Many entrepreneurs have varying thought about what they want to do post a successful venture. I dare not say that we are successful yet – but if not today, then someday, we will be. Once we have reached that stage, I will dive into what I like to call  ‘Project 1070 ‘.

Project 1070 is an audacious project to get 5 years of absolutely non corrupted government into the parliament, with a single point focus: Change India (without a view to the next election)

A bit of background to this will help. I belong to a fairly well known family from Eastern UP (Deoria to be precise) – which has been in public service for the past century almost. My grandfather was the first ICS from UP state, My father retired as the Deputy Chief of the Army staff and was the first Lt. Gen ever to get elected to the Lok Sabha and has been a member of the Lok Sabha twice (with the BJP) since, my mother founded an NGO to provide self reliance to the educated but unemployed in back of beyond Deoria, my brother is the Chairman of the Jagriti Yatra, and my sister has led India’s charge to Africa front ending CII. Its not easy being the youngest in this brigade!

Enough Tom Tomming – but the reason for this slight deviation is to say that our views towards politics are skewed, and wrong from the current actualities on the ground. We believe in morals, and high values and blah – the common person doesn’t care two hoots about it. We want to help them prosper – they want to get by today (And thus will take whatever money they get to vote). All this is anyways fueled by every party existing today – be it the Congress, BSP, BJP, SP or any other…

I often get asked – when am I headed over to ‘Dads constituency’ to ‘take over the rein’ etc. My response has changed with time. My objectives havent. The objective has always been to gain financial stability (and enough to live comfortably ever after), and then focus on uplifting India – in whatever way I can. The way of doing that earlier was to join Politics. Today, I think that would be the worst thing I can do to myself or to India – become another Cog in the wheel, turning as the wheel turns.

The seeds of “Project 1070″: Consulting logic tells us that if a a system cannot be repaired, break it. I believe that the current ‘system’ that has set in around us cannot be changed. We need a revolution.

Imagine this: What would happen if ANY political party, with dynamic, well educated leaders who have been certified as not corrupt, exposed to India and the world were to come into power for 5 years in a majority government. What if they didn’t care if they got elected again – but all of them worked for 5 years towards ensuring that they do everything in their power to change India? Do you think there would be a change? I think it will change everything.

Thats what project 1070 is. How to get a government in place that is not corrupt, is knowledgeable enough to handle the vagaries of India while managing the world, and doesn’t care about the next election. They will change it NOW.

I have a full blue print for this, with the financial requirements, operational details etc worked out – but I wont share it here because I know that there are way more “Nos” out there than the guys who will step back and say “Bring it on!”. If you believe this can change anything – I request that you sit back, put the ‘naysayers’ that I am sure are already out at the back, and think ‘HOW CAN this be done / what is required to get this done?’. Do write in to me should you have some thoughts – would love to connect.

M

I was sitting back the other day and thinking about the journey – and there were a LOT of lessons that came to me, which I thought of sharing with whoever cares to read this, so I will just list them down with a one line explanation of why. Some I learnt early on – others I am learning as we speak, while still others were taught to me in formal class through the Startup Leadership Program. Here goes:

On Human resources:

1/ When hiring a team, measure them on the fit with your core values and past performance, and typically hire As (Thanks to Nikhil Nath for introducing this concept to us at SLP). The fact is that if you hire B’s, they will most probably hire Cs under them and you are in the death spiral. Define your core values for the company that you wish to build! Also read ‘topgrading‘ by Bradford Smart to find out more about this! I am reading it now – and its the single biggest investment I will make into my own business.

2/ You embody the company, be sure you want a company like you: People tend to think of themselves as sexier than they really are – but the company will turn out (if you follow point 1) as what you are. Be ready for that.

3/ You will be the driver: No-one will be able to drive the people as much as you can / will. If you think that even the As will be able to take everything on, they wont. They will be much better than the rest – but they also need direction and cajoling.

On fund raising:

1/ A VC is your friend till the time you keep following him: Stop following him, focus on the business. He will start following you.

2/ There are 1000 reasons why you wont get investment: You will hear a new one every time you meet some new potential investor. Till the time you launch and there is a simple uptake. Then – nothing counts.

3/ There are genuine angels out there, but they are far outnumbered by the naysayers: People want to invest – but no matter how well they know you, they will still want ‘traction’ at an angel level. Find the right guys if you can.

4/ VCs will waste a lot of your time – get a boutique firm to do the dirty work: I have had discussions with VCs about my business model, which they dont understand jack about, but behave as if their words are the gospel truth on my business. Let someone else deal with them

5/ Survive: Do what you have to, but survive till you show the upswing. Money will come in post that.

