0 | 2018

A journal on year Zero in my third startup journey/ life

As the last digit of this year is almost about to tumble on to the next, I thought I’d take this time to try and connect the dots I’d encountered in my journey over the past year. I’d probably be on the other side by the time I finish this longish journal. This, dear reader, be warned, is more an act of reflection than exhibition. You are, however, welcome to see what the mirror shows. Its gonna be long so you might read a bit, pause, leave and come back later to continue from where you’d left (that is, if you’d still be interested). I have tried to organize them month by month. The theme is Zero. This is what I brought to the table and reduced myself to in the hope of leaving soon with One :)

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(Click here to read the rest of this story on my Medium page)

My little light

Image courtesy: pixabay.com

The fickle flame that licks the wick,
If left untamed could char it quick.

Flint up that spark, light up the dark,
Let embers fly and fill the sky!

Now hold on tight, put all your might,
Burn full bright, my little light.

Fire, shine bright; blaze through the night,
Fight the fright; fear not, little light!

For every fire burns to its pith
An end that’s dire will soon be its.

So hold on tight, put all your might,
Just burn full bright, my little light.

(Originally published on Medium)

Proto Jan'09 Edition

Proto.in '08 Delhi edition was one event that really helped us (Eko) in many ways- the least of which was giving us a chance to learn the art of making a good demo (or 'proto') presentation that fit in a 3 minute slot:).  It is an event that is a queer but mature mix of professionalism and volunteerism.

The enthusiasm shown by the organizers esp. the 'curator' Vijay Anand (must try and get to know what energy drinks he gulps) is plain infectious. Trust me, the exercise is well worth it especially if you do get a chance to be one of the dozen odd companies that can get a slot to present there. 

Even otherwise, the event is a good dip-stick to gauge the current state of affairs in the startup space. Also, given the right circumstances, vital-statistics, and some match-making magic, it could be a potential dating opportunity for an entrepreneur with an Angel/ VC/ Mentor. So if you are a startup guy located elsewhere in India and dont mind heading to Bangalore (/Bengalooru - I hope the spelling is right!) or are there already - do try and make it a point to attend the Proto.in Jan'09 edition.

Here's the badge for the event. Do spread the word around.

Happy Proto and Best wishes!

Startup and Family

A few weeks before my wedding, one of my good friends called up my fiance and told her that she better be aware that I was already married! Thankfully, before she could slam the phone down, they explained that the 'other person' that occupied a major share in my life was my laptop . 'Phew!' she thought.; A laptop, huh; my friends sure had a good sense of humor; surely that was a harmless joke!

To cut a long story short, we got married, were blessed with a child and have lived happily ever after :). That's too good to be true, too true not to be a fairy tale! The truth is, she's had to adjust a lot, sacrifice a lot and lower her expectations a lot; thanks to all that - we've had a great adventure together. I'm now in my second startup. The first was as a founder and the second is as an employee. Interestingly however, I don't find too much deviation in the state of affairs in either roles. Bottomline: a startup is a startup because its a startup! otherwise it would've been called something else. A cosy life in any startup is a non-truth/ delusion :).

Trust me on this one - startups and family rarely gel well; they're kindof like oil and water - shake them up together as much as you want, but in the end - you'll see a clear but thin line separating them. One might argue that the same holds for any job - perhaps so, I really will not be the best person to comment on that. There are a few things that make life in a startup different.

1. Commitment. Startup is a commitment that stems from you, especially so if you are a core founder, but none the less if you are a committed employee. A true commitment is a strange force of nature. It is one binding, blinding force that makes one oblivious to other forces. A Family too is a commitment, it too requires a great deal of attention and care. When two equally strong commitments come side by side, it is quite possible at times to slight one and lean more towards the other. Thats when either or both suffer; either the startup or your family or worse - both.

2. Money. This is one big factor that truly differentiates a startup from a regular job. You will see/ hear of your friends having a weekend party in Tumbuktu, buying an apartment, car etc... while you sit day and night on your laptop to make sure you meet some stupid deadline that just might pay you just enough to clear the credit card bills. Prepare to be not able to buy that home theater system, not to be able to gift her a diamond pendant and even cut down at times on your grocery spends. Sure, the entrepreneur in you might understand all that and consider it a 'part of life' but trust me again - its not easy (or proper) to expect your near and dear to 'appreciate' the same.

