RK's Musings

On Google

Paul Graham on Google :

Their hypothesis seems to have been that, in the initial stages at least, all you need is good hackers: if you hire all the smartest people and put them to work on a problem where their success can be measured, you win. All the other stuff—which includes all the stuff that business schools think business consists of—you can figure out along the way.

Relentlessly Resourceful

If Destination is "Make Something People Want", the means ought to be - "Relentlessly Resourceful", says Paul Graham

Link : Paul Graham

VC - Founders

"VC - Founders" link explored by Paul Graham, in the light of recession.

Link : Could VC be a casualty?

Animal test

I was rereading Paul Graham's article and these words made a lot of sense AGAIN.

One of the best tricks I learned during our startup was a rule for deciding who to hire. Could you describe the person as an animal? It might be hard to translate that into another language, but I think everyone in the US knows what it means. It means someone who takes their work a little too seriously; someone who does what they do so well that they pass right through professional and cross over into obsessive.

What it means specifically depends on the job: a salesperson who just won't take no for an answer; a hacker who will stay up till 4:00 AM rather than go to bed leaving code with a bug in it; a PR person who will cold-call New York Times reporters on their cell phones; a graphic designer who feels physical pain when something is two millimeters out of place.

It's a Continuous Process

Vial Pragmatic Programmer :

A tourist visiting England's Eton College asked the gardener how he got the lawns so perfect. "That's easy," he replied, "You just brush off the dew every morning, mow them every other day, and roll them once a week."

"Is that all?" asked the tourist.

"Absolutely," replied the gardener. "Do that for 500 years and you'll have a nice lawn, too."

Great lawns need small amounts of daily care, and so do great programmers. Management consultants like to drop the word kaizen in conversations. "Kaizen" is a Japanese term that captures the concept of continuously making many small improvements. It was considered to be one of the main reasons for the dramatic gains in productivity and quality in Japanese manufacturing and was widely copied throughout the world.

Kaizen applies to individuals, too. Every day, work to refine the skills you have and to add new tools to your repertoire. Unlike the Eton lawns, you'll start seeing results in a matter of days. Over the years, you'll be amazed at how your experience has blossomed and your skills have grown.

Startup Gyan

Via Read Write Web :

36 Startup Tips: From Software Engineering to PR and More!

Evaluation

Thanks TP for the link. The post is terrific

evhead: Will it fly? How to Evaluate a New Product Idea

Animal Test

Thanks TP

Via TP:

What do I mean by good people? One of the best tricks I learned during our startup was a rule for deciding who to hire. Could you describe the person as an animal? It might be hard to translate that into another language, but I think everyone in the US knows what it means. It means someone who takes their work a little too seriously; someone who does what they do so well that they pass right through professional and cross over into obsessive.

What it means specifically depends on the job: a salesperson who just won't take no for an answer; a hacker who will stay up till 4:00 AM rather than go to bed leaving code with a bug in it; a PR person who will cold-call New York Times reporters on their cell phones; a graphic designer who feels physical pain when something is two millimeters out of place.

Almost everyone who worked for us was an animal at what they did. The woman in charge of sales was so tenacious that I used to feel sorry for potential customers on the phone with her. You could sense them squirming on the hook, but you knew there would be no rest for them till they'd signed up.

If you think about people you know, you'll find the animal test is easy to apply.

Call the person's image to mind and imagine the sentence "so-and-so is an animal." If you laugh, they're not. You don't need or perhaps even want this quality in big companies, but you need it in a startup.

For programmers we had three additional tests. Was the person genuinely smart? If so, could they actually get things done? And finally, since a few good hackers have unbearable personalities, could we stand to have them around?

That last test filters out surprisingly few people. We could bear any amount of nerdiness if someone was truly smart. What we couldn't stand were people with a lot of attitude. But most of those weren't truly smart, so our third test was largely a restatement of the first.

Innovation

Via : 7 Habits of Highly Innovative People

Narrow Focus

Via : Groupware Bad

Narrow the focus. Your "use case" should be, there's a 22 year old college student living in the dorms. How will this software get him laid?

Startup in India Or US

An Indian entrepreneur's view on the location :

Link :  Is it easier to do a start up in India than in US

So keep typing!

Paul graham in his essay How Not to Die  says "Startups rarely die in mid keystroke. So keep typing!"

The following thoughts from Paul Graham makes me feel that NP needs to be brought back in some shape or the other..

So when you release something and it seems like no one cares, look more closely. Are there zero users who really love you, or is there at least some little group that does? It's quite possible there will be zero. In that case, tweak your product and try again. Every one of you is working on a space that contains at least one winning permutation somewhere in it. If you just keep trying, you'll find it.