On the entrepreneurial environment:

1/ Entrepreneurs seem to like entrepreneurs: People from the industry seem to like you because you are on their side. The truth is that 90% of these guys dont care two hoots about you. They want to find out how they can associate with you and appear ‘entrepreneurial’, or get their pound of flesh / get publicity. Sorry – but after 2 years, I can see through the guys.

2/ Dont rely on bigger entrepreneurs too much: Every entrepreneur wants to have a bigger entrepreneur in his rolodex to learn from, and get mentored and use them as a sounding board or he might want to invest in you etc. Unless he is your uncle, he will stop taking your calls / responding to emails sooner rather than later. I was quite surprised when I realized this – but thats the sad truth. You gotta be ready to do what you have to – primarily yourself!

3/ People want money more than anything else: ESOPs etc dont work. Money does.

My key takeaways:

1. I am on a lonely road – If someone comes and walks with me – great, if not – bollocks to them.  I will get there – if I have to drag the rest of my team with me across the finish line.

2. The journey is the enjoyable part - have a healthy detachment from the outcome. Enjoy the problems and issues that will come up – and you will have a fantastic ride! I know I am having one as we speak.

3. Self reliance is best – Dont expect anyone else to give you anything (though you must try).

4. Be more wordly wise – Dont take people at face value, and dont bend down to anyone. Stand up straight when you speak with someone. Noone is above you as an entrepreneur.

My apologies if this post came out in a manner that is more negative than positive, but let me tell you this: Take these to heart and you will have lesser headaches!

M

1) The importance of the dots created by god

2) Tom Friedman’s visit and. Very interesting and thought provoking

3) Other lessons in start upping!

Lets go!

The importance of the dots created by god:

Old saying: There is a reason for everything to happen. Trust me – its true. Here is a list of the compiled set of things that am sure every entrepreneur thinks about, have happened to Voicetap and me, how they looked bad at that time, and how they eventually are turning out currently.

- Problem with Co-Founders: I had not worked with the co-founders before Voicetap. I started from scratch, and from business communication to thinking about the bigger picture to being anal about ‘Vision and scalability’, I just hammered away. No problem with the co-founders, just that we were not on the same plane. Now that we are – I am thankfully making myself redundant from a lot of things (and now is when I need to)

- Not the right valuations: We gave away equity at a ridiculously low valuation. I thank my stars for that today. The great part is that we got to look up at the ball and try and hit it for a six. Without the money (and more importantly the angel behind it), we wouldn’t have been able to do anything with this business. I cannot stress enough the importance of a good angel and not thinking about how much equity you should hold blah blah. Get a shot at the game first. We did – and we have a bigger shot today.

- Direction to take, money to spend etc.: I was forced by my angel to go for the awards, and he said – we’ll keep this outside of the agreed amount. Just go – it will open up your eyes, and give you a lot of exposure and the Red Herring award is conferred on some special few. You are lucky to be one of the youngest ever. I went to Shanghai, to LA and then to Barcelona – all for international awards. Today – we get nominated automatically, and the PR cycle continues. People ask me about the buzz around Voicetap – and its really *touch wood* happening without any active involvement. <– really helpful

- Product to make, technology to use, people to hire etc.: Lots of too-ing and fro-ing here. I dont have a tech background, and I was the product manager. I didnt know how to think through a product, document it, put it up for A/B testing, and then launch. We just went for it – took our first product live in 21 days from scratch, and then kept on making iterations etc. Got screwed many times over – db crash, product problems etc. etc. We learned a helluva lot. We learnt that businesses are the paying guys. We learnt that consumer facing businesses require a lot of attention and money. We learnt that absolutely consumer facing businesses require a LARGE team. Most importantly – I learnt that we as a company don’t have the inherent DNA for a consumer focused business. We have the DNA of an enterprise / operator facing business. Good pivot, and thank god for that! At the time – we were bulls, bursting our heads trying to understand consumers. We did to a bit – but not completely. Fine. Now we know our customers.

- The partners: Partners can screw a small company. We got screwed. If it hadn’t been for one specific partner, we might have been in a different position. Having said that, if it weren’t for that one frightfully wrong partnership, we would not have understood the nuances of legalities, not got the fire to fight on, maybe not developed the product that we are today deploying on top of two operators and might even have become a staid VAS company. The good part is that we learnt again – about VAS, about operators, developed the product, finetuned it, started generating revenues without operators and are now taking it on top of operators.

You can take the above to heart – or you could just say thats the speak of someone who is happy where he is, and sees a silver lining in every cloud!

