Everyday Entrepreneurs

Mumbai's resilience - what a load of crap!

2011-07-14T12:31:00.000-07:00

I think it’s high time someone called off this bullshit concept of Mumbai’s resilience and Mumbai’s spirit. Let’s be honest – we are not resilient, and we wouldn’t recognize our spirit if it came in any form other than a nice shiny bottle of Glenfiddich!

What we are is cynical, apathetic, and very selfish.

Why are we all back to work after the blasts? Because we’re not affected by what happened. Seriously, we’re not! Those folks you see on the news talk-shows, they’re just there for the TRPs. If they dislike the Government’s governance, the security forces’ security apparatus, and our overall intelligence failure – well here’s an easy enough solution for all of it – move to Goa. Yes, Goa has never had bomb blasts and getting stoned there is far easier than Mumbai, and the booze is cheaper! So why don’t we all just up and leave?

Because here’s where we make our money and live our lives, and because we don’t give a damn about pretty much anything else (except IPL and the movies). How does a city get to the stage where it doesn’t give a damn? How do we get so comfortably numb?

Of course, it’s thousands of years of culture seeping the ‘hota hai, chalta hai’ attitude right into our DNA. It is easier to accept horrors like these with the sort of apathy that lies deep within the cells of our bone marrow. And it’s not getting out of there any time soon either.

It’s also because it’s happened a few too many times. When the Mumbai riots happened in 1992, we were all scared shitless! Even my grandparents were horror-struck – and they’d been through 1947 and escaped by the skin of their teeth! Then the serial blasts happened in1993 and it left us all stunned speechless. Then it happened again in 2003 (I’m sure no one even remembers these ones), then the train bombings of 2006, and of course 26/11. After every event, there are the discussions, the politicians expressing condolences (like who gives a fuck!), the talk-show hosts, the industrialists talking about increasing our intelligence apparatus, and the police who promise to look at all angles and give us some concrete news very soon. It’s like a script that Franz Kafka and Stephen King co-wrote during one drunken night! Scarily tragic, yet amazingly surreal in its intensity and regularity.

Even the front-page gore on the Times of India doesn’t really make us flinch anymore. We just take a few more sips of the morning tea and find it mildly amusing that alongside the mauled remains and the blood-splattered streets, we also get to know what our expert numerologist Sanjay Jumani thinks about the date of the event (if this isn’t Kafkaesque, then what is!?)

So we shrug our shoulders, look at the body-count and say, oh more people than this die of malaria, slum landslides, and construction site accidents every monsoon in this city. And by the way, none of those get paid Rs. 5 lakhs per person (sorry, per body).

Now that we’ve shed our sheen of pseudo-resilience, let’s take an equally brutally honest view of what the future holds.

Here’s how I see it unfolding. We’ll get hit again, for sure. Maybe this year itself, or if we’re lucky not more than once every financial year – around about the same time as filing our tax returns. Bitter irony that – given that we are the financial capital of the country! Or hey maybe if we consult Mr. Jumani, we might even know all the unlucky dates of the year, and then simply stay in the safety of our bunkers.

The same socialites, news anchors, politicians, home ministers, and police officials will come, make their respective angst, opinions, gas, condolences, and more stinking gas known to everyone. Then life will go on.

Oh, but then we have all of these people who say – this is terrible, the system sucks, we want to make a difference! Seriously? The average Mumbaikar has had more than 10 fucking years to make a difference! What have you been waiting for? Armageddon? You and I never did make a difference, and we never will. You think going out and casting a vote is going to make a difference? The hell it will – changes in political parties won’t change the essentially rotten nature of how our shining superpower of a nation functions. Neither will holding candle light vigils. Nor will tut-tutting over single malts.

So we basically have two choices. The same two choices that confront anyone who has not yet become complete inured – fight the system either from the outside or from the inside. The first is anarchy, and I think that deserves a whole different write-up. The second is easier.

No, no. I am not saying form a political party – you’ll get your ass whipped at the first elections. Simply get 3 friends who want to make shit loads of money in double quick time. Get one of them into the police, one in the main political party, and the third into the opposing political party (it’s called hedging your bets, silly). You then start a security company that supplies the most high-end security apparatus – CCTVs with facial recognition, sniffer dogs that can sniff the RDX from deep inside the bugger’s ass, high-speed patrolling boats with night-vision cameras to patrol our coasts, Tasers, and stuff like that. Take it to the next level – add in some private intelligence folks (since all the police khabris have apparently disappeared), some high-end monitoring software, and real-time communication interception systems.

Then you work out a deal with your two political friends and your senior police officer to begin the necessary lobbying/bribing of the government apparatus to dole out crores of rupees worth of contracts to your firm. Hey, I’ll even help you out with the other 2 competing bids you need to complete the 3-bid system. That’s how all government tenders go out – to the most technically qualified, lowest price bidder, no?

So everyone wins – the system gets the money it needs to function effectively and dole out the contracts, your company wins all the large contracts, and we Mumbaikars actually get some semblance of security! And also, since you said you wanted to make a difference, I’m sure you won’t be supplying sub-standard crap like this.

Otherwise, suck it up, shut up and live with it. Oh, I almost forgot. There is of course a third choice – move to Goa!

How I got my bank to straighten up

2010-11-21T07:29:00.000-08:00

The story starts in 2004 when I took a 5 year loan against commercial property from KM Bank at 11.25% Rate of Interest (ROI). A year later when I topped up this loan, the first loan had risen to an ROI of 11.75% and the additional amount was given at 12%. I didn't understand how the same bank could give two loans to the same person against the same collateral at 2 different rates of interest?

The rate steadily kept on increasing, till it got to an usurious 15.25% a couple of months ago! When I got the letter from my customer-unfriendly bank, I naturally went into a bit of a depression. Imagine my anger, when a customer service representative called me to ask if I would like to top up the loan again, since the outstanding principal had reduced to a 3rd of the original amount and the property value had gone up!? I shot her an angry email response telling her to basically get lost! Then later, a senior rep came to me and told me to write to UK (the CMD of the Bank for chrisssakes!) and ask for the ROI to be re-negotiated if I agreed to top-up the loan.

None of this obviously worked, until I hired a loan agent to talk to other banks. Within 10 days I got 3 offers, the lowest of which was 11.0% from Barclays! When I informed KM Bank about this, I got an SOS call back from them with a confirmed offer letter reducing my ROI from 15.25% to 11.25% with immediate effect! Since the pre-payment penalty was another 2%, I told the other bank that I would stick with KM. They then re-negotiated down to 10%! I immediately triggered the request for balance transfer from KM to the Barclays and happily paid the 2% pre-payment penalty.

End result: ROI reduced from 15.25% down to 10% in 2 weeks of effort.

Moral of the story: if your bank is sucking your hard-earned money, show them it is a competitive market and you can go to the bank down the street and get a much better deal!

The Cauldron of Time

2010-05-18T21:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, during a random dinner table conversation, the question that was put to me was what do you think your purpose in life is? Ah, the fundamental question we all grapple and often ignore. Without getting too meta-physical about it, I think there is a very simple practical answer to the question. And it is simply – doing what one does to the best of one’s abilities.

I see so many people go through the best years of their lives simply watching the clock. They go to office in the morning, put in the requisite 8 hours and come back in the evening. Same routine repeats day in and day out. But what each one of us needs to realize is that we’ve only got a limited amount of time. When you’re 25, you think the entire world is ahead of you and life is limitless. But as Yudhishthira says in the Mahabharata, “the cauldron of time cooks everyone”. And that is a universal truth.

So given that you’ve got only a limited amount of time, let’s take that argument further. Let’s say you’ve only got a year to go, before your time is up. Would you now bring the same attitude to work and life that you have right now? Or would you change it drastically? If the answer is that you would change it drastically, then my friend the answer to life’s fundamental question is right in front of your eyes and you’re choosing to ignore it.

When we work for organizations who we think pay us less, or a boss who doesn’t understand us, or an environment which is suffocating, we all have a few choices. And the choice is to simply leave that situation and choose another one. Or to try and change the situation. But, there is a third choice: while we’re in that specific situation, life demands from us that we give it our very best. And that is what life is really all about. If you don’t like your job, change it – but while you’re working, give it everything you’ve got. Or else you’re shortchanging the most important person in the world - you!

If you think your company is short-changing you – think again. Or rather trust greater thinkers to guide you. As Krishna says to Arjuna in the Gita – do your duty because that is what you’ve come on Earth for. Do not think of the fruits of your actions. To give it a more practical twist – I say, do not work simply for the fruits of your labor. Do it for your love of the work itself – do it because it is your bounden duty to do so.

Or else, you’re actually waking up every day and cheating yourself. Every hour and every minute of work that you’re whiling away your time, taking long breaks, chatting, social networking, or not giving your profession your best effort and dedicated focus is a minute that is completely lost, and the biggest loser in this case is you – not your organization, not your team – but you! Because the company will keep going on or shut down – but the best years of your life won’t come back ever.

So go change your job if you’re not happy. But stop cribbing and complaining and cheating yourself out of the only life you’ll ever have.

A new enterprise - part II

2009-12-21T06:55:00.000-08:00

The bank account.

With all the KYC norms that exist, opening up a bank account wasn't the easiest thing in the world with the newly formed entity. Among other documents submitted, the key documents were:
1. Copy of the partnership deed
2. Letter from my existing company NII saying that I allow IIS (Institute of Information Security) to function from this office
3. An Airtel bill on my personal name as address proof
4. Copy of the receipt of BMC for registration under Shops & Establishment Act. The actual certificate is another story and will take a week or so (check my next blog post on BMC and Bribery)
5. A couple of other letters that the Bank gave me the format of
6. PAN card copies of both directors
7. Form saying PAN card has been applied for - and the PAN card has also been applied
8. Photos, filled up forms, etc.

The main challenge was with the address proof - since there is no bill or government receipt with the IIS name and my office address. And I couldn't wait for the Shops and Establishment Act certificate to come through.

Anyways, it took a week or so, but it's been done now. And this is a bank I've been banking with for over a decade now. But this laborious process of opening up an account is largely due to the RBI's stress on reducing NPAs, controlling benami accounts, and other anti-money laundering provisions. So well, it's all for a good cause!

A new enterprise - part 1

2009-10-30T05:21:00.000-07:00

Taking into consideration the fact that scaling a consulting business is a long-term affair, I've decided to take at least the training component out and make that into a separate enterprise. Since it has been quite some time since I incorporated a business, I thought I'd jot down the brief journey of getting an enterprise up and running here to help budding entrepreneurs see the first few steps at least of getting a business off the ground

The first thing I did was to think up of an impressive enough name for the training business - we came up with Institute of Information Security. I then got my in-house team to get the website done www.iisecurity.in

I tasked one of my team members to experiment with some of the e-learning software, and we narrowed down on eFront. So the eLearning channel is also up and running at http://elearning.iisecurity.in

We've also started doing the SEO for the website, and it already ranks high up when searching for specific terms related to the security training business. I also logged in the business with JustDial (www.justdial.com) and with Google local business search.

Finally, the legal part. In order to incorporate the enterprise, we are doing it as a partnership. So I contacted my CA, gave him the broad terms of the partnership, and he's built all the rest of the legalese around it. The deed will be printed out on Rs. 500 stamp paper and will become a registered deed.

Oh, and of course, the process for trademark registration has already been started through my earlier trademark agent (atozservices.info).

Principles of Problem-Solving

2009-01-01T04:53:00.000-08:00

Over the years I have developed some simple principles that aid me in solving problems. Often times I myself forget some of these, so it is worthwhile putting them down in an email, and I hope all of you will also benefit from these in the years to come.

Principle #1

There is a solution to every problem

Rarely have we faced a problem where a solution cannot be found. So every problem, customer complaint, technical malfunction, configuration issue, whatever it might be - does have a solution. The trick in achieving the solution first lies in believing that one does exist. Once you begin from that premise, there is a higher likelihood that the problem will indeed be solved. In fact, you'll look at the problem as a challenge, and not as a headache.

Principle #2

There will always be problems

Problems are not to be shied away from or to be thought of as PROBLEMS! In the sense, a positive attitude to any problem is more likely to help you get it resolved, than thinking of it as an encumbrance from the more enjoyable things you could be doing with your time. Also, bear in mind that behind every problem is an excellent lesson to be learnt and an opportunity for you to grow as an individual and as a professional.

Principle #3

Get as much data as you can

Corollary: Depend on as few assumptions as possible

The more data that you can get, the more likely it is that you will be able to resolve the problems quicker and better. Getting to the root of the problem requires you to ask as many questions as you can, even though the answers may not be what you would like to hear - especially with non-technical problems. Your most helpful aids here are the questions - Why, What, Where, How, When and Who.

Principle #4

Break down the problem into components

If the problem is too large or too complicated, try to separate the issues, and try to resolve them one at at time. Also, try to focus on the simplest issues to solve, and then move on to the more complicated parts of the problem. Here I am referring to both technical and non-technical problems.

Principle #5

Some problems are also hurdles

Just as in a hurdle race the runner does not try to disassemble each hurdle, but simply jumps up over them. In the same way, not every problem needs to be solved. Some problems can be side-stepped by thinking out of the box. Again if you make fewer assumptions, you'll be able to arrive at unorthodox solutions, one of which is to simply walk around the problem and continue in your path to achieve your goals. At the same time the approach of sidestepping a problem doesn't serve well in most circumstances - then you're simply stalling facing up to the issue. And unresolved problems simply simmer and blow up in your face at some time.

Principle #6

Learn how to Google well

Yes we all know this, and yet we all don't do it well. Let me give you one example. Recently, we had some issues where a user's existing password, which was working earlier suddenly stopped working. The usual attempt would be to reset the password, or recreate the POP account, or recheck the settings. But searching on Google reveals this very simple solution to a problem different from what was originally imagined.

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=14257&topic=12919, which led to this https://www.google.com/a/niiconsulting.com/UnlockCaptcha

Principle #7

Sometimes the problem isn't the problem

If you keep an open mind and try to question people and get to the root of the problem - the real cause of it - you will sometimes realize that what was originally stated as the problem statement, isn't the real problem at all. And in fact, the real problem is something else altogether. What you are being told is the problem could quite possibly be the symptoms of the problem or only the apparent problem. The trick to getting to the actual root of the problem is to simply keep asking "Why". Why is this a problem, then take the response, and ask why that is a problem and so forth till you reach the real cause of it.

Principle #8

Be open to inputs and flexible to change

If you're stuck with a problem and can't come up with a solution it is most likely because you're on the wrong track. If you let your mind open up to ideas from other people and suggestions that may seem whacky or illogical or off-center it just might end up leading to a solution. Which is why brainstorming is an excellent way to solve a problem - just let all suggestions be presented and come to the table, without discussing any of them at length. Once all the ideas are on the table, then start discussing the merits-demerits of each.

If you have any of your favorite tricks, add to this list...

Infosec Scenario in 2009

2009-01-01T04:48:00.000-08:00

1. Business continuity to get focus over disaster recovery
BCM is a process issue related to building the framework to increase business resiliency and restoration capability, while DR is about building redundancy through infrastructure investments. It is quite likely that new DR site investments might happen fewer than they did in 2008. But I would not advise cutting down on building your BCM capability - even if you are an SME. Each one of your people does need to know what needs to be done when things begin to fail. This does not require huge amounts of investment, but does require common sense, risk assessment, and regular training and awareness.
Counter: Focus on an effective Business Continuity Plan that takes into account at least the following - fire, ISP failure, transportation link failure, and yes a terrorist attack as well.

2. Capital expenditure on security technologies likely to be hit
This is one area that has seen the biggest hit and is likely to continue feeling the impact with new investments simply not happening. So fewer firewall upgrades, fewer adoptions of recently introduced solutions such as Data Leakage Prevention (DLP), Network Access Control (NAC), and others.
Counter: Really look for ROI on your capital expenditure on security technologies.

3. Focus on regulatory compliance to increase
Make sure you know very clearly what your responsibilities are towards data protection - not only for the specific industry you are in - but also for the countries that you do business in. I’ll soon be releasing a write-up on the Indian IT Act, and the new amendments recently pushed through in the Parliament, and what these mean for every individual and every business. Essentially, even if you are not ISO 27001 compliant or PCI DSS regulated, you are still very much legally liable to ensure due diligence to protect your customer’s data.
Counter: While cutting budgets on infosec is fine, don’t end up putting the existence of your business at risk due to negligence towards data protection.

4. Scareware, Social Networking Attacks, Phishing, and others
While Phishing attacks rose quite a bit in 2008, it is quite likely they will become more prevalent, more insidious and a huge pain in the wrong places in 2009. Combined with Scareware tactics (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/22/anatomy_of_a_hack/), exploitation of social networking sites (http://www.internetnews.com/security/article.php/3789496 and http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10078353-83.html), and even Google (http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/30/google_calendar_phish/ and http://blogs.zdnet.com/Google/?p=1053) is going to ensure attacks are highly smart, effective, and definitely lucrative for the attackers.
Counter: Focus on awareness, not just within your organizations but also within your families and communities.

5. Computer fraud may rise - a lot
Today attackers are not concerned with releasing the latest virus onto unsuspecting Internet users. Do we even remember how long ago it was when CodeRed or Slammer hit us bad? Attackers today - both external and internal - have one simple agenda - making as much money as they can within as short a time as possible. We’re already seeing SAP, Oracle Apps, and business applications becoming the most lucrative target of fraudsters. All they need is the knowledge (if you’re working with 2-3 years on the same system you know its flaws well enough), motive (layoffs, salary cuts, no bonuses), and opportunity.
Counter: Invest in forensic accounting, and keep a panel of experts on standby to be called in when fraud happens. Get advice on a list of red flags to watch out for.

6. Cyberwarfare could become a reality
At least as far as the South East Asian region is concerned, we’ve already seen an increase in the number of cyber attacks on Indian banks and government websites. This trend will get more serious and more malicious with some really sensitive data being targetted in the months to come. The next frontier for terrorism will be digital, and we’re all going to be facing the brunt of professional hacking, espionage, and digital sabotage. We’re already seeing this with the current Israeli war on Gaza (http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/12/israels-info-wa.html), and the recent attacks by Pakistani hackers on the Eastern Railways site (http://in.news.yahoo.com/241/20081225/1262/twl-pak-hacker-attacks-e-rlys-site-threa.html), and a couple of PSU banks. See this link for in-depth Indo-Pak cyberwar coverage http://intelfusion.net/wordpress/?p=468
Counter: If your organization is governmental, semi-governmental, public sector, or provides a service or utility of national importance, you are pretty much going to be targeted. Focus on securing your external perimeter and get it tested.

Back to globe-trotting

2008-10-29T03:10:00.000-07:00

For a while, I'd been more or less spending time in Mumbai, then suddenly about 3 months back work led me to begin my globe-trotting again and give way to my wanderlust. It started with a quick stopover in Dubai for a proposal presentation, and then on to Brussels to join one of our consultants who was working there on a project. This Brussels project is quite noteworthy in terms of the ingenuity of our marketing guy who won it. Seeing a dearth of leads in his kitty, he started to search on Google for tenders and RFPs in our area of information security. He then found this one for an organization in Brussels. When he first told me about it, I said, give it a shot, but mostly we might not win it, because we'll have the disadvantage of increased costs due to travel and stay, which a local company or one in Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) or even Europe would be able to avoid by deploying local consultants. But he gave it his best shot, we got shortlisted, and based on a couple of telephonic discussions, they awarded us the project.

Brussels was quite an interesting experience. The project went off very smoothly largely due to the work of our consultant there, and then the weekend before leaving from there we decided to spend exploring that area. My better half joined us, and on her insistence we ended up at one of the casinos. And inspite of my resistance to the slot machines, we actually ended up winning 1000 euros! And then we won a couple hundred more on the roulette and blackjack tables. When we left, we were richer by 1200 euros, which we decided to blow up by hiring a car, going down to Amsterdam - a perennial party place - and spend Saturday night there. It was one helluva experience, and when they describe Amsterdam as one long college frat party - its a very accurate description! I haven't ever seen so many people - not even during peak hour on the Mumbai local trains. And definitely never the sight of thousands of people eating, drinking, making merry, and generally having a collective blast!

