributed. If he is going to keep things to himself, then team as whole is never going to grow. Also fluid discussions in the team are not going to happen if he is not a team person.
10. Brand - All co-founders will typically be leading few parts of the company. How big is your own brand in what you do? If you are in technology, are you respected as a programmer/architect? Great people wants to work only with other great people. Does your co-founder have ability to create brand for himself to attract such other great people?
11. Decision maker - Last but most important, does he have confidence to take all important decision on his own. Typically an ideal co-founder is some one who can run the company completely on his own without you. 

Uncategorized Startup, startup advice, startups

There are lot of people out there who wants to be entrepreneur.

A large percentage of these people only want to be entrepreneur to become rich!

That is not the motivation for entrepreneurship.

Most of the times these people will try to piggyback with some one else who is true entrepreneur. Who believes in his ideas, concepts. Who has commitment and passion required to lead those ideas to success. 

But lot of people just have apetite to take up financial risks. They dont have entrepreneurial drive.

Beware of people who want to piggyback you. And if you have someone like that in your team, get rid off that person.

Startup Startup, startup advice, startups

Startup Proto, Startup, startup ideas

Now this is completely through experience. I did not do any of the following mention things and it hurt us BIG time.

• Increase your online presence BIG time.
  • Start a blog. Even if you are not a great writer. Does not have stories. Just start the blog.
  • Put up information from other blogs with links to slideshares/youtubes/celebrity blogs.
  • Make sure you start sharing your URL with friends. Use simple SEO techniques to drive traffic.
  • Keep updating the blog at least twice a week or so. Make sure you reply to comments.
  • Comment on other blogs with link to your blog.
  • Make sure you start an independent blog. IE something like sushrutbidwai.com rather than sushrutbidwai.blogspot.com.

• Twitter
  • For now twitter in India is used by people who are very active on entrepreneurship scene.
  • Bloggers, entrepreneurs are very active on twitter.
  • Use it to connect with the community.
  • Have a conversation. Build your network.
• LinkedIn
  • Update your linked profile.
  • Increase your network.
  • Be active on groups related to the market your are getting into.
  • But don’t be open net-worker. Desperation has not given any one results.
• Unconferences
  • Barcamps and other tech camps like PHPCamp, OpenSocialCamp are great ways to connect with start-up community.
  • Make sure you are regular at these events.
  • Travel far and wide to reach out to the community across India rather than just your city.
  • If possible present something. Conduct few sessions.
• Customer relations
  • If you know who are going to be your customers, then start talking to them.
  • Find out events these people go to and attend those event.
  • Subscribe to groups related to your customers on linkedin and be active there.
  • Start preparing list of customers you have in second-degree network IE contacts of contacts.
• Competitors relations
  • Since you are just planning at this stage, competitors will not hesitate in talking with you.
  • Conferences and unconferences are great places to talk to competition.
  • Connect with talent working with competition.
• Investor relations
  • This is probably the most important thing to do.
  • You will find investors at conferences, events like Proto, HeadStart, WATBlog Mixer and many such events.
  • Angel investors are also great help in providing mentoring. They are much more approachable, available and willing to help out young entrepreneurs.
  • Do not mention funding requirements ever when you meet investors informally.
  • Ask for advice, pointers, guidance. People help you when they like you.

<This is going to be a series of articles. I will also talk about how to prepare for the entrepreneurship itself>

Startup entrepreneurship, networking, Startup, startup adivce, unconferences

So after having a discussion on companies that shaped the Web as we see it today with Ankesh Kothari . I decided it will rather be better to write list of the companies I think shaped up the virtual world in a post.

1. Google - Enough has been said and enough will be said. They are number 1 (for some time now) and will be number 1 (for some time more at least).

2. Hotmail - Fast communication is much more important than search of information IMHO. Hotmail made it possible to have fast asynchronous communication. Totally changed our lives.

3. ICQ - Made is possible to meet new people on Internet. Find people with similar interests. Have a real time messaging with people staying apart. Now world with out IM is boring.

4. Skype - Whoa 3 out of top 4 are related to communication. Thats how much I care about communication and any innovation which helps us in communicating with people we care about. I remember I used to be in a Skype conference call for 8 hours per day when I was working in Yagna! And these were free calls.  Amazingly useful service.

5. AOL - Again people at right time did the right thing in the very right way. Never used it much but stills deserves a place in top 5 for sure.

6. Amazon - From selling books online to cloud computing, who would have thought!

7. Wikipedia - I have not cleared dust of the encyclopedia my father bought for me when I was 12 in last 5 years. Power of Wikipedia + Google.

8. Yahoo! - Email, chat, search a portal with fun and color. I wish they dont die, but survive to be there in Web3.0/4.0/5.0 waves. Only if they stop creating new social networking application every couple of months I would put them in top 5.