Tom Friedman in our office:

I had a great time when he came over. We spent a good 1 hour debating about various things. Its always good to have someone so knowledgeable to debate with. Having said that – I was a bit taken aback at the fact that he himself is looking for answers for the whole of the US.

The question was only one: With so much innovation happening in India and China – what does this mean for the US? and how can the US ensure that it retains some edge over everyone else?

My points were:

1. I dont agree with the notion of The world is flat: Factually, even Friedman agrees that some parts are ‘unflat’. Unfortunately – definition of flat is ‘Have internet – is flat’. By market size itself, thats flawed – cause you have 1.2 bn people out of 6.6 bn who have the net, and the others dont. The other interesting part was that the 4.8 bn who have phones dont really ‘need’ the net now. The Subzi walla here doesnt need the net – cause his world is now satisfied by the phone that he holds (one of his steroids). Its like this graph (I actually drew this for him):

This creates problems. If the majority of the people (not connected to the net) are not impacted by the net (think about how many people are actually impacted by Twitter) – then how is the US relevant to them?

2. The US is usually the flint – but the fire burns elsewhere: The US has been and will continue to remain the powerhouse of innovation (thats systematic – with its institutions, society, economy, ecosystem etc.). However, how many non tech innovations that have come out of the US have actually been the ‘monopoly of the US’? Errm – none. Even the tech elements will not remain the monopoly of the US for long – if they keep on focusing inwardly. What has happened till date is that the newest innovation has come out of the US, but has been taken by China / Japan (unfortunately not India) – and productised to the level that the US cant reach today. Toyota, Sony, DoCoMo – all examples of the same. Google / MSFT / FB / Coke / Pepsi are the only things that I can think are truly American and the reason why they have survived so well is because they looked outside of the US. They took the fire to other countries.

3. The muscle builds because lack of O2: Interesting fact, and one that I was not aware of till recently. When a body runs – muscle develops. Why? Cause it takes in more air? No – cause the body realizes that not enough air is reaching the critical areas – so works harder to get the oxygen there. It is the same with us. We dont have the systems here – we dont have the ecosystem here. My office runs on Generator for 6 hours a day. There is no social security, no net to protect me if I fail to fend enough for my wife and two sons. O2? Nah – lack of it.

4. What have you built? The infrastructure, the civil society, the housing system, financial system, media, railroads, social security – everything that the US society is built on, was built by the fore fathers. Nothing wrong with that. The only problem is that not everyone is charged enough to want to better the system continuously (Like Tom is). They are too comfortable. There is the need of a revolution internally. BTW – this question is what drives me daily: What have I built to earn my place in the world?

Other interesting points came up – and we had a great discussion. It was a pleasure having him here.

Tom Friedman at the Voicetap office

Other lessons from the trenches:

This is a long post – and I am no expert at this, so will rattle them off in bullet points:

1. Pricing is KEY: PLEASE think through this carefully. It is a f*&^*& bitch to change your prices later. I learnt that the hard way!

2. The Orange peel bit: Vivek beat me to this one, but its fundamentally true. If you look at any situation – and you want a successful outcome, dont approach it straight. Find out the objective (of the person talking to you, of the company you are dealing with, of your wife, your friend – whoever), and you will know how to approach it.

3. Dont be scared of change: Of realizing that something is not working / that someone is not working / that something / someone needs to be changed / that something needs to end now. Remember – the business is above everything else. Even above yourself. My favorite analogy to my co-founders is that if the business will do better without me – replace me.

4. HR is key: I can not tell you how important this is. Building, sustaining and maintaining a good team takes a lot – mentally and emotionally. Enough said.

5. Try and look for the dots ahead of where you are currently: Guys in the office used to joke saying that I am always on skype talking to guys in far away continents trying to sell something, whereas we have so much to do in India. True. However, I could see the form of the company 6 months ago and started working towards that. Today, we have sustained clients on the enterprise side and two operator relations. One of them thanks to my skype chats.  :-

6. Enjoy yourself: Someone asked me the other day – I will give you 5 Lakhs a month. Give this up and come work with me. Guess what the answer was. No thanks. If we are hitting for the fences together, then the captain is not going to throw in his hat before the game starts!

Enjoy your roller coaster! I know that I am loving mine!

There is only one thing that I can say for this event: Its a proud moment, and an EXTREMELY liberating one. FYI: We arent there yet – but god willing, we will be there by end of next month. We eat what we reap. We start generating positive (monthly) cash flow. We have enough commitments from our clients to become operationally break even next month.