3. Time. Consider this: On an good day in a typical job, one might use 1 hour to get ready, 2 hours to commute, spend 10 hours at a desk, 1 hour with an 'important' client (imho - all clients are important) and 7 hours to sleep and rest. Now, a day can't be stretched beyond the 24 hours it wholeheartedly offers and that leaves 3 hours with your family. A startup can squeeze even the 3 hours out and leave you feeling high and dry. If one is lucky enough not to be flying around the globe on sales assignments and one does have a good day as mentioned above, let me assure you that good 'ol Murphy will ensure that the kitchen sink develops a leak or some obscure electric fuse blows off or some client threatens to impose the penalty clause. All that translates into - very less time.

4. Mindshare. Perhaps all the three above are just different faces of the same thing. In a startup you have to be as cunning as a fox and as agile as a snake - soon you're soon vulture food. Running a startup needs a lot of thought - deep thought. It is difficult to think about the strategy to blow your competition out of the sky while thinking about how your child might be coping with the recent bout of flu and worrying about your spends zooming towards your credit limit.

Here's my honest advice to anyone willing to be a part of a startup - make sure you understand what you're getting into.

If you're about to get married and are passionate about your startup - think twice. If after a lot of thought, you still feel you need to take the plunge - make sure your fiance understands what you've gotten into and are getting her into.

If you're married and are planning to have a child, think thrice. -If after a real lot of thought, if you and your spouse are really determined, prepare well in advance for the additional expenses and responsibilities. Care before and after childbirth and raising a child is no child's play.

Try and cultivate a sense of adventure. If you get a chance - try and learn tightrope walking. Learning how to concentrate and balance while swaying on a thin line is an essential trait of the trade.

Having said all this;Having someone to talk to when you're down and seeing your little one smile when you get back home - priceless. For everything else you will need a MasterCard. Even a Visa might do just fine.

Eko nominated at Tata NEN Hottest Startups

Eko has been nominated for the TATA NEN Hottest Startups awards. Brought to you by National Entrepreneurship Network and TATA Group, in association with Helion, Mint , Seedfund and Wadhwani Foundation, it is India’s only community-chosen awards for Indian start-ups.

Vote for Eko online by clicking the link below: or via sms.
SMS HOT[space]85 to 56767.

If you are a startup yourself and want to be nominated, go right ahead and nominate your venture. I guess the last date is mid October.

A big thank you to all! Let the voting begin.

Every startup needs a Turk Salesman

Salesmen are a different breed altogether; Jayadev used to say - "...folks who can sell Ice to an Eskimo" :). Unfortunately, most technology startups entirely ignore the need for someone in this role.

Techies, especially the startup types, are usually an egoistic bunch - nerds, who scarcely care to see much beyond the 100 lines of code on their PC screens. They think that putting together a software package that can solve some stupendous equation for non-linear-geometric-nth-dimension-extrapolation-of-whatever-crap is the ultimatest thing on the planet. They think - just make the stuff and hordes of buyers will descend on their shop-front to purchase boatloads of it giving bucket-loads of cash - alas! I used to be one of them, almost.

The truth is, when you start, it really does not matter how good your product/ services might be. What matters is how best you can package 'it' and how best you can sell it - and how fast.

The truth is, actually, it is fine even if you DONT exactly have what you're trying to sell as long as you can convince a potential buyer that you have something he wants (Microsoft had sold DOS to IBM even though they never made it/ had it. Do read this BusinessWeek article: The Man Who Could Have Been Bill Gates).

The truth is, you need a real salesman in your team - and he better be one of the best talkers in town. A litmus test might be to ask such a person the size of his/her linkedIn network and to rattle off the names of 50 influential contacts in rapidfire (Now, if this person is able to convince you and do all this stuff, and you come to know that he does not even have a linkedIn account - hire him!).

Sales people on rocket boosters are guys who can be chief spokesmen - 'Sultans of Spin'. Do watch this funny movie: Thank You For Smoking, to get a taste of the required attitude and aptitude.

Experience has taught me to have immense respect for these folks who sell well. Now, if these guys can sell ice to Eskimos, imagine what they could do if asked to sell 'em hot chocolate!

That brings me to the story of the Turk Salesman. I was led to this story by a reference from Guy Kawasaki's blog. I'd been reading about the art of persuasion and this article titled: What I learned Buying a Rug in Turkey, just about packs in all about it. Well, do read it and if you haven't already - get a Turk salesman in your team - ASAP!

