Solving one problem perfectly is more rewarding than attempting to solve 100′s of them moderately. Its like MATH, to get marks; solve it right. Not like history or literature where you can get some marks even for average work.
Shuhaib Shariff
Unstoppable Force meets Immovable Object
Tagged with startup …
Startup Tip: A Growing Startup Should Only Hire Entrepreneurs
Martin Zwilling has authored an interesting piece for FORBES here:
A Growing Startup Should Only Hire Entrepreneurs
Agree with most of his views, except that I think “Entrepreneurs are born, not made“; Martin disagrees.
Dick Costolo : You’ve just got to start peddling and see what happens
This piece from Dick Costolo (Former Googler, Founder of FriendFeed, Currently: CEO, Twitter) pretty much sums up my experience with doing a startup
” On a psychological level, I think a lot of people confuse fear of failure with not having enough confidence in the ultimate success of their idea. They thus conclude that they aren’t confident enough in their idea or their strategy because it seems to have holes and flaws for which they don’t have answers. This is a tremendous mistake. While I won’t pretend to speak for the entrepreneurs I mentioned above, I bet if you asked them if they were confident on day 1 that they had a winner with each of their previous successes, they would look at you sideways and say “of course not”. Speaking for myself, I can say that my co-founders and I try to find a market opportunity that seems like it will need to be addressed and for which we think we have some angle and then we just pull out shovels and start digging and figure other things out as we go.
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Startup Tip : Impossible is Nothing!
Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing!
- Muhammad Ali
MyBangalore.com’s Second Anniversary
Just back from a fun and rather emotional celebration of MyBangalore.com’s second anniversary.
More than two years ago, when I put together a team to start a portal for Bangalore city (Only because I LOVE THIS CITY), most people I spoke to (at that time) dint give us a chance: “Its not going to work … people have been there before you and have failed“
Nobody wanted to work with us, advertisers dint want to talk to us and anybody who mattered refused to entertain us.
Worse, I made some terrible hiring decisions (out of desperation) and paid a big price.
Bottomline: If something could go wrong … it definitely went ALL wrong for the company I was heading.
I dint have a lot of resources (or money), I had absolutely NO KNOWLEDGE/EXPERIENCE in the media business, Not many good people (team) to work with and absolutely no backing.
But I had FAITH … and that is all that matters!
Today we’re an 18-people company… a bunch of smart and passionate guys (and girls) who really think they can change the world order. They may or may not succeed; but they’re trying with all their might 
Our readers LOVE us … 1,80,000 visitors a month and strong user-engagement. Hardly a day passes by without a compliment/suggestion from the MyB community.
I’m proud of what my team has achieved in the two years gone by, but we still have a long way to go! I have no doubt we will get there … SOONER than later.
For everybody who laughed at us and said that a *little* city portal cant compete in the big, bad MEDIA space: Here is a conversation/quote from Public Enemies (starring Johnny Depp):
Billie Frechette: They’re looking at me because they’re not used to having a girl in their restaurant in a $3 dress.
John Dillinger: Listen, doll. That’s ’cause they’re all about where people come from. The only thing that’s important is where someone’s going.
Billie Frechette: Where are you going?
John Dillinger: Anywhere I WANT
Have a Nice Day!
Sometimes being an entrepreneur sucks!
This week, I had to ask a colleague to Quit
This person (lets call him/her “X”) was one of nicest I’ve met … positive energy, full of ideas and very friendly. “X” has been with us for nearly two years, infact was one of the early employees; somebody who believed in what we were doing … at a time when nobody took us seriously.
There’s more: In the first year, “X” was very passionate about the work and quite enterprising as well. I promoted “X” to leadership role and everything seemed good. Colleagues loved “X” and were very happy to be a part of “X’s” team.
The fall:
The second year was a huge disappointment. “X’s” performance went downhill every quarter. There was a noticeable lack of passion and focus. Most importantly there was a lack of professionalism. Its almost like I choose absolutely the wrong person in a leadership role. It seemed that “X’s” only goal was to get to a leadership position … and that was the end of it!
Tasks that could have been done in a day or two took weeks and sometimes months. The quality of work was consistently inconsistent.