Its been a long journey – and could have taken much longer. It started when there was the ‘Inception’ of an idea in my head by a gent called Krishna Jha. Krishna is a partner at TelNet ventures and a previous entrepreneur with experience of building and exiting a business in the telecom space. I had met him at Proto and had interacted with him many times. He had come to our office a couple of months back and at that time, we were clocking Rs. 40K per month. Krishna’s advise was to triple the revenues – Bring it upto 120 K. His words were “Simulate a kick in your balls. Right now – you are running on the cushion of investment – Simulate a scenario that you dont have that much cushion.” The idea stayed with me – and morphed into a bigger hydra than what Krishna had suggested. Why some? Why not NO cushion?

We thought about the ways and means of enhancing revenues to become operationally break even and yet keep growing. We thought hard but not for long. We did only two things:

1. I went back to our investor (who had committed SGD 1Mn of which we had utilized 15%) and said with a lot of difficulty: “No more money please. We have decided to live off our own produce. No more ‘Khairat’”. I think the investor was a bit taken aback at first – it isn’t often that they hear the entrepreneur telling them that we don’t want your money any more. The fact that he appreciated it much more became clear when he made me a director on the board of Regional Airports Holding International Ltd. (RAHI) <– that’s another story.

2. We got out there and started gunning for business. Raised the prices, went back to our clients and thankfully our product was good enough for them not question the raise in prices – but rather they came out and said give us 10 times more! We obliged. One client went from Rs. 20K to Rs. 200K in one month flat. Next month – they want to double that!

We are still a bit away from complete operational break even, but the ‘feeling’ that I am already getting is one of sheer exhilaration – and frankly, I cant explain it enough in words. Its a mix of the bubbles in the stomach & the twitching smile &  the jump up high & the scream out loud feeling.

So here we are: Some extremely marquee names as paying clients. Currently integrating on top of a unified telecom platform in India. International launch as a VAS service on top of probably one of the most innovative operators in the world in 2 months. 3G launch on an Indian operator (signed, done – launch whenever it happens). Brought down the sales cycle from 5 months to 1.2 months – and focusing only on the VERY big clients. And a situation where we will break even operationally in a months time. With all of 9 extremely dedicated and proud people.

Its too early to start taking bows. Its too early to break out the bubbly (we will have a nice session the day we actually get to operational break even). It is actually time to start taking stock of the much harder road ahead. Time to think about scaling while maintaining your own cash flow and business. When someone asks me about investment – I say that yes, we are looking to raise funds. Not because we wont get there, but because with the right ‘kind’ of investment, we will reach there faster.

A reputed VC recently told me: “Thats quite a bit of progress for a year of operations”. My response was “Not enough. Not nearly enough”.

Watch this space!

M

Not sure how many of you have actually experienced the exhilaration, thrill, fear, anxiety and enjoyment of waiting for the magic door of your product / service / shop to open up publicly and your product fixing all that ails this world! I have – and while the feeling cant be shared here, the experiences can be. This is a first in a chain of posts where I will discuss what I learnt while hunkering down in the trenches with my comrades! Here goes…

Fellow entrepreneurs: There are a few ground rules that you just have to accept. I learnt them the hard way – and here they are, along with how we tackled them :

1. Murphy will strike every single f*!$&ng time: Whatever can go wrong, will definitely go wrong. In our case, the list is quite long! The PRI card that we purchased was the wrong one – and didnt fit our severs in Mumbai (We are in Noida). The PRI line didnt get installed. Once it got installed, it was not activated in the right manner. The technology had bugs in it – which didnt want to go away. Our web guy left us 10 days before the launch. Our clients were breathing fire down our neck for delays that were beyond our immediate control. The invite functionality was not functioning properly etc. etc. All this carried on till 3 days before the launch! I learnt a lot from this:

a) Allow people to set their own deadlines, and you accumulate them to get to a single date in time for launch: Allows people to own their stuff and get things done. You need to give direction – not dictate every thing that has to be done (I say this today – even though I know that I tend to get down and dirty far too many times for my own liking).

b) Allow for a buffer in the deadlines: Things will go wrong. Definitely! So dont get yourself all worked up if you miss your deadline by a day.

c) Look at the big picture: Set 3 – 4 key objectives that you want to get validated / met by X date – and get everyone to focus on delivering them. (We did that – but after the launch)

d) Always be ready for a plan B: When our web guy left, we were left pretty much high and dry. Nothing much that could be done. Noone could join within a couple of days, and we didn’t want to outsource at that crucial juncture. Two things happened: Sandip (a true telecom tech guy) stepped up to take on the web tech as well while Arpit took over the actual product side.  Surprise surprise – they did it. We had to get a design company on board + get some simple coding help from outsiders – but it didn’t hold us back. We didn’t buckle. We adapted. More expensive? Yes. More taxing? Definitely! But done. The great thing about Plan B’s is that if they usually go better than you expect them to! :-p