After Brussels it was back to Dubai, to sort out my residence visa, since now we have opened up our third office there. Got that done, then I was back to Mumbai for a week or so. My next trip started by having to rush to Mauritius to rescue a project because one of our senior consultants who also was heading our Bahrain office decided to part ways. So I had to take on the project mid-way. But again the place is so beautiful and quite the tourist destination. However, the work pressure was quite a bit, and we managed to spend just the one weekend looking around the place. From mauritius, it was back to Dubai to open up a bank account for the company, then on to Bahrain to sort out the legalities and paperwork and other stuff. Then another week in Abu Dhabi to do a training and complete a project we were doing for a financial institution there.

Then I was back to Mumbai for a couple of days before flying off to Taiwan for the OWASP Asia conference. The conference was wonderfully well-organized by Wayne Huang and his team, with over 1000 people attending. My presentation was on Business Web Application Testing - getting the larger business perspective to the technical approach of pen-testing. I had to rush immediately after my talk to the airport in order to catch my flight and be back to Mumbai in time for Diwali.

So yesterday we had Diwali Puja at our new office in Andheri. While we will retain our current office and convert it into a training center, we'll largely shift all operational and consulting activities to this new office, where we even have a cool new SOC - Security Operations Center, with capacity for 36 people working in 3 shifts.

Things are only going to keep getting more and more hectic. We are aiming to have our 4th international office up and running within the next 3-4 months, either in the Far East, or if that doesn't work out, maybe at a second location within India. Our team is also growing and brand recognition is getting better and better. So if the posts are more infrequenty you'll know why. I intend to write my next posts on our experience in setting up our 3rd office in the UAE.

Customer delight - makes it all worthwhile

2008-06-03T01:51:00.000-07:00

When you're in business you have to be geared up for the fact that there will be customers who will have issues with various services and products that you offer. Customer support and responding to customer complaints is part and parcel of any company. While quality controls ensure that your deliverables are up to the mark, sometimes clients can still have reservations about what you have given them.

Especially in the consulting line of business, where we're delivering skills, opinions, and knowledge, it often becomes subjective whether we are meeting with client expectations or not. Managing customer expectations is one of the biggest challenges of being in this line of work. In a number of cases, the end result of the engagement is a report or a set of documents and presentations. And very often during the course of the engagement the client often voices their differences of opinion and displeasure at some of the deliverables.

With one of our clients, I almost got into an argument over some points related to the consulting services we were providing. I do strongly recommend to my team to avoid arguments at all costs, unless it is an absolutely critical issue. Disagreements should be voiced, but spats should be avoided. Coming back to this particular case, eventually the client was pleased enough to give us the following testimonial, and it is events like these that make consulting completely worthwhile...

“KK and his team did a brilliant job in guiding us towards the 27001 certification. Their approach was very methodical and systematic right from the stage of gathering requirements in the initial stages to the documentation work and then trainings and audit readiness stages. In fact what I liked the most about their approach was that he focussed on transferring his knowledge to us which has enabled us to sustain the improvements even without his involvement. They never restricted themselves to the scope of the contract. They were willing to that extra mile to make sure that it added business value to us."

Narayana Murthy on Entrepreneurship

2008-05-09T00:22:00.000-07:00

I was privileged to attend an interview of Narayana Murthy, the co-founder of Infosys Technologies. The interview session was part of a "Leaders and Learners" session organized by TIE at Welingkar's Institute in Mumbai. Murthy was interviewed by Anuradha Sengupta of CNBC TV18, and a select panel of entrepreneurs. Then the forum was thrown open to questions asked by the audience. Here were some of the key takeaways from this brilliant and humor-filled session:

Q. What does it take to start your own venture?
NM: You need 4 things before you can think of starting your own venture:
1. Idea. The key idea or concept of the service or product you want to sell in the market
2. Market value of the idea. You must have a basic level of confidence in the fact that the market values your product and is willing to pay for it.
3. Team. You must have a team of complementary skillsets - so identify your own strengths, and find people who have different, but complementary strengths.
4. High aspirations. You must be someone who sets his/her sights high, and is willing to work very hard to achieve those aspirations.

Q. What must a startup do for branding?
NM: Do unusual things. Infosys has always attracted the press and positive publicity by doing unusual things, which interest people.

Q. Who were your idols or people you looked up to?
NM: When we started our business, there were already well-established business leaders who had founded and expanded their companies while sticking to sound ethical principles - JRD Tata, even Mr. Birla, TVS, Mr. Kirloskar. Of course, by that time Bill Gates had also become well-known. Intel was one of the foremost examples of success for most security companies to follow.

Q. What is a non-negotiable component when starting your own business?
NM: A sound value system. You have to lead by example, you must walk the talk, eat your own dogfood. Only when will your team trust you implicitly, and only then will they deliver and help achieve the common goals.

Q. What are the characteristics of a successful entrepreneur?

Ability to work with other people and work in a team
Passion and will to persevere
High degree of optimism
High aspirations for oneself and for the company
Ability to put long-term interest ahead of short-term benefit

Q. How do you judge the value of your idea?
NM: You should be able to express your idea and its value to the market in a simple sentence. Not a compound sentence, nor a complex sentence.

Q. How do you attract and retain talent?
The leadership must articulate a grand vision - an exciting future. This will create a challenging work culture and attract future leaders to the company. The vision must be a story that is compelling, believable, and intrigues and excites the minds of the team members.

Q. What do you think about work-life balance?
I remember K V Kamath's answer to this question: first let's make a life, then think about work-life balance. I don't understand the concept of a work-life balance.

Q. How do you define success, and at what stage did you consider yourself successful, and why?
NM: I have thought a lot on this subject, and my definition of a successful person is one who when he/she walks into a room, people's eyes light up. If he/she brings a smile to people's faces, then irrespective of whether that person is educated, not educated, self-employed, employed, I would still consider that person to be successful. And going by that definition, I am still not sure whether I would consider myself as being successful.

Interestingly, Murthy's favorite books are Richard Feynmann's "Lectures on Physics", and "History of Mathematics" vols 1,2,3.

How to get started on your own business

2008-05-07T03:09:00.000-07:00

Just a quick short post to answer a number of similar sounding emails I get on how to really get started on one's own business. Here's the lowdown on the logical flow of any enterprise from birth to growth.

Ideation. The idea is the key. First come up with what you want to sell. Whether it is a product or a service or a combination of both. The main thing is to come up with an idea or a set of ideas.
Marketability. The next step is to test the market for the viability of your idea. Before you quit your job or your college or even your current venture to start a business, you must have a reasonable amount of confidence that the idea works. You might even be looking at funding, so before you approach friends/family/VCs you should be convinced yourself that your idea has a market.
Team. This is a tough ask. But if it is possible you should put together a team that complements your skills. So for instance if you are technically very good, find out someone who is good at marketing, and if possible, also someone who is good at finances. When I started out, I filled in the technical strength, and my father was around for the financial part. We still remained weak on the marketing front, and it took us quite a few years to fix that.
Business plan. The next step is to articulate your idea. To put together a formal business plan which outlines your main idea, lists out potential target markets, the resources required to bring the idea to fruition, the competition you face, a SWOT analysis, projected cash-flow for the next 2-3 years, and most importantly your team profile.
Funding. You may or may not need funding. So this stage would be one where you go out and seek the minimum amount of money that you need to start off your business.
Registration & Incorporation. There are legal formalities to be completed before you start on your own business. For a sole proprietorship, there is not much to do, but for private limited there is quite a bit of paperwork you will need to get done.
Stationery & Website. You will have to get your basic marketing material in place - a website, visiting cards, logo, letterheads, etc.
Execution. This is the rest of your life - beat the pavement trying to get clients, call up all your contacts, try to advertise and market your services/products in the best manner possible, land a few deals, execute on them, invoice them, get the money in the bank, go treat yourself to a nice dinner somewhere!

How I got my first 5 clients

2008-04-18T01:40:00.000-07:00

Someone suggested that I should write a post about how to market a consulting service. While I have a post on the subject, the reader also suggested that I could write about how I got my first five clients. As you might guess, most of these project wins were due to luck rather than any marketing skills from my end. In fact, our first marketing person came on board only after 3-4 years of being in business.

Client #1 - State Bank of India. Sitting around in office, we asked ourselves (there were only 2 of us), who needs our services most. The answer was banks. Who's the biggest bank in town - the State Bank of India. So we went to the SBI website, found a link to their organizational chart, found out the number of their chief manager - IT, called him up, and went to meet him. We explained that we could do a penetration test - an attempt to break into his site after receiving proper authorization from him. He was convinced, we sat down to negotiate the price, and within a month we had our first order.
Client #2 - Western Railways. A friend of my father's heard about my venture, came to meet me, introduced me to the head of IT at HPCL who was a friend of his, who in turn introduced me to head of IT at Western Railways, and we did a free penetration test for him. Later on, he gave us the contract to fix the vulnerabilities.
Client #3 - a US security firm. An elderly gentleman from the office next door to ours used to drop by to chat away, since neither he nor I had much work back then. On his 3rd or 4th visit he actually asked me what I did. I tried to explain to him in layman's language that I was running a computer security consulting firm. He excitedly explained his own know-how on the subject, which was surprisingly good. He then told me that his nephew was in the same business, but in the US. And this gentleman in turn was running a leading-edge security product company. I dropped him an email, his India partner contacted me, and then put me in touch with a leading Chartered Accountant who was doing accounts audits for a number of large firms in India. These firms were approaching him to do IT audits as well. These he started to outsource to me, and we still do excellent business with him. Later on the US company also outsourced security research work to us.
Client #4 - Directorate General of Shipping. The head of IT at Western Railways was a good friend of the head of the Directorate General of Shipping. When the DG Shipping person spoke with the WR person about an IT problem he was facing, he recommended my name.
Client #5 - Middle East partner. In our free time, we used to keep ourselves busy developing free tools, writing articles, and trying to get speaking engagements at various seminars and conferences. All these activities resulted in increasing our visibility and enhancing our brand image. It also helped enhance our individual consulting profiles. A security solutions company from the Middle East contacted us for selling them one of the tools we had built. We explained that the tool was free, but they wanted us to make modifications to it, and asked us to price the effort. That specific deal never went through, but slowly they started outsourcing various security engagements to us, until the Middle East became our largest source of projects.

So to summarize, some of the things that a fledgling consulting firm could do is focus on:

Use references, contacts, and word-of-mouth as much as you can. I still evangelize my products and services shamelessly at every opportunity. But there is a way to do it
Search engine optimization
Writing articles, toolkits, and maybe even books on the subject
Contacting the larger consulting firms in your space so they may throw some projects your way
Hold free workshops for people who might be interested in the subject

The art of the bounce back

2008-04-09T04:03:00.000-07:00

We all talk about the fact that winners never quit, and quitters never win, etc. But here's a very nice article that talks about the fact that most high-achievers in life usually fail often, and fall harder than most of us. But then they also succeed far more spectacularly. So I guess it is about taking calculated risks and sticking with your ideas if you really believe in them.

The article talks about Steve Jobs who was unceremoniously kicked out of Apple, and then was brought back in to script one of the greatest turnaround stories in corporate history. Not to mention his amazing success with Pixar animation, and of course the iPod and iTunes and iPhone innovations. It also talks about Donald Trump (read his Art of the Deal) for someone who went completely bankrupt and then rose back again to become a multi-billionaire.

Then again you should not be one of those people who stick with an idea even though it has no chance of working. Here's the irrepressible Seth Godin in "The Dip - a little book that teaches you when to quit".

Interview on entrepreneurship

2008-02-26T04:55:00.000-08:00

Quite some time back (when my blog used to be anonymous) I'd done an interview with the folks over at Voice of Ambition (VOA). Now that the blog isn't anonymous, I thought it would be a good idea to link to that interview in case anyone wants to hear it. Here are the details:

"K. K. Mookhey founder of NII consulting tells us how he quit his engineering and started his own company. He answers questions like where did he get his capital from? What was his business plan? How much was his initial capital? How he registered his company? How much it costs to register a company? What sectors provide an opportunity for new entrepreneurs? Who is their first client? Who is their biggest client? Is he willing to provide advice for new entrepreneurs? And much more."

Direct link to the episode is
http://www.voiceofambition.com/voa/component/option,com_remository/func,fileinfo/id,28/

(Almost) all your income tax queries answered

2008-02-22T21:35:00.000-08:00

I just chanced upon an excellent blog that has answers to quite a few interesting income tax queries. I don't like the layout of the site, but the content is quite good. Check out Tax Worry.

Insights of the day - building a core management team

2008-02-18T09:57:00.000-08:00

I happened to attend another excellent TiE session on building a core management team. It was headed by Parag Paranjpe, Director, HR at ICICI Venture. Some of the key takeaways from the session based on inputs from Parag, and the other attendees were:

Talent looks out for opportunities for that talent to be harnessed. So your key USP has to be what opportunities do you provide for exploiting potential.
Star employees look for autonomy and freedom - an equal stake in the organization. They want to make the organization bigger and share in the wealth that they help to create.
Every leader must aim to make himself/herself obsolete in order for the people working under that leader to reach their full potential. The leader must then redefine his role and responsibilities and work to achieve a different set of goals.
One of the most important attributes to look out for in a candidate is personal integrity. And the best way to determine this is to check for references and learn to read between the lines when the references respond to your queries. Parag gave an example of ICICI Venture contracting an international firm to do a background check on a candidate they were hiring for their Zurich office. And they looked at the huge fees paid to this firm as an investment that would pay off. But he said, that was only reducing the risk, we still would never know for 100% sure if all that we were told by the candidate is correct or not.
Also, while hiring try to determine whether the employee is joining you for money or for a higher purpose. Does the candidate seem to buy into your vision or is simply making the jump for a better pay package?
The past history of a candidate is the best indicator of future behavior. Dwell into it, and ask deeper questions based on the candidates previous profile. Everyone promises great things in the future, but have they delivered in the past?
Try to determine as accurately as possible the real reasons why the candidate is leaving his previous company and joining your company.
Another important aspect is the cultural fit. How well do you think the candidate would fit into your existing corporate culture. If your existing culture is open and autonomous, does he or she have the ability to work and excel in such an environment or is he/she a very hands-on micro-managing type leader?
Other ideas were to ask candidates to write down their answers on questions such as achievements, failures, goals, and dreams, rather than ask them to answer verbally.

Insights for the day - V. S. S. Mani from JustDial

2008-02-15T23:03:00.000-08:00

I just came back from attending a very insightful personal session with V. S. S. Mani the founder of Just Dial, which was organized by TIE.

JustDial was started somewhere in 1995 after a lot of false starts by Mani, who was earlier director at Ask Me services. Started with a capital of Rs. 50,000 it is now a Rs. 100 crore company with a valuation of over Rs. 500 crore. From days when they were selling wedding planners to generate revenue to today where PE's and venture capitalists are being rejected because they simply don't want any more funding. Here were some key takeaways:

When the whole world and its aunt was harping on about the dotcom boom, Mani decided to continue his information services business through the telephone model, and not chuck it all away for an online model. He profited at that stage by selling part of his stake to a US investor, but didn't spend truckloads of cash on building a dotcom and promoting it. He says the Internet infrastructure was so pathetic in 2000-2001, that there was no way that a dotcom business would possibly work well.
The key to a successful business is scalability. If you can tell a story to your employees, your partners, and your investors about how you're going to be scaling up the company, how you're going to grow and expand, then you've got a winner on your hands. If your business doesn't scale, do it differently, or do something different.
If possible do a short course on financial accounting, and learn the basics about accounting, balance sheets, profit and loss, and cashflow. That is essential, because if you take financially bad decisions your business will crumble. It is like a baby that needs proper care and nurturing.
He doesn't stick to any office hours, but does not believe in delegate and forget. He is not operational, but when he delegates, he follows up - every day! He says, in India, your managers and employees will start nodding their heads about how they've understood what needs to be done, but won't do it, or won't do it right, until you follow up and oversee them.
When you are growing your business, don't be pretentious. Don't try and show off that you're doing great. Investors don't necessarily want to see great infrastructure, they want to see the virtual reality world you are going to build and that you are asking them to invest in that world. Not the world you live in today. He started off with a small cubicle in Nariman Point, before moving to a 300 sq. ft. shop in the suburbs, and then adding two more shops of 300 sq. ft. each. And that was his situation even in 2000 when the US investor decided to pump cash into his business.
When asked about the importance of branding, he said the most important branding is excellent executions. Happy customers will build your brand much better and much bigger than anyone amount of advertising or PR will. Word of mouth is the best publicity you'll ever generate.

Married to your idea?

2008-02-08T08:53:00.000-08:00

I just had an epiphany of sorts a few days back.

I was attending a TIE forum meeting, when Manak Singh, the convener of the forum and I began exchanging notes on business in general. And he told me that at an earlier TIE conference, they had invited Vivek Paul of Wipro. One of the key things Paul said was that the problem with a lot of Indian entrepreneurs is that they often get married to the idea with which they start their business.

They first decide that they are going to sell a particular service or product, and then go out to look for a market for that service or product. The way it should ideally work is an outside-in approach, where you first see what the market really demands and then try and deliver that, instead of an inside out approach.

The entire discussion started when Manak Singh asked me about scalability, and I said pure security consulting services does not seem to have the ability to scale - the market demand does not enable the kind of growth that I would ideally like.

I then took this discussion to our annual bootcamp, where once a year we all meet and present on various topics, and throw ideas around. When I presented the vision for the next 3 years, the teams started to question our ability to achieve the numbers based on pure consulting services, and then the suggestions started to pour in. We need to go beyond just pure advisory services, get into implementation, product reseller-ship, and maybe even into network and system integration.

I'll keep posting on how the expansion plans work out, but I got a good feel about this. Although, we might have been earlier leaving money on the table by not aggressively pursuing other projects, it won't be the case any longer!

So maybe a key question that an entrepreneur needs to ask is whether they are the only buyers of their idea. And maybe even more importantly this is a question that entrepreneurs need to keep asking throughout the lifetime of their companies. I could quote a couple of very interesting examples here: Nokia started off as a wood-pulp unit, then was bought over by a rubber manufacturing company, and then merged with a company manufacturing telephone cables. This fusion company was manufacturing paper products, bicycle and car tires, footwear (including Wellington boots), personal computers, communications cables, televisions, electricity generation machinery, capacitors, aluminium, etc.

Another intriguing example is 3M, their most popular product being the Post-It notes. Very few people would know that the name 3M stands for Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, which went through a financial crunch, got out of the mining business, and became what it is today because the people running the company did not feel that they had to remain "loyal" to the original idea! Read about its fascinating history here.

Funding your business using credit cards?

2008-02-07T06:46:00.000-08:00

I just came across an article about using credit cards to fund your startup. Although, the article is for the US environment, I think this is a patently bad idea, especially in India. The current interest rates on credit card debt are close to 2% per month, which is 36% per year! If that is not usurious, I don't know what is. It might actually be cheaper to go and raise money from your neighborhood money-lender!

The rules in India allow the directors to pay for certain expenses of the company from their own resources, and to then get reimbursed a few months or maybe a year or so down the line when the company has started generating enough funds. Knowing that fewer than 5% of new ventures actually succeed, why take such a huge risk and be saddled with debt and surmounting interest costs?

In any case, rolling over credit card debt, or switching from one provider to another just because you're exceeding your credit limits on the first card, means that you're spiraling way down a debt trap. Doing this, when trying to get your business up and running is a horribly bad idea. So don't fall for the temptation of abusing your credit ratings you might have built up by religiously paying off your credit card bills while you were in a regular salaried job. Your income when running your business is going to be close to nil for the first year or so. It is far better that you work harder at building up the funds yourself or rallying family and friends around to the idea of supporting your business.

