Cactus Chords

Our product designs were ready by now, top notch functionality, user friendly, problem solving etc. What was next? The launch…… My heart skipped a beat. What will happen? Will this be a hit or go down the drain? I do not mind if it does not become a hit or if someone stole our idea and came out bigger, but I want everyone to know that, we tried solving a problem that a lot of people were facing. Nothing grave, but still very essential. I wanted everyone to know that, we did it first. That was my aim.

Now you all might be wondering, what this bloody project is all about. What I have been going on about in the pas 4 posts. Patience……… at least grant me this much liberty to reveal the product a while later. I promise I will reveal it in my next post

Sleepless nights followed, I could not distract myself. I was lying in the bed all day, writing down notes on how all my project could be compromised. I was snappy, lost my appetite, had a craving to be drunk every night and even got myself wasted a few times. All tries were in vain. There was no way of finding out what would happen unless we did a soft launch. So I consoled myself. We had to face whatever was in store for us. I had done my part and my team had supported me in every which way possible.

I booked my tickets to Delhi to do my first official market survey when the platform was nearly complete. Remember, I am operating on minimum expenses but there are some factors I couldn’t afford to avoid like a train journey which would easily push my trip by another 3 days as I was traveling from the southern tip to the north. Luckily, our domestic fares and recession were generous enough and I got myself a good return deal. Next on the list was accommodation. Having helpful friends all over the place is a gift and a blessing. My ex-colleagues from the very first start-up I worked with MobME Wireless Solutions Pvt Ltd (one of the start-ups you wish you were the founder of = heavy inspiration), were kind enough to bear me for a week and feed me and take care of my travel to an extent which shaved off a good chunk of expenses I would have incurred otherwise.

I consider myself lucky in that way.

I had the opportunity to work in two start-ups, one where I learnt “what TO do and how TO run a start-up” and the other where I learnt “what NOT to do and how NOT to run a start-up”. Though the experience spectrum was inverted in my case, I got to see both the sides and bore in mind not to repeat the mistakes I made earlier.

To be continued……….

image reference: http://www.hamiltonhall.info/images/nervous.gif, http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j5DN7VQPE2Y/SWm11QTWmMI/AAAAAAAAAbg/B5mWPxFeua8/s320/insomnia.jpg, http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/4554217/SaveMoney1-main_Full.jpg,

It would not be inaccurate to draw a parallel between an entrepreneur and a hermit. When one sets out to be a hermit, he lets go of everything precious to him as all he has in mind is his eventual goal, Moksha. Isn’t this the same with an entrepreneur? An entrepreneur’s Moksha lies in his idea transforming into a successful business or for some, merely materializing into a business.

Entrepreneurship, as I always say, is not a job but a way of life.

I had mentioned that I was going to start something to two other friends of mine, one in Bangalore, Rahul, and one in Pune, Aayush (get acquainted). Both of them blindly hopped on board. But this time, I made it a point, every issue was addressed to and tackled before moving to the next step. Keep everyone in the loop and ensure greed, insecurity and ego did not come in the way. I warned them about all the unseen realities, I was aware of, in entrepreneurship. One was doing his MBA in Pune and the other a cozy job at an MNC. They were extremely talented, hard working and efficient.

To harness the technical aspect I rang up a friend, Shoban (get acquainted), who had also, at one point of time, invested his time and effort in my previous firm, while he was in an MNC, but ended up being disappointed with the way things turned out. I was apprehensive about asking him as he would think twice this time before associating with any of us. But decided to tell him anyway and explained the idea, how it should work, what separated us, what problems it solved, future scalability and everything a new member would want to know.

He instantly loved the idea and said he would help me out in whichever way possible. One of the things I would always thank god for, is the team I have. None of us keep money as the goal. It’s the idea and the passion. Money is a mere spin off in this journey. It is important, I agree, but one who chases money, always ends up in a hole.