2. Do yourselves a favor – set yourselves up for a fall: Everyone thinks that the day you launch a service, you will get 10,000 users and by the end of the first month – your service will be at 100,000 users (at least)! Right? Err… not really. My experience shows that there are a lot of things that have to go right for everything to go according to plan. Your PR plan, your social media strategy, your early adopters, your product itself and at least 20 other things. It wont happen on day one. Not saying that it wont happen at all – just never on day one. Its a marathon – not a sprint. Get ready for the long hard ride of customer acquisition. Plan for the best (100,000 users), but be mentally prepared for the worst (1000 users). <– btw these are just examples and not our metrics. We have seen a steady growth happening regularly since the time of launch. It seems much more like a recommended sign up rather than a forced one. A multiplier effect – that’s what we have going right now. Bigger challenges lie ahead: How do we engage everyone to ensure that the multiplier effect grows.

3. Go for the WOW: We did this – but not in a planned manner.  It happened more accidentally really.  This has two elements:

a) Remove as many bugs as possible: Test, test and more tests. We did this – but not in a planned manner. We should have had an excel sheet where we had the test cases etc, but we didnt for the first time. We had ONE sheet, where everyone consolidated all the bugs they saw – and then someone was responsible for fixing them. It should have been – 5 different people testing out 500 use cases, and getting the results across to the guys who have to fix it. There will still be lots of bugs  that will crop up, but its best not to have them in the core process / experience of the product.

b) Decide on the WOW bit: Think consciously about ONE wow factor that can be spoken about. Is it the seamless buying process, the interface, the ajaxing of your site – whatever. But it should be there. Not from a perspective of getting you more customers – but basically covering your ass from the downfall that you will likely have in case you dont have that WOW effect. Fundamentally – as a startup, you need the wow to remain at the same place you are at right now!  In our case – it was the registration and search / connect process. We tested that at least 300 times before saying – yes, that works. We didnt really plan for it to be wow – but when people told us that they really liked the immediate welcome call or the personalized IVR functionality – we had found it.

4. Enjoy the moment: We didn’t have a launch party, and I personally regret it. Everyone worked bloody hard to have the product up – and we all got extremely engrossed in the stats post that to realize that we had all come a long way, and in a very short time with very very limited resources.

- Here was something that large companies wanted (We have ~30 corporate clients now).

- Here was a product that was appreciated by almost everyone who interacted with it (We have been used by ~3000 individuals till date).

- Here was a concept that wasnt there anywhere else.

- Here is something that could solve all the ills of the world! (Or so we believe – and you will too (for your product / service)).

Dont lose that moment. No one knows whats really in store – but at that moment, the world was ours. Come to think of it – it still is! So with that – I am going to sign off, and actually organize a party tonight.  To celebrate the experience of creating something of value (to some people) from abso-f*&!ing-lutely nothing. To celebrate the fact that we are all here in the trenches together… and loving every minute of it!

M

1. Build the system for your clients – but test it on the final users: We did the right things – went to our customers, got sign ups, listened to them, tweaked our product, were nimble about it, added features, streamlined requirements, got the product upto scratch as per what we ‘thought’ were the key things, and I thank god for that today. However, the one thing we realize now is that they were as much in the same ‘thinking and planning’ mode as we were. They didnt know how the system would react, and more importantly – how their customers would react. VERY important learning – build it for your clients, but test it on the final users. Here is what happened:

Day 1: We sent out about 4K SMSes to targeted users who we believed would use the service. Good. People called our service – in the %ages we thought they would. Great. And then they dropped off the radar. No connections.We scratched our heads.

Day 2: We sent out about 20K SMSes, and the same thing happened. 20 connections. More scratching.

Day 3: We outcalled some users and put in a voice based tracking (like the web logs) – and watched where they were dropping off, and we realized that the people dialling in really didnt care about the options that we were providing. They wanted simple connections. Nothing else. Wow – we (or our clients) hadn’t thought about that one.

Day 4: Changes done – 20 K more SMSes. Expected response, and higher conversations. Getting there.

Day 5: No SMSes. Just pure tech play.

Day 6: 20 K SMSes. Great response. Still the IVR menu, and still some drop offs. Repeat users. Many repeat users. Nice

The point of sharing all this with you is that we had built a system that common sense said would work. The common man thought so too – but with limitations. We need to change somethings. Add more features, delete some. Perfect – ‘Mission BETA’ accomplished. However, we should have done this before. You definitely should!

