Aawaara

What science knows and what business does

Finally, someone said it out loud ;)

Why I think that I am extremely unhirable

1. Because I eat, sleep, breathe product! Though this may sound good at first, but what this translates to is that I am bound to ask a lot many questions for any product decision which I disagree with. Plus you will have to deal with an infinite stream of new ideas. I enjoy throwing in random ideas, thinking it through, and talking about them with like minded individuals.
2. If (thinking about) the product is not keeping me awake at night, then probably I am not doing something right.
3. If stuff that shouldn’t matter is keeping me awake at night (office politics, useless meetings, bureaucracy, BS), then probably I am at the wrong place, and I try and make amends.
4. I have low tolerance to BS, and usually try to stay away from the non productive managerial layer. If you are not adding significant value to the organization, I exponentially lose respect for you.
5. I don’t always agree with the boss, and when I don’t, I let them know. I have been very fortunate to have worked with some great people, who have taught a lot of varied things to me, and didn’t fire me when I didn’t fall in line ;) The worst thing that you could do to me is tell me - “we are going to do it this way, because I am the boss”, and not try and explain the rationale behind it. We can agree to disagree, but we should talk.
6. I am driven by passion, and when it starts to feel like a daily chore, then probably it’s time to get out. So it’s your responsibility to keep the energy and motivation levels high, and ensure that the organization isn’t losing focus.
7. If X days in a row, I am not excited about going to work, and curious about what’s going to happen next, then that’s a danger sign for me.
8. If you want me to work with a team (I don’t manage a team, as I strongly believe in this guy, who is of the view that if we treat people as an adult outside work, why can’t we treat them the same within organizations, and expect them to use their good judgement. Why do we start treating them as children, as soon as they enter the office building.), I would expect a free hand, and don’t expect me to micro-manage them. I operate solely on trust, and it has worked for me in the past (though people don’t like to believe this despite the results, as it is opposed to conventional wisdom), and I don’t plan to change that anytime soon.
9. If you are concerned about any metric other than work and value I add, then you could be a sad being. If me turning up in the office in the afternoon is going to bother you, then that’s a problem I cannot do anything about.
10. I have a strong distaste for processes and good for nothing meetings. If something is important enough, and needs to happen, it shouldn’t wait for a meeting, and if it can wait for a meeting, then probably it is not important enough. Everyone around you is accessible, and doesn’t need a calendar invite to talk. That’s so non human in nature. We are social beings. If processes become more important than people, then it’s a matter of concern. They were devised to assist, and not to hinder.
11. I believe in this: “Why work doesn’t happen at work”
12. I find this very interesting, and believe in most of this e-book: Getting Real
13. Though I wouldn’t work purely for money, but I wouldn’t compromise on salary either, primarily because I am going to do another start-up some day (not anytime soon), and I hope to have enough cash to pump in.
14. As a matter of discipline, I don’t work on weekends, unless the servers are down, in which case you wouldn’t need to ask, as I would have already been alerted. In fact, the truth is that I don’t like being asked to work on weekends, though I may, if I have nothing better to do. If I feel like writing code at 4 AM in the morning, I do, but that’s a matter of choice. Life is short, and I try to make the most of it.
15. At times, I do indulge in philosophy and idealism.
16. Finally, you have hired me to work with you, you haven’t bought me. If our goals don’t align, and we don’t share the passion, then probably it’s best to go different ways, without any hard feelings. I abhor the ruler and the ruled mentality. Once that feeling creeps into you, that’s the worst thing that can happen to your organization, which you have build painstakingly.

Though I may sound arrogant post reading all the above points/thoughts, but I usually try to stay grounded and be humble (at least that’s my perception, which can be incorrect). You may want to check with people I have worked in the past to get some idea.

Even if after reading all of the above, you think that you can make use of me, then you can find details about me here:

http://amit.aawaara.com/

Feel free to shoot an email to talk about your start-up, or random ideas, or let me know if I can help you in any way (no strings attached - though I might not be able to spare too much time). I love start-ups!

Why Entrepreneurship isn’t a bad idea…!!!