The way I see it, this is exactly what separates a glorified business from a start-up, teach you the value of money. A son/daughter stepping into his/her family business and building it from there is commendable. He/She could kick start various other businesses from there as well, but would he/she have been equally productive, if he/she was to do it all on his/her own like his/her dad or grand dad did? Would he/she manage to even make a mark in the society without the name and fame their ancestors or parents left them? This is what separates you from them. In the case of an existing business, it is only revenues, profits, growth, scalability etc whereby in a start-up its always seeing an idea materialize into a product, watch the first customer use it, hang onto every word he says after he uses your product, the reaction of the market, the appreciation, the pride, the satisfaction. If it did not go as planned, the dejection, the tumble down, the heartbreak, the shame. Money seems to be a factor that is common in neither of the scenarios, whether a success or a failure. It is all about manifestation and the aftermath.

The next few days went into heavy discussions, market survey and ground work. I wanted to keep this project under wraps until I thought it was fine and the team responded beautifully. I do realize, had one entity in the firm faltered, the whole project could come tumbling down. It is imperative to keep work related secrets restricted to their office spaces.

The next aspect was design. We did not have a professional designer until my girlfriend, Nisha (get acquainted), stepped in and offered to help. She spent days on the concept and eventually came up with the perfect concept for our firm. Visiting cards, logos, website concepts, punch lines, theme etc were hers. It is always a touching moment when people offer to help expecting nothing in return. They just help you because they believe in you.

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Office space is the last thing you need if you are not a hardware oriented firm. Being a web based software firm, all could be taken care of through the internet. We all had laptops, internet connections and phones, what more do we need? This followed by roping in one of my previous firm’s employees, Sreenath (get acquainted), to do this. Even him, who had faced the wrath of our previous failed venture, refused to take money for this project and offered to do it as long as he saw this project materialize. I can’t explain this feeling.
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These are the people you should be thankful to all your life, for the ones who did the job for you and believed in you and your idea and decided to stick by you and do their duties without expecting anything in return.

To be continued…………..

image reference: http://www.toastmasters.org/OtherImages/Teamwork.aspx, http://www.indiamart.com/businessanalyst/pcat-gifs/products-small/market-survey-and-data-collection_10693656.jpg, http://www.rimes.org/App_Themes/rimes2/images/growth.png, http://www.vaastuinternational.com/vaastu/vi_vastu_office.jpg

I had lost money in my previous venture, but learnt a lot. It was killing me from inside. I had to distract myself before I tumbled down the hole of aimlessness and cluelessness (read depression). If you find yourself stuck in a job, take my advice and leave it before it destroys you. If you have the courage to quit, then you will have the courage to find another job or start something in no time. Hardships have to be embraced. They should teach you a thing or two about life and how to deal with it.

For those who actually feel stuck should watch the movie, Visioneers. It has, in a very abstract manner, covered the trauma and hassles the corporate world can induce in a human being up to a point where he literally explodes. A little incentive to watch the movie, the bearded, fat guy in The Hangover is the in the lead role.

Days passed and I found myself taking the situation rather well. The job I thought, if I left would ruin my life, made me feel like a new human being once I left it. That is when I realized that except my job, my life was perfect. I, knowingly, had put myself in a situation where I felt stuck. I stopped blaming others and blamed myself. I practiced what I preached. True, you will feel clueless at first, but then clarity will find its way into that head of yours eventually.

I sat down and decided to lay the foundation for the next step in my studies, MBA. That was the only step I could come up with, at that point in time. Without wasting any time, went to the book store, bought myself a brand new book to practice the GMAT, flipped my biological cycle by 180 degrees. I stayed up all night studying and slept till late afternoon. I found myself gaining momentum and self confidence.

One day as I was on the final chapter of the Math section, one of the many random thoughts racing through my head, most of them useless, caught my attention. Why don’t I just go ahead and do what I have always wanted to do myself? Why wait for a team or time or the opportunity or anything for that matter? If I know what I want, I will find my team. Whether it clicks or not depends on my product and they way I sell it and how useful it is. Simple!!! If not this, something else man. At least you did something on your own.