2. Tie the pieces together: When we were ready to launch – Murphy’s law kicked in (It inevitably does). The system was cobbled together. On a staging server. Web was not working properly. Our key web guy had disappeared. The system was acting up. Some calls getting recorded – others not. To put it mildly – we basically didn’t really have too much going in our favour. We launched never the less. 10 days post that – I am sitting here writing a blog post about the process. Not because I think we have cracked everything – but because the pieces now stick together and I have the time to do so. The Customer Care rep can take the calls and the system works when he redirects. The calls land. The SMS scrubbing is happening alright. The little details that matter are now sticking together. We know where the problems really are, and the ones that are now solved. Trust me when I say – this will not happen till the time you face real users.

3. Allows you to see things with more clarity: Till the time we had launched, there was only one focus for me personally. Make sure that the calls happen – and the conversations are meaningful. The calls are happening and the conversations are more meaningful than what I had anticipated them to be! Its like a clog has been removed from my brain. Now – I am able to look at the system from afar and say. Hmm.. nice. What else can we do with it. And there are a lot of things that can be done! I am thankful that it went this way – it could have gone completely the other way. Either ways – this is what was needed, as I now know exactly where my focus should be over the next few months.

Thats my $0.02. Think of it as a story – but take it seriously. Dont try to perfect a system and then launch. Launch and then perfect everything around it – not just the technology. You will realize that most probably tech is the easy part. Its the other things that will rattle you.

M

The real problems faced by Entrepreneurs in India: In order of importance are

a. Gathering the right team: At the IAN discussion at Proto – 75% of the questions were about the team (maybe because thats the single most important thing that investors look at). It struck me that people become entrepreneurs – and they dont really even know what type of a team member do they require. Sutra HR does a good job of helping you find the right guys. Not sure if they can help you identify what talent you require though. Jay and I have had some discussions – and their new product is something that I would use (again).

b. Pitching it right: I met some incredibly brilliant guys who have some really cool stuff happening – but I had to dive into what they were saying to figure out their business. One advise that I would like to give is to keep practising the pitch. To customer one – x pitch (30 secs). To customer two – y pitch (40 secs). To investor – z pitch (60 secs). Remember – before you pitch anything, know the pain point / sweet spot of the person you are pitching to, and focus ONLY on that. Not on YOUR product – but his sweet spot. If you have a demo – dive into that and let your product do the talking. <— this is relevant to the last part of this post

c. Knowing what to ask, and having the balls to ask it: I came across innumerable entrepreneurs who wanted to ask some hard questions – to whatever their audience was, but very quickly fell into the ‘community and validation trap’, where you tend to ask what everyone else also wants an answer to, and frankly you already know the answers to. ‘If I dont have a tech guy in my team for a web based business – is it ok?’ (errr.. NO) , ‘We are two graduates and got rejected from a bplan competition because we didnt have relevant experience – is that important?’ (errr.. duh), and so on are about 60% of the questions being asked. The harder questions like ‘How many startups have YOU invested in which were a napkin idea’, or ‘Whats your typical investment ticket size’ will tell you more relevant stuff about the investor you are talking to, and place you as an equal to him rather than you being subservient and asking for validation from him

d. Understanding the difference between a fundable business vs. I want my website funded: This one has a link to all the above. A fundable business (depending on the stage) would to my mind be one that has put together the building blocks of a business. Forget tech, forget product. A business. Management, Sales, Marketing, Finance, Operations, Logistics, Customer service – or whatever it is that your business requires. Websites dont get funding – businesses do.

e. Access to capital: There is capital out there. We all know it. Its about how you have tackled the first four points that will define whether your 60 sec pitch to the (right) investor you meet at the next proto.in or Headstart conference extends to 20 mins and then to further meetings. I wont bore you here with the names of the various angel networks and stuff – but they are there, and you know it.

f. Mentoring: I mention this last, because this realization came to me at 8.00 PM last night, while I was sitting at the IITB canteen swatting away life sucking mozzies . I was approached by a young couple. They introduced themselves and we sat down to talk. They wanted some advise on their business. I wasnt quite sure why they chose to speak with me – but I was all ears. They dived into their pitch about the product and we waded through it for a good five mins, but I wasnt able to understand what they wanted to tell me. Then at some point, the guy took out a rough cardboard sheet and 10 thinner peices of cardboard (Yes Cardboard). He proceeded to demonstrate his product to me and the results that it could produce in children – and my eyes opened wide. www.dewink.com is the company – and they have one of the most mindblowing products derived out of their own creativity and logic, and it increases the creativity in children by as much as 50%. An 8 year old with the creativity of a 12 year old. I saw the drawings and stories done by children – and being a father myself, I told them “If you have a product – Here is Rs. 2000 right now. I want one”. I will offer to help them in any way that I can – mentor them as much as I can and help them bring their product to market. The reason for this short story is simple – There arent enough mentors around, but also – entrepreneurs dont approach enough people for thoughts, validation, and are hesitant to get mentors on board. Big mistake. My one question to them was – can you imagine your product. Whatever you can imagine – someone will be able to make it happen. They had never thought of it like that – and maybe thats what is required for this company to create a product that has a clear market of over a billion dollars, and a ready need. Think BIG, THINK.