Getting used to "NO"

Came across this fact today, Howard Schultz ,Starbucks fame, approached some 275 odd investors to raise money for his first venture which was similar to starbucks. Of 275 potential investors,  260 investors said NO. Imagine a situation like that where you are been told NO , 260 times. I guess that is one key trait of any person who wants to build a successful enterprise..Getting used to taking NO as an answer and still not getting affected by it largely.

Opportunity in every problem

Cafe Coffee Day in India

Siddhartha's family comes from chikmagalur in karnataka , and has grown coffee for generations. Most of the coffee plantation owners were facing tough times as the market prices were not at all commensurate with the effort that goes in to making coffee. The prices an year forward can never be predicted with certainty and plantation owners face a tough time selling their produce. The world wide coffee market is 120 million bags and about $ 7 billion market. If one merely looks at 7 Billion market , one sees a ton of uncertainties and risks. But What Siddharta did was to look at the retail coffee market which is close to 100 billion and not at the problematic 7 billion market. The result is a sprawling retail coffee chain that is growing in India at a scorching pace.

Capt Gopinath of AirDeccan

Founder observed that his friends were getting employed in cargo companies, risk and security departments in MNCs. The roles were no where close to the work they had done in the army / navy. He said that starting a low cost carrier would give gainful employment to many of his friends and also give a chance for a common man to fly . His venture Air Deccan started off the budget airlines  in India and today it is one of the most competitive market places. It also kickstarted ancillary businesses like online airline ticketing services, air hostess training institutes, etc.

TOP Theory

The director of the firm where I am working had something nice to say the other day. He said that there are three elements needed for a successful career.
T - Talent , O - Opportunities , P - Passion - TOP Theory.
If there is Talent and Passion , Opportunities will come by
If there is no Talent but there is Passion, Opportunities will still come by
If there is Talent but no Passion, there would be no Opportunities that will come by.
A pretty nice way to look at these 3 parameters before choosing a job. Unless you are passionate about the job, you should never take up the job. Usually people look at the opportunities and then start working on their skillset. However most of the times their passion is out of synch with Opportunities and hence their success / joy derived from the work is limited . I guess it all boils down to "Do what you love" - the classic wisdom passed on from ages

Having Fun

Saw the coverage of a superb event at Churchill Club
Link : No Plan, No Capital, No Model…No Problem

James Hong, Co-Founder, HotorNot.com  says the ONE thing that every entrepreneur should have in mind while working on an idea is "HAVING FUN". Just pick up anything that you would work and have immense fun, that's all it matters.

Best post on Startups

I think this is the best post I have ever read on a Startup's success :

Link :
blog.pmarca.com: The only thing that matters

Inspiring read

Wow!! Kudos to the spirit behind this person
Link  : The inspiring rags-to-riches tale of Sarathbabu

PaulGraham on Mistakes

The 18 Mistakes That Kill Startups

Very Insightful article...

New Essay by Paul graham

The power of Marginal:

A technique for determining when you're on the right track. You're on the right track when people complain that you're unqualified, or that you've done something inappropriate. If people are complaining, that means you're doing something rather than sitting around, which is the first step. And if they're driven to such empty forms of complaint, that means you've probably done something good.

Startup Team

Tech Geek + Biz Geek = Match Made In Startup Heaven

One of the primary issues is that each side is overly dismissive and discounts the value of the other. Technology Geeks might think that biz geeks just wear suits and peddle software once it’s ready. Biz Geeks might think that technology geeks are now commoditized and products can just as easily be developed elsewhere. Both would be wrong.

Summary of My Point: The probability of startup success goes up dramatically if you have both a technology geek and a business geek in the founding team. They generally have critically important and complementary skills. Even “uber-founders” (with both technology and business skills) are better served by attracting additional co-founders.

Creative Compensation

W Robert J. Shillman of Cognex designs creative compensation packages which keeps the company's attrition rates low

"Uniqueness is what people like about rewards. Rich for a night meant dinner for two at any restaurant of your choice, up to $150, and the limo for five hours, which was $250. They had a great time. The 108 North American employees [at the time] got it.

Give people $500, they put it in the bank and they won't remember it. We like to do memorable things that get a bang for the buck. At the annual employee meeting, I said, "We are all getting a bonus, but the bonus isn't going to make you rich. I can make you feel rich. You are going on a night on the town in a chauffeur-driven limousine."

Wanna build the next google

Here's How
Some people out there might think that these rules look good in the hind sigh.However there are many firms which are using these principles and doing extremely. May be the hard core pessimist might title the evidence of the recent startup successes as survivorship bias. But I guess its better to get GOING, rather than being a spectator. If you aim for stars, atleast you will hit moon.

