Thus Far

I started writing code in grade 7, and in the 8th (in 1988!), had stitched up a desktop app (we called them "projects" back then) that presented visual + text questions - with some level of animated graphics painstakingly coded one motion at a time - to test people's knowledge of road rules and best practices. I saw a very similar - tho of course more advanced - piece of software when I took my driving license test at the DMV in Beaverton, OR.

College was one massive waste of time, except a couple of interesting "projects" we did - from a fundamental growth of knowledge point of view. Sure we picked up a lot of stuff, but didn't really connect to lots of it till much later, as we stumbled upon concept after beautiful concept.

My first job was in operating systems - initially in the command layer and later - nirvana - inside the kernel itself - of a very cutting edge OS for parallel architectures. I learnt new stuff every single day.

The next job came because of a huge jump in salary - and got boring as hell in a few weeks. We were porting massive amounts of code with very little clue to the underlying architectures, designs or even concepts. Personally, that turned out to be a good place because I couldn't bear to stay in front of the screen doing diffs on logs - so automated bits and pieces and improved my scripting skills a lot. Laziness, boredom are indeed drivers of innovation :)

An unexpected switch to an "R&D" group brought much needed activity to the brain - we were trying to solve the problem of base platform developers who needed to fix bugs reported on platforms that the code had been ported on to. Did my first major design work for this - and got to a stage where basic core dumps from one platform could be captured and migrated to the base platform, with context intact, for debugging. Filed a few patents, and this would've had a major impact if it were used for reduced triaging effort and manpower.

The next bit of "R&D" involved mapping pieces of database logic - across constructs and languages - to a common format, looking for opportunity for recommended practices, improvements and optimizations as documented in a huge number of "expert" level books and cross-compiling into an appropriate target language. Awesome work again, and we got to present this and interact with end users for whom this could be potentially very very useful. But, as is the fitrat of R&D projects, that, was that. Of course, with a coupld of more patent applications filed.

Yahoo was a huge opportunity and next step in "impact". I got into the fascinating realm of machine learning, information retrieval and text mining that I had no formal training in, yet took to - more pragmatically than most with formal training - instantly. We did a great job of our project - coming with lots of innovative ideas, techniques and solutions than solved more than just our immediate problem. It was a joyride and even had impact as it got rolled out as a new property for Yahoo India. Of course, where that went then became a question.

Another zoom-out followed as yet another R&D effort where we were trying to model visualize and deal with messages, chats, mails, blogs etc as one : conversations - with social authority and impact used for ranking. This was way before buzz/facebook etc had made an appearance. Good work again. R&D project again :)

Then Ziva happened. An amazing exciting journey that started with ideas, design, implementations, customer interfacing - but took me way beyond code. The scale of problems and impact assessment grew to envelope the software/development bit of it as one part of the solution, not the whole of it. Not that we succeeded in doing all we started to - but the neurons were pushed hard everyday, and the breadth of skills and ability to deal with fuzziness grew tremendously.

So much so that I became what I refer to as a "Product Manager". This is a much abused term and means a lot many things to a lot many people. To me its the guy who's got the 360 around a product in his head, and driving his life. Needs people to build, sell, hire etc etc - but the one who's marrying the strategic to the tactical, and keeping track of the story.

Linger is an effort at product management too. The code-writing is very different. But fundamentally, the ideas are the same. A product needs to be designed, created, tweaked continuously. The team has expanded, and the vision has grown.

What I've realized is that each plateau, there's been an urge to see if the problem solving effort made any real difference - and the next level was subconsciously desired, and found. Its not the coding, or the designs, or the rollouts that mattered. The question about what they became - or led to - eventually cropped up. Managing to score on somebody else's report card did not satisfy at all.

Is entrepreneurship the culmination of this ? Is this freedom to think, create, follow a path the ultimate path to satisfaction ? Dunno, but so far, its better, and I have found in me an urge to keep doing this despite its not insignificant costs. Amazingly, all the old rules of "hard work" (as measured), killer instinct, dog-eat-dog etc seem to not apply. Yes it still takes work and getting around a lot of procrastination - but those are by-products of a bigger desire, not drivers.

As always - "lets see how this goes".

Product Strategy & Management

While I'm working more or less fulltime on Linger I do miss the excitement of product creation (i.e. in the software space - Linger's a product in its own right!) and do think I have enough to offer towards this.