9. Paypal - Yep, I thought long and hard for number 9 and 10. First 8 were natural and instantly identifiable. Paypal gave customers security to spend online. May not be rated as highly as services like Flickr, Youtube and other similar media content sharing apps but again IMHO one of the top 10 reasons.

10. Youtube/Flickr/Digg Combined. I really dont want this list to be more than 10, so awarding joint 10th position to these 3 sites. Note I am not much of a user of any of these and would love to include blogger instead of these sites. But popular opinion is youtube+flickr+digg better than blogger alone.

You have other list? Love to know about it.

Misc, Startup Startup, web 2.0

Please note this is just my take on whole concept of entrepreneurship.

Many entrepreneurs think and act like businessmen. I often see people who are looking to build enterprises are stuck with mindset of businessmen. Below are in my opinion differences between businessmen and entrepreneurs.

Power of equity:

You need to understand that you have an idea around which a success story can be built. The only power you have apart from your own skills is equity. If equity is put to good use i.e. in hiring great people, you are creating more  chances of success. Lot of entrepreneurs think that diluting your equity to mentors, advisers, great engineers, sales people is waste of equity. This cant be more wrong. When you hire people who are best in what they do, you give your company more chances of success. Hence effective value of your equity is increased, so essentially you are not diluting at all! I will even say if your customer is interested, sell him some part of your equity. More people involved in realizing one dream, more chances of it becoming a reality. Don’t be greedy about your equity spending. Its worth something only when you succeed. Take top companies and find out how much equity holding founders had when companies reached a exit point and you will know what I am talking about.

Strict control:

You can’t build a great company if you are not ready to give freedom to your team members. You are not a baniya (a shopkeeper) who will shout at his employees (? or servant?) for every little mistake. True he needs to do that, you don’t. Your job is to find good people and build a relationship with them. Sell them your dream.

Delegation:

There are lot of things that need to be done to build an enterprise. You can not do that all. Make sure you have your own path in the company. At first you will have to do lot of things right from HR to marketing to coding! Decide when you want to delegate some of those tasks. Find and groom people to take over your responsibilities. Don’t try to become hero and work 24 hours a day doing everything.

Brand building:

How people see you and your company is VERY important. There are lot of small bakery product chains in India. In north Maharashtra we have this chain of bakery products called Modak’s. They have close to 50+ shops now. But they can never become McDonald’s. There are numerous such examples in India. When you don’t spend on building your brand, well you will create a great business but you cant create a great enterprise, Period. Spend on branding, not just your companies, but your own too. Customers don’t differentiate from you and your company be it a consumer product or enterprise.

Openness and transparent operations:

If you can not trust some one, you can not include him in executing your dreams. You can not go and ask his opinion, neither involve him in any which way in your dream building. But once you trust, (after lot of background search etc etc) trust people. Be open about your professional relationship with them.  This is true for customer relationships as well. IF you tell your customers you were sick and hence did not answer email about something important, well you can do that once not always. Also demand money every time you help out some one. If you always try to make 10% on a 10K deal you wont ever get involved in 10M deals. Some things, some favors should be given just for building relationships. Don’t ask for extra money for home delivery packages, that’s not what enterprises do!

Uncategorized entrepreneurship, equity, philosophy, Startup, startup advice

These few list of things I found out working in a startup and on a startup.

Employers:

1. Great team does not necessarily have all star players. A team in itself can become all star if it gels well together.
2. Don’t hire some one just to fill up that vacancy, not at least for first 10 hires. Fill it up when you get good fit only. 
3. Be HR manager for first few months or a couple of years. Your team is your best asset and you need to be involved in building it.
4. Your culture, attitude and personality is going to be reflected in attitude and personality of your company. Be sure what you are projecting.
5. Be transparent to initial hires. Don’t be afraid to even share critical data like business deals or financials. 
6. Use equity to your advantage. Don’t be greedy on that front. Your equity will be worth something only if you succeed and for that you need great people.
7. Intervene right away if you see minor cracks in the team. Don’t wait too long for the matter to be strightended out on it’s own. 
8. Don’t create hierarchy too soon. First few years should be directly you and your team. Use this time to grooms few people to become mid-management people and intrapreneurs if you like that word.
9. Be social and let your employees have some social life. Its not very productive to work 24 by 7. Take 2 day vacation once in a while and encourage your team to take it too.
10. Don’t go too much on brand of top institutions like IIT’s and IIM’s. Make sure person also has ability and right attitude to work in the team that is already there.
11. Is you see someone not performing, fire them. Don’t keep giving them second and third chances. This attitude is very contiguous. 

PS: Dont know why numbered lists are not working on the blog and too little time to dig into it. Any solutions?

Uncategorized entrepreneurship, HR, philosophy, Process, Recruitment, Startup, startup advice, training