Hi, I am Vijay Anand and I work with Startups. currently head the Incubation Activity at RTBI, IIT Madras, Founder of Proto.in, a change-maker when it comes to the startup landscape, and serving in mentorship and strategic roles in a few companies.
// March 16th, 2008 // 5 Comments » // Business, Chennai, Entrepreneurship, India, Proto.in, Technology
I think there is a innate problem here. Startups do have a talent attraction problem. But it also has to come at a cost that they can afford. And at most times, its close to zero. Can that be made affordable? I think very much so.
It’s a simple effort to help facilitate and make that happen. Let’s see how it goes.
// March 12th, 2008 // No Comments » // Business, Chennai, Entrepreneurship, India, Technology
Everyone, and Just about anyone with a background in Economics and can understand the market will tell you that a healthy market is supposed to be somewhat close to what C.K.Prahalad defined and popularized as – atleast here in India – a Pyramid. But is our economy, atleast when it comes to the Industrial sector anywhere close to it? Hmmm… One has to really think about that one.
I am not even for a second going to even go near the point of saying that I am enlightened here with this revelation that our economy is not a pyramid. Infact, this conversation has been initiated, argued, debated, chewed and spat on in most economic forums in the country and everyone is very well aware that we don’t have a healthy Pyramid. I am just thinking through, what it means in terms of repercussions to the industry as a whole and to the entrepreneurial community.
Let’s start from the basics: The pyramid usually has about three segments. The 20% of the huge corporations and conglomerates, and the rest 80% which are pretty much the SME segment and the Startups. Now, do the numbers really add up? I’d have to think about that one, yet again.
During a conversation with a friend recently, the conversation revolved around which city provides a better atmosphere for a startup, from a perspective of providing that initial feedback, customer insights and etc, so that there is clarity past the ideation stage before the prototype is built. I had this perplexed look on my face trying to figure out if there is yet a city which provides that here in India. While most do cry out “Bangalore”, if you ask me, that city is the most startup-unfriendly territory that I am observing.* Whilst there is a very active group of people, and some with disposable incomes, who have started an entire community of unconference events and discussions that surround that, very little is happening past that. Bangalore, as per the count that we have on the number of startups, measures quite low. Salaries are high, infrastructure is expensive, branding is a very costly affair, attracting talent is a dance on the pole – let alone quality talent, and there a dozen startups fighting for the starving number of resources who are available and will actually provide that high caliber value for a startup. On the number of new startups that are emerging, the city ranks quite low. But at the sametime there is quite an active number of “startups” in the city which have been lurking around for a while – and when I say a while, it means for roughly around a decade. They have neither joined the SME alliance, nor are they really a newborn child. And this is essentially the company of alliance that is available in most places to get “that initial feedback” that we were discussing about. When these companies themselves are struggling to make that jump after a decade, I am not sure what sort of real feedback they can provide their new wave, that is coming up. I do hope that you understand the conundrum that we are facing here.
So that roughly puts things in perspective. If you break down an industry vertical, lets say the internet space, we have the likes of the public sector companies, and then we have companies such as Rediff and Indiatimes which form the bottom hemisphere of the lollipop, and then there is this ultrafine line of companies which are not more than a handful, which are to be the SME and startup companies put together. Lo! and behold, not the pyramid, but the lollipop.And in this Lollipop economy, the upper circle is competition and fiercely guards anything, anyone from the bottom is trying to pull. Feedback, and initial discussions are absolutely out of the question in most cases.
This is a concern, cause in an efficient ecosystem, I strongly believe that Incubators will have much less of a role to play. If knowledge was freely available, and people could catch up over a cup of coffee to vet out an idea, and that validation process could happen over conversations in a much more fluid manner – eventually leading to mindshare, market traction, talent referral, intial client base and even funding, then there is absolutely no need for a third element to facilitate this. Today, Incubators become an essential part of this conversation, since they are the only ones who can moderate and manage the intellectual property talks that are carried out and have any say with these bigger guys, who if they wish could squish these startups in as much time as it takes to blink.
It is quite beautifully put: Markets are inherently conversational. The more conversations we have, the faster we mature, and we need to have them in a much more open manner with all our cards on the table and as early as possible – if you are building a startup, or contributing towards the ecosystem. But unless the economic bifurcation by quantity and numbers is a pyramid, and not a lollipop, it is going to be a tough stroll up that mountain as we grow.
