Cactus Chords

I recently had the opportunity to meet up with a few entrepreneur friends of mine in Bangalore and Cochin to discuss the prospects of my upcoming project.  They all greeted me with the same question everyone was asking me, “Hey, what happened to your old company? How come this new company?”. What can I say? I shake my head and respond, “I just chose the wrong team and wrong place. Simple!!!” That itself is self explanatory.

From the little experience I have gained when I indulged myself in the facade I termed “entrepreneurship”, there are a few points that surpass the rest before you start your company or at least call yourself an entrepreneur. I am going back to basics.

1) Have a product
2) Have a product of your own
3) If you are outsourcing or reselling, you are merely a salesman, not an entrepreneur
4) Release your product
5) Make it profitable

You can have other products initially to keep the revenues trickling in while you work on your dream product. But if you do not have one, it is not entrepreneurship, its reselling.

I was a salesman till I left my old firm because we did not have a product thus we lacked a focus. A bunch of guys who did not want to work for anyone but themselves. We did manage to make money, quite a bit of it too. But what is the use when you don’t have a focus. We did not launch one product, though we had 2 fully developed platforms we could have called our own and still do infact, in our cute little server.

Every time, something bigger always came our way or rather we thought it was big and the focus shifted to that. Why did we shift focus to that, because we did not have a focus in the first place. This was the string of events and emotions we went through;

- Excited that we were doing something
- Happy as money was flowing in
- Thirsty for something new
- Frustrated that we couldn’t come up with something new
- We then found something new, developed it and the stage was set
- Something bigger came our way and the old project was shelved
- Something new came our way again
- This time we developed it and launched it
- I reserve my comments on what happened to it but it couldn’t be made profitable one bit
- We later inquire what the problem was, we just f@#$%d up!!!
- Lost faith in the whole team and business
- The firm still stands and money still trickles in
- How?What do we exactly do? Ummmmmm…………..

If you have just read the above list, you might be wondering, “What the hell were you guys doing?”
Frankly, I don’t know, but I would answer that question with, “Probably testing my level of patience”. But now I know what I was doing there. Making mistakes over mistakes over mistakes so I could learn from them once I was out. Now I am surer than ever that, I will not repeat the same mistakes, but probably make new ones.

There comes a time when money flows in to your company but you are not satisfied with it because you know you didn’t set out for this. It was to make a difference in the society, give something back to it. Not just make money. This phase, ladies and gentlemen, is known as REVELATION.

An entrepreneur does not have a debugger where he can just amend his errors. The mistakes you make at your work might cost you your project, promotion or job. Whereas for an entrepreneur, a mistake can turn his life around. For better or for worse.

Entrepreneurship is not a job, its a way of life.

I am not at all proud of the way things have turned out in my life. But this was the time to experiment. It has given me the courage and will to work with a focus. I have found my product, my focus and I am working on it. I will pursue it till its launched. Whether its a success or not is not an issue. Not to prove to anyone, but me. And trust me, it is worth every bit.

But everything in life happens for the good. As long as you are optimistic and take every event in good stride, learn from your mistakes and do not repeat them, you will climb up the ladder of success and that too gracefully, take my word for it. All the best.

Cheers!!!

image reference: www.gettyimages.com/detail/82399221/Lifesize

Right out of college, he hadn’t the slightest clue what he wanted to do in life. As soon as he told this to me, I cut him short and asked him, “Then what did you do next?”. I asked him this because, I was pretty much in the same position when I passed out of college. I just did not want to work in a company. Not that I would have gotten placed with the marks I had Even if I had done the usual stunt of getting one of my relatives or even my dad to get me a job, I did not want it. Was I being stupidly stubborn? Was I being hard headed for no reason? Probably, but as I always believed, everything happens for the good. And that decision of mine made me embark on a journey that I, till date, do not regret. Anyway, getting back to his story, he replied, “At first, pretty much nothing. I tried looking for a job and got a few calls. You see Mithun, it wasn’t that hard for an engineer to get a job those days. But I did not want to work in a company, wake up in the morning, get back home and join the rat race.”