MobiTV : India needs a service like this

MobiTV®

MobiTV, Inc. is the first mobile television and digital radio service provider for cellular, WiFi and broadband enabled devices worldwide. The MobiTV® service is available in the US through Sprint, Cingular, Alltel; in the United Kingdom through 3 and Orange UK; and to Canadian customers through Bell Canada, Rogers and TELUS Mobility; and other regional carriers around the world. The Emmy® Award winning service has more than one million paying subscribers and offers many popular TV channels from content providers such as MSNBC, ABC News Now, CNN, Fox News, Fox Sports, ESPN 3GTV, NBC Mobile, CNBC, The Discovery Channel, TLC, The Weather Channel, along with cartoons, music videos, comedy and more. Founded in 1999, MobiTV is a privately-held company headquartered in Emeryville, CA.

MobiTV, MobiRadio and the MobiTV and MobiRadio logos are trademarks, service marks, and/or registered trademarks of MobiTV, Inc. in the United States and in other countries. All other trademarks, service marks, and product names used herein are the property of their respective owners.

Monthly Dollar.com : Purple Cow

Purple cow : Another smart service where people might just be willing to pay 1 $ for little traffic to their sites

ADD

Via Dave Taylor :
Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder  : Trait of a entrepreneur
1. The Ability to Hyperfocus.
2. Rapid Fire Mind.
3. Multitasking at Will.
4. High Energy Level.
5. Highly Creative.
6. Quick Learner.
7. Stimulus Seeking Brain.
8. Constantly Scanning your Environment.
9. Great in a Crisis.
10. Risk Taker.

Larry Sonsini - 2C Advice

Via Will Price :

The three traits great entrepreneurs  share are :

• Passion,
  
• Adaptability,
• Not taking themselves too seriously.

Start Fresh

5 Ways to Start Fresh How do you better the odds that you'll succeed at a new start? Serial entrepreneur Kamran Elahian has made a life out of starting over. Here are his hard-won lessons for starting fresh -- and starting smart.    

1. Write a mission statement. You'll never do work that matters unless you define what matters. Elahian gave himself a sense of purpose by writing a mission statement for his life. He succinctly outlined his big-picture goals. Then he mapped out how he would get there.    

2. Don't look back. Once you embark on a new venture, put all of your focus on the future. Second-guessing only slows you down.    

3. Be your own biggest critic. Relentlessly (and ruthlessly) evaluate your performance, paying special attention to your weaknesses. Only then can you shift your course of action so it plays to your strengths.    

4. Celebrate your setbacks. Or at the very least, learn from them. If you don't analyze what went wrong and what you'd do differently, then you'll repeat the same mistake.    

5. Lose like a winner. Failing doesn't mean that you're a failure. Pete Sampras is one of the greatest tennis players of all time, but he has lost many times. In business as well as in life, the only unforgivable sin is never trying in the first place.

Start Fresh

5 Ways to Start Fresh How do you better the odds that you'll succeed at a new start? Serial entrepreneur Kamran Elahian has made a life out of starting over. Here are his hard-won lessons for starting fresh -- and starting smart.    

1. Write a mission statement. You'll never do work that matters unless you define what matters. Elahian gave himself a sense of purpose by writing a mission statement for his life. He succinctly outlined his big-picture goals. Then he mapped out how he would get there.    

2. Don't look back. Once you embark on a new venture, put all of your focus on the future. Second-guessing only slows you down.    

3. Be your own biggest critic. Relentlessly (and ruthlessly) evaluate your performance, paying special attention to your weaknesses. Only then can you shift your course of action so it plays to your strengths.    

4. Celebrate your setbacks. Or at the very least, learn from them. If you don't analyze what went wrong and what you'd do differently, then you'll repeat the same mistake.    

5. Lose like a winner. Failing doesn't mean that you're a failure. Pete Sampras is one of the greatest tennis players of all time, but he has lost many times. In business as well as in life, the only unforgivable sin is never trying in the first place.

What can one learn from Sir Alan Sugar

Who is Sir Alan Sugar ?

Sir Alan Michael Sugar (born 24 March 1947 in Hackney, London) is an English businessman of Jewish descent. He has an estimated fortune of over £800 million and was ranked 55th in the Sunday Times Rich List 2005. He left school in Hackney and started selling fruit and veg out of a van.He is a donor to the British Labour Party. In 2005 he stepped into the BBC TV series, The Apprentice. The American version of the show, starring entrepreneur Donald Trump, had already proven popular in the USA.He was knighted in 2000 for his contributions to business.
Sir Alan believes that discipline is the most important characteristic of an entrepreneur.He believes that there needs be a stonge desire to be self sufficient. Only then a person can make a difference in his life as well as other people’s lives. Also one needs to be aggressive to get things done. Any slack behavior is immediately reflected in the work. Here is how, Sir Alan describes ann entrepreneur:

"Its a way you are born, what’s in you, brain power, fast brain aptitude for the business you are in, quick understanding of what can be done and what can’t be done, watching the way markets change, jumping in quickly and exploiting then, and having the sense of  what the end-user wants."