*While it is my opinion that, if a valley-type of ecosystem comes together in India it will be in a tier 2 city such as Pune or Hyderabad, that’s a conversation separate for another day.
// March 11th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Chennai, Entrepreneurship
Ever since I read ‘Built to Last‘ by Collins years ago, I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of making the extremes come to life. Black and white both together without becoming grey. Good and evil both in one without turning indifferent. Doesnt that sound like quite a topic for a curious mind? But reality back, Once you do get the perspective, you do realize how much it is a crucial essence and factor of success, especially when it comes to Entrepreneurship.
I do have a major complaint against most entrepreneurs. Most of them either seem to be so stuck in the details of daily operations, or are so much into the big picture that they are totally missing the beautiful princess who just walked right into the middle of their office space, but are still busy starring at the sky for a sign of things to liftoff – market tides to change or some equally dramatic thing that only they seem to be able to spot. Even worse are the highly optimistic ones who can just about make any business profitable in 18 months flat, even when on daily operations nothing seems to be making a change for the better.
Somewhere halfway in interacting with these two extremes, you sometimes have to stop and think if you have become a sadist who just won’t let people be, but have to keep poking them from here to there and there to here – until the reality hits you. It was and is never this or that, its always having a balance and sometimes both the extremes at the sametime.
To be able to “keep” the big picture and work on it, and yet get your hands dirty and “execute” the details is where the work of art lies. That’s what is most crucial for any entrepreneur.
// March 11th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Chennai, Entrepreneurship
Ever since I read ‘Built to Last‘ by Collins years ago, I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of making the extremes come to life. Black and white both together without becoming grey. Good and evil both in one without turning indifferent. Doesnt that sound like quite a topic for a curious mind? But reality back, Once you do get the perspective, you do realize how much it is a crucial essence and factor of success, especially when it comes to Entrepreneurship.
I do have a major complaint against most entrepreneurs. Most of them either seem to be so stuck in the details of daily operations, or are so much into the big picture that they are totally missing the beautiful princess who just walked right into the middle of their office space, but are still busy starring at the sky for a sign of things to liftoff – market tides to change or some equally dramatic thing that only they seem to be able to spot. Even worse are the highly optimistic ones who can just about make any business profitable in 18 months flat, even when on daily operations nothing seems to be making a change for the better.
Somewhere halfway in interacting with these two extremes, you sometimes have to stop and think if you have become a sadist who just won’t let people be, but have to keep poking them from here to there and there to here – until the reality hits you. It was and is never this or that, its always having a balance and sometimes both the extremes at the sametime.
To be able to “keep” the big picture and work on it, and yet get your hands dirty and “execute” the details is where the work of art lies. That’s what is most crucial for any entrepreneur.
// March 6th, 2008 // 3 Comments » // Business, Chennai, Entrepreneurship, India, Technology, Web 2.0
What makes the american economy enviable. Most folks who are entrepreneurs, technologists and venture capitalists seem to say “Its all about the silicon valley”. I think we are missing some very crucial elements there.
A conversation came up yesterday as to what inspired the valley to what it is today. Well, the truth of the matter is that, the valley is built on billions and billions of dollars of military research money. During the second world war and during the cold war with USSR, everything that was ever conceived and experimented on, was happening out of the bay area. The father of the silicon valley, if you ever get to hear about his name Fred Terman, was one who pretty much headed most of the defense initiatives for the US. [Steve Blank talks on the same Topic]
If you look at the technology s-curves of what has been the predominant business of the valley, it started off with Defense work, followed by semiconductors, followed by huge computational devices, followed by personal computers, followed by the internet. In each of these episodes, there were mammoth organizations that were created; Lockheed Martins and its ancestors, Intel, Dell, Microsoft, Yahoo and now Google. They fit the waveform, almost perfectly. There cant be another google, but there will be another wave and there will be another mammoth which will come out of that – if the US economy can sustain itself till then.
But think about it. All of this is sheer technology. Is technology, or techno-entrepreneurship as they call it, the only form of entrepreneurship? Actually, that’s the interesting part. Its not.