Choosing my problems

2008-01-15T05:28:00.000-08:00

One of the biggest challenges of being an entrepreneur is the fact that in most cases you've got to fight your battles alone. Some of us have mentors, some of us come from a family with a business background, and maybe some of us have an excellent core team. But for a lot of us, the problems that we face in running a small-medium business are more or less entirely ours to face and resolve. Whatever be the case, one has to accept that problems will occur. There is no business, or for that matter no serious activity, which is not beset by its own unique set of problems.

The trick is to accept this fact, and to face most of your problems with as much equanimity, humility, and introspective ability as you can. In most cases, I find I can manage all these virtuous qualities in some measure or the other. Cash-flow issues - we've faced them earlier, and have managed to come through. Plus the receivables list does tend to give one comfort that sooner or later the money is going to come through. Client issues - some clients are generally painful, most others have genuine grievances. Nothing that cannot be resolved by openly asking them what they would like us to do, negotiating the extent to which we'll go, and then delivering on it. As long as they see we are sincere in our commitment, they'll usually stop being adversarial, and start looking at how they can work with us to solve the problems at hand. Lack of a strong pipeline. We've faced that situation earlier as well, and usually the lull lasts for no more than a month or so. A weak pipeline also means people sitting twiddling their thumbs. But constant communication, research projects, and trainings can help keep them productively occupied. Employee performance issues - again set targets, agree on them, measure them, and if they consistently under-perform, ask them to leave.

The one problem where I can simply muster up no equanimity is attrition. And we usually have waves that come in about once a year, when the level of attrition can quite simply be called an exodus. Each time, I try and introspect what we could have done better, and we try and do it. And each time it seems as if we're building a castle right near the shore, and a huge wave comes in and washes it right away. Last time around we introduced incentives and a team structure to help curb attrition. I also reduced my own involvement in project execution. This time it seems we need to dig down deeper to find out what we need to do, to get ahead of the attrition ratios that plague us. What hurts about attrition is the feeling of loss. You spend time building a relationship, investing in people's learning/training, you see them grow in confidence and technical skills, and then one day it's pretty much all over. I can tell you the worst day in office is when an email with the subject-line "Resignation" or "Sign-off" or whatever term is vogue lands up in my inbox.

So if I had to choose my problems - I'd say give me anything except attrition.

Due diligence of Indian companies

2008-01-10T00:50:00.000-08:00

Came across an interesting paper on what investor should look for when investing in small and mid-sized Indian companies. It is an important read, because for a small business entrepreneur it gives you a lot of ideas on what your company should have to be able to impress a potential investor. The full paper can be downloaded here.

Here is a summary of the key points from the paper:

Operational legitimacy - is the company running a legitimate business, or are the bulk of its revenues coming from front-ending operations. There have long been rumors that a number of small and mid-sized IT companies serve as fronts for small to large amounts of money laundering.

Quantitative Criteria Matching - most investors have specific criteria which the target company needs to match. These are typically in terms of turnover, profitability, number of years in operation, etc. If your company does not meet these criteria - say $2 million in turnover - it would naturally not be in contention.

Leadership & Management - the investors will want to see who is in your core team, or even if there is no core team, they would want to evaluate your skills in terms of management ability, leadership, vision for the future, principles and values you espouse, your track record, and experience either working for other firms or successful ventures in the past.

Growth potential: How quickly can your product/service lines grow, and if they cater to specific market segments, are those segments by themselves also poised for exponential growth in the overall picture of the country's economy? What is your business plan, and what strategies have you envisaged to achieve your targets, and your degree of innovation.

Possible exit strategies: At the end of the day, all investors want to see returns on their investments. And investors in small- to medium- firms are usually taking a much higher risk, and consequently would expect much higher returns. Especially, since only 10-20% of their investments actually pan out.

Market reputation: What do your customers, your partners, and your employees say about your firm? As a small business it is unlikely you will have achieved a lot of press publicity, so your reputation almost completely depends on the people who know you or your company on a one-to-one basis.

NEN - an interesting resource for entrepreneurs

2008-01-09T01:14:00.000-08:00

I was recently contacted by the NEN - the National Entrepreneurship Network - to take a look at their website and what they do. I quite like the resources available on their website, and would recommend that you may read up on some of the more interesting articles and interviews. They also have an Ask The Expert section, where they have experts address various aspects of entrepreneurship.

They claim to be non-profit, so I guess they will continue to provide as many resources for free as they can. Some of the links I would like you to check out would be:

Ask the Expert. The current link features Pradeep Gupta who answers questions on Angel Investing
The Weekly Startup. This section looks at promising and successful startups and can be a good source for ideas and inspiration.
Resources. All the rest of the resources on the website packaged together

So let me know if you liked the website, and I'll check and see if there are other such websites out there.

Worst VC Investments

2007-12-03T23:27:00.000-08:00

Here's a very interesting list of the top 20 worst VC investments of all time. My favorites include Pets.com, CueCat, and Procket.

Really, makes you think when's a good time to sell off one's firm if the valuations can go up and down so dramatically. Also, with Sabeer Bhatia back in the news it makes you think whether the $400 million he sold Hotmail for was the right price, considering its worth a few $billions now. But in a recent interview he said something very straightforward, "When you've got $5000 in the bank, and someone offers you $400 million, the choice is pretty simple". Especially, when the first offer he got from Microsoft was a measly $160 million.

Running/starting a business - frequently asked questions

2007-08-24T04:32:00.000-07:00

Q. What will be the tax structure for a sole proprietorship?
A. As a proprietor, you will create a profit-and-loss account of your business. Here you have the advantage of putting in a lot of your business/personal expenses into the P&L account. This should ideally be avoided as you grow, but initially you can reduce your tax burden with this. The tax you will end up paying is only on the *profit* of your business, and not on all the income. If you accept income directly on your name, you will have to end up paying tax on all the income. So proprietorship is the smarter choice.

The other tax component you need to be aware of is Service Tax. If your revenues exceed Rs. 8 lakhs per year, you are liable to pay Service Tax every quarter at the rate of 12.36% on the income. For this you will need to obtain a Service Tax number by registering yourself at the local excise office. This is for services. If you are going to be selling products, you need to register for Sales Tax or VAT (depends on the rules in your particular state). For this as well you need to check with your local excise officer. More information on Service/Sales tax is available here
http://cexmumbai3.gov.in/

Q. How do I start from scratch?
A. Good to hear that you're looking at becoming an entrepreneur. There are basically two approaches to starting your company:
1. You could plan, map your strengths, product offering, and then see whether there is a market need for it, what resources you would need, how much funding you would need, and then build all of this into a business plan.
2. You could jump right into the deep end of the pool, and follow a 'shoot-from-the-hip' kind of cowboy style of doing things

I adopted approach #2, but wouldn't always advise it. The important common points in either approach are:
1. You have to offer something that the market will pay you for
2. It has to be something you would love doing irrespective of how much you get paid for it

The current economic and business situation is such that you could start off on an experimental basis while you are still working. And then you could quit and begin full time. I was slightly advantaged because I started at 20-21 and didn't have a family to support. Those sorts of things add responsibilities and must be duly addressed.

I started my company with a Rs. 2 lakh capital, and built it into a 100 times that in about 6 years. My blog does contain posts on how to start your business from scratch. Take a look and see if it helps.

Q. Can you tell me if VAT and Service Tax are applicable for freelance software solutions provided locally and for abroad?
A. Service Tax, yes, only if your annual turnover exceeds Rs. 8 lakhs
VAT would be applicable only if you resell other software products, or you have built your own products.

Q. Do I need a PAN card for a proprietorship firm?
A. No, you can use your personal PAN number. A separate PAN will be required only if you have incorporate it as a Pvt. Ltd. firm. Approach the nearest Income Tax office and get in touch with the PRO (Public Relations Officer) for details.

Q. Do I need to register for Service Tax or VAT?
A. Service Tax, yes, only if your annual turnover exceeds Rs. 8 lakhs
VAT would be applicable only if you resell other software products, or you have built your own products.

Q. Where do I get my seed capital from?
A. As to your funding requirement, I suggest you first list out exactly how much money you need, for how many months, how you intend to earn revenues, how much revenues you are targeting on a monthly basis vs. your monthly expenses to run the company. Basically, try and build a rudimentary profit-and-loss sheet, and see where your break-even point is. How do you intend to pay back the entity who loans you the money.

Taking money from friends/relatives may sound easy, but it isn't always so. What if your venture doesn't succeed as much you had planned. You will damage the relationships also. But if it is a small sum, and you are confident of returning it, then this is the best option. Banks will ask for collateral to give you a loan, and this might be difficult, unless you mortgage some family property or other assets you have.

But first come up with the exact amount of money you need and then try and figure out your sources of funding.

Q. I am currently working at a Pvt Ltd Co. and am starting my own propreitorship firm from my home. Its a services business where I would be launching my first portal soon. I have acquired a gumaste license. Kindly inform me about the other requirements specially relating to taxes. Do I need a seperate pancard for the firm and besides registering for the service tax which other taxes do i have to pay?
A. If you are running it as a sole proprietorship, you can continue using your personal PAN number. For purposes of tax calculation, you need to prepare a profit-and-loss account for the proprietorship firm, and then include only the profit (if any) into your total taxable income computation. But if you incorporate it as a Pvt. Ltd. firm then you need an additional PAN card.

Besides service tax, if you have employees you would have to pay Fringe Benefit Tax on the benefits you provide to your employees (such as travel, food, conveyance, entertainment, petrol diesel, etc.). You also need to register for Professional Tax for your proprietorship firm. If you sell or resell any products, you would also need to register for VAT or Sales Tax. If you have employees, you need to deduct tax at source, and for this you need to register for a TAN number.

Please check with a professional CA and CS (Company Secretary) for the latest laws and regulations in this regard.

Q. Can I have a current account (as the sole Prop) in my name but have an operational business name for website/visiting cards etc. Is it mandatory to have the name registered?
A. Your clients will know you by the name being used on your website and visiting cards. But then when you bill them or ask them to make a payment, it will be a different name. This will create a slightly negative impression in their minds. It is best to focus on brand-building right from the start.

How to register for Sales Tax / VAT in India

2007-08-02T01:44:00.000-07:00

Recently, we got into reselling products in line with our consulting work, and also developed a couple of new products. But in order to sell products within India, we need to register for a Sales Tax or VAT (Value-Added Tax) number. This process is pretty straightforward:

Locate the office of the Central Sales Tax Office in your city. Being in Mumbai, a simple Google search turned up the location of the office at Mazgaon - http://salestax.maharashtra.gov.in/communicationcenter/contactusShow.php
Approach either the Public Relations Officer's desk there, or go directly to the Registration Department and collect the forms.
We needed the following supporting documentation along with the form:

Company's PAN Card
Director's PAN Card copy
Two proofs of Director's residence - I used my passport and a phone bill
Two proofs of place of business - we used our Leave & License agreement, and the electricity bill

The form is pretty straightforward to fill, and you need to ask for the one related to Voluntary Registration (VRS). You will need a Sales Tax Professional to sign on the form, and the Mazgaon building also houses the central office of the Association of Sales Tax Professionals, so finding one shouldn't be all that difficult.
It cost us Rs. 5000 as fees for VRS, and nothing under-the-table
The Sales Tax or VAT number is sent across by post in about a week's time

The main thing to keep in mind is that VAT returns need to be filed every quarter, and you will need to get a qualified CA who is capable of auditing and signing-off on VAT returns. My current CA has expressed his reluctance to process our VAT returns, so we are on the lookout now for someone who can do this.

10 ways to get business when bootstrapping

2007-06-23T15:49:00.000-07:00

Some of these headlines are beginning to read like the advertising gimmicks from fly-by-night online operators. But when you're bootstrapping your business, and don't have much in the way of funding. And possibly no sales or marketing staff, here're some ideas on how you could get leads. Caveat: this would work best probably only for consulting companies, but then again, it just might work for anyone. Here goes:

Subscribe and post to mailing lists: In our line of work, there are a number of mailing lists. Some of these have subscriptions of over 1 million members (Bugtraq). When people send in queries, and if you have sensible answers to give, it helps to put your name out there. If I read someone's reply to a query, which I find useful, I will often check up on that person's website, and see if there is any business potential. Similarly, if you post answers and put your contact information in your signature, it helps to put your name out there.
Write articles: Often, when we don't have business in a particular segment of our work, say SAP Security, we'll go ahead and write up on it. If an online or offline journal publishes the article, that's great. If not, we put it up on our website, and sooner or later the search engines will pick it up and send inquiries your way.
Speak at conferences - big or small: Within your area of business, there would be a number of professional societies. These would normally meet weekly or monthly, and quite often they invite guest speakers. If you take membership of these societies and take an active role, you're very likely to get noticed. They are also often short of good speakers, so if you can play it to your strength then you would again be able to put your name out there.
Write a blog (not an anonymous one!): If you post good stuff on your blog, especially directly related to your area of expertise, business is quite likely to come your way. Of course, anonymously blogging like here doesn't help much in the way of getting business, but then again that was not really my objective :)
Call up the bigger fish: In any line of work, there are bound to be the big guys who would be more than willing to send business your way, especially if you specialize in a niche area. For us, initially our area of expertise was (and hopefully still is) penetration testing. The big consulting firms were more interested in large audit projects, and were more than willing to offload the smaller ones to us.
Call up existing clients: Asking for referrals is one of the best ways to get business. In fact, why just clients. You could call up everyone you know - vendors, suppliers, friends, ex-employers, etc. It doesn't hurt, and most of our large deals have landed up in the most unexpected fashion.
Get your website listed: Build a cool-looking website and get it listed in a number of online directories which may be specific to business in your area. Both Yahoo! and Google have directories and you could try and get it listed there. There are also online Yellow Pages-style sites and you could try getting listed there
Drop flyers in your office complex: This might be a slightly desperate measure, but what the heck. Get one-page flyers printed and post them around your office complex or in buildings next to the one you work in.
Put up hoardings if possible: Where we work, the law of the land allows us to put up a hoarding outside our office. And thankfully for us our location is right on one of the busiest roads in town. So everyday thousands of people see the hoarding. Not that we've gotten a lot of direct business from it, but every now and then we meet someone who's seen it and it helps create recall value.
Do work gratis: This is probably the last resort, but if a large client is willing to give you a letter of appreciation or recommendation for some free work, then you might as well do it. When starting out, we did a few free assignments, but this must be avoided to the extent possible.

10 Questions with a woman entrepreneur - Shibani Jain

2006-12-20T00:08:00.000-08:00

Shibani Jain is the CEO of Craftsbridge India Pvt. Ltd. A first generation woman entrepreneur, she has stuck through a lot of ups and downs to build a very unique and inspiring business – bringing India’s traditional crafts and arts to a wider market, using the Internet and direct marketing as tools to ensure the craftsmen get their right recognition and dues. I interviewed her online a few weeks ago, and gained some significant insights into a woman’s entrepreneurial journey.

1. Could you brief us about your company's main offerings?

Shibani: We offer designer and special skill products which map current corporate requirements. We work with special skill groups across the country and our sales help these small rural urban groups to generate income.

We offer corporate promotional and motivational products like desktop products and office accessories.

We arrived at this focus after a lot of trial and error. We tried many other things at first – home textiles which we were exporting; retail sales for domestic markets (garment apparels, etc). We even had our own stitching unit. But then, we realized its not possible to do so much; especially since they were all virtually different businesses – with separate infrastructure requirements, different markets and different production bases. We decided to cut down and we focused on the business where we had the strongest market traction.

2. Since your website is one of the primary marketing channels, what strategies would you advise to promote one's website and make it more productive in terms of customers and revenues?

Shibani: Our website is only 7% of our total business today. I would advise the following for similar ventures:

1. Unique offerings
2. Decent strategic tie-ups/partner sites to ensure you get the eyeballs
3. Constant renewal of offerings and content

The web site is more a promotional tool for us, today than bringing in real business. But we find it useful to refer our customers to our site.

3. What prompted you to begin your current venture? What thought process led to this idea, and what initial challenges did you have to face?

Shibani: I was a web and multimedia designer and always interested in handicrafts. We thought that we could make a difference to this business (even if it was done in a small way to start with) with our ability to understand current market norms, design and bring in professional inputs.

We were also excited by the concept of "customized crafts". Being handmade product, it is relatively easier to customize a product with a special message or specification or color, even in small quantities. We thought of how a "grain of rice" can be packaged nicely with a hand written message and magnifying glass and sent off anywhere in the world.

And we were excited about the fact that we could be the one middle point between the end buyer and the end producer. It was exciting to visualize a situation where we could be the bridge between the rural/grass roots producer who has no market access and the end buyer who has no idea about the craft producer and their stories. It was interesting from a social and creative perspective.

We felt this was possible with a dot com model - with producers on one end and buyers on the other. In fact, we were incubated as a dot com. We made it through incubation funding, but were late in the dot com boom. The bust ensured that no one even heard us out as a dot come investment. The choice before us was either to shut down or change the model. We changed the model and started selling directly to corporate buyers.

4. When the chips are down, how do you deal with those kinds of situations?

Shibani: We have had many times when the chips were down. And we persevered. I did not give up. We evolved and sharpened our model in terms of cutting costs, reducing overheads, sharpening our focus, building systems and processes. We had to go through really tough transitions, like when I closed down the home textiles exports business – it was a harrowing time. We had to let go of trained staff, say no to customers who had started initiatives with us and manage all excess raw material fabric stock which was left over. At this time we simply stuck to our guns, gave ourselves a time line and swallowed our losses on this.

Another transition happened when my partner who headed the corporate business suddenly decided to quit after 5 years of managing this business. We then had to transition and learn many things afresh. The knowledge of the business went with him. We had a huge struggle just to re-educate ourselves about our customer requirements, vendor capabilities and issues and so many other things. But this transition actually resulted in us moving from a one man show into a 'team' approach. We built a team and dependence on one person is much reduced today. We also focused on more documentation, systems and processes at this stage.

5. What plans do you have for the future for your company?

Shibani: We have many dreams – of them one is that of having our brand recognized in the form of retail stores of our own. The other picture is to take our gifts offerings to foreign shores.

6. If you had to do it all over again, what would you differently?

Shibani: We had very high costs when we started up - manpower, office, etc. I would now start like a garage operation if I had to restart. I would also focus, focus and focus from day one.

7. What drives you to work everyday?

Shibani: The thought that there is so much more to do, that we have only scratched the surface. The fact that I have something new to learn every day some new idea to pursue.

8. What three things would you advise aspiring women entrepreneurs?
Shibani:
1. Be courageous. Do not worry about the fact that you are a woman and chances are that others will not worry about it either. Very often the problem is not external if it’s not internal.
2. Find and use external support. Today women entrepreneurs have a lot of external support- special funds, working capital loans, network groups- find them & use them well. Am not exactly aware of which ones, but banks like SIDBI, women's cooperative banks are women friendly. To be honest I have not had to find one myself- but they are there- on the net/banking community/funding groups.
3. Manage your guilt well. If you also have a family to look after. Guilt is not good for you/your family/your business. You might as well realize that this is what you love to do and your family might as well realize this too! Honesty is the best policy here in more ways than one!

9. What books or events have inspired you the most?
So many books! From Ayn Rand (We the living, The Fountainhead) at 16, to Herman Miller (Siddhart) at 20 to Celestine Prophecy (colin wilson?) To Conversations with God recently.

I was also influenced by books like "All paths lead to gold" and "Winning" by Jack Welch.

On events – I did a course in Vipassana meditation in the mountains of Igatpuri- this is a 10 day silent course- and it changed my life. It taught me to view life in perspective- and the fact that mind control is the most important control to have. The mind must not dictate you- you must control your mind.

Also every time I see street children in India, I feel compelled to do something. Anything to alleviate the suffering that so much of mankind seems to have. I feel outraged that so little is done and about the unfairness of it all.

I feel sad when i see beautiful, skilled products, sold in a shabby way, at shabby prices and in a shabby manner. I feel bad that the artist who created such a beautiful product is not getting his/her due- neither price nor recognition. I just feel that it’s all a criminal waste.