Comments welcome!

M

Getafixx and its progress thus far:

Since the time we launched Getafixx – our focus has not been on it too much. That is unfortunate, because it has got great reviews from its users. We now have 478 experts using the Getafixx engine and at last count a total of 1823 cumulative users (including the experts). Not bad given that we really havent done anything around it (no marketing / nothing) – but pathetic based on the fact that these numbers could have gone up tremendously had we focused on it.

To be fair, apart from demonstrating our commitment towards connecting you with experts directly – Our key objective to launch Getafixx was two fold:

1. Understand how people access / disseminate knowledge: Amazing experience. We have noticed peaks and troughs of knowledge sharing. What are the times that experts will take more requests? When will the users send in more requests? What type of a ‘profile’ gets more ‘Yes’, and which doesn’t? What are the searches happening on? Lots to go on…

2. Build up a base of experts who will get preferential treatment in all our future products. Like I mentioned – we didnt focus on Getafixx that much. There is a very rational region for not focusing more on Getafixx and the chat medium. Money. Moolah. The greenback. And the product that we believe has the maximum potential for quick validation and revenue…  (more on that later in the post)

While on Getafixx, we have received numerous posts on “whats in it for the experts?”. So that’s the other thing that will be launched soon – KEEP (the Knowledge Expert Engagement Program), and it promises to be good (especially for you guys who believed in us when we had 7 experts).

On the next product (Any suggestion for names guys?):

What can I say except that what we are trying to do is akin to trying to lift a weight of 1000 kgs in a snap, only on our little finger. There is a lot of grunt work that is being put in. Sales is going all out to meet the corporates with the demo product that we have (its still rudimentary), but the response has been overwhelming. Technology has given at least 3 48 hour stints in the past 2 weeks, and a 70 hour week has become the norm. We are hoping to ‘launch’ this product to the market in Jan – but will be opening up a beta testing program for our experts and users to give it a whirl starting the 10th or so of this month. (Could extend by a day or so – but nothing much more than that). So if you are interested in testing the pre launch product and are ready to provide us with constructive feedback / point out bugs – write in to v@voicetap.in: He will be coordinating the effort.

Naturally – each expert who signs up to help, gets a special gift of appreciation from Voicetap!

Parties:

They have actually dipped in the past few weeks. No more than twice a week – which is a tad low from our perspective, but then thats in our hands – and we aim to change that quickly.

This Saturday is an off for everyone at Voicetap. Everyone needs to catch up on sleep, on personal work, with family – with friends. Whatever. We will have the product internally ready by this Friday – and Saturday, we will sleep over it. Join us – Test it – Use it – make something really useful!

Mrigank

In my last post, I had discussed about why global companies are not coming out of India. I stand corrected. There ARE global companies coming out of Indian – they just might not be known for it yet.

As you all might know – we are now one of the winners of the Red Herring Asia Top 100 award. During the awards functions, I came across the following companies, and they are global. Oh yeah they are.

1. Suntec: A global play – based out Trivandrum. Fabulous product for the banking sector. Have 9 of the top 10 top global banks as their clients. Closest competition: Oracle. Who is winning? Suntec. Winners RH Asia T 100

2. Suvidhaa Infoserve: A play that changes the way ANYONE reaches the masses of India. Fabulous concept, flawless execution. Global? Hell – the system can bring the world to India

3. Consim: Parent company of Bharat Matrimony / Click jobs. Major revenue – from India. Major chunk of clients – NRIs / international folks. 358 domain names under them. Phew. Global? Hell yeah – solving a global problem – yes. Making money of it? YES

4. Cellcast: Fabulous concept of monetizing TV content. Great technical engine. Can be replicated anywhere across the world. Global scale revenues already.

5. Dhama Apparel: Phew. This one blows the wind out of your stomach. A company started by an MIT grad out of NID Ahmedabad, which makes clothing that can cool or heat your body as required by the enviornment. Potential clients – Swiss army, US army, Indian Army, Shell, BP. Need I say more?

6. Annova Tech: Competing with Navteq and Google Maps. Indian company – Indian work, and they have a stronghold on their markets, competing with Giants in the world.

And then there was us. A small company with a global vision to help connect knowledge seekers to knowledge experts. As Alex Vieux (The CEO of Red Herring) put it: The Global Knowledge Concierge. I have to admit – the term grows on you.

So there you have it – I admit. I stand corrected. There are already global companies coming out of India. The only question is whether they are ALREADY global or on their way to become global powerhouses. I think the inflection has happened. The models have become global… now its upto them to execute on a global scale.

Your thoughts welcome as always.

Mrigank

The question that remains unanswered till date in my mind is: “Why doesn’t India produce more International startups?”, and the general (please note the word) answers vary depending on the person to whom the question is asked:

1. The VC: The ecosystem doesn’t support it. What he means is: Someone please ask the rich guys to start doling out more money as angel money so that we get the business plan at a time when the business is ‘well done’. Not two college boys with half baked ideas. Only one VC I know has ever said what I believe should be reciprocated everywhere: “We have the money – bring us fundable businesses.” Thats an important element – are you fundable? I have some thought on this – but that’s another post altogether.

2. The angel networks guys: There aren’t enough good businesses that come for funding. Now this is serious – cause its as straight as it gets. You might have a great business plan, but you aren’t going to the right guys. Why? Maybe you dont have mentors? Just plain scared? Not confident enough? Waiting for the right time? Christmas? BTW – if you need mentors – they wont come to you. You go to them. So start seeking them out. Just to do my part – I do help out entrepreneurs by poking holes into other peoples ideas / plans. So feel free to get in touch if you think I could be of any meager help.

3. The media guys: Indian entrepreneurs don’t think global enough. I agree with this one the most, and I have seen it. We will develop intricate networks, processes, systems and make money enough to sustain ourselves by solving small problems. Second hand cars, Vegetables to your doorstep, self print t-shirts, facebook me-toos, community based talks on IITJEE. Wow. World changing. Never existed before. Noone did that ever before. Do you think you are swinging for the fences? Do you think you are changing the world? Not the neighborhood – not the city, not the country. The world. An entrepreneur makes it really big, or falls flat on his face. Either ways – he wins. We as Indians dont play to win. We play to stay in the game. Secure. With our self printed t-shirts.

4. Entrepreneurs themselves: We dont have the funds to grow big enough. Fair point. I have five questions for you my friend:

• Is your team better than the others? Honestly? You think so? Get a second, third and fourth opinion. If you have even an iota of doubt – take corrective measures early in the game. Its critical.
• Is your business worthy of the funds that it wants to raise? Ask someone who has raised funds / ask your really rich uncle. If you have a VC friend, run your business by him – they give invaluable feedback. My recommendation to every entrepreneur is to meet with as many VCs they can – get their feedback and MAKE THE RELEVANT CHANGES. Don’t be an Ostrich. Get your head out of the sand and listen to feedback.
• Have you put in enough ‘sweat’? I see people a month into the business trying to raise a million dollars. Get real guys. If you had 100 Mn, and I wanted 1 Mn out of that – you would’nt give it to me unless I showed you the amount of sweat that I put in, so why should you expect others to?
• Have you got your bases covered? i.e: Have you thought about the business really? I mean – really really thought it through? I can guarantee that 8 out of 10 guys will not be able to defend every question someone throws at them, so don’t say “yes – I know my business inside out”.
• Have you tested the market? Thinking about the business and validating it from customers are two very different things. Do that. You will understand that thats where the real rubber hits the road. When the customer has to sign the cheque. Thats validation. Not one, not two – but consistently for sometime. You are there.

My simple recommendation to whoever will listen is: Ingrain the following in your mind, soul, body and team.

1. Dream big and solve a global problem. Dream Extremely f@#@$~! big, and try and solve a simple problem that can be global.

2. Be obsessed with scalability. Put it in your vision, mission, letters, memo, logo, processes, technology, breakfast, dinner, underpants – whatever. When I say scalable – I mean person independent. You cant run a global business if your systems and processes require the addition of 1 person per 100 customers. No can do. Definitely not if you are a consumer business. Look at Google.

3. Be very vary about the team: You need global thinkers to come up with solutions for global problems. Be hard about this. If things are wrong – correct them. If the person is wrong – replace him. Don’t let that fester.

4. Build a culture where the face of the company can stand up in front of any crowd and beat down the biggest guys. The biggest. The key is to believe.

5. Last, but definitely not the least – Listen. Carefully. To everything that is said about your business. Try and constantly connect the dots. The VCs, friends, customers, partners – everyone will give you some feedback – and 9 out of 10 times, it will be relevant.

We at Voicetap stick by these dictums, and I believe we have something that is global. Encourage you to do the same. Happy to hear your thoughts.

M