While the valley focused on technology and pushing it to the next level (essentially since more cycles meant more great companies and products and markets), technology alone doesnt fill all the gaps. What is often neglected are centres such as the east coast of the US, like NY which is not only the capital, but also the media giant for most of the english-speaking world. Newyork is as cash-rich as the valley in every aspect, and has more than its share of thriving entrepreneurs, just dressed differently. The fun part is that, unlike the short cycles of the technology-centric hubs where companies come and die before they get a chance to mature, because their time has run out, cycles are longer and more robust with economic and media centres.
Why is this important? It is crucial to understand this, because unless we do, we’ll constantly be talking about and dreaming about creating more engineers, Phds and smart businessmen. The world of media, economics, and markets will be opportunities lost for a thriving and growing market like India. It also comes down to the matter of allowing everyone to be participatory. I am realizing that because arts and science students & professionals think that they have fewer options (the best being working for call centres), they are much more daring and entrepreneurial than MBA graduates and engineering students. The truth is, we havent yet scratched the surface of the other sectors apart from IT. We get blamed for it, and I have to say that the naysayers aren’t all together wrong with their accusations.
If we are looking at a resilient economy, and looking at entrepreneurs and SMEs to be at the bottom and middle to strengthen and stabilize it, we need to be firing on all cylinders. And that will only happen if we focus on all key areas, that essentially forms the basis of what we call as modern civilization. As I said before, the valley and its model is just one part of the equation.
I had this fabulous discussion with Professor Veeravalli, who is a director at the Great Lakes Institute of Management yesterday on this topic. I wish I met more sharp folks like him, more often.
// March 6th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Business, Chennai, Entrepreneurship
It all occured to me when I was invited for a panel in an engineering college here in Chennai and the drive seemed to last longer than the allocated time for my talk. The college is 40kms away from the heart of the city and needless to say right in the middle of developmental regions. Which essentially means, absolutely no easy access to stationaries or food, let alone refreshments for any of these students. To me that screams out as an opportunity.
I did a quick search on google, and just in chennai there are close to 50 engineering colleges. I haven’t even factored in any of the arts and science and other universities yet. Even if one starts off with just the engineeering colleges by setting up a chain of food chains (fastfood or Deli), my guess is that it would take off quite well. We are essentially targeting a group of people who are perennially hungry (thanks to the growing boy/girl stage), do need something to keep them hydrated during this season, and there is a attribute of peer spending.
I’ve always believed that the next sector to get organized would be the Pan wallas. You dont believe me? Well, think about it. Go to the beach sometime and observe all the guys who are selling icecreams on their mobile carts. Each and everyone of them is carrying branded icecreams these days. Five or six years ago, these same guys were selling no-name, home-bade ice on sticks. Whether they are making more money now, or was it before is a question that is altogether different, but it will essentially be how it starts moving. I am sure the same with happen with Pan wallas as well.
But coming back to the topic, lets see if anyone picks this up and runs with it.
// February 23rd, 2008 // 4 Comments » // Business, Chennai, Entrepreneurship, India, Proto.in, Technology, The Journey, Web 2.0
I am seeing a flurry of activity among the tech blogs who’ve caught on a interesting topic to latch onto. Failed startups. If you ask me, I am not sure what the big hoopla in this is about.
Birds fly. Fishes Swim. Deals Fall through and Startups Fail. This is the natural order of things. The only thing we can do is alleviate the chances of success for a startup by a small degree. We do not, neither can anyone assure anyone of success and failures totally. Heck, the Silicon valley, which is considered to be this rich ecosystem, has its fair share of failures. What are we going to do about that?
“Success is one in a million. There is a very small chance that you could be that one and the obvious choice left is to fail. Are you ready for that?” is what my mentor used to ask me. For the first six and a half months, as I was pursuing him to be my mentor, every single book he gave me was on this amazing idea, great execution which went nowhere and resulted in a failed business. I used to think what was the point he was trying to make there. It was simple. Success in a startup is an anamoly. The natural route is failure. If there is one breed of people who can dare change that, it would be an entrepreneur. Yet there are factors and choices beyond our control which all contribute against it.
I remember talking to some students a few months back and the question kept going back to the concept of failing. How do you mitigate that risk and all that. I thought it was one of the profound and mature audiences that I had dealt with. I don’t even get some of those question at Proto.in, where startups are on a much progressive stage. I am hoping that they already know the answers to that.