 

Of course I'm not likely to take up a "fulltime job" so please do not offer me one. I'm not looking at being co-founder and what not - thats a step one can take only after a decently long engagement and if all the stars are aligned. But I like solving interesting problems, and I like the challenges that product roadmaps bring. 

 

So if you think you're could do with some help/inputs on this front, ping me at get.sameer AHT gmail.com and let me know what you're doing.

 

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When Starting Out

Do not burden yourself with Scale upfront.

It comes when it does, and will match the level of your ambition and effort. Do not make the success of your idea contingent on huge scale, and an eventual, delayed payout. Of course, some ideas will need that. But do not get discouraged if it appears that it'll never be a Google. Even old-world, seemingly unscalable brick and mortar ideas have been grown. They don't all have to grow the same way. Linear growth is just fine too. And paths, ideas and opportunities will emerge as you deep dive into something that you really care about.

Don't worry about having to share it.

Its cliched, but a small part of a large pie is better than all of nothing at all. Sharing is not just about "attracting talent" but about truly transferring ownership, authority and demonstrating trust. Its a tough one, but one very important if you want to be part of a team that can help create something much larger than what you might, individually.

Keep thinking of revenue.

This means a bunch of things. For one, you're not thinking of investors but of customers, and paying ones at that. No business is "too small right now" to be making revenues. Ever. Every Rs.10/- is validation. And it also keeps you alive to the business model, and tests the assumptions and hypotheses you started out with.

At the same time, don't obsess about revenue.

There is usually a larger picture and story than your current sales flow, or even product offering, might suggest. You might have thought of it upfront (but hopefully, aren't building/creating that all at one go), or it might present itself as you start assembling the idea and product and market together. So while revenue is important, its ok if its not as high as you expected. Do not let it take up ALL your time for sure. A CEO must do some amount of sales, but one who becomes focused only on that is very very dangerous in the not-short term.

Keep Values Intact, and commincate clearly.

Be it to partners, co-founders, vendors, employees. Its easy for motivations, aspirations and desires to diverge as business grows, and creates pushes and pulls in different directions. If its all built on the platform of some core values, which are then never compromised for immediate gains, then you stand a better chance of these pulls being reconciled into a single vision. Else you lose time, trust, people.

Network, connect, get out of the door

Yeah that website can be improved. And code optimized. Or delivery made more efficient. Or whatever. But as your business grows, your eyes and ears need to be out there. Personally, while you're small. You need to learn how to keep fishing for opportunity, great people, customers; you need to know what they think/feel; you need to know it way before the sh*t hits the fan.

Of course, be flexible

Its not like you might be wrong about many things. Its more like you surely will be! Its about persisting with the idea, moving from plan A to B, experiment X to Y and backing yourself to try things out even as you're unsure. Of course, you need a very decent eye on personal cash flows, expense patterns as you do this if you do not want to find yourself in a pressure cooker all of a sudden.

Go ahead, entrepreneurize!

Linger Leisure is live!

What started as a one-off experiment last year is a bigger now.

Linger Leisure is live, with 2 locations, and the hope of many more to come. And Vijay is part of the Linger team now.

Its not just about adding places and rooms and accommodation, but experiences - as local and authentic as we find them. Its about exploring these ourselves. Its about learning, being surprised, the unfamiliar and unknown - these are what make travelling worth it.

We're looking out for more pretty places, different experiences, and even folks who're keen to do this sort of a thing.

Standing To Fly

Almost exactly a year ago, I'd blogged about disruptive innovation using a possible example from the airline industry.

Well, if RyanAir has its way, this might become reality! Ryan's been disruptive in its operational models, and now is extending the same to questioning the basic design that runs the aviation industry itself. I'm impressed, and honestly had not imagined that the far-out thought I had last year would get a shot at being reality this early.

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Money, Governance, Entrepreneurship. What's Your Metric ?

The Government is beginning to talk more and more in terms of user fees, revenue targets, cash positions, etc. Even the citizenry takes comfort and pride in the fact that, say, the BMTC runs at a profit. Its surely a good thing - fiscal responsibility is key to sustainable development.

Yet, these targets, numbers, metrics are not the end for governance - merely a means. Its critical to ensure those numbers are healthy, but its even more critical to measure the change that is sought to be made using the money. It has little merit, otherwise. The goal of a state is not to get rich directly, but indirectly. That it needs to be in very healthy financial situation is a side effect.