Reader, if you are an entrepreneur or an aspiring one, you will realize that the above emotion is a common one. The above sentence is like a perpetual chant in your head. It is a sentence you might have used and heard being used a million times. The not-wanting-to-work-for-anyone-but-yourself, is an innate emotion in all entrepreneurs. For the very same reason, I reacted with an ear to ear grin and told him, “I felt the very same way.” The moment those words left my lips, I realized I was gonna get slapped down. I wished I hadn’t said those words.  He looked at me, smirked and said, “Every aspiring entrepreneur thinks the same. It is nothing new.” I didn’t say anything else but, “That’s true”. What else could I say? Somehow getting slapped down by this man did not pinch my ego.

I heard a phone ring in the yonder, it stopped half way through. A little later his wife, a very sweet lady, appears on the first floor and taps on a wind chime that hung off the edge of the roof. Max swirled his head around the moment he heard the melodious chime. They exchanged glances, not one word spoken. He turned to me and excused himself and hopped to his house over the moist lawn. I sat there and took in the beauty of the place and wondered what I had done to meet such a person. Why would he sit and talk to me at such length and narrate his life story to me? My imaginative time piece started ticking. With every passing second I was thinking of a new scenario. Does he want to help me out with my business? Does he want to start something with me? Yeah right he will. Does he want to warn me of the hurdles that lie ahead? Is he telling me not to lose focus? Why is he free today? Doesn’t he have work? Is he shitting me or playing a prank on me? Why am I thinking all this? After we speak everything, is there anyway this person will be helpful in business to me? How can I use this contact? In other words, I was being plain desperate. Once you venture into business, you wonder how every second person you meet can help you out. It isn’t because you have become an opportunist but purely because you are desperate or looking for greener pastures. Once you have achieved what you want, this internal war of queries cease to occur. But I guess, that is normal. If you meet some big shot in your field tomorrow, by chance and he starts chatting with you about his life and asks you about your work and gives you tips, wouldn’t you also think somewhere on the same lines? Maybe not this desperate, but I am a little hyper as it is and also have balls to admit to all of this

He returned from the phone call and pardoned for being away. I just smiled to such statements. What could I possible say when he says sorry? “It’s okay Max, dont worry.” As if he gives a flying f#$k about what I feel? But he is a person who has such values and principles. He somehow seemed gleeful about narrating his own story. Maybe he knows its an award winning rags-to-riches story. He continued narrating, “As I was saying, once I passed out, I didn’t know what to do. Got a few job offers but turned them down that very moment.” I listened intently for the next part of the story as that was the part I was interested in. What a bum I am. He leaned back on the cane chair and stretched his arms and let out a sigh. I was still listening intently with the empty coffee cup in my hand. He asked me, “Care for some more Mithun?” and pointed to my cup. I looked down at my cup, the left over coffee had dried up and formed an ink devil sort of artwork that spanned from one end of the cup to the other. I placed the cup on the table, denied the offer cordially and went back to the “intently listening” position, you know the one when you sitting on a chair, with your elbows perched on your thighs and your chin resting on your palm or merely clamping your hands together. He got the hint and went on with his narration, “I then bumped into a friend of mine who I knew from my school days, by chance, on the road after almost a decade. It was really nice to catch up with him after a long break.” Apparently, that friend of Max’s was into pharmacy. He had a large distribution network and was quite successful. When Max expressed his interest in starting something of his own, his friend asked him what field he was interested in. Max hadn’t the slightest clue. Mind you he was 24 years old then. He told him that he wanted to join him in his business. Being a good friend, he did not say anything and told him to meet him the following week with whatever certificates he had on him. Max admits, “To be a successful entrepreneur, hard work alone will take you ages. You need an impressive combination of luck, timing, hard work, contacts and most importantly, how to utilize them.”