Most of the startups that are slowly gaining traction are on an average on their third iteration. Most companies that come to Proto.in themselves are on their second iteration. It’s quite obvious when you talk to them and see how they have evolved their offering based on market interaction. It is that iteration which actually is the strength of a startup. Remember Agile, evolving, and the path towards a “complete” product? It’s all part and parcel of that.
There is this interesting session that happens when you learn how to skate – whether on ice or on inlines. The first thing you learn is how to fall. How to fall gracefully is the next step. If you are afraid of failure, You wouldn’t even move a step ahead. You need to dare, and that’s what entrepreneurship essentially is all about. There is a high level of risk and high level of reward at the end. Not everyone who get a lottery wins, and not everyone who starts up a company also succeeds. I am not sure what is news about it.
As long as you are afraid of falling, you won’t be able to stand up on your feet either. I can assure you that. I’ll leave you with these following words, which we had posted on a high banner for the first edition of Proto.in. Perhaps it needs to be much more visible, perhaps even everyday:
It’s not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or when the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worth cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat. – Theodore Roosevelt
// February 23rd, 2008 // 6 Comments » // Business, Chennai, Entrepreneurship, India, Proto.in, Technology, The Journey, Web 2.0
I am seeing a flurry of activity among the tech blogs who’ve caught on a interesting topic to latch onto. Failed startups. If you ask me, I am not sure what the big hoopla in this is about.
Birds fly. Fishes Swim. Deals Fall through and Startups Fail. This is the natural order of things. The only thing we can do is alleviate the chances of success for a startup by a small degree. We do not, neither can anyone assure anyone of success and failures totally. Heck, the Silicon valley, which is considered to be this rich ecosystem, has its fair share of failures. What are we going to do about that?
“Success is one in a million. There is a very small chance that you could be that one and the obvious choice left is to fail. Are you ready for that?” is what my mentor used to ask me. For the first six and a half months, as I was pursuing him to be my mentor, every single book he gave me was on this amazing idea, great execution which went nowhere and resulted in a failed business. I used to think what was the point he was trying to make there. It was simple. Success in a startup is an anamoly. The natural route is failure. If there is one breed of people who can dare change that, it would be an entrepreneur. Yet there are factors and choices beyond our control which all contribute against it.
I remember talking to some students a few months back and the question kept going back to the concept of failing. How do you mitigate that risk and all that. I thought it was one of the profound and mature audiences that I had dealt with. I don’t even get some of those question at Proto.in, where startups are on a much progressive stage. I am hoping that they already know the answers to that.
Most of the startups that are slowly gaining traction are on an average on their third iteration. Most companies that come to Proto.in themselves are on their second iteration. It’s quite obvious when you talk to them and see how they have evolved their offering based on market interaction. It is that iteration which actually is the strength of a startup. Remember Agile, evolving, and the path towards a “complete” product? It’s all part and parcel of that.
There is this interesting session that happens when you learn how to skate – whether on ice or on inlines. The first thing you learn is how to fall. How to fall gracefully is the next step. If you are afraid of failure, You wouldn’t even move a step ahead. You need to dare, and that’s what entrepreneurship essentially is all about. There is a high level of risk and high level of reward at the end. Not everyone who get a lottery wins, and not everyone who starts up a company also succeeds. I am not sure what is news about it.
As long as you are afraid of falling, you won’t be able to stand up on your feet either. I can assure you that. I’ll leave you with these following words, which we had posted on a high banner for the first edition of Proto.in. Perhaps it needs to be much more visible, perhaps even everyday:
It’s not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or when the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worth cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat. – Theodore Roosevelt
PS: This issue of looking at failed initiatives in a bad light, doesnt end in India alone.It seems quite universal – even in the US
// February 14th, 2008 // 3 Comments » // Business, Chennai, Entrepreneurship, Ideas to Toss
If you are a startup and are using one of the rare and well-known (oxymoronic?) platforms as your development platform, you’ll most certainly know what I am talking about. If you think I am talking about some strange and indeed rare platform like IRIX, or someone with the talent to write code in LISP, nope that wasnt it. I am talking about a little more well-known platform such as Python or Ruby. Let me tell you the story.
Most of the startups these days seem to be working on either Ruby or Python. If you ask about the developer base for this platforms, it is much smaller than demand. I’ve been on both ends of the phone in calling up people looking for such talent and on the receiving end of calls with people asking if I know of people who are available for hire. Quite honestly, I picked python as the development platform for one of the ventures that I am closely working with and I am kinda dreading that choice since one of the three developers is planning to quit soon. I don’t seem to be alone in this.