PS: Now I know why they call the program on CNBC - 'Young Turks'.

6+ Essential Software Tools for a startup that cost zero

If you're a startup starting up or planning to be one, here's a handy list of stuff that could help you bootstrap - the bare essentials. Trust me, its just another one of those lists - but one that I can vouch for. So if you have a better one, you're welcome, just add a link to your list in the comments section. My advice - don't use pirated software, either buy original stuff or search the web for a free alternative (there always is)

1. The Ubuntu way.
If you have a decent PC and zilch account balance, just close your eyes and take an Ubuntu leap of faith. Ubuntu is a great Linux distro that more-or-less works straight out of the box. Just check out how you could get it for free! The best part is that if you go the Ubuntu way - you might as well stop reading right here cause it packs in quite a lot of the 'good' stuff you'd need.

2. The WindowsXP way.
I'm no fan of Windows Vista to put it mildly, if you intend to go the Windows way, better take the simpler and well trodden path of Windows XP. This option of course comes with a price tag.


a. Mozilla Firefox
The best free browser - period. Trusted by millions others, one of the best outcomes of the open-source world. Get Firefox here. Its an excellent replacement for the slightly rusty Internet Explorer (which has been desperately trying to play catchup).

b. Mozilla Thunderbird
A real lightweight email client for your desktop, of course, sans the bells and whistles of the Outlook Express clan. But, it works and it works real fast and real good. Get Thunderbird here.


c. OpenOffice
Of course it lacks the bells and whistles of Microsoft Office! But, come on, you're a startup and don't have a boatload of cash to spend on purchasing licenses. With a document editor, a presentation maker, spreadsheet util and other few other tools thrown in - OpenOffice is a real bargain for the price you pay for it (ZERO). Whats really good about it is you can always read documents that had been saved in MS formats and you can Save As MS .doc, .xls, .ppt. Also, you can seamlessly export any document as .pdf with a single click!

d. Google Apps

Welcome to the connected world. To get your startup off its feet and into the mindshares of potential employees, investors, partners, clients and customers, you need a communication and collaboration tools. Thats what a set of apps - Google Apps does.
The best thing about google apps - gmail for your company. Its a really reliable mail server which gives your team a fully functional, online, yourname@yourcompany.com kindof email suite (which you can use with Mozilla Thunderbird as well). Goodbye tinkering with boxes trying to set up your own mail server and wondering why your email never reached its recipient.

e. Tortoise, Subversion
Now, this one is for those who might be slightly tech oriented, but trust me, this is one tool that can save you bucket-loads of tears when things go wrong with your PCs or you do things like SHIFT+DEL with that critical source code file or you accidentally delete your most famous quote from the document that you had put in a day before (these things, let me assure you - they will! - amen, says Murphy)

So, viola! we have a free version control system. What this means is that you can now track all changes you made to any file or folder, have multiple people modifying the same file but in different geo-locations and still maintain perfect sanity.

It essentially consists of two parts:
- Subversion, - the server, which you can install either on your own computer (that means it will only function as a limited tracker - sorry folks, no collaborations this way- to each his own) or on a server that could be accessed by all folks in your team.

- TortoiseSVN. A Windows client shell that makes all your subversion tasks as easy as a right click on any file you might want to be 'subversioned'.


Integrated Development Environment
This ones for all ye developers out there. If you're already a developer, I'd bet you already have your fav toolbox with you. But in case you're still undecided or want to choose a uniform one for your organization; pls make a pick else, as google reader often tells me - you'd better land here.

f.1 Netbeans
It says its the "The only IDE you need! Runs on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and Solaris.... Supports: Ajax | C/C++ | Databases | Debugger |Java EE | JavaFX | Java ME | Java SE | JavaScript | Mobile | PHP | REST | Rich Client Platform | Ruby | SOA | SOAP | UML | Web | WSDL | XML". We'd used it extensively for mobile app development and apart from the fact that it needs a good amount of RAM, Netbeans rocks!

f.2 Eclipse
Eclipse is considered a more mature IDE of two and has its loyal base of users with many companies coming up with their own custom Eclipse IDE to do different things.

Well, that brings me to the end of my list though there are a couple of tools that only a pure techie would need and would rather try n figure out on his/ her own. I think with this you have just about everything essential to get started. So - get started!