So Max set out the following week with all the documents he possessed from his school and college. He also gathered as much information about pharmacy and distribution. That day was his first interview for a job that he wanted with all his heart.

to be continued……..

Yeterday, I had the opportunity to meet one of the greatest personalities in my life by chance. We got talking and I felt dwarfed (an understatement) to his simplicity, knowledge, wealth and genorosity. Though he hasn’t been covered in the media as much, he is a human being who has been through the worst times in life and crawled his way back to success.

When I asked him if I could write about him in my blog, he replied “Mithun, you met me today morning and we have conversed for close to half a day and I have only let you in on a fraction of my life. Go ahead and write, but please keep my name and work anonymous. I believe you wouldn’t take undue advantage and divulge my credentials.” I, thus, apologise for not revealing his name as I am bound by a humble promise which I wish to abide by. I wish to cover this in chapters so I do not bore my few readers.

Chapter 1

Which human being would deny free media coverage? I laid this question in front of him with all due respect, to which his reply was “Mithun, first of all please call me (his name) and do not be so formal with me. Now coming to your question, media hype can work both ways. It works for someone who is low and needs to soar or for one who is up and needs to be brought down. I fall in neither. Then why would I need it? I know I have tackled my share of hurdles to success, so the former is out. Are you trying to bring me down?” I chuckled and appreciated the thought and we exchanged innocent smiles. Did he mean my blog is shit and I would make him look bad? Damn…

For my reader’s sake, let us name him Max, as he suggested. Max was born in a village in one of the western most states of India. His parents passed away at a very young age and he was raised by his aunt. Once he completed his 12th standard, they asked him to fend for himself. Before letting him go, his uncle found him a job at a very wealthy NRI’s mansion as a caretaker. Max does not blame his uncle for letting him go. He reminisces, “I was the 6th member in his family and they weren’t well off at all. His uncle had a small tailoring store and his aunt was a housewife. They had to raise 3 other children and I know and have seen what they went through. Post my 12th, I was old enough to differentiate right from wrong, had a basic qualification. How much more should he provide? In fact, if it wasn’t for him, I probably wouldn’t be where I am now.” I looked around his house. There was class written all over the freaking place. But his sheer humbleness and thoughtful nature drove you to respect him subconsciously. 

When the owner returned a year later, he was impressed by the boy’s work. He had maintained accounts for all the maintenance over the past one year, filed all the necessary documents immaculately, maintained the mansion in top notch shape and even managed to get the house touched up before the owner returned with the money that was left over from the expenses. The owner was astounded by this, 12th standard pass boy’s knowledge, responsibility  and maturity. The owner confessed to Max that ” Honestly beta (SON in Hindi), I thought you would have either taken off with the money or made a mess of the house. I gave you this job because your uncle is a very good friend of mine. Now I trust you blindly.” He looked straight into my eyes and said with a firm head bob, “That was my very first achievement. Earning someone’s trust with my hardwork.”  The owner promised to admit him to college and the honourable man kept his promise indeed.

He was narrating his college escapades to me. He was ragged heavily in college and almost drowned in a pool due course of one of the ragging sessions. Hospitalized for a short while for suffering from mental trauma and thus performed miserably in his exams. He was like, “I have seen my batch mates and class mates crying when they flunked in 2 or 3 papers. When I finished 4 years, I had 32 papers to clear. I cleared them within a year’s time”, in other words, in two sittings. He continued, “It wasn’t because I couldn’t clear them earlier, I just didn’t want to. I hated everything about my college, but loved everything about my life. I was somewhere I did not belong or at least felt so. But I knew if I had to get rid of that burden and to achieve that, I had to clear them.” I nearly choked on my saliva listening to all this. I would have taken all my life to clear those papers or even quit half way through. Max managed to scrape through his course in 5 years. He then moved on to sit idle for almost a year wondering what to do with his life. I feel really handicapped as I can not talk about his work. If I do, you all are sure to find out who he is, as he is one of the pioneers in his field. I am not here to talk about his work but the hardships in life he has been subjected to and how he crawled his way up. Truly inspiring.