According to my teacher’s definition, Inflation was defined as “too much money chasing too few goods” and that principle more than applies here. Python/ruby coders are today quite a valuable asset. That is not going to be for long, so I hope nobody reads this and plans their lifelong career on that direction, but its going to be tough while it lasts for the startups.
There is one thing which is very clear about this. There is definitely a dearth of python/ruby coders. So if you are under the illusion that in some corner of the country there are an army of python coders and its just you who hasnt stumbled upon them, well you might be high on something. It might be time to face the facts. There is only one way out of this. You are gonna have to train people from scratch.
I am wondering and even had this discussion with some of the friends who are running startups. Would it make sense for each of the startups to pitch some money in and conduct a week long workshop to figure out which of these blank slates would make for a good hire?
The idea is that a combined effort and not “actually” hiring someone, but just training people lowers the risk of making a bad hire and then having to go through that awkward “letting go” phase. Also with so many people involved in the workshop, it not only gets your communications strengths out, it also allows for these batch to experience a diverse set of coding habits, that the exposure will eventually cling onto their style as well.
The issue with freshers seem to be:
1. Lack of Knowledge
2. Lack of Programming habits
3. The risk involved in hiring a blank slate
It might not at all be a bad idea to do one of these workshops. Of course the companies that are pitching in the money to conduct this need to ensure that:
a) Everyone involved sets the rules straight so that they all get equal opportunity to hire the batch.
b) No one else steps in from outside and plucks these candidates out with ease
c) The candidates dont believe that they are all gonna get hired. Well, the lazy ones will drop out before the 10 day period is over in most cases.
The good part in all this talent crunch is the availability of languages that are easier to learn. Thank God that Python/Ruby isn’t that hard to pick up. Imagine explaining “pointers” to someone over a weekend. Ahem.
// January 27th, 2008 // No Comments » // Business, Chennai, Entrepreneurship, Technology
Now that Proto.in is over, I am back here with the mission to breathe life into this personal blog of mine. Here’s something that I’ve been mulling over for sometime now, and I do suspect that there might be something worthwhile behind this whole thought process. Bear with me, will ya?
The western world was fascinated by motorbikes that were revving with power and had cylinder capacity that most of us are still struggling to cope up with our four wheelers on – thats pretty much the stark contrast. While motorbikes stand for glamor, exclusivity, cult, engine-power and ridiculous pricing (along with the fear of most parents praying that their kids never ever get on one), it is essentially the norm for folks here in India. Infact, a family of two, along with their two kids travelling on a “two wheeler” isnt such a rare sight to come across in India.
Essentially what the Nano is doing, is the same strategy that the bike makers took to potentially exploit a need, and address a market segment which was under the economical zone, but had big dreams.
Just a few days ago, I was glaring at some motorbikes parked opposite to my apartment, all the new 200+ cc bikes which are coming up, and was wondering if this would have ever happened if the motorbike manufacturers didnt start with a low-cost, low-power entrance strategy. With the rise in economy has grown the power of these vehicles and we are starting to see semi-sports models launching this year, and I am quite positive that within a few short years we will be racing with the rest of the world in the full power that a machine on two wheels can deliver.
The Nano is the exact same route taken with four wheelers. On that aspect, there is due credit and salutations to Mr. Tata for the vision and the engineering talent that has delivered on it.
The second aspect that I have been mulling over, and something I touched upon as part of the Keynote speech for Proto.in, was the idea of ‘Commoditizing technology’. As part of a team in IIT Madras which is engineering technology for the masses, this is something that has come up quite often than not – the fact that more than 75% of India cannot afford most of what we call as lifestyle technology. Is it possible to take something that is considered to be exclusive for the rich, re-engineer it and make it affordable to the masses, though it might reduce a wee-bit in functionality? If there was ever a time to say yes, it would be now – when we have a much better grasp on technology and the economics that work with numbers – on the favorable side.
Something remarkable has truly started with the launch of the Nano. While, I do share the skepticism as to whether our roads can hold all these car-drivers, owning a car and driving it around, I am sure everyone deserves their chance and has the right to own a car and drive it too. I am sure now more people will take to the streets and hold our government accountable for the promises they make on the infrastructure. Perhaps there too, these numbers will work for us.