10. What advice would you have for aspiring entrepreneurs in general, and women entrepreneurs specifically?
1. Out of 10 start up businesses only 3/4 survive. The trick is to persevere and to believe in your picture.
2. Being at the right time and at the right place is important when you start- a good idea is not enough- a hard look at viability is a must.
3. Being an entrepreneur is very tough- it’s even tougher if you are trying to do something different/not done before/charting a different path. I would advise all young people trying to start a business to go in with their eyes open, but also with dreams in their mind.
4. For women I would say- your job is even tougher- like it or not, the family looks at you to keep the home fires running-but the flip side is that you may not have to be the bread earner! Enjoy this freedom and do something that you truly want to do. This is not to say that your success is not important- it is just as important, but you may have the option to choose!
5. For women I would also say, that consider the logistics of your life as a serious matter - like how far is your office from home? How much support do you have (family and otherwise), good help at home!!! These are small, practical and according to me imperative tips for the women entrepreneur. I could never have run Craftsbridge, if these logistics were not in my favor.

Intrepid: Thank you so much for all the time and effort you put into answering this long list of questions! Would it be OK, if readers of this blog wanted to get in touch with you?

Shibani: Sure, they can email me at shibani@craftsbridge.com

Common errors in technical writing

2006-10-15T03:43:00.000-07:00

Today I attended a session of the Mumbai chapter of the Society for Technical Communication . The first session was by Gurudutt Kamath, who is probably the most well-known figure in the tech writing community in India. My interest in attending the session arose cause someone I know was also speaking there, and also because a lot of the work that we do involves a significant amount of technical writing. So while, we may not be professional technical writers, consulting does require us to have excellent written communication skills.

Guru (as he is popularly known) was speaking on common errors in technical writing. I think many of these errors occur in daily business communication as well. He made it a pretty interactive session, so the other tech writers also piped in with the errors they have seen occur most often. Here's the list we came up with:

Not identifying the purpose of the document. Each document should have a set of objectives and a context in which it is being developed. Is it a user manual, or a marketing collateral, or something else. This leads us to:
Not identifying the right target audience. If you don't know whom you're writing for, you're quite likely to miss the mark in terms of getting your point across. You could come across writing increasingly dumbed-down documents, or your writing could be so filled with jargon that it would be impossible for the average reader to understand. Having identified the target audience, you need to be sure that the next error is taken care of:
Not getting the right sample audience to review your document. The right reviewers can make a huge difference in the final quality of your writing. I have often had non-technical editors review some pretty technical articles, and miss out on stuff that a more technical reviewer would easily have helped improve upon. Some of the better journals have a peer review system, so you ensure that a wider sample audience reviews your writing. A lot of the times, we end up submitting stuff without review - which is almost sacrilege!
Inconsistency. Whether it's your formatting styles or your use of numbering systems, or your choice of words (British English or American English or apna Indian English), you have to be consistent. This also applies to:
Not selecting the right examples. Guru gave the example of an article, which was about choosing relevant examples, and was woven around Amercian baseball. Now the author might have written the original article for an American audience, but by the time it got syndicated, it was published in other regions, where most of the baseball metaphors fell completely flat.
Common grammar and spelling mistakes. "It's" vs. "Its". Not pressing the F7 key. Enough said!
Wrong references. In larger documents, references to sections or figures within the document can go wrong when the document changes. For a book, that I was recently co-authoring, I had to keep changing the references to snapshots and figures as I kept inserting more, requiring me to renumber the earlier ones, as well as change references to them. Apparently, the right way to do it is to add a reference field, and point it to the location within the Word document, so that when the referenced section changes, the reference changes with it.
Cookie cutter nightmares. Ok, so we've all done this. Opened up a previous proposal or report, and simply pressed File Save As, and the old client name pops up in the most embarrassing places. We once failed to get a customer reference, because during the closing meeting they brought up the point that they had been put off because an old client name had cropped up in one of the documents we had submitted in the project. Based on the inputs from the other participants in the session, this happens to the best of them.
Use of cliched graphics. Using the MS supplied clip art in Powerpoint presentations, not getting the graphics done professionally, and using irrelevant graphics. Of course, Powerpoint gaffes are a whole thesis subject by themselves.
Punctuations errors. I am most guilty of these, especially with mis-placed commas. Just don't seem to get them in the right places! Other errors include inconsistent quotation marks, misplaces colons and semi-colons, the use of ;&amp instead of 'and', etc.

Guru recommended "The Elements of Style" as a good first book to get your technical writing in good shape. Others also recommended the "Microsoft Manual of Style" and the "Chicago Manual of Style". Guru also has a whole series of articles on common errors on this website.

Changing chartered accountants

2006-10-06T01:46:00.000-07:00

I keep harping to everyone about getting a good CA when you start your business. Looks like I should have been taking my own advice.

When we started out, the first CA we got was someone who came in through family contacts. He had been doing the income tax returns for some family members, and we thought it's a good idea to give my company work to him as well. When we were running a small operation, and ledger entries were a dozen a month, it was all good. But as we started to grow, this person proved unequal to the task. Minor hassles such as taking all our files and papers over to his office suddenly became major hurdles in getting the work done. What used to be one box file, was now a dozen and then some.

We started to look around for another CA, and just when we found one, we were told that we needed a no-objection certificate from the first guy in order to start dealing with the new one! Sheesh! Now this was a really delicate matter. Not only was the first chap doing my accounts, but he was also doing those of many more family members now. This meant he was privy to a lot of accounting information.

Anyways, the break came recently and in a very unexpected manner. We moved a couple of family member accounts away from him, since he lives at one end of town, and we at the other. That was an excellent reason to tell him that the entire process of dealing with someone who rarely visits us at home or office was proving to be too cumbersome. The next day he called us to say that he was upset at this decision, and had therefore decided not to do the rest of our accounts either. Of course, this decision comes at a very precise moment - 31st October is the last date to file our company income tax returns.

Thankfully, we have a good accountant working for us. Recently when doing the returns for my father, his insight into some of the laws related to stock investments resulted in a significant tax savings. This was something the CA should have been doing! Again the fees of a CA or the salary to an accountant is usually well worth it in terms of the savings they bring in and the accounting discipline that helps keep a better handle on one's cash flow.

The same situation occured with the Company Secretary. After promising to bring our documents up to date (we had been very lax on this front), and even taking half his fees in advance, he never showed up again. This is the same guy who had done our initial registration. Finally, we got a new CS to work for us, and filed in all our returns with the Registrar of Companies, and ended up paying a lot of back arrears and penalties as well. Yikes!

HP's boardroom scandal - update

2006-10-04T17:06:00.000-07:00

I had posted earlier about the HP scandal that forced its chairperson Patricia Dunn and Chief Ethics Officer Kevin Hunsaker to resign. In the post I mentioned that it would have been best if HP had made a clean breast of the entire issue at the first instance, and not waited until things got muckier.

The latest news is that the California Attorney General has indeed filed criminal charges against Dunn, Hunsaker and the others. The most interesting note is the use of computer forensics to unearth much of the evidence in this case. Although, one accused is reported to have destroyed his hard drive with a hammer - pretty effective I must say. I'll go out on a lark here and predict that the new HP CEO, Mark Hurd might have to end up resigning too, because its quite likely he knew pretty much enough about the whole "pretexting" investigation to make the call that they were indeed crossing the line.

CNet News has a comprehensive coverage of the entire story, which promises to reveal a lot more about what went on behind the scenes at one of America's largest corporations.

Another related item on corporate ethics is Steve Jobs' apology to shareholders where certain stock option grants were pre-dated so that they were shown as being given on an earlier date when the share price was lower, thus bringing immediate benefits to those who received them.

The simplest SEO formula - it still works!

2006-10-01T00:02:00.000-07:00

Whenever I speak with any budding entrepreneur, I cannot help but stress the importance of search engine optimization. Over half our business comes through enquiries generated through our website. In fact, in the first four years we never had a dedicated sales/marketing team, and still managed to earn 6-figure revenues through consulting.

About a year ago, we shifted our domain from a .co.in to a .com. And also changed our branding to reflect our global aspirations. As a result, all the SEO that we had done on our original domain came to naught. Our Google page ranks for the new website were less than 3 on most pages, and our website was simply not turning up in search engine results. So obviously, business enquiries almost suddenly dropped. We took it up on priority to boost our page ranks and get back to the levels we were on with the previous domain. And from that emerged vindication that our SEO formula still works, and is as simple as this:

Build a nicely designed website - everything is logically structured and your services, products and company profile are well presented
Add good content to the website. Ours carries a lot of articles that our team writes, and a couple of blogs
Identify the keywords that you think potential customers would search for
Add these into your title and meta tags
And the key to it all - have other high-ranking websites link back to you. This is main challenge, and you got to put up great content, which people will read because it's interesting, not because you're trying to sell it to them directly.

A couple of days ago, the latest Google crawls had just finished - our page ranks were 5 or 6 on all the pages, and we were figuring in the top 5 results for most of our identified key words and phrases. And the most significant proof - business enquiries through our website have gotten back to their previous levels! So if you're getting into business - any kind of business - pay attention to SEO, and you'll go a long way in aiding your sales and marketing efforts.

Asian Women Entrepreneurs Fair

2006-09-30T23:29:00.000-07:00

This seems to be an interesting event - the 3rd Asian Women Entrepreneurs Fair. However it is being held in Bangladesh, and seems a slightly politically hued event (what with a Minister for Commerce and Water Resources inaugurating. But very much a step in the right direction. If nothing else it would be an excellent platform to network and grow business. I wonder if anything of this sort happens in India?

Communication disorder

2006-09-28T03:12:00.000-07:00

This article by Wired News laments the sorry state of affairs with regards to our ability to communicate. While cellphones and emails have increased the amount of communication we do on average, it has greatly killed the art of communication. A survey quoted in the article, conducted by Yahoo! and OMD shows that the average family is doing 43 hours of multi-tasking work in one day!

Look all around at the emails and SMS's we receive and the horrible spelling and grammar of it all. And how frequently people will end up chatting on IM with someone who is in the very same room! I hate it when someone who could have picked up the phone and spoken to me about an issue would rather send me an email or worse still chat with me on IM. Chatting has to be the #1 communication killer, especially when other options are easily available.

While email would ensure putting things on the record, I'd personally prefer the following order of communication:

Meeting in person. Especially in business, a face to face meeting can have far greater positive outcomes than simply email or phone communication. It is quite likely that a client or partner may be more convinced about doing business with you if you go visit them than if they have only spoken with you or emailed you.
Phone call. It is extremely tedious at times to give an explanation of an issue over email. And how often do we feel tempted to resort to emoticons to convey the emotion behind our message, even in formal emails. Because very often the text of the email simply fails to communicate the tone of the message. Just pick up the phone and talk! There's nothing like the sound of a human voice at the other end of the line to change the way the other person perceives you.
Emails. Compared with the blasphemy of doing business or personal communications over SMS's with their 160 character limits, I'd prefer email any day. Also, when doing business internationally, emails are one of the best means of communication, unless you use Jajah.
Chatting. It's cheap, but it's horrible in terms of actually getting one's point across. While I might be mid-way through answering the first question, the other party is already onto their next point. Grammar and spelling are usually the first casualties.

Sidenote: The one mode of communication that simply defies logic is the scrapping that happens on social networking sites such as Orkut. Intimate, personal conversations all out in the open, and a nightmarishly clumsy way simply to keep track of conversation threads. Maybe I am a bit old-fashioned, but send me an email instead of a scrap...

Review: Bootstrapper's Bible - Seth Godin

2006-09-25T14:15:00.000-07:00

In one word - brilliant!

If you're starting off a business from scratch, or struggling through the pains of keeping your overheads low and competing with the big guys, then the Bootstrapper's Bible by Seth Godin is for you. It's available free for download here.

Some gems from the book:

A brilliant idea will kill you. Go for an idea that is likely to make you money, not necessarily something that you personally think is great. He gives the example of the Inc. 500, which is a list of the fastest growing small companies, and almost all of them are bootstrapped, and many of them are in boring, mundane lines of business (the #1 company makes toothbrushes).
Don't get too caught up in trying to become a Bill Gates or a Jeff Bezos or Steve Jobs. What may have worked for them is often an exception to the rule. While their business models get all the hype, very few people can actually replicate them.
Focus on sales and advertising. Often entrepreneurs - including yours truly - focus on the services and the products, and shy away from marketing. Personally, I have always felt I am really bad at marketing (so my next big challenge is already staring me in the face), and so haven't focused on meeting customers and pitching to them. But the importance of this is simply too great and very often overlooked by bootstrappers.
Get a mentor. And some pretty cool ways of going about getting mentors and dealing with them so the relationship doesn't go bust.
Ideas for calculating your cash flow. Based on what you've been spending and earning in the past 9 months. And the best point about getting credit from suppliers instead of trying to get money from banks or loans from family/friends. Very neat!
Just start! Don't plan so much that that's all you end up doing. Go out there. Get in front of customers. Talk to partners and vendors and peers. Get your idea into execution, even if you're holding onto your current job. Whatever you do, don't just sit around waiting for the right time, the right idea and the right execution plan. As Goethe apparently said, “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”

The only downside would be that he doesn't directly stress the importance of practical things like search engine optimization or partnering with the right companies to get outsourced business. But at a strategy and thought-process level this book hits the mark.

Entrepreneur success story - Javed Habib

2006-09-25T13:39:00.000-07:00

Most of us in Mumbai who may have opened Page 3 of the newspapers could not have missed reading about Javed Habib. With his long list of celebrity clients, he is the most prominent face of Habib's hair and beauty enterprise. Started by his father, they clocked a turnover of Rs. 10 crore (USD 2.2 million) last year, and are planning for an IPO in the next fiscal!

They already have salons - many of them through the franchisee model - not just all over the country, but also in New York and the UK. They also have their own training institutes to teach the stuff. Amazing, how far you can take something as mundane as a hair-cutting salon.

Why ethics makes good business sense

2006-09-24T05:15:00.000-07:00

Another corporate scandal - this time at one of the more respected companies - HP. As the story goes, HP found out that one of its board members was leaking confidential information. They hired private investigators to find the source of the leak, and probably gave them carte blanche. What the PI's then did was to impersonate the directors and obtain telephone records and other personal data on seven directors, nine journalists, two employees as well as family members of those targeted individuals.

To add insult to injury, the HP board simply dithered over taking any concrete action once the scandal was outed. And even before that when they knew that the PI's had overstepped the line by a big margin.

Now, Patricia Dunn who headed the board and oversaw the investigation has been asked to resign, and Mark Hurd has taken over. Hurd then comes out with a statement on the scandal, which has some real gems in it:

"I understand there is also written report of the investigation addressed to me and others but I did not read it. I could have, and I should have."
A director is implicated as being the source of leaks. A high level investigation is launched. A written report of that investigation is available, and Hurd says he knows about the report, but didn't read it!

"In, I believe, February 2006, I was informed by the investigation team that they intended to send an email containing false information in an effort to identify the source of the leaks. I was asked to, and did approve the naming convention that was used in the content of that email. I do not recall seeing nor do I recall approving the use of tracer technology."
What's naming convention?

He refused to take questions about it later on.

While pressures from Wall Street, venture capitalists, customers and employees always creates an emphasis on results, when those results come at the cost of corporate ethics, you know the truth will out someday, and the shit will hit the ceiling fan. Even now, HP should have made a clean breast of the entire situation, given that they're going to have to answer a Congressional committee on the same issue, and more "facts" will come tumbling out.

If nothing else, ethics in business makes sense because you know that the fallout from the truth emerging into the public domain will probably create a far greater loss than the gain you are looking at. In HP's case, they were of course motivated not by financial gain, but from the eventual cost of sensitive information being leaked out. The question that begs to be asked is which loss will be greater?

Charan Gill - curry tycoon brings Scots to India

2006-09-18T01:58:00.000-07:00

Chanced upon a very interesting rags to riches story - Charan Gill landed in Scotland with nothing to his name, and worked long hours at dockyards, before getting an apprenticeship at a restaurant. As the story would have it, he started to manage a franchise of that restaurant chain, before branching out on his own, and making his millions with a 16 chain restaurant with a turnover of £12 million.

Advertising tactics included finding a guy called Rick Shaw, and having him make deliveries in rickshaws! Also, having curries delivered by chopper.

He sold off his chain last year, and has now started a new venture to promote Indian markets to the Scots.

Also worth reading should be his autobiography "Tikka Look At Me Now". Proceeds from the book sales will go to the Harlequin Charitable Trust. Very cool stuff, I say.

All right, so give me something I can actually buy!

2006-09-16T10:55:00.000-07:00

For a car enthusiast and constant traveler, the one thing that hurts me most about India is the sheer lack of variety in the cars that are available for purchase. Add to that the exorbitant prices that most cars are at, especially when compared to the prices the same models command in other countries, and you begin to really feel you've got a bad bargain.

Let's take the Honda Accord for instance. In India, a standard Accord is priced somewhere in the Rs.16-17 lakhs range, approx USD 40,000. If you add in all the options, and road tax and insurance, you end up at a bit under USD 50,000. And suddenly you feel (quite rightly) that you've bought yourself a high-end car. Globally though, the Accord is a mid-range car usually priced at USD 20,000 to USD 25,000. Or the Mitsubishi Lancer, which in India is again somewhere at the upper end of the mid-range cars along with the Corolla - USD 20,000 I think. We were recently looking at a car for our Middle East office, and a brand new Lancer comes in at approx USD 12,000 - that's about Rs. 6 lakhs - almost half what it would cost in India. The same goes for other run-of-the-mill models such as the Skoda Octavia or the Ford Mondeo, which are considered status symbols in India. For God's sake, all the taxis in Dubai are Camry's!

And now comes news that Audi has launched its drool-worthy Q7 priced at a whopping Rs.61 lakhs or USD 140,000! Enough to dry up your throat for a pretty long time.

And that's only the pricing saga. Look at the sheer lack of car models on Indian roads. Where are the cute Peugeot's? Or the Mazda 6? Where're the two-door sports cars? I mean do you expect me to buy sedans, when I should ideally be buying a sleek two-seater coupe?!? Even Hyundai hasn't bothered with its Coupe, and neither have Honda, Ford or Toyota. The least they could have done is offered coupe versions of their already popular models. So one wouldn't have to pay a foot and an arm to guys like Dilip Chabria and look like wannabes in the bargain. Or end up only dreaming of the super-sexy
Mercedes SL-class roadster, which comes in at a cool USD 200,000 only, if you please.

I now live in a constant state of mortal fear that I'll be hitting a mid-life crisis when these models actually become available and affordable! Sigh...just give me a good car, with a price that makes sense. I am already paying a pretty penny for fuel.

PS: I have been informed through reliable sources that Harley Fat Boys will be available within the Rs. 3 lakh price range. Anyone know more on this? Though the cynic in me says that this might be just another case of a multinational dumping obsolete, slightly remodeled, renamed vehicles.

Starting young, really young!

2006-09-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting article about three young Brits who've started their entrepreneurial journeys really young.

Jake Lunn is 10 years old and has an online business selling customized napkins to yacht owners. He's saving up money to buy his own yacht some day.

Oliver Bridge, aged 17, sells large-sized shoes at Biggerfeet.co.uk

Sarah Green, aged 20, sells furniture online and turnover is expected to hit £400,000.

What is noteworthy is they all bootstrapped their business, and their offerings are primarily online, although sales are of actual goods - napkins, shoes and furniture.

You know you're in Mumbai...