We moved to his garden from the study for a cup of coffee. He takes his coffee strong, with one teaspoon of sugar. He took well spaced, short sips with tightly held lips, preventing his tongue from being burnt, he continued his story. “Mithun, I hope I am not boring you.” To which I gave him a look like, “Do I even remotely look bored and shook my head.” There was nothing I could get myself to say. Was a bit too intrigued by his story. Now you might wonder, a guy flunks in college, clears his papers in a year and he’s narrating it, what’s the big deal? The big deal, my friend, is that, that very same man is the owner one of the the biggest businesses in his field and has assets worth over 50 crores in a matter of 5 years since he started working.

to be continued…….

Cheers!!!

The following post will only make sense to you if, you are a person with the following traits,

- have an ever growing craving for change
- more than just complacent with wherever you are in life
- always wondered how the personality that you are, would react if put in a certain situation
- always wanted to do something crazy that would surprise everyone and you yourself

It has been my dream for years to pack my bags one fine day with nothing more than a change, my toothbrush, paste, deo, cellfone and CATs and say Rs. 2000/- and set out to someplace Ive never been before. And I will do that sometime soon.

Q: What will you do when you run out of money?

A: I would love to work someplace and earn money. Just for a while, say a month or even couple of weeks. I do not care where it is and I mean it. It can be anywhere, even in a hotel as a waiter or a helper someplace. Live that simple life for a month and experience it. There are hidden treasures in a simple life. You might not quite understand where I am coming from but a lot of others who think like me will, I am sure.

Q: Isn’t that a scary thought and a stupid thing to do?

A: A lot of people are scared what will happen if they do that. They feel their whole life will be turned topsy turvy if they stay away. It’s all about personal perception and whether you find joy in living extravagantly or find joy in the simplest things in life such as helping someone and seeing a smile on their face, the gratitude and blessing smeared all over their face. It’s a different high on the whole. Don’t think too much, just go for it.

Q: What do you exactly have in mind, when you mean a simple life?

A: It all depends upon how adaptable you are to a new environment. If you are enslaved to the stereotypical lifestyle of waking up, going to work, slogging all day (doesn’t matter if u get to chill at work or even fool around, you are still at work and under someone), get back home, have dinner, go out probably, sleep and repeat the cycle. You might have a vaccation once in a blue moon to a beachy location and do water sports and return all refreshed. That is also good, but do not repeat it more than once, it becomes stale. What I have in mind is a secret i will reveal once I’ve lived it.

Everyone goes to beautiful locations for a vaccation, spend a fortune, upload pics, receive comments and get back to work. No one will remember it. Do something different, the feeling is beyond this world. You wouldn’t even bother if no one appreciated it. You yourself would be at peace. Whereas you go someplace else where everyone else has been and its not appreciated when you are back, it will bother you.

Q: Can you explain what kind of feeling you are referring to?

A: How can I explain that? It is for you to experience. By the way do not go on this trip with any of your girl mates. They won’t understand it. Even if they do, you will always have their safety and comfort on your head. So keep this trip as something that is close to your heart and for yourself.

Try this out sometime in your lifetime and if this post made you do it, don’t thank me or even acknowledge or admit it, I will just be glad if I succeeded in breaking the cocoon you were in.

Cheers!!!

image references: radio.weblogs.com/0128644/2004/08/index.html, www.shunya.net,

Industry surveys have revealed that 9/10 start-ups fail within the first 3-5 years of operations. Why does this happen? Is there a common thread of failure mantras that people subconsciously follow?

Here are some of the reasons why, I feel, a start-up can tumble down the ladder to the pits. I often wonder what made my first venture a failure. Was I at fault or was it my partners? We had everything a start-up required, an office, a set off brilliant minds, each of us had our field of expertise, finance, marketing, international operations, sales. An esteemed clientele, promising ideas and products. Then what went wrong? We just couldn’t work together, just couldn’t.