Opened a new document, wrote down whatever was in my head. Yet again, I had nothing but a ball of questions and answers on the document. Spent all night sorting it out and mix matching. Come morning, I had somewhat an idea of what I wanted. The business process and the how it must function. The next step was technical aspect. Hmmmmmm

To be continued………….

image reference: http://learn-wealth-creation.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/losing-money.jpg, http://legacy.lclark.edu/faculty/jsmiller/objects/idea_bulb.jpg

After a long silence I am back. I was astonished by the number of text messages, mails and calls I received asking why I do not blog anymore. It is really encouraging to realize so many people not only follow but appreciate what you write. I wasn’t invisible because I ran out of topics, but because I was fixated on launching and touring to promote my dream project.

It is not a social networking site, not a way to get famous, not just some product I put together with my team. It is my dream. It is trying to solve a problem which I faced while studying and wanted to solve it ever since. Whether it is a success or a failure is something I will have to wait and see and I frankly don’t give a rat’s ass about. My priority was to launch this product and be happy if it helps in the smallest of ways and creates jobs and in turn help a few. If it bombs, what the hell, at least I won’t die asking myself the question, What would have happened if I had done it when I could?

What I want to share with my next few posts are the different phases I went through while developing this product, the traumas, the hurdles, what kept me going. In all, I was going through a mixture of emotions. So here goes…….

Staring aimlessly at my mail inbox, the stats read 0 unread e-mails out of 9436 e-mails. Every morning I wake up and login to see whether I have received a mail from someone unexpected regarding work. I have mails from family, friends, random groups I joined on a social networking site or the technical team. An average of 8 new e-mails every morning was the traffic in my inbox.

I then asked myself, the questions I was running away from all this while;

- Why would someone mail me?  I am no longer on any website, no one knows where I am, what I do. I am a no body. Even if they do, what service could I be to them?

- How can I make myself useful?

- How can I create a product and not just sell something someone else has created, which can make me useful to the society?

- Should I go ahead with my dream project?

- Can I take a risk at this time of my life?

- Am I up for the challenge?

The above mentioned trauma occurred post my resignation from my previous firm which I was a co-founder of. Not something my readers do not know of. For the ones who have just joined, don’t even get me started. The less said, the better.

When in a start-up, revenue inflow is not the only important aspect. The one and only thing that is important in a start-up is, PRODUCT. That is considering you have the other aspect covered ie: a trustworthy team. If you do not have a product, then stop! Do not jump in yet, because you will fall on your face. It isn’t quite a pretty sight after that.

This was the mental scenario I was in weeks before the launch of my product which I will elaborate on in my future posts. You know how nervous you feel before an exam you have prepared well for. Not that you are scared of flunking, but scared whether it will be worth all the hard work. That feeling just skims the surface of the trauma I was undergoing. It has been two whole months of work, day and night. No night outs, partying, long hours on phone, shopping, watching movies, meeting up with friends. All I did those two months was travel around and meet people, mail every Tom, Dick and Harry, do market research, stay up nights and weigh the pros and cons of my project. Create designs of what I want the website to look like, how I want it to function, process flow, prepare necessary documents for the project, read as much as possible and learn about what I am getting into. I wondered whether it would make a difference to the society. If so, then to what extent, my running costs, my revenues, future scalability.

I do not know if it is just me, but when I really sit down to write, my head gives me nothing but a ball of answers which has to be separated manually and matched with the respective questions which is another ball in a separate corner in my head. I presume I am just too confused a soul.

There are a lot of questions one must subject himself/herself to before they take the plunge into entrepreneurship.  There are two basic traits one must possess to succeed as an entrepreneur.

- HAVE A FOCUS

- BE A RISK TAKER, GO GETTER

When I mean focus, it isn’t necessary that you have a product in your mind. But you need to have a goal. In my case, I always wanted to give something back to the society, to be more specific, the educational society to start with. A lot of services I was working with could have achieved this, but I could not hone in on which one would fit it perfectly and how.

Be a risk taker, does not mean you jump from your cozy job to a start-up that has a sure-to-click idea and funding. I mean you should have the balls to be part of the team that is out there with nothing but an idea and believe in it blindly. Be ready to sacrifice a lot of luxuries in life.

If you lack even one of the above, trust me, you will not succeed unless you are one of those extremely lucky buggers. I envy those fuckers…but good for you.

To be continued………………….

image reference: http://cristinalaird.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/depression.jpg, http://www.psychologytoday.com/files/u107/risky%20sign.jpg