2006-09-02T11:41:00.000-07:00

Back home after a few weeks, and feels good. You know you're in Mumbai when:

You're out driving, and it's all nice and sunny, and in two minutes it begins to pour and everyone is scampering. And then two minutes later the scene is exactly the same as it was earlier, except everything and everybody is now moving through a sheet of rain
You have to meet a friend who lives on the other side of town, and both of you whole-heartedly agree that it is best served by taking a local train instead of driving through evening rush hour.
You have to attend a friend's wedding with three elaborate functions, and your friends and you are conspiring to get away by attending only the reception. Mostly because of work, but also because if we attend just the wedding, that's all right too, yes?
When you have to navigate half a dozen rickshaws, two BEST buses, random cyclists, and twenty pedestrians just to get into your office lane.
When out of any 10 random conversations in the day, the probability that one or more of the following topics will be covered is very close to 1:

The stock exchange, and the latest hot stock tip
The situation of potholes on the roads
Which movie is playing, and what's the latest Bollywood gossip. Not that I care, but did you know that Dia Mirza is seeing Kunal Kapoor!

You don't hesitate before calling people up on weekends, cause hey if I am working, so should he!

Ah, good ol' Mumbai...

Posting now at blogcritics.org

2006-08-28T15:19:00.000-07:00

I've just signed up to post at blogcritics.org. All posts that would not neatly fit into the categories of this blog are likely to be posted there. The first one is on the aftermath of the Israeli-Lebanon war.

"I have a dream" speech day

2006-08-28T00:39:00.000-07:00

Just a bit of trivia. Today is the day when in 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic "I have a dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial, culminating the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

The audio and text of the speech are available online and the video is also available on Google video. The sad part of course is that in my lifetime, I don't remember any leader having delivered a speech that comes even close to giving one goose pimples the way King does. There's some real passion, a clarion call for action and accountability ("we have come to cash a check"), evocation of Biblical references, emphatic repetition (especially of the key phrase "I have a dream"), and most of all a compelling vision of the future where all men and women will be treated as equal.

Here is an interesting analysis of the speech.

Asia's top young entrepreneurs

2006-08-26T04:19:00.000-07:00

One of the key factors in a country's economic success is how conducive the overall environment is to entrepreneurship. This includes the regulatory, financial (credit availability), and social environments that influence how many entrepreneurs are created, and how many of them are successful. One of the most heartening things that has happened in the past few years, not just in India, but other Asian countries, has been the number of young entrepreneurs coming up.

Businessweek.com recently selected 20 of these young capitalists as part of a special report and has a competition going where you can login and vote for your favorite candidate, who will win the best Asian entrepreneur of the year award. Here are my favorites (disclaimer: I have a bias against scions of business houses):

Arif Ayub, Softflux, Pakistan. Offers all sorts of software development, management consultancy and then some, with 70 employees and targeted revenues of $120 million by end of the decade. Ooh boy. The dude also has a private equity fund Saltflow!
Sasikanth Chemalamudi, Habits, India. Is a creative learning company, and is also involved with projects in rural India to promote self-employment. Probably the only chap on the list with a strong social entreprenuerial streak.
Mao Kankan, Majoy Entertainment, China. Tthis guy takes online gaming to a whole new level. Players actually play from the same physical location, and games involve players shooting each other with infra-red pistols. Bring it on, I say!
Kentaro Iemoto, Clara Online, Japan. This guy is simply amazing. Battles and survives brain tumor at 14, launches his company at 16, and now manages six data centers.
Victor Lang, Global Futures, HK and Chicago. This is one of the most unique ideas I have come across. Provides educational material for those interested in learning about international conflict resolutions and diplomacy. They also host simulated UN conferences!
Hendy Setiono, Baba Rafi, Indonesia. I am a foodie, so this choice is now biased. This guy runs a chain of fast food outlets from portable booths to shopping center outlets.

The biggest disappointment is that there are no women in the list. They could easily have found a number of women with great ideas, and who are possibly already more successful than the 20 on the list. The other downside is that a majority of the entrepreneurs are in the ICT space, with four of them offering solutions in the mobile phone space.

PS: Of course, I would've qualified too, except that I'm 26. Anyone doing an under-30 list?

Pitching to venture capitalists at TIE-ISB

2006-08-23T22:54:00.000-07:00

The latest update is that our business plan for "Venture Pitch" at TIE-ISB Connect has been selected (from among 225 submissions). The plan isn't built around any unique remarkable idea. We're simply asking for venture capital to expand geographically into the US and Europe, and also to focus on a couple of niche areas within the overall information security services domain. If any of you are going to be there, drop me a line, and we'll catch up over some Paradise Biriyani! Oh, and if we do manage to swing a deal, watch out for more posts on venture capital, and such like.

Women entrepreneur updates

2006-08-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

Follow up on my earlier post on women entrepreneurs, here's a roundup of interesting events on the subject:

Tehelka has a really good article on how adversity produced opportunity for women in Kutch to become entrepreneurs in the sale of embroidered clothes and other traditional Gujurati crafts. A very interesting note:

"After the earthquake, craft also became a valuable rehabilitative tool, not just for economic rehabilitation but also for expressing their resilience and emotions through their creativity."

CNBC's TV18 (yes, the one with my favorite anchor - Shereen Bhan) has a program called Young Turks. My repeated attempts to land up on the show have resulted in naught, and now I've given up. However, they're doing a very interesting series of shows on women entrepreneurs - right from party and event organizers, interior designers, to someone who organizes Bombay Heritage Walks (thanks to Astha J for the tip). So if you get the channel on your cable, do check it out - airs every Thursday at 7:00pm.
Moneycontrol.com has a very interesting article for women on the advantages of being on your own, and ideas for various opportunities and how to tap them.
The FICCI Ladies Organization made a trip over to Russia (yes of the oil barons, and mafia, and Mercedes' jams at crossways) to promote foreign trade, which has been stagnating at $2 billion for more than a decade now.

To paraphrase Shakespeare, "There is a tide in the affairs of women, which when taken at the flood leads to fortune..."

The greatest high from being an entrepreneur?

2006-08-23T07:49:00.000-07:00

Running one's own business has lots of ups and downs, pretty much like everything else in life. Only in this case, the sine curve is more acutely experienced, because the highs are often of your own making, so the joy from successes is higher. And often, you have only yourself to turn to for recovery when things go wrong. So which are those moments, when one feels simply great, when the adrenalin rushes in, and you know you made the right choices, and when at the crossroads of life you took the right path?

There are many moments where one might think - this is it! This is exactly why I did what I did. It could be when a big deal comes through, something you've been obsessively thinking about and working on, and somewhere at the back of your mind you know the odds are so high against you getting such a deal, and then it finally does come through. It could be when a long-pending payment comes through. The relief and joy of seeing the cash in the bank. It could be when a client writes a testimonial that just makes your day. It could also be when you go out and in a flurry of instant gratification buy yourself a spanking new possession.

But I think the greatest high comes when someone else does something amazing. You've heard and experienced all about it being a "people" economy, you've gone through the pains of constant turnover and people quitting even before a year is over. But then, there comes along someone who works for you, and she's joined you as a novice, fresh out of college. And you've seen her working diligently and quietly, with a determination that harks back to your own days of struggle. And you know she's determined to get there, and you've helped her along, mentored her. And then she comes out with this absolutely amazing piece of work - which you honestly have to admit - is simply the best piece of work ever produced at your firm. And it's not just a fluke. In fact, it epitomises the rest of her work, but this piece is in the public domain, and it gets her and your firm positive reviews. That's when you know you made the right choices, and took the right turn on the crossroads, because nothing beats that kind of a high.

I would have loved to have pointed you to the work that the lady in question produced, but anonymous blogging has its restrictions, and this is one of them. But way to go! Now, if only I could have two more people like that...

How to start a sole proprietorship in India

2006-08-21T06:36:00.000-07:00

I had posted earlier about the ways in which you could start your own business in India. One of them being a proprietorship firm.

A proprietorship firm has advantages such as being relatively easy to get up and running - not too many company and tax related formalities to be completed. Far fewer records need to be maintained, and compliance levels are also lower. You could start a proprietorship while still being employed at a firm, although most firms would see that as a violation of their policies, and it might even be unethical under some circumstance. You could run it out of your own home - no need to have a registered office or such-like. However, if you are running it out of a commercial place, then you need to check in with the Shops and Establishments Act. I think in Mumbai, you'd have to fill in some paperwork with the BMC.

However, the biggest disadvantage is the lack of credibility. For some strange reason, people tend to have more faith in companies with a board of directors than in sole proprietors. For the same reason it is also difficult to get loans, since you'd have to put some of your personal property as collateral. In a private limited company, you always have the option of trying for a debt-for-equity swap.

I was advised pretty early on to convert operations from being a proprietor to a private limited company. It also has to do with the fact that a proprietor is usually perceived as a small enterprise with limited capabilities to satisfy large customers. So it's largely suited if you want to get up and running quickly, and the large majority of your clientele is not likely to perceive that as a credibility issue.

As a proprietor you could be up and running the very day that you decide you want to be on your own. So just:

Think up of a trade name, ensure it is not trademarked. You probably simultaneously want to apply for a trademark as well.
See if you can get a .com or a .in for it and set up your website. I cannot overstate the importance of a good website, with effort spent on SEO to help you get more business.
Go to your local bank branch, ask for the form they have for proprietorship firms and have that bank account ready just in case people are lining up to buy your stuff.
Get some stationery printed - letterheads (actually these you can simply design on your PC, get some good quality A4 papers and print as you need), visiting cards (sigh, well, we still need these around), and if you're really moneyed, get some brochures designed and made up as well.
Register for tax other than income tax. Your income from the proprietorship firm would get included into your personal income and would be taxed accordingly. However, you would be able to write off certain expenses incurred as part of running the enterprise. Do check with a good CA on what you can, and cannot, write off as an expense. In addition, you will probably need to consider:

Service Tax (if you're offering a service covered as per the rules)
Professional Tax (if you have employees)
Sales Tax, Excise and VAT (if products)
Check with your CA on Fringe Benefit Tax, though I don't think this is applicable.

And that's about it. So go make some money!

The demise of a Web 2.0 and some lessons

2006-08-20T10:16:00.000-07:00

So everyone (ok everyone in the techie/geekie sphere) has been talking about the demise of Kiko, one of the more talked about Web 2.0 startups. Kiko was/is an online calendaring tool, and was climbing up the popularity charts until suddenly things started to go awry. The launch of Google's calendar and 30boxes was, of course no co-incidence, but the common presumption that Google entering any market is going to kill off all startups is probably quite wrong.

In two wonderful insider analyses, Richard White and Justin Kan (kudos on the straight-from-the-gut posts) list out what they think really went wrong. So if you're another Web 2.0 entrepreneur in India or elsewhere, give these a read, and then some. White says:

Stay focused: The team kind of lost focus on the main product, right when Google calendar and 30boxes launched.
Release early, but not too early: Don't be so enthused about getting all those cool features out that you end up releasing a kludgy, buggy version that actually turns users off.
Don't add way too many features, that you don't even know your market needs or not.
You got to be able to make the leap from "Technosphere" to the mass market - the everyday Outlook calendar user, who sees little value in suddenly using the new online calendar/word processor/spreadsheet/whatever that you're so kicked about.

He also says that it wasn't the lack of a business plan (my kinda company) or the entry of Google that really spelt the death-knell for them.

Kan mentions some of the same points, as well as:

Working from home may be great in keeping the overheads low, but it could often come at the cost of productivity, and may I add, team spirit.
Getting the right people on board is essential for any company, but can spell life-or-death for a startup.
Get your investors involved, and don't hesitate to ask for help
Build incrementally. Don't aim to build the mother-of-all products right at the start.

Dharmesh Shah has also posted an excellent article on the subject, which may or may not be accurate, but has some great lessons for Web 2.0 startups in any case. There is also an interesting discussion on at Techcrunch, with Richard responding to comments.

I think I'll pipe in as well:

Think customer, not features. As techies, we tend to focus on what we think is cool, while we forget that we're actually building a product not to show off how kick-ass our programming skills are, but to actually solve a problem or a pain area
Consider user inertia. Often great ideas fail simply because user inertia is too great. You got to give the average user (whom you are planning to reach out to, right?) enough reason and motivation to switch over to using your Web 2.0 product instead of their desktop utility. So is your Mom using your product yet?
Don't buy into your own hype. Hype and product viability/success are usually inversely proportional. Remember Segway? Or the entire saga of the dotcoms? Don't get carried away by search engine rankings, website hits, interviews, or newspaper column inches. Stick to the parameters that really signify whether you'll make it or not - critical mass of users, and user feedback.
Budget for marketing and PR. Technically, you might be the next Google. But you got to put enough moolah behind your marketing efforts. Most products don't sell themselves. They need to be sold - aggressively. Ignore the moralistic standpoint that if it is so good, it'll sell itself. Sorry, it simply won't.

And if it still doesn't pan out, you could always auction it off on eBay!

Who's next? The search for a successor - Part I

2006-08-18T14:34:00.000-07:00

I've been running my current firm for more than five years now. And it's about time we looked out for someone else to come along and take it from here. Another entrepreneur once told me, "The real point of running a business is to give it away, not to hold on to it for your progeny to take over". Well, I am not giving away the business, just hoping to hand over daily operations to someone. And hoping that this will give me time to take on a more strategic role rather than an operational role. And maybe even allow me the time to tinker with infosec technology - something I don't get to do much nowadays.

It's been quite a journey though. I remember starting out in 2001 after dropping out of college, with absolutely no idea of how to start and run a business, leave alone offer consulting services in information security. Those first few years were spent running the entire shindig out of a 278 sq ft office at Churchgate with a fast depleting startup capital of 2 lakhs in the bank. Buying spare parts from Lamington Road and assembling the PC's simply to save on a couple of thousand bucks per PC. Keeping the AC's shut off, taking the bus instead of a rickshaw, taking on whatever work came our way simply to pay off next month's bills. Evading old friends and relatives who would simply never buy any sort of rationale (some of them still don't!) The daily trip from Andheri to Churchgate, struggling to find the sweet spot of time when the rush in the locals would be just about manageable (I think I finally discovered it to be the 9:35am for the Andheri local to Churchgate, and evening is anyone's guess!). And today, we stand on the edge of an exciting new leap with offices in Mumbai and Bahrain, and partnerships across the world. I say, it's been one helluva ride!

But it's time to get some more hands on board. So with the objective of finding the right person for the post, we posted on Monster.com a while ago, and oh boy, were flooded with almost 600 resumes for the job. Using a divide-and-conquer strategy, we split the resumes among four of our team members, and asked them to use liberal criteria to sift through the bunch:

Experience - at least 5 years
Should have an IT background, preferably in consulting or software services, or even better in infosec. So let's avoid those with backgrounds in retail or manufacturing. Since they won't have the right people and project management skills.
Should have either strong HR or Marketing skills. It would be impossible to find someone with both strong HR and strong Marketing skills. But if he/she has one of these, then we only need to find only another senior marketing manager or a senior HR manager to complement him/her.
Avoid any personal prejudices in the selection.
Let salary not be a criteria at the first round of selection.

This helped us get down to about 200 resumes. From these, we further shortlisted another 100 as really good ones. And when I mean good, these were pretty impressive. I think the sheer talent at the senior and middle management levels in India is amazing. I liked one chap particularly who listed angling as one of his hobbies. Sounds like my kinda guy! Except that I am the one who wants to go off and do some angling, while he's running the show! Any other takers?

Doing business in 2006, World Bank report - lessons for India

2006-08-18T11:18:00.000-07:00

The World Bank has released its annual "Doing business in 2006" report. Here are some of the observations about India:

In the rankings of how easy it is to do business in a paricular country, India, though making big gains on collateral recovery and ease of registering property, ranks 116 - 25 places behind China. (pp 9)
India ranks among the countries where it is most difficult to fire people. Others in this list include Angola, Cameroon, Togo, Tunisia, etc. (pp 29)
The Indian state of Maharashtra halved the stamp duty from 10% of the property value to 5%. Pakistan reduced its duty from 3% to 2%. (pp 35)
The reduction in stamp duty in Maharashtra resulted in a 20% increase in stamp duty collections as evasion reduced (pp 36)
India was the top reformer in the area of credit and sharing of credit histories, by establishing a new consumer credit bureau and implementing a much faster proceeding for enforcing collateral agreements. The time to enforce security/collateral agreements fell from 10 years to 6 months because of a new summary proceeding requiring minimal court involvement. India still prohibits the sharing of credit histories with non-financial organizations, though. (pp 39 and 40)
A study in India indicates that tax reform would increase productivity by 60%. (pp 57)
India still lags sorely in terms of bankruptcy reform. It ranks amongst the worst performers in terms of the number of years it takes for bankruptcy proceedings to close - 10! (pp 75)
Starting a business in India, on average required: (pp135)

11 procedures
71 days
61.7% of per capita income is average cost
0% of per capita is minimum capital required

Dealing with licenses in India, on average required:

20 procedures
270 days
678.5% of per capita income is cost

In terms of hiring and firing workers:

90 on 100 is difficult of firing
79 weeks of salary is cost of firing

In terms of taxes:

Taxes have to be paid 59 times in a year
264 hours are spent per year on paying taxes
Total tax payable is 43.2% of gross profit

So broadly speaking, reforms occured in credit and duties on property transactions, but are sorely lacking in bankruptcy laws and the job market. The government expectedly refuted the findings as 'presenting too bleak a picture based on limited inputs'. In this case, I am actually tempted to agree with the government. From personal experience, the regulations were never really a hassle in starting my company, and with the right accountant and company secretary working for us, the entire process is more or less pretty painless.

The Indian Postal Service - getting a move on?

2006-08-16T02:50:00.000-07:00

It seems like the after much noise about the potential for the Indian Postal service to turn itself around into a new age enterprise, there is finally some action happening. According to this report, India Post is going to attempt to launch banking services. Other interesting stuff that you can already do at your neighbourhood post office is file your income tax returns, pay utility bills, fill up various investment and savings forms, and, um...that's about it.

Here's an interesting presentation on leveraging the reach and ubiquity of the postal service. The World Bank organized a seminar on "efficient service delivery (postal, financial, ICT) within the context of a commercially viable postal institution. "

I wonder why all the various attempts at creating e-choupals by ITC and others do not simply leverage the existing infrastructure of the post offices across the country (150,000 of which 1200 are already connected via VSAT). Why reinvent the wheel? I think the postal service should be looked at simply as an existing massive infrastructure, where the actual delivery of mail will continue to be a loss-making enterprise, but something that cannot be done away with obviously. At the same time, you have this huge opportunity to deliver everything else, right from FMCG goods to electrical utilities (Italian Post delivers vacuum cleaners among other things), agricultural produce and most of all information. We love to drop the phrase "reaching out to the farthest corners of the country", well here's how to do it. On the other hand, India Post cannot simply be privatized, since the first thing a private player might do is cut off the loss-making mail delivery service, especially to remote villages.

But what's needed more than anything else is the iron-will, vision, and continuously innovative strategy to turn around a PSU behemoth like this one. What is not needed is retrograde government regulations designed to reduce competition - especially from cheaper, efficient courier services.

I remember during a trip to Italy last year when people spoke in almost revered tones about Corrado Passera who turned around Poste Italiane to a profit-making enterprise. When he was called in to the rescue in 1997, it was a basket case (losing $1 billion annually), and now not only is it profitable, but has ventured into services no one thought could be delivered by a postal service. It has embraced technology, allowing people to write stuff online, which it will then print out and deliver to the remotest villages in the country, and has other cool offerings. And although, its traditional postal service is still loss-making the other unconventional services more than make up for it resulting in annual profits of $400+ million and a valuation of $13 billion with prospective privatization around the corner. Passera of course has moved on now to turn around Banca Intesca along the same lines. It remains to be seen if Jyotsna Diesh and Dayanidhi Maran can pull off a Passera.

Independence day, what?

2006-08-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

It's 15th August, and another Independence Day dawns on us. For some it's wonderful that this time around it's on a Tuesday. So if you skip work on Monday, you get a 4-day weekend. Yay! For some it's that day of the year when once again patriotic songs are blared on FM, the PM asks our neighbours to desist from terrorism, news channels go around streets sticking mikes into random people's faces and asking what they think of I-day (sigh), movie channels show the regular topical movies, and next-door celebrities lecture on national accomplishments and failures, and the usual yadda-yadda.