We personally have no qualms, but professionally, it was 100% effort and very little output. It never matters how long you have known each other, even the presence of one entity that has a wrong intention can lead to an intermittent firing of the team. And when it is a team, one person is never accountable for the failure. It is the whole team. And despite several tries, if the matter can not be resolved, it has to culminate in failure. Individually, all will excel in life off these experiences. One of the greatest traits of a true entrepreneur is to rise from the ashes of failure like a phoenix. Some of the reasons that can lead to failure:

- Lack of focus
- Weak business model or no business model
- Individual goals that vary greatly from the rest of the team
- No or wrong mentors/advisers
- Wrong team
- Lack of trust
- Variation in character
- Immaturity
- No prior industry experience
- Lack of punctuality
- Over confidence
- Black sheep
- Loss of faith in business
- Mentality to quit

The points mentioned above could be in various combinations. If the combination involves all the above, you have close to a week before you wind up and my condolences in advance. If you haven’t kicked off yet, then take sometime off to work on these problems and then kick off. Also a few questions you should find answers to before you jump into a start-up;
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1) Where do you see yourself in 2 years whether this is a success or a failure?
2) What are you planning to take away from this venture?
3) What is your monetary share in the firm?
4) Is this specific business your cup of tea?
5) Are your partners trustworthy?
6) What is your role in the firm?

If you have justified answers to the above questions, you are well on the right path to success.

I have moved on and turned a new leaf and so far, a pretty successful one too. This time, keeping in mind the mistakes I made and avoiding the probable potholes when I sense one.

Cheers!!!

image reference: www.swsalestalk.com, www.press.princeton.edu, www.twitip.com, www.tolmol.com

Recently, I was surfing through a few write ups and stumbled upon the comment/question above? It was targeted towards entrepreneurs majorly. The reason why I decided to write about this is because;

1) I have my own blog
2) I, myself, am an entrepreneur
3) I have asked myself, this question a lot of times on facing certain challenges (will elaborate later in another post)
4) Its something, I feel, all should know about and comment on, if any

But the most important of all the reasons is because

5) It made me think
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My comments are strictly restricted to my personal experiences and from others, I have perceived.

Every event has majorities, minorities and exceptions. The very same way, this event also has a majority, a minority and an exception. The answer to the title question is YES. There is a direct co-relation between age and number of years of work experience. After a lot of thought, it occurred to me that, it is pretty simple.

On an average, a person decides to venture into entrepreneurship post 4-5 years of industry experience and a minority while in college or university. The success rate of those with industry experience, is around 80% as when compared to those right out of college. This is because as you work in the industry, you learn to wrap your head around the dos and donts of business. For instance, I have met a lot of youngsters who start a company and aspire to be successful. You know, media coverage, successful business plan, investors, fame yada yada. Of the whole lot of youngsters that have tried to be enterprising, 9 out of 10 start-ups, go to the dogs.

There are various reasons to the above, predominantly it is due to immaturity and lack of professional experience. When I say professional, I am referring to all the qualities one gains from an organization from, punctuality, character, capacity to filter projects, delegation, project de-risking, leadership and many more. Prove me wrong otherwise, which if you do, I would be more than glad for the knowledge and amend this post of mine. Please note that, I am not talking about the age, but referring to the years of work experience.

There are youngsters who have been into family business since they were young and by the time they pass out of high school, they have mastered and witnessed most of the scenarios in the business world.

It is imperative that, unless you are exceptional, you have at least a couple of years of professional experience before you set out to set-up a start-up. If you founded a start-up and failed, then either learn from your mistakes and work your way up again or get some professional experience and re-try. Either way it will help you.

I would be glad if this post helps you…

Cheers!!!

image reference : www.youngentrepreneur.com, www.sekpress.net, customersrock.files.wordpress.com