I’ve had several closed door meetings with “X” in the past year, on some ocassions asking the person to QUIT but for some reason (that I cannot explain) “X” stayed on. In hindsight I think it was a BIG mistake… and I’ve had to pay a price for it: Slowdown in the Organization’s growth.
Now that this person has QUIT, I have mixed feelings; for very obvious reasons, I’ll keep them to myself
Our entire team is SAD … they cant believe that they will no longer
see the lovable “X” at the workplace. It is as if a sibling has moved out of the house. “X” will be missed.
And it sucks to know that I’m responsible for this decision.
I hope they’ll understand that my options are limited. When you lead a startup: Very few decisions are easy.
In hindsight I think that if “X” was not promoted to a leadership position and instead was reporting to somebody, it would have been better for everybody.
I’ve learnt something here the hard way: Leaders are born, not made
Startup Jobs in India
Bucking the global slowdown, Startups in India are still hiring.
Here are some resources to find startup jobs in India:
http://www.pluggd.in/coffee/forum/indian-startup-jobs/
http://www.venturewoods.org/index.php/venturejobs/
http://www.startupdunia.com/jobs
http://jobs.joelonsoftware.co.in
Startup Poetry at its best – Mahesh Murthy
Found this on Business Today, great WIT & mostly TRUE:
***
By Mahesh Murthy
600 million and growing
The net’s now and future tense
Forget the crash and make a dash
First get off the fence
India’s great for startups
Not just because of geeks
But marketers, managers, admins
People who work long weeks
Bangalore and Cyberabad
Aren’t good for startups I believe
People there cost a lot more
And on H-1s they soon leave
Going By The Book
Blame It On Efficiency
Finding A Purpose
You don’t have to envy
Startups in San Jose
They burn fifteen times as much
Every single day
So many have died or laid off
After a market crash
You can weather the storm
By spending much less cash
If you have an idea
That can be a global hero
Take it further, build it out
An idea alone’s worth zero
Get a few people turned on
To come and join your team
Without people and a plan
Your idea dies a dream
Pool resources, borrow, steal
Put in all you get
The best equity, we all know
Is the type called sweat
Start stingy, rent, don’t buy
Your resources do not tax
You could run a year or more
On just fifty lakhs
Outsource little, build as much
As you can in-house
Use free labour when you can
By that I mean the spouse
Relying on press for direction
Can be very risky
To them, everything’s going down
Be it markets or Ms. Lewinsky
BPO, IT enabled, biotech
Wondering what’s the trend
If you follow the herd you know
Your startup will come to an end.
Only two ways to build a business
The first: relieve a pain
The second: offer a pleasure
Tho’ in the former is more gain
Follow your gut, blaze a trail
Make sales, then find a VC
They’ll see the dream coming true
Then it’ll be quite easy
Break even in a year
The mantra that I follow
Then ask for money to expand
That story funds will swallow
VCs have burnt their fingers
Some say Star did KBC
To make up for all it lost
On Indya, Egurucool, Baazee
If your plan’s just for India
I almost won’t care
Aim for the entire world
That is right out there
If ICQ’s from Israel
Third Voice from Singapore
Alumni.net from Manila
Surely we can do more
If you need lots of cash
To get your stuff advertised
Then there’s something wrong
And you’ll get pulverised
Ads and hoardings just give
Your bottomline a drain
The only one they made rich
Is a Mr. Vineet Jain
Amazon Yahoo Napster Hotmail
ICQ Google eBay
Got their name and fame for free
Ad agencies they didn’t pay
Building global brands today
Is different, there’s no doubt
It’s not about how money talks
But about word of mouth
Our industry till today
Imported what others made
Going forward our products
Have to make world grade
There’s a world of customers for you
And rivals from sea to sea
It isn’t easy to win but then
No reason it should be
All you should remember
As you wallow in this gloom
What comes after a crash
Is a resounding boom
***
I’ve met Mahesh Murthy a long time ago at a Startup Event (Mahesh was playing the role of a mentor) He looked dis-interested and bored during the presentations. Kind of snobbish.
However, when I heard him out at the Seminar (later that day) , he came across as somebody exceptionally smart and insightful. He spoke for a long time and I cannot remember disagreeing with any of his views (for me, thats a rarity)
This guy *actually* knows his stuff, unlike most VC’s …