For me, it's time to get on the soapbox and mouth off on what I-day should be all about!

It should be independence in the truest sense - in the mind to begin with. Independence from outmoded ways of thinking, from truisms we've had handed down to us from our parents, from cliches we fall back on every time we are challenged out of our comfort zones. Here's how:

Think person, not region. Next time you meet someone, stop yourself from thinking which region of India he/she comes from - Gujurati che, ki Punjabi hai, ki Marathi aahe. And for Chrissakes, Madrasi doesn't even mean anything any longer! And obviously, don't let their religion affect your opinion.
Think beyond ancient history. Every time we need to talk about why India is great, we talk about Aryabhatta, and the zero, and the Takshila University, and stuff that happened aeons ago! Simply forget about all that. Think what we need to do in the next decade that is going to make us proud, not what we did millenia ago. Think about the common person innovating and making a difference in villages, small enterprises, civil society activities, and NGO's.
Think about staying back. If you're in college, and all around you are giving their GRE's and TOEFL's, stop and think. Consider the India option. Seriously, people are returning back from overseas because it's more lucrative, challenging and fulfilling out here. So think about it. At least give it a fair consideration.
Think about the other. Before you jump to conclusions on national and international issues such as reservations, censorship, privatization, Kashmir, the Middle-East conflict, consider the fact that there are more than just two sides to the issue. That things are often more complex than news soundbites would lead us to believe. That often people's lives, dreams and aspirations get drowned in statistics. That a life lost is a life lost, whether to a terrorist's bullet or to an air force bomber.
Think entrepreneurial. Yes, it is possible to start your own business in India and do well. The bureaucratic red-tape isn't what it used to be. Heck, I've never paid a single bribe in the five years that I've been at it. So the environment is conducive, and the time is right now.
Think investments for tomorrow, not just spending for today. Yes, it's tempting to splurge as soon as you have some money in the bank, but I tell you its a bigger high to splurge on returns from invested monies!
Think financial independence. Get independent as soon as you can. Even if you stay with your parents, earning and living off of your own money is absolutely great for your confidence. Get a part-time job, write, blog, review, do whatever you can to earn your subsistence.
Think alternate careers. The notion that IAS, medicine, engineering, accounting are the only worthwhile careers is passe. Enough said.
Think global and regional. Yes, we're on the global stage, and yes we've got far greater opportunities than our parents ever did. So go out there and win it! But don't forget there's a whole other India that our middle-class existence refuses to admit into consideration. What's a lifetime worth if it's all been spent in the pursuit of self-centered material comfort?
Think gender sensitivity and equal consideration. We come from thousands of years of patriarchal hegemony. This hegemony is so insidious that we don't even realise when it comes into play. That has to change, it is inevitable. The next few decades are going to see an ~~emergence~~ resurgence of the feminine - at the workplace, in our homes, cities, villages. Embrace this phenomenon. It's vital to our success as a society.
Think beyond cricket. Seriously! 8 hours spent watching 13 men amble around a park! Ok, maybe it's not that trivial a game, but there's a lot more to sports and games than just cricket.

Ok, off the soapbox now!

HSBC "security" flaw - FUD anyone?

2006-08-15T06:53:00.000-07:00

The security industry has been often notorious for employing FUD - Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt - tactics to try and sell products and services. Here is another example of how misleading this can be.

Security "researchers" claim that there is a flaw in the online banking portal of HSBC, in that attackers who manage to install keyloggers on an HSBC user's system can learn the logon credentials of that user. Well first of all, in order to get a keylogger onto a desktop, the attacker would need to be able to break into that desktop. And second, if a keylogger does get installed, there's a lot more to lose than just your banking credentials. Potentially, every keystroke - your chat conversations, emails, passwords, everything - can and will be emailed to the attacker's email address. Now HSBC could have a virtual keyboard, but even that is exploitable.

Now, let's think from an attacker's point of view. What is easier and more lucrative? Sending millions of phishing emails and then capturing the logon credentials of an average 1% of users who fall for it, or locating HSBC customers, installing keyloggers, and then getting their logon credentials. I think I'd put my money on the former, and that explains the millions of phishing emails spamming our mailboxes everyday.

Here's a saner analysis of the whole story.

Who picked up the story? None other than the venerable BBC. And here's more. The researchers admit that HSBC is probably not the only bank affected by this issue. Well, duh yeah! Any site, any application, and any desktop is pretty much vulnerable once a keylogger is installed!

MS06-040 - Blaster redux? Probably not

2006-08-15T03:41:00.000-07:00

The security world is abuzz with the damage potential of one of the security vulnerabilities patched recently by Microsoft. Security bulletin MS06-040 deals with a buffer overflow vulnerability in a service called "Server", which is present and running on Windows 2000, XP and 2003 operating systems. As the bulletin states
"An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights."

The fear is that it could snowball into a mass-exploitation platform similar to what happened with Blaster, Slammer, CodeRed and Nimda. There is already news of a bot, which exploits this vulnerability to take control of the remote system, and use it as a zombie to launch co-ordinated attacks - most typically distributed denial of service attacks. Here's what Stephen Toulouse had to say at MS's security blog.

But here's why I think this is unlikely to happen, at least at the scale at which it is being hyped up:
1. Security awareness levels are much higher than they were in 2003 and earlier.
2. Most medium and large organizations have patch management systems in place, which would mostly automatically download and push the patches through.
3. On desktop systems, the Windows Automatic Update service, desktop firewalls and updated anti-virus software may combine to significantly mitigate the threat.
4. The security industry has a bit of a natural tendency to over-hype potential vulnerabilities. Recollect the buzz around the WMF vulnerability. Nothing came of it. Plus, we haven't had a really big worm since Blaster, so the scene is getting kind of boring.

Segway i2 and x2 launched

2006-08-14T13:21:00.000-07:00

Dean Kamen has always been sort of an inspiration (inspite of the failure of the Segway). An entrepreneur and inventor, the dude owns an entire island, which he has gone on to declare an independent state! He made his millions with the invention of of a mobile dialysis system and followed that up with an all-terrain wheelchair.

The Segway originally launched in 2001, was preceded by headline-making articles about what the invention was going to be about, and some really whacky suggestions were being put forward. Unfortunately, it never lived up to its hype, and people really didn't stop walking as Kamen had predicted.

Now, they've launched the next versions - the i2 and x2. The former is a simplified version of the original thing, and the latter is an all-terrain version. The price is still a pain, and at $4995 it isn't exactly cheap. While the need for an environmentally safe mode of transportation is tremendous, I personally don't think Segway is the answer. Plus, the major polluters of the next few decades are going to be the Asian economies of China and India. I somehow, can't imagine riding a Segway to work in Mumbai!

Promises and Lies: Restoring Violated Trust

2006-08-11T08:28:00.000-07:00

Via an article in the Economic Times, I came across this interesting study called "Promises, Lies and Restoring Trust" done by Schweitzer, Hershey and Bradlow of the Wharton School at UPenn.

One would assume that once trust has been broken it would take a really long time for that trust to be rebuilt, the study shows that this is not really the case. Broken trust can be rebuilt by assurances that the violator then sticks by. This is not only by actions, but "words do matter" as well. However, if the violation of trust has been accompanied by deception, then rebuilding takes much longer, and must be accompanied by actions and not just words. Even so, in this case, trust may never fully be restored. As Bradlow says, "It’s okay to screw me over, but don’t deceive me as well. If you screw me over and lie about it, it’s going to take even longer to recover from it.”

Often I have a golden rule when signing contracts: would I be doing business with this person or company even in the absence of this written contract? If yes, then the contract is simply to cover our respective asses in case things go horribly wrong, but it's not something that will really prevent one party from screwing over the other party if they really want to. Which is why, beyond a simple non-disclosure agreement, we do not have employees sign any binding contracts or agreements. If we don't trust them enough to have them on board, then we probably shouldn't be having them on board in any case. This might change however with more senior management positions, where contracts would explicitly state their responsibilities towards profits and results.

How to sue AOL, anyone?

2006-08-09T13:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, so everyone knows about the AOL controversy by now. And everyone also knows about the scary stuff people have been searching about on AOL. Besides the various avenues of misuse that this has opened up, I think one of the more fascinating aspects is the insight it gives into the times we live in. I downloaded the files and did a quick search for the term "how to", and besides the sexual terms that would be expected - some of them really bizarre - here are the one's that make you think:

Cute
how to tell if a girl likes you
how to say i like you in spanish
how to talk to a girl in 6th grade
how to ask a girl to prom
how to keep a girl from falling off the bike
how to fall in love
how to get a girl to go out with me
how to impress girls at the age of 9
how to make your crush like you
how to say you are so handsome in french
how to know if he is the one

Too late for some
how to delete aol history pages
how to delete my history
how to clear keyword search

Bizarre
how to become a private investigator
how to feed the tiger
how to apply for an audience with the pope
how to get an egg in to a bottle
how to have a heart attack

There's hope yet
how to be a good boyfriend
how to say i am sorry
how to humanely euthanize a mouse
how to make women happy
how to find yourself
how to mend a broken heart
how to let go
how to promote good citizenship
how to have a family meeting
how to be a millioniare without already being rich
how to be humble
how to be an environmentalist
how to quit smoking
how to become a social worker
how to develop employees
how to start a small business
how to balance life work family
how to treat a lady
how to get over depression
how to help someone off drugs
how to get marijuana out of your system

Sigh...
how to make your husband fall back in love
how to be popular
how to apologize
how to cope with the loss of a mother
how to be a convincing liar
how to protect on overcharging plumbing
how to leave a verbally abusive relationship
how to keep the school from druging my kid
how to kill oneself by overdosing with insulin
how to communicate with a woman
how to punish evil people
how to speak with ellen degenerous
how to live with a former stripper
how to work spells
how to earn extra cash
how to meet fairies
how to deal with a four year old who was relenctant to enter play with his classmates.
how to levitate like david blaine
how to roll a very big joint
how to kill yourself
how to tell a wife her husband is having an affair with you
how to read a book
i don't know how to love him
how to flirt
how to illegaly buy a handgun on the internet
how to get anorexic
how to tell someone to quit calling you honey and dear
how to say get lost to a married lover
how to know when you want to be married
how to cut all ties with your family
how to delete internet explorer
how to kill people
how to fake an illness injury to get workers comp or medical leave
how to hack
how to lie with statistics
how to hide drugs from a police dog
how to become anorexic
how to tell your family you're a victim of incest

And finally
how to cancel my aol service

Book review - Adventure Capitalist, Jim Rogers

2006-08-05T00:58:00.000-07:00

A one-word assessment - avoidable. Jim Rogers is the second half of the widely successful Quantum Fund, who's other half is George Soros. The book is about a 3-year round-the-world-trip that Rogers makes with his fiancee, whom he also marries during the course of the journey.

The book is insipid, unengaging, and offers no great business or economic lessons. It fails as a travelogue, because the coverage of the countries and places is so dry and boring. None of the natural beauty, cultural intricacies, or business environment is captured as one might have expected. The only significant take-aways from the book are helpfully summarized on the back-cover of the book:

NGO's in Africa are a waste of money and are not helping the problem at all
The next few decades belong to China
India will be Balkanized, and so will Pakistan
Angola and Bolivia are the countries to watch out for
You learn more about the investment climate of a country by talking to the people rather than government information
Commodity markets are the most lucrative investment avenue

So there. You already know all there is to learn from the book. Oh, and also that Rogers manages to gobble down exotic stuff like snakes and horses, but stops short of monkey meat. Here's a funny, but fictional exchange between Rogers and the Dalai Lama.

Book review - The Wealth of Man, Peter Jay

2006-08-05T00:18:00.000-07:00

Peter Jay's The Wealth of Man is a sweeping summary of the history of man's economic growth. Along the lines of David Landes' The Wealth of Nations, it traces the human economic saga from pre-historic days to the Greek and Roman civilizations, to the transfer of the economic engine to the Levant, and the parallel economies in India and China. Jay also fascinates with trivia of how horses were domesticated, why spectacles were invented, how Isaac Newton influenced the use of the gold standard for British currency, and how Greek literature was actually preserved due to it being translated into Arabic during the European Dark Ages.

The repeated cycle of growth, which Jay describes as a waltz motif is:
1. Humanity discovers a revolutionary paradigm-changing and this results in a huge spurt in economic growth - discovery of agriculture, or the industrial revolution.
2. Tyrants, thieves, and other assorted malicious characters wade in to exploit this economic growth.
3. Social, governmental or legal structures are put in place to regulate the exploitation of the economic engine and prevent its plunder.

Jay's style of writing is extremely pleasing to read, and anyone with an interest in history or economics should definitely give it a read. His humor is just right, and his negative remarks against laissez-faire economics or other global economic phenemona are neither disparaging nor caustic.

I have two reservations with the book, though. The first is with the depth of the book. At 400-odd pages it is barely enough to cover something as complex, diverse, and expansive as human economic growth. It serves as an excellent introduction, though for a deeper intensive study of the subject. The second reservation is his almost complete lack of analysis of the impact of religion on economic growth. There is not even the mention of Max Weber's groundbreaking studies in this regard, and this leaves you with a feeling of having missed one of the main acts in the entire play. For instance, he mentions that it was Europe that led the way with the Industrial Revolution, and for no apparent reason, China and India missed the boat completely. That religion and the culture of the people may have had something to do with this is covered very perfunctorily.

Payperpost - interesting idea

2006-08-05T00:02:00.000-07:00

In the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, Ries talks about narrowing your offerings, and often creating a whole new segment that didn't exist earlier. While bloggers have been trying to make money through the pay-per-click programs of Google and Yahoo, advertisers have not directly been targetting bloggers. Or rather no channel exists to bring bloggers and service/product providers directly in touch with each other. Until Payperpost that is. The equation is simple - companies target bloggers, and bloggers get paid. Not just for carrying ads, but also for writing up on the products and services. While A-list bloggers are always being courted by companies to write up about their products, Payperpost brings the idea to Average Joe blogger. It is still in beta, but I think they have a winner on their hands. As a product/service company, you know that an article in a newspaper or magazine is likelier to build credibility than an advertisement in the same publication. This same idea is now leveraged in blog-world.

And no, they didn't pay me to post this.

Book review - Maverick, by Ricardo Semler

2006-08-04T10:37:00.000-07:00

If Ricardo Semler's Maverick does not herald the demise of the patriarchal, pyramidal, authoritarian corporation, then I am not sure what does. This book is brilliant, and if you are an entrepreneur running your own show, worrying about people problems, then this is the book you got to read for some great insights.

The essential message of the book is one of trust in the innate goodness of humanity. No watch clocks, no cameras monitoring shopfloor workers, open profit sharing, salaries set by people themselves, machinery arranged as the workers decide, factory locations decided by the workers, cafetaria and other numerous collective enterprises promoted and run by the employees. Semler says, his happiest days in office are when he doesn't have to make a single decision. If you really want your people to buy into your vision and into your company, there's only one way to do it - let them take over. Step back, and guide/mentor them, but let them try to run the show and benefit from the profits.

While you get the book, hop over to Semco's website, and click on the "SEMCO Management Model".

Book review - The Ultimate Consultant, by Alan Weiss

2006-08-04T09:30:00.000-07:00

Alan Weiss is popularly known as the consultant's consultant. I read the "Ultimate Consultant" a while ago, and would strongly recommend it. If you earn your living from the much-maligned, and highly-paid profession of consulting, then this book is a must-have. Alan Weiss' books reflect his experience and expertise in winning and successfully executing consulting assignments.

This book is part of his Million Dollar Consulting series, and presents very highly practical and effective techniques for any consultant. The book is primarily aimed at the consultant who has been in practice for about 5-6 years, had built up a decent income and is beginning to plateau. How does she then push herself to the next level and into 7 figure incomes? What techniques are effective to avoid the downward slide that the plateau will eventually end up becoming?

The only downside of Alan's writing is that most books tend to be rehashes of earlier stuff. For instance, I recently bought his "How to Acquire Clients", and although it presented a different perspective, the strategies were pretty much the same. On the other hand, the investment in these books is completely worth it because one good idea put into practice properly could result in significant revenues. For instance, I was reading the second book while traveling, and one of the things he mentions is to immediately start networking among professional bodies in the country where the project is being executed. I did this, and landed up a nice little training engagement.

Opportunity for networking with VC's and entrepreneurs

2006-08-04T05:40:00.000-07:00

The Indian School of Business (ISB) along with The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE) is organizing a TIE-ISB Connect seminar to bring together venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, angel investors and the rest in Hyderabad towards the end of September.

You could submit a draft business plan by mid-Aug and the final plan by 10th Sept. If selected, you get to present, and maybe even get funded!

If you're going to be there, drop me a line, and holler "Intrepid" in the general direction of the Hussein Sagar Lake, and we might just bump into each other.

An article on this is here.

The main site is here.

Entrepreneurship courses in India

2006-08-03T06:40:00.000-07:00

Can they teach you how to be an entrepreneur? Apparently, yes. :) I do wonder what the courses actually do cover, but there's been some interest on this subject. So here's a roundup of some of the institutes around the country that have entrepreneurship courses:

Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India. This seems quite promising, though haven't heard from anyone about it earlier. These guys offer a post-graduate diploma in entrepreneurship management.
Almost all the IIM's have courses on entrepreneurship and they get a full house too. I am not sure what the eligibility criteria is to get into one of these courses. IIM Bangalore also has the N.S. Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL) - a catalyst for entrepreneurial activity. IIMB's program is in collaboration with Universitas 21 Global. IIM Calcutta has the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. IIM Lucknow as well has a Centre for Entrepreneur Development and New Venture Management.
FICCI has a course on entrepreneurship too. Eligibility criteria is graduate/diploma with at least 3 years of experience.
National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD), Delhi has a 6 month course.

Here's a slightly old, but relevant article on Businessworld on entrepreneurship courses in business schools.

What does it take to be an entrepreneur

2006-07-28T04:03:00.000-07:00

I often get asked by potential entrepreneurs, what it takes to be an entrepreneur. I don't claim to be an expert on this, but here's what I think would be necessary components:

Gumption. Spunk. The ability to be knocked down on your knees and get up and brush off the dust and get going all over again.
Optimism. Not blind faith. The hope that things will get better. But not blind faith that they'll get better by themselves. No sir, you'll have to do a lot to help things get better. But they surely will. This also involves faith in yourself.
Integrity. Lots of entrepreneurs think its all about the money. It really isn't. It's really about who you are as a person, and how much conviction you have in yourself, not to take those shortcuts, not to pay those bribes, not to shortchange your customers and your people.
Ideation. Innovation. Ingenuity. Your venture is not just about that one big idea. Heck, I've never had one big idea. It's always about a whole host of ideas. You keep trying as many of them as you can, pursue those that work, and discard those that don't. This also entails the willingness to be a lifelong student. To continuously learn and adapt as you go along.
Mentors. I have been lucky in this regard. But then I've also learnt that finding good mentors is really difficult, and you also don't need someone handholding you for every little problem.
The dream. When the chips are down, sometimes what keeps you going is the dream you behold in your mind's eye. What kind of an office will your people work out of one day? What kind of deals will you be closing some day? Maybe it's childish, but that's the kind of dream that has always kept me going.
Ability to move on. Every time you notch up a success, you need to have the ability to celebrate it, but then move on. Don't rest on those laurels. They no longer count, and you got to set your sights higher now. And every time you fail, learn the lesson and then move on as well.
Consideration. Gratefulness. Humility. You're never going to get ahead without being humble enough about how much you've contributed, and how much others have contributed to your success. So acknowledge that and give people their due. Also, if you only listen, your people will come up with some of the greatest ideas. So give that equal consideration, if not more.
Good communication skills. Both verbal and written. If you can't get your point across in a direct, convincing, non-confrontational manner, then it's going to be an uphill climb. So work on those communication skills. With practice and effort you can get really good at them.

Brilliant idea, I say!

