Both in my last assignment with JobsAhead and current, I travelled the length and breadth of country interacting with a number of wannabe enterpreneurs. One thing that clearly stands out is the lack of awareness (or the lack of) of the enterpreneurial support system available within the country. Lot of exposure has been provided to […]
Turning 40
I managed to find the article Jay mentioned in his post. Times of India has an e-paper. Subroto Bagchi talks of angst at 40. I can relate to that. I was 42 when I left Citibank and after trying to do a startup ended up joining the management team of PayPal. Talking of opportunity cost […]
How to bootstrap
So you have a big idea but very little money. The best way to bootstrap is to tap friends and family. There is an amazing amount of work that you can do with very little money. You can build prototypes, get angel employees, study the domain and the competition. In most cases you may be […]
Opportunity Cost
Entrepreneurship is not about taking a lot of risk. Most entrepreneurs operate on the principle of a very big upside if the venture suceeds and a small downside if it fails. If as a young person you have a big idea and you give yourselves two years to give it a shot what do you […]
Who wants to be an Entrepreneur?
I read this beautiful piece written by Subroto Bagchi in today’s TOI. Can anyone locate the clip, I tried but couldn’t. While it’s easy to generalise and say that Mr. Bagchi has a gift in expressing his thoughts lucidly, what he also manages to do is query existing myths and beliefs and perhaps, stir up […]
Four useful books
Prospective entrepreneurs often ask me if there is any reading I recommend. Entrepreneurs often do not have time to read but I did find these books useful ( I normally skip portions that do not interest me like almost the entire first section of CK Prahlads book – I found some of the case studies […]
What should a VC be like?
Munjal Shah profiles some of the traits that he likes amongst VCs. Amongst them: Genuinely and aggressively support the entrepreneur High level of understanding of the business Be straightforward Ability to get into detail on the ground, rather than “armchair feedback” Would love to hear about what else entrepreneurs value. From my own experience as […]
A Mapping Opportunity
Some Indian entrepreneurs have used GIS data to create usable Indian maps catering to distribution needs for corporates. Eicher has created hard copy maps for Dehi. I have two- one in each car. I think there may be a play to create a startup based on consumer needs for point to point directions. The free […]
How to NOT write a business plan
My colleague David Cowan writes on how to construct a business plan. He distinguishes between the more elaborate version prepared as an internal operating document and a more concise version that’s better-suited for getting through to a VC with a limited attention span! I’ve been guilty (along with my former colleagues) of (In case you […]
IIT Mumbai Incubator
SINE — the incubator at IIT Mumbai, seems to have made better progress than a couple of other initiatives I have seen around. The core strength seems to be the ability to merge institutes’ strengths in technology (through students and faculty members) with experience from industry. A fair number of startups seem to involve experienced […]
Context of advertising
One of the reasons why Google is so successful at Adwords, and not so successful at Adsense, is that the context in which advertising is placed is extremely important. When people are looking, they also look at ads and click on them if they seem relevant. If someone is reading an interesting news article, it […]
The End (of Software) is Nigh
On demand software intrigues me. I am not sure if early stage entrepreneurs in Delhi can benefit from this trend. If they can and their plan calls for angel investing they should contact me. This URL gives some interesting numbers on Salesforce.com the pioneer and current leader in the field… http://biz.yahoo.com/fool/051117/113225041813.html?.v=2 0