Is the same true for a lot of entrepreneurs ? Money is a good metric, but isn't what you started out to do more important as a goal ? As in, would you rather let the effort try hard and die or would you be ok completely changing the nature of the effort so cash flows look better ? Don't think of a state of crisis, but of a steady, decent revenue state doing what you started out trying to do versus a much better cash cow if you switched to something that was not really close to your heart or part of the vision.

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Focus, and the Doors You Have in Front

Today, I understood first hand what focus implies. Its not necessarily about doing only one thing. But about doing whatever you are for the right reasons, with the right expectations, the opportunity costs understood and appreciated well, and the risks clearly known.

Opening certain doors, and shutting the others, then makes a lot more sense.

Can't say one does with 100% levels of certainty. But it does help one think hard about one's options and choices. It helps one become utterly honest and transparent. Its helps move, execute, and not get paralyzed.

Enough rambling. Now to get started on work. 

[ Hope I did the right thing! ;) ]

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New Idea : A Chicken and Tech Problem

I have a new idea that I totally think has potential, is worth pursuing, and building technology around.

The urge, as an engineer, is to first build the site + functionality, and then "roll it out". But after years of being in tech, and having seen many never get out of their comfort zone and, as a result, having built too much in isolation, its an urge I need to resist.

So the first tasks ? Go sign up the stakeholders. Create enough functionality and documentation to sign them up. then go find other stakeholders as users - give them just enough so they can appreciate the core value of the offering.

Then think of the code.

Earning It

Been about 4 months since Linger went operationally live - including some test runs.

Its been a major journey - entrepreneurship wise.

• First up - its a very different feeling when you create something someone likes enough to pay for, and gives positive feedback later. I think this defines entrepreneurship, in a sense.
• Next, an entrepreneur's main challenge is to live with, and manage uncertainty almost all the time. Doubt too, often, though one might not admit the same.
• You will make mistakes, despite your best efforts. And there will be some goof ups that you did not plan for, and cannot control. There is little time for regrets, introspection. Get over it, fix what you can and get on with it.
• Your venture is often you! It takes your personality, and what you like and do not like, how you do things starts showing up everywhere. So figure out early if you're in a business where your interests and personality resonate with the business success parameters.
• Its rewarding! Only, for an entrepreneur, the reward is rarely monetary alone. In fact, that bit may not happen for a while as your spreadsheets start making less and less sense :)
• Honesty works. With customers, employees, your own self. Don't pretend to be what you're not.
• Defensive pricing is a bad signal. And you do not want to attract the wrong customer or keep the right one away. Even if its slower, build the brand/attributes right.
• The expenses are always more than they seem to be :)

I've also learned I enjoy the hospitality part of it a lot! I love it when people tell me they read a book, or spotted a bird, or were surprised by the stars in the sky. I appreciate it when they appreciate the raw, warm but with-no-formally-training service provided by the staff.

Its a tough journey, but it seems totally worth doing.

Tech, Non-Tech and All That

By and large, in the startup space and media, startups, VC funding, and the entire ecosystem is more or less is assumed to be about technology, software products, code, platforms, etc.

In real life, entrepreneurship is all about businesses, deals, real needs.

VCs go right ahead and fund companies based on a product seen (despite what they claim) and more or less hope the team will learn about the actual business they are engaged in serving. A travel portal is more about travel and the food chain in the industry, and less about the technology powering it. Very few software businesses are about usage of the software itself - BaseCamp etc come to mind.

However, when funding non-IT businesses, a question about the team's lack of experience will promptly raised! How's a bunch of guys who can write code to create a site tracking brand reviews more equipped to understand branding, brand management budgets, advertising, than, say, a geek starting a restaurant is to having a good knowledge of how that space works ? Yet, the ecosystem does look at both differently!

I am hardly suggesting that people start doling out cash to geeks starting restaurants, or getting into hospitality randomly, but quite the opposite. When we stitch up teams to create businesses, and write up plans and models, and invest in these companies, we consider the business cases, needs, and think of the software as infrastructure that is needed for the execution of that business. The search engine that managed to then grow an advertising business just happened, and chasing that as a model is fraught with dangers.

First, figure out the business first. Next, whether its interesting enough for you through its ups and downs, and does running it have by-products that make it worth it for you?

And if you understand and relate to the above it, does not matter whether you want to code it or not, or build the house, or cook the food. Those are details. Details which can make or break the business, and must be executed right, for sure. But they come after you've figured out the business, and your passion for it. Technology itself - the love of it, or the need to create it freely - cannot be a healthy, sustainable enough basis for entrepreneurship for a large percentage of cases.