2006-07-23T08:55:00.000-07:00

For all the buzz about India's economic progress, the fact of the matter is that a large majority of the population lives in poverty. Government policies and schemes in this regard have been outright populist and hardly visionary at all.

I remember a conversation I once had with an IIM Kolkata professor about entrepreneurship. And the talk turned to how the economic changes could be made more broad-based. And he said, I had a very conservative outlook on agriculture, but have come around to the view that the only way out is for the privatisation of agriculture. Given that over 60% of the population still depends on agriculture for its main source of income, any reforms are going to be very narrow unless they begin to address agricultural reform. One of the problems he mentioned was that it was very difficult to privatize farming in the current situation. Even when the government provides subsidies for something as simple as pumps, the fact that landholdings are so small and often non-contiguous means that a farmer cannot even take advantage of a pump, since he may not have the one acre of contiguous arable land that would make the use of a pump feasible. Privatization would mean, collective farming, pooling together of resources, availability of capital, and introduction of modern farming methods.

But after 50 years of Nehruvian socialism, and inspite of the past few years of reform, the idea that agriculture should or can be privatized would create a furore, raising visions of behemoths such as Cargill swallowing land and resources and pumping billions of dollars out of the country.

In such a scenario, comes Mukesh Ambani's refreshing ideas on what his vision for the country is. Read this excellent write up at Newsweek:

"Ambani plans to invest $5 billion by 2011 to put both the farms and the stores on the road to modernity, connect them through a distribution system guided by the latest logistics technology, and create enough of a surplus to generate $20 billion in agricultural exports annually."

Read also, Atanu Dey's comments at the Indian Economy Blog. If Ambani can pull this off, he will cement his place in the Hall of Fame of legendary businessmen, and free up the immense potential in the farming and retail sectors in a potential market of 1 billion people. And hopefully then, India will truly be shining.

My worst spends

2006-07-20T05:50:00.000-07:00

As a once-stumbling, struggling entrepreneur, I made a whole host of really bad decisions. In fact, even now I continue to make a fair number of really horrendous decisions. But at the end of the day, rather at the end of the financial year, if the numbers turn out into a positive sum game, well, it's all in a day's work then. So here's my list of 'did-I-really-do-that?!?' blunders:

1. Print advertising. We were just barely managing to survive in the first few months of our existence, when a friend approached me and said we should put our name out there. So we bought out the first ad in one of the leading computer magazines in the country, and paid a pretty penny for it: Rs. 50,000/- (USD 1200) if I remember correctly. The grand total of leads we got from that was, umm..err..zero. When I mentioned this to my 'friend', he said, well the thing is you got to build your brand. This requires not just one ad, but you got to keep coming out with ads. So the only way to build on your zero response is to come out with another ad. As incredulous as it sounds, we did come out with another ad. This time at a discounted price of Rs. 35,000/- (USD 700). We got one call from that ad. It was from another advertising agency asking if we would like to associate with them for future ads! Well, not only did I lose that friend quickly, I also learnt that ad agencies work on a healthy 17% margin, and are obliged to pass on much of this to clients. That is how we were able to get two similar ads in the same publication at such different rates. The first time, the agency pocketed its commission, and the second time they decided to go easy on me, and pass on some of that discount. From that day onwards, we've never advertised directly in print media.

2. Headhunting channels: When looking for people to come on board we used the classifieds sections in various newspapers. For each ad we took out, I think it cost us in the range of Rs. 10,000/- to Rs. 12,000/-. Over a period of time, this ended up costing us a significant amount. Eventually, signing up with online placement channels such as monster.com proved the best bet. Even better is to locate individual head-hunters who will do the pre-selection for you, and get you a filtered list of candidates.

3. Internet connections: When we started out we fell into the cable/DSL Internet provider's trap who provide "broadband" connections. Broadband, my foot! Here is how it works. When they first enter a commercial or residential complex, they offer extremely economical packages. Once you've installed the DSL or cable modems, and paid them their upfront fees, you pay a monthly rental as per your chosen package. Now, the first 6 months go off great, and more users sign up, thus limiting the bandwidth you used to enjoy. So they come to you with a renewal offer, which if you pay up for the next 6 months in advance will guarantee a specific bandwidth and good service. Naturally, gullible as we were/are, we signed up for it, and as you might guess, the bandwidth got squeezed even more, and their engineers were never there to respond. This is where we should have immediately shopped around for alternate providers, and not kept paying the same provider hoping the service would get back to it's good old former self.

4. Long-distance phone calls: With a large percentage of our business coming in from overseas, we spent a lot of moolah communicating with partners, clients and consultants who were onsite. Setting up Skype or a VoIP solution would have saved us a lot of money. We have Skype now, but most people still need to be reminded to use that instead of the regular phone. In fact, I must admit, I usually prefer to quickly search in my cellphone for whomever I want to speak with, and simply call them up. The sucky Internet bandwidths don't help, but we really need to start using VoIP a lot more.

5. Annual client gifts: We still do this, but I don't think it really achieves much. You know the deal. Diwali or New Years, you go looking for curio sellers and get a thingammy put the company brand name on it, and mass-mail it out to clients. I really don't think it gets us anywhere. For instance, we normally send out about a 150-200 gifts, each priced at roughly Rs. 250/-. This is a healthy Rs. 50,000/- investment, but what does it get you? The client puts up your thingy on his table along with thingies from half a dozen other companies - calendars, pen-holders, card-holders and the like. Yes, you could get innovative and send USB chargers or other cool stuff. What I find more useful is to write hand-written thank you notes to those who really matter, and to those whom we are genuinely grateful for their business and support. I usually add some personal stuff into it as well, and sign off. This ensures it's not a bulk-produced thank-you note, on which I am simply signing.

Here's a nice post by Dharmesh Shah at OnStartups on "Spending money in the right places" - converse post to mine.

*Current conversion is approx Rs. 46 to 1 US$. So Rs. 46,000/- is about US $1000

Tips for obtaining VC funding

2006-07-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

Kamla Bhatt interviews Jay Patel, who is an executive director at IMImobile, a wireless value added services company in Hyderabad, India. He is also a director at NewMedia SPARK, a London-based VC firm. Recently IMImobile received $10 million in Series B funding from Pequot Ventures.

In this podcast interview Jay talks about IMImobile's latest round of funding and shares some tips and ideas for entrepreneurs on how to raise money from VCs.

For those not inclined to listen to the interview, here are the key points:

Usually takes 5-6 months for the funding process to actually bear fruit.
Best to appoint an advisor for the process, who for a fee will take care of your valuation and try to get you the best deal from the VC
NewMedia SPARK is looking at companies looking to internationalize their operations, say in the online publishing sector. So if you have a product or a service and are looking at between $1-5 million for funding, well drop him an email.
Valuations of companies looking for investments are shooting up
All VC's of course look out for the management team, and Jay's seeing a lot of well-trained 25-40 year olds with good skills who may not have the family money, but would be good investment targets.

Shaun Orpen interviews me

2006-07-17T23:21:00.000-07:00

Shaun Orpen over at [ For Immediate Release ] interviewed me here. Thanks a million, Shaun!

Power(less) Point(less) Presentations

2006-07-16T13:02:00.000-07:00

PowerPoint presentations have become a necessary evil. Any serious presenter or speaker knows that PowerPoint can do as much harm as it can aid a good talk. I came across this brilliant case study by Edward Tufte on what can go wrong with PowerPoint. He highlights a seriously flawed presentation of the analysis done by Boeing of the Columbia space shuttle disaster. Some of the highlights from the study are:

PowerPoint is a highly inadequate tool for scientific and technical work. The attempt to fit single ideas into one slide can result in highly edited, ambiguous and misleading statements. PowerPoint does not do well at displaying scientific notation and units of measurements. All serious and technically detailed work must be presented using formal documentation such as word processing software.
The use of PowerPoint exclusively for reports, proposals and white papers (instead of formal reports) is highly frustrating to the consumer of that information and is to be strongly advised against. This is a good point. I used to think that the ability to present an entire report in PowerPoint, as the big 4 consulting firms often do, was accepted practice. I think Word, and even Excel offers far better reporting capabilities than does PowerPoint.
Information tends to get filtered and presented in relation to the bureaucratic heirarchy of the consumer of the information. For instance, as reports travel from middle to senior management, important information could get filtered. Or it could be pushed lower down PowerPoint's slide and bullet heirarchy to the extent where the original meaning of the message is lost.
It is easy to present contradictory ideas in the same slide. The title of one such slide that Tufte uses to illustrate this point is in almost complete contradiction to the bullet points made lower down in the same slide.
Slide overkill is almost unethical. When you begin making your entire talk into PowerPoint slides, you often lose the essence of what you are trying to say. I don't know which is sadder - presenting a 100+ slide talk or sitting through one. I guess the only exception is training programs, where the slides serve also as study material. In this case also, the best option would be training material as handouts and PowerPoint slides.

It's worth reading through the entire article and the comments that follow.

Another good article on PowerPoint presentations is Guy Kawasaki's 30/20/10 rule. One of the best sites of them all on presentation is Garr Reynolds' Presentation Zen.

Mumbai - resilient or passive

2006-07-16T02:15:00.000-07:00

I made a brief three day trip back home, and was immediately overwhelmed with the media coverage of the Mumbai blasts and the aftermath. Mumbai was back to work as usual on the day following the blasts. Thankfully, none of the political parties called for a bandh (strike). And the demonstrations and marches were citizen-led and largely peaceful. The raging debates are whether it is really Mumbai's resilience or rather our immense passivity that resulted in not very visible reactions from civil society. That people came forward as everyday heroes during the time of the blasts to help each other out is undeniable. Senior police officials have been taken to task for hinting strongly that some high-level politicians might be involved. I wouldn't be surprised if that were true, though.

One of the news channels had a debate whether Mumbai had now changed, and whether its spirit was now broken. The most important statement I remember from that entire shrill debate came from Shabana Azmi (actress, social activist, and member of parliament), "It is not about one community against the other. It is about the fundamentalist forces in one community against the moderate voices in their own and the other communities".

What is decidedly different this time around is the seething anger of the common man at the bureaucratic and political apathy and greed with which Mumbai is treated. While the city contributes a third of the country's income tax, its infrastructure is crumbling, and the BMC (Mumbai Municipal Commission) Commissioner is a foolish, corrupt man leading us to further misery. There are mass emails and articles appearing suggesting that Mumbaikars should go on strike in a way that only we can - stop paying any taxes. Personally, I am not sure if that makes any sense. My take would be for Mumbai to secede from the larger land mass. Something along the lines of Hong Kong or Singapore, although we'll never probably reach the economic success levels of those cities.

The bastards!

2006-07-11T21:26:00.000-07:00

By now, the world's woken up to the shocking tragedy that hit Mumbai yesterday. Seven blasts striking at the city's lifeline - the local trains. One of our people was in one of the trains that were blasted:

"I want to share this experience with you all. I was in the train at Mahim in which the bomb exploded. It was a painful moment, and I had a narrow escape thanks to God. I was fortunately travelling in second class. God knows why, otherwise used to travel daily in first class. I saw people jumping from the train and running helter-skelter. I saw nearly 50 people killed because of the bomb and many more were killed when they tried to jump outside and got killed by a fast train coming in from the other direction. I just couldn't believe what was happening. I saw blood everywhere, people without clothes, half-torn mangled bodies, someone's hand, leg, head. It was very painful and horrifying incident which I will never forget in my life.

I just pray and thank for all my best wishers because of whom I have reached home...but many families would be waiting home for their family members. Just wanted to pray for all those who have lost their lives".

This is the latest, and most horrifying of the terror strikes against the city:
In 1993, we had the first series of blasts that rocked the city's major hubs - its stock market building, banks, cinemas, etc.
In December 2002, there was a blast on a BEST bus near Ghatkopar station. Shortly after that, there was an explosion at a McDonald's outlet at one of the Mumbai Central - biggest train stations in the city.
In March 2003, another bomb exploded in one of the local trains at Mulund railway station.
Then in Aug 2003, two bombs exploded at the Gateway of India - one of the city's main tourist attractions, and Zaveri Bazar - the traditional jeweller's street.

And we still soldier on. Today morning the person I quoted above called me up, with some queries about the audit he's working on. God bless him, and the rest of the city...

Good investment avenue - real estate mutual funds

2006-07-09T04:38:00.000-07:00

According to this Economic Times report, SEBI has cleared the way to allow real estate mutual funds to be set up in India. India's propery market is very narrowly concentrated to the main cities, and even within the cities to specific localities. There's a huge potential for development of real estate. Allowing these mutual funds to be setup would enable a larger number of people to indirectly invest in real estate, without needing to put up very large sums of money, or go through the procedural hassles of home loans. I'd focus on those funds that invest in the secondary real estate markets and also have a strong percentage of revenues from rental income. As the economy grows the need for good quality office space and homes is only going to go up. So this should be a good option for the serious investor. Now, one thing you got to watch out for. Real estate markets always follow a Bell curve. So get in early, and exit in the medium term - 2-3 years max. Don't stay invested for longer than that, or you'll be holding the remains of a bubble.

How to start a business in 2 lakhs

2006-07-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

My statcounter showed that someone put that search term into Google and landed up on my site. Since I did start my business with exactly that capital (approx USD 4500) 5 years ago, I can claim to be some sort of an authority on how to start and grow a business with that low an amount. So here goes:

Keep your capital expenditure low. This one is easy. You're going to end up spending upfront on some items - deposit for your office, company registration, computer equipment, etc. Well, keep these expenses the very minimum possible. In Hindi, we call it jugadbandi.
Thrash around. You know when someone throws you into the deep end of the pool, you either thrash around as wildly as you can, or you drown, or someone comes and saves your sorry ass. Well, don't just sit there. Think! Where can you get the money to pay next month's rent. During our penurious days we did whatever we could to simply survive. We didn't bother about core competencies and such like. If there was a project to be done, and we could do it, we did it. One of our butt-saving projects required us to crack into an encrypted database file, and export all that data into Excel. That had little or nothing to do with information security. But what the heck. It helped paid the bills.
Image doesn't matter. Hey, forget about having an office in a prime locality, or having a really good letterhead. Or laser printers. Get going with whatever's absolutely necessary for you to get the job done. You can always splurge when you've got money in the bank.
Evangelize and network. You obviously cannot spend on advertising with that kind of a capital. You probably won't be able to get a professional brochure designed or printed either. And you simply won't be able to hire a marketing guy. So how do you get the word out there that you're now in business. Well don't just sit by the phone. Pick it up and start talking. Don't worry if people question your decision, or say they can't help you out. There're lots of people out there who'll want to help you along. And don't just ask them if they can give you business. Ask them if they know people who can give you business. Be persistent, but not desperate. Follow up with one phone call and one email.
Be inspired. You're going to feel terribly low every now and then. That kind of money doesn't take long to run out. Read stories of other entrepreneurs. Talk to other entrepreneurs you know. If nothing works, send me an email!
Pray. Really hard! Seriously, it's crazy enough starting your own business. Doing it with such less capital is really nuts. But that's what I did, and you could do it too. Unfortunately, I am an atheist, so this is advice I didn't follow. But yes, I hoped really hard that things would work out. That next month's checks wouldn't bounce.

So good luck, and soldier on!

Disinvestment stopped

2006-07-07T12:52:00.000-07:00

The mess of coalition politics is once again very evident. The DMK, a constituent of the ruling UPA (United Progressive Alliance) has threatened to pull out of the coalition if the goverment goes ahead with its plan for privatizing Nevyeli Lignite. So the DMK's got the government by its short and curlies, and the Prime Minister has announced the decision to put all disinvestments on hold!

Which may not be such a bad thing after all. Disinvestment and privatization in India has usually been ad-hoc, and often without rational economic justification. That government should get out of business is a great idea, but the way and pace in which this is done is pretty crucial. When workers get laid off, people lose livelihoods and social upheavals invariably occur. The controversies over profitable public sector companies having been sold for basement-bargain prices only fuels suspicion of who's actually benefitting from the sales.

On the other hand, the opposition to privatization is also largely based on votebank politics rather than rational economic analyses. The DMK arose to the "evils" of privatization only when it threatened to strike home. The Left is a weak shadow of itself, and its opposition is sometimes ludicrously lame - recollect how the protests against airport privatization fizzled out.

In all this, the media once again portrays the interests of big business without trying to really explore the complex mass of underlying issues. The entire disinvestment issue is presented as a big business vs. worker rights issue. While that is indeed one aspect of the issue, there's usually a lot more, and the press never seems to get around to discussing threadbare all the issues involved. Now, "experts" are saying that this decision will negatively affect stock market sentiment. So why the hell should anyone care? We're guaranteed to be in a bubble economic phase whenever the stock market indices begin to influence economic policy decisions. In any case, the market's been acting inebriatedly lunatic since the past couple of months.

My prediction: when the right "incentives" have been shown to the decision makers at DMK, Nevyeli Lignite will be sold off. Probably before the year is over. But then, I am a conspiracy theorist in any case!

Workaholic? Me? No way!

2006-07-06T03:18:00.000-07:00

This article on workaholism describes the following characteristics of a workaholic:

Do you carry your work home? Yes!
Do you prefer working alone, cannot delegate tasks and have a habit of talking fast and interrupting people? Not, really. Can't get along without delegation.
Your happiness is in only your work? Pretty much so.
Work takes over all your leisure time and even comes before family and friends? You have no social life outside of work? Umm...yes...
You do not take vacations and when you do, you carry your work? Yes also...
You get upset when people suggest you cut down on your work? No, not really.
Work is on your mind all the time and you are stressed - both mentally and physically - because of work? Well, work is on my mind, but I am not stressed...I think?

Ok, so fine, I am a workaholic. But I love the work that I do, and I simply cannot imagine doing anything else...

When things are so far gone...

2006-07-06T02:31:00.000-07:00

There are days when nothing seems to go right. On any front, on any project. Now, one might get stressed and might fret and try and push against the tide. Or one might just kick up one's feet, put on some Bach, smoke some Sheesha, and finally figure out what the following Zen Koan means:

Two monks were watching a flag flapping in the wind. One said to the other, "The flag is moving."

The other replied, "The wind is moving."

Huineng overheard this. He said, "Not the flag, not the wind; mind is moving."

Mumbai drenched, soaked, and drained once again

2006-07-04T08:50:00.000-07:00

The monsoons are here, and in a scary reminder of last year's disaster, this time around as well Mumbai has come to an almost complete standstill as local trains, roads, and airports have been severely affected.

Although, last year was a freak of nature, this year it's just the same old lessons which politicians and bureaucrats refuse to pay heed to. And this, after contributing over a third of the national tax. The loss to productivity is just mind-boggling! No matter how much I love this city, I'd rather avoid being there during the monsoons.

New book from George Soros

2006-07-04T02:54:00.000-07:00

One of the world's most well-known billionaires - George Soros - is at it again. His latest book "The Age of Fallibility - Consequences of the War on Terror" is out now, and the Forbes' review of the book states that "...Soros lays out the intellectual method taught to him by philosopher Karl Popper. It all begins by admitting that human knowledge of reality is imperfect." The review concludes with "This is a book about how we think, and it's worth consideration by all sides."

Soros supports and funds a number of charities, and is also a critic of laissez-faire capitalism and certain aspects of globalization. The main crux of the book is that we must accept that there are limitations to our knowledge and understanding of how the world works. And this is what needs to drive our humility when analyzing problems. This directly results in strong criticism of the Iraq war and much of Bush's foreign policy post 9-11.

Lacunae in Indian privacy laws hit business

2006-07-04T00:48:00.000-07:00

Recent events of data theft at high profile BPO's (HSBC and Mphasis BFL come to mind) have resulted in two biggies - Apple and Powergen - pulling their back office operations out of India. I remember NDTV did a scoop where they found mobile phone call information could be found out for less than Rs. 5000 (USD 100) for any given person.