In spite of the fact that India is a difficult place to be for entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurship is highly under-rated here,  I still think that Entrepreneurship isn’t a bad idea! I am completely aware of the fact that we are a part of a risk averse society which translates into:

• Fear of failure, whereas our American counterparts wear failure as a badge
• Lack of social recognition and acceptance for entrepreneurs
• Less (read negligible) angel and seed investment
• Serious lack of early adopters

But those are just facts, figures and ground realities, and interestingly entrepreneurship isn’t about facts and figures. It’s exactly opposite and is about being disruptive. It’s about swimming against the tide, because therein lies the fun. If everyone could do it, then everyone would do it, and it wouldn’t be so much fun. The rewards wouldn’t be so satisfying, if they were achieved so easily.

The entry barrier for entrepreneurs, and especially for web start-ups has been eliminated. Open source technologies have reduced the cost of entry for entrepreneurs so much that we don’t even need to think twice before venturing out. Thanks to the community for being so wonderful. It re-establishes our faith in humanity! World class infrastructure  and hosting is now available to us at dirt cheap prices. Gone are the days when only enterprise audience deserved that, and everyone else was served junk, and that too would cost an arm and a leg. We live in the age of cloud, and a ton of thanks to a bunch of start-ups that changed the game completely, and made it a level playing field. Forget about money that you need to start up, because you don’t need any. All that you need is commitment and hard work. Shut up, and go build something.

The best part about entrepreneurship is that you learn a zillion things along the way. Things which you wouldn’t have learnt otherwise. Even if I leave aside the technical aspects, everything else that I have come across, and the inherent value in it has been fabulous. If anyone else would have ever told me all that, I wouldn’t have paid attention, believed or understood. So I don’t want to be that ‘anyone else’! Go and learn it for yourself.

For people who have been waiting since long for the right time to get started, there isn’t any such thing as the “right time”. Jump in now, as you have nothing to lose here. It is a sure win situation - either you get it, or you get the lessons. And even if you get the latter, those lessons make you a far better person than you were, and make you better prepared for the next time when you start again…!
Even if you fail, at least you tried to create some real value, which maybe other people didn’t understand… ;)  
People may want to differ with that, but I like to think it that way…and that’s what entrepreneurship is all about - there are no set rules. Hadn’t there been so many unknowns, it would have been just another day job.

And in the worst case scenario you will fail, and that worst case scenario occurs for 99 out of 100 start-ups. You will fall flat on the ground with your face down. Failure is the default for every start up, but even if you fail, you now know how to handle failure, which is an incredible virtue in itself,  and still have those zillion things with you that you learnt along the way. See, there is so much value even in failing, that I don’t even need to talk about what you get if you are heading North, towards the success highway!

Because when you look back,  you will be more disappointed by things that you didn’t do,  than what you did, and there will always be that voice at the back of your head - ‘If I had done it that way, then maybe…’ Therefore take that leap of faith now…!!!

Are startup event organizers just another bunch of startups selling false hopes?

I know that I am putting skeletons in my cupboard with this post and it will come back to haunt me some day. I am still okay with that because it isn’t a deterrent strong enough to prevent me from speaking my mind out…give me something better… ;)

The story goes something like this:

• Someone contacts me at [email protected] and the content has the term “globalization” in it with some other gibberish. Later he suggests to attend startup events (and one event in particular which is due in a week) to get networked and leverage it to take the product to the next level.
• I don’t get any pin pointed or constructive feedback/suggestions despite writing back a couple of times to know the thoughts exactly.
• A few days later I get a ping asking about my plans to attend the event. I try to know the person better and come to know that he hasn’t tried his hands at entrepreneurship yet and has no plans for the near future. “I am learning all” is what I get.
• Final sales pitch says “You can meet evangelists who might be interested in your product” : I didn’t know that it was that easy!
• Then out of curiosity I check whether the person concerned has registered at BillBaba.com. Negative! Now I certainly doubt his intentions.
• Of course, I didn’t attend the event… ;)  I am almost bankrupt and I can think of a zillion better ways to spend that money.

I had been thinking about this for a long long time now, and what pushed my thoughts in that direction is the amount that these people charge for tickets which ranges anywhere from 3000 bucks to 10000 buck in India. Exorbitant by my standards as a bootstrapped entrepreneur who earns a big zero and could use this money on something better like a few months of hosting or some adwords credits. Okay, I may be exaggerating here, but I still don’t get how and why are the tickets priced so high. Why not make it a free event? Does it result in every Tom, Dick and Harry turning up for the event. Does that really defeat the purpose, or on the contrary accomplishes the mission which the event organizers had initially envisioned - get everybody interested in startups. I am sure that they wouldn’t have to pay from their pockets as the sponsors will queue up to get so many more eyeballs.

The soft spot that these events try to hit on is VC money. We entrepreneurs are really emotional about money and will even spend money to get more money. I don’t buy what they are trying to sell here - networking and it’s by products like VC contacts, evangelists, mentors, etc. Does it happen that way? I seriously doubt that. Can I walk up to any VC in that event and pitch right there and then. Even if I do, does that really matter. Will it be any better than a linkedin introduction or an email? Will I be able to find mentors there? A person who is too busy to even answer emails, how will he carve out time for you then. And if someone wants to help, thou shall be helped, and he/she doesn’t care whether you attended the event or not! Okay, I do admit that I am bad at networking, but I will be bad at networking at the event too. Will it be any different there?

Still, I have immense love for startups of any kind as I can connect to them at a personal level. Therefore I have taken extra care to hide/modify the details of the event so that you don’t investigate and try to pin point the event. The story in fact is even more interesting and can be broken into parts, but that gives everything away. I have waited a bit and ensured that the event season is finished so that you cannot take advantage of the timing of the post to point it out. See if you are smart, I am smart too… ;)  Additionally I am not saying that these events are a waste of time (awesome people, talking awesome stuff - I do watch the available videos), and you may find suitable uses for yourself. It also adds great value when you are on stage and doing the talking. You may get more than what is promised in that case. All I am saying is that I personally find it unethical to tap on an entrepreneurs need for money to make money for yourself. Period!

PS: I may be missing something here and will be more than happy if someone can point that out to me.

TRAIng to get over it!

The TRAI regulations that come into effect from 27th September, 2011 are certainly a blow to me as well as BillBaba.com. Though the regulations may sound foolish, but the bitter truth is that we will have to live with them. I just received an email from my service provider stating the changes:

1) No SMS communication between 9PM-9AM. How do we take care of registrations that happen between this time? Do we send the confirmation code (and other communication) the next day? Has anyone at TRAI heard about ‘User Experience’?I don’t think so after looking at their official websites.

2) There is a pre defined set of transactional sms categories (bank, financial institution, irctc, airlines, educational institutes, DTH), everything else goes into the promotional category. Everything is legal for the transactional folks, and nothing for everyone else. What mission critical information do DTH operators send? Is there a DTH lobby at work here? I heard that the government believes in providing a level playing field to everyone.3) No opt in services. Either you are in a category, or you are not! And if you opt to receive messages of a category you invite all the spam. I thought that that the problem that we were trying to solve here was how to get rid of spam, instead of how to invite spam.

4) The identifier will now we a number (unique id) instead of the short code (DM-BILLBABA). So effectively everything goes marked as spam, and the user will have to read all the messages to separate out the good from the bad. There is no way you can tell the user upfront that the message if from you. Genuine isn’t genuine anymore! It seemed we were trying to save on time here.

Whatever the problem originally was, cutting off all communication cannot be the solution. Yes we all have been bothered by pesky calls and SMSes for too long, and the general sense prevailing may be that the regulations will act as a saviour; but this is a classic case of throwing out the baby with the bath water!

I already heard people complaining about the startup ecosystem in India and here comes another blow. I personally think that the regulations are outrageous and lack common sense. What is everyone else planning to do? I think that a lot of people rely on genuine SMS communication. Anyone going for a PIL or EIL (Entrepreneurs interest litigation) in fact. It’s the ecosystem at stake here!

How are group buying sites dealing with this? Anyone from snapdeal?

Suggested Solution: You ought to differentiate between the different kinds of communication, and cannot regard everything as promotional. Make room for opt in services where you can put the onus of providing auditable information in case of dispute on the service provider.