I have commented elsewhere about the lacunae in India's Information Technology Act 2000, the only piece of legislation that directly deals with cybercrime. Unfortunately, it does not contain much on methods for investigation and forensics and guarantees little by way of data privacy.

Here's what I think is lacking in the Act:

Does not mandate the forensics procedure to be adopted for the evidence to be admissible in court.
Is too Draconian in some respects, especially sections related to Offences by companies, Confiscation, Hacking, and Publishing of Obscene information
Setting up of the Cyber Appellate Tribunal or posting of the adjudicating officer as mandated in section 46 and 57
Too much of a focus on digital signatures, digital certificates and certifying authorities - very few sections deal with actual cyber crimes
Data privacy is not addressed in either the Indian IT Act or anywhere else.
Does not address practical issues of actually implementing the measures it lists out
Although, cyber security cells have been set up in the major cities around the country, they’re often under-staffed and under-equipped

Although, there is an initiative by the Ministry of Information Technology to accept revisions and suggestions for the Act, nothing has come of it. NASSCOM for all it's statements about cyber-security as well as the launch of the Indo-US Cyber Security Forum have achieved naught.

Further reading:

The consulting chicken-and-egg situation

2006-07-01T09:36:00.000-07:00

As a consultant, a recurring situation is one where you have a lead for a new project, but the specific work is not something you have done before. For instance, we might get called in to do an audit of a network which has Open VMS systems. Not having worked with these specific systems always poses a hurdle when trying to convince the client that they should go with us. Or the project might require us to provide consulting on GPRS security. Now, projects like these are of greater value simply because they expand our repertoire, and can be used immediately to pitch the same service to other clients. So here are some tips to get out of the chicken-and-egg situation, and convince the client that you can actually provide the right consulting expertise:

Get access to the technology: Typically, when we've not had the experience on a technology, but we do know enough about it, we try to get our hands on the technology first. In some cases, this simply means downloading the trial software from the Internet and loading it up in our lab. In other cases, it means figuring out an existing client who has the same technology and may extend a favor and give us access to the test systems they have.
Ask around: However, there are some cases - especially those that involve high-end technology - where it is simply not possible to get access to the technology. In this case, the best course of action is to check within your list of contacts (clients, partners, ex-employees) who may have worked on that technology or domain and would be willing to help you out.
Write an article: If at this stage, you feel you know sufficiently enough about the technology, it is always worthwhile to write an article on that subject. This could either address the work you have been asked to do directly, or it could be about some other aspect of that subject, but in a way it would still help establish your credibility. A lot of publications related to your field of work are always looking out for good writers, and might carry your article. Some of them even pay a decent amount for your submission. Even if the article is not accepted by a publication, you could always upload it to your website.
Deliver a talk at a forum:Look around within your region and determine professional bodies that are related to your area of work. Most of these bodies or societies convene at least once a month, and are always on the lookout for good speakers. If you can swing an invitation to present at these seminars or meetings you might win potential clients on the related subject. Another positive outcome is that after the talk you can upload the Powerpoint presentation to the "Resources" section of your website and sooner or later it will get indexed by search engines. Potential clients searching for consultants on the subject will land up on your website and call you up.
Submit a concept note: In order to get the client to buy into your idea, prepare a 2-3 page concept note on the subject. This note's main focus is not to directly tell the client why they should hire you, but rather to demonstrate your knowledge of the subject. So it should be opinionated and it should take into consideration the client's specific requirements. Mention regulatory guidelines, related studies, and expert opinions to back up your points of view. Be careful not to give away everything in the concept note. Also avoid arriving at any definite conclusions, since that's what the actual consulting assignment would involve.
Hold a topical workshop: Often the main buyer at the client's end may not be the only decision-maker. There may be other people involved, who may similarly need to be convinced about your abilities and skillsets. Suggest to the client that you could hold a 1-2 hour workshop to get the others to buy in to the idea, and more importantly get their viewpoints on board. If they feel you are sincerely interested in what they have to say, they will reciprocate that when it's decision-making time.
Leverage other related work: As your consulting experience and domain knowledge expands, with every new requirement there is always some or the other past work that you can bring up to convince a client. For instance, if it is GPRS security, you could bring up work that you might have done for a telco, which might have involved just a wee bit of work on their GPRS systems. Or you could bring into play work you have done on similar technology where the same concepts were involved.
Tap into external expertise. If none of this seems to be working, you could always outsource specific parts of the work to a domain expert. Of course, this means lower margins for you, but at least the client will not feel short-changed. You provide the overall approach and quality assurance, while the outsourced consultant would provide the domain expertise. We have done this on numerous occasions, and even more often we have had work outsourced to us because we had the edge in terms of domain knowledge. It helps a lot to maintain a database of external consultants and their areas of expertise, which you can then tap into as soon as the lead warms up.

Most of these strategies become easier as you progress in your consulting career. I remember when we started out and had to struggle to convince clients about our skillsets regarding the very basics of information security consulting. Recently, we won a technology-intense project simply because we had done work for the same client in other areas, and they were convinced more of our problem-solving and analytical abilities than our technical know-how. And that was all that was needed to overcome any internal objections to us getting the project.

Good business books to read

2006-06-28T04:05:00.000-07:00

Came across this nice post about good books to read when starting off on your own business:

7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey - I have read this one, and if I remember correctly, one of the chapters had a quote of Goethe's “Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.”

The Essential Drucker: The Best of Sixty Years of Peter Drucker's Essential Writings On Management - I have read some of Drucker, but not this one. It's now on my books-to-read list.

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill - I read this one many , many moons ago. Lots of lessons, but not all are applicable today.

The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman - Haven't gotten around to this one yet.

Built to Last : Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins, Jerry I. Porras - I'd strongly recommend this one as well. Also, Collins' other book "Good to Great" is nice.

I'd add to that list the "22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" and the "22 Immutable Laws of Branding" by Al Ries.

I would also recommend some autobiographies, since I find them very inspiring:

Made in Japan - Akio Morita
Iacocca - Lee Iacocca
Losing my Virginity - Richard Branson
Maverick - Ricardo Semler (not exactly an autobiography)
My experiments with truth - M. K. Gandhi

The last one seems an odd choice in a collection of business books, but I feel a philosophical and ethical underpinning to one's work is very essential. And nothing like a lesson in integrity and truth from the Mahatma himself!

Us, them and a city

2006-06-26T00:42:00.000-07:00

There's us and there's them. And there's Mumbai.

How often do we claim that they encroach on our city. My city? Since when did it become my city? When my grandparents escaped persecution in Pakistan during the Partition and settled in the refugee camps at Kurla. Or when they worked their way up to a comfortable existence in Mulund. Or when my family shifted out to Andheri? Does the journey across three suburbs and three generations make it our city? If this is indeed our city, how many of us speak its language - Marathi.

Then there's them. The millions of them, who escape persecution of a different kind - the abject wretchedness of poverty. Imposed by a social order that promotes centuries of economic imbalances deep in the hinterland and pushes the multitudes to the city. And they build their homes here, and capture their million dreams in them.

Why do we dislike and detest the slums so much? Because they remind us that our city is not Shanghai, that it will never be a Shanghai? Or because it reminds us of another India - an India that our cloistered, middle-class existence does not want to admit. Why would we not admit this reality? Their reality. Why would we not want to accept the slums and the people who inhabit it as having as much of a right to this city as we do?

Because they are filthy? Admittedly there is squalor at the periphery of the slums and on the slivery lanes that penetrate into the hearts of the slums. But step inside one of the fragile universes, and I bet it'll be cleaner and tidier than my room is right now.

Or because of the crime? Poverty breeds crime, yes. But so does a lot else. There is as much crime in the highrises of Andheri's Lokhandwala as there is in the sprawling slums of Dharavi.

And we sit in our air-conditioned cars on Ganesh Chaturthi and we curse the processions that hold up the traffic. And we fail to see that the greatest happiness is on the faces of the poorest slum-dwellers, who for those few hours have forgotten the curse of poverty and persecution and periodic demolishments to dance for a God that has all but forgotten them.

They built the flyovers we drive on. They built the towers we live and work in. They built it with their bare hands, carrying the cement in the unforgiving Mumbai sun. All they ask is to lead their lives with dignity, not on our dole, or our noblesse oblige.

If you are in Mumbai, get to the Gateway of India and take one of the tourist jetties out to the sea. As the wind hits your face, and the strong smell of the sea subsides, don't forget to look to your right. On the far right are the slums, and as your eye moves along the coast you see the buildings of what once used to be Mumbai's central business district. And on the sea are the smaller boats bobbing optimistically with the waves and further out are the large container ships moored concretely. And all of it simply belongs to this city - founded on opium money and built by sheer grit. But if you do this at night when there's a full moon, then you see the stars in the black sea, and the shining lights of the Queen's necklace as it embraces the ocean and holds back the city. And late at night take a drive from the Western suburbs to the highway, and then along the seaface onto Marine Drive, unimpeded by traffic. And that's when you realise why it is possible to actually love a city.

Firewall rulebase analysis

2006-06-23T23:12:00.000-07:00

Since the core focus of my firm is on information security, and nothing seems to inspire an entrepreneurship-related post, today's Chautauqua shall be on firewalls and bloated rulesets.

In most small-medium enterprises, the maximum number of firewalls I've seen is about 4-5, usually always less than a dozen. But as the size of the organization grows, not only does the number of firewalls increase, but the complexity of the ruleset within the firewall also increases. Sometimes exponentially. This is aided by weak change management processes, where users simply request the change, their department manager approves it, and the security team implements it. As time progresses, the ruleset becomes bloated and reduces the performance of the firewall, since the firewall needs to process the rules in sequence for each packet that arrives until a match is found.

One of our clients has more than a 100 firewalls from three different vendors, and the ruleset varies from a manageable 500 rules to an insane 80,000 rules in one of the Cisco PIX firewalls! There are various reasons that have contributed to this situation:

The weak change management process referred to earlier
Security administrators not checking if a rule to process the same type of traffic has already been added
They do not check if the new request can simply be grouped with an earlier request
If the request is of a temporary nature, they do not check periodically to remove temporary rules.

When we were called in to hack our way through this, we realised manual analysis was impossible, so we built a tool to do this. We also realised that we needed to attack the problem from as many sides as possible:

Analyze the logs to determine which rules were actually being used by the traffic flowing through the firewall
Analyze the configuration to determine redundant rules or groupable rules
Analyze the rule creation process and inhibit rule creation at that stage as well

The tool that we've made for this purpose does the following:

Takes as input the filename containing the firewall configuration, and reads this into a database table.
Analyzes the firewall logs over a given period of time to determine rules, which are being used, and marks the others for deletion
Analyzes rules, which are redundant. I.e., there is some other rule of which this rule is a subset. Thus this rule can be dropped.
Analyzes rules, which can be grouped. If the source and the destination IP addresses are the same, then the ports/services for two rules can be grouped together to create one single rule
Analyze the other components of the configuration, which are not being used and remove those as well.

It works for the following firewall configurations

Initial runs of the tool are resulting in a reduction ranging from 40-60% of the ruleset. Here's a snapshot of the rudimentary GUI we've built. It shows the output for a Cisco PIX firewall, which has been analyzed and a new configuration can be created with the commands listed:

For the first two firewalls it produces the output in the actual configuration commands to change the configuration. You could simply copy-paste the output onto the command-line interface (CLI) of the firewall. For Cyberguard, it simply shows the rules and the rule numbers, and these need to be manually dropped from the GUI configuration.

Some further references on the same subject:
Firewall Policy Advisor for anomaly discovery
Taxonomy of conflicts in firewall policies
An expert system for analyzing firewall policies

Other products that might be doing the same thing are Algosec and Firemon.

Incidentally, this project has enabled me to gain a much deeper insight into the various firewalls. And I must say Netscreen firewalls are amazingly good, and Cisco PIX has way too many shortcomings. The Cyberguards fall somewhere in between. Checkpoint hasn't been included in the list, but we might include that in the tool's capabilities as well.

Women entrepreneurs - success story #1

2006-06-21T02:07:00.000-07:00

Lately a topic that has been getting a lot of my interest has been women entrepreneurs in India. You would be amazed at the dearth of material there is out there on women who run their own enterprises. This is illustrated by the fact that most of the information is about Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, the founder of Biocon. The other category of information is about women who have inherited their family run business or parts of it. What is really lacking is stories of first generation women entrepreneurs, or even those who broke out of the mould of their fathers' businesses and did something on their own.

I did come across an interesting story though. This article is an interview of Vrinda Rajgarhia, who runs a confectionary shop in Lokhandwala, Andheri. I used to stay in that area once, so I have actually seen the shop, but never checked out the sweets and candies on display. Having always seen a constant stream of people in the store, it looks like she's doing quite well indeed.

The points to note about her enterprise are:
1. Although she comes from a business family, the venture is one which has little or nothing to do with that line of business. As she says "I think that's what most Marwari women do. They just take over the family business. I think doing my own things give me a lot of satisfaction than just joining the existing family business..."
2. This is not her first business. She tried one earlier, which was a hosiery manufacturing setup. This probably indicates that her family wasn't averse to her starting another venture, just because the first one failed.
3. The idea for the confectionary store didn't just crop up. She'd been thinking about it for a while, but the tax structures prevented it from being a viable enterprise. As soon as the taxes/duties on the goods reduced, she was able to commence operations.
4. The enterprise is still not in a "traditional" business domain. In the sense, it reflects one of the issues highlighted in this ILO report on Women Entreprenurs - "Women have a proportionately greater presence in the informal economy and in microenterprises; and they are less represented in formal, registered SMEs."

While this story is a successful one, the fact of the matter is of course that in a strongly patriarchal society like India, masculine hegemonies make it extremely difficult for women to start and succeed at their own ventures. Here are some of the issues I have either read about or seen women face:

1. Lack of family support. Most entrepreneurs would tell you that a significant factor in their success has been the support of their families. And this is not usually financial support, but rather emotional support. Just the fact that they understand that the entrepreneur needs to do what she's trying to do. To not constantly question or nag her. To not make her feel guilty about "neglecting" her family/domestic responsibilities. This happens across all social strata, even with upper middle-class households where the woman's primary responsibility is still overseeing the running of her household. Even if there are maids to do most of the work, a woman is still made to feel as if that's what should be top priority for her. Fact of the matter is that entrepreneurship is one of the most fundamentally independent things a person can attempt. And any hint of independence from a woman strikes at the basis of the hegemony.

2. Lack of capital. Whereas for women from upper middle class households, finance might still be easier to obtain, for those in the lower strata, there is a strong need for loans to be available either from traditional sources such as banks or financial institutions, or from community-based funds. According to this report, women find it easier to access funds from a community-run institution, as this also helps them network and get easier access to market. The fact that most decision makers within the loan departments within traditional institutions are men, doesn't help much either.

3. Lack of confidence and faith. The sheer lack of role models undermines the confidence women have in their own abilities to successfully run independent enterprises. It is important that the role models be local and closer-to-home rather than those from socially and geographically different backgrounds. Nothing inspires more than an attitude of "Hey, she did it, so can I!". The lack of media coverage of successful first generation women entrepreneurs only makes the situation worse. This lack of confidence also results in a lesser ability to aggressively reach out to the market. The entire act of "selling" is seen as something that women simply ought to refrain from.

4. Lack of the right public/private institutions. Although, government policies do exist to make it easier for women small business owners to find funding and markets, these are most often misused by men who use it with their wives fronting through the entire process. Most of the people running these schemes are also well-aware of this potential for misuse and often take the extremely patriarchal view that loans will not be disbursed to a woman unless she is accompanied by her husband or father. Also, government policies cannot be designed at a national level, or inspired by those in existing in other countries. Policies need to be customised to be gender-, location-, and culture-sensitive.

In the ILO report I referred to above, the main findings are:

Women’s entrepreneurship as an untapped source of economic growth;
Women have a lower participation rate in entrepreneurship than men;
Women choose different industries than men do;
Such industries are perceived as being less important to economic growth and development;
Mainstream government policies and programmes do not take into account specific needs of women entrepreneurs

Some other good links for further reading are - "Women in business charting their own course", and "Opportunities and challenges for women in business"

Incidentally, I am planning to continue researching on this, and see what it develops into. If you have any links or information do pass it on.

Google Adsense won't make you money! Or will it?

2006-06-20T08:12:00.000-07:00

Here's how you know you're addicted to the impossible dream of making money through Google Adsense:

1. You check your Google Adsense reports everyday. Sometimes more than once a day. And every time you check, your revenue has increased by the grand sum of 10 cents!

2. You scour the Internet looking for good info on making money from Adsense. You wonder how bloggers like this guy, manage to bring in the dough. You almost contemplate buying that $100 book on building Adsense revenues. But thankfully, better sense prevails. Or you find a cheaper one here. By the way, doesn't the cover look very much like a ripoff of that for Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code?

3. You keep tweaking your Adsense ads and their positions in your template hoping that you suddenly hit a goldmine. By now, you almost remember the Javascript code that accompanies the different layouts.

4. You get depressed when an A-list blogger friend of yours mentions getting thousands of hits per day on her blog, but peanuts in revenues, and then she decides to take the ads off her website!

5. You have read each help file on the Adsense home page, and all the case studies too, and in theory at least can spout as much advise as your blogger aunt. Except that she's actually making more money than you.

Cool collection of entrepreneur-related blog posts

2006-06-20T07:36:00.000-07:00

Ken Dyck maintains a pretty cool blog, which simply links to the most interesting entrepreneurship-related blog postings he finds over the Internet. Wonderful, because it saves me the trouble of scouring the Internet looking for good articles. Blogroll/bookmark him, if you haven't already done so.

The thing is a lot of blogs on entrepreneurship are run by people who have had no experience with actually running an enterprise. Ken makes no such pretences. And that is refreshing.

I really liked this link about CEO's who are introverts, because as this anonymous blog shows, I prefer to work from behind the shadows and get the work done rather than worry whether the press is reporting our accomplishments or not.

Incidentally, I am back to blogging with a vengeance (three posts today). My book draft is with the publishers and the project I am working on worked out quite well today morning. We rolled out the first firewall implementation at 2:00am in the morning. And even though I've had only 3 hours of sleep in the past 36 hours, I am very kicked that our process worked without a hitch. Will post in more detail about this project shortly.

The Government sucks - literally!

2006-06-17T09:12:00.000-07:00

Note: Rant follows

Some clarifications - I am not an anarchist (not yet anyway), and not even a pro-laissez faire libertarian. But sometimes, the government just screws your entire day. This is how.

I thought we had all our tax liabilities figured out (Income tax, Service Tax, VAT, Professional Tax, Tax Deducted at Source, etc.), when in walks a lady "inspector" from the "Maharashtra Labour Welfare Board", and asks us how many employees we have. Based on this information, she shows us the Mumbai Labour Welfare Fund Act, 1953 according to which we are supposed to pay them on a per employee per month basis every 6 months! Argh!

Apparently, here are the rules:
If a company has more than five employees then that company is liable to pay for Labour Welfare fund twice in a year (i.e in June & December).

The rate slabs are as follows:
Salary below Rs. 3000/- (employee's contribution is Rs. 6/- & employer's contribution is Rs. 18/- for six month)
Salary above Rs. 3000/- (employee's contribution is Rs. 12/- & employer's contribution is Rs. 36/- for six month)

A bit of Googling shows http://www.on-lyne.info/legal6.htm, which gives slightly different rates than what the lady prescribed.

Based on her calculations, and with 16 employees she has given us a claim letter which says that we have to now pay Rs. 3,360/- in first week of July. Well, agreed, it's a piddling little amount, but it's just an irritating impediment to getting on with work.

I mean, if you look at all the taxes we end up paying, let's say we get paid Rs. 100, here is how the cookie crumbles:

Rs. 5.25 is deducted by the client as Tax Deducted at Source (TDS)
Rs. 12.24 goes as Service Tax and educational cess
Rs. 15.75 from the gross profit on the Rs. 100 goes as income tax - paid every quarter for that quarter. This is calculated as follows. We assume a gross profit of 45% on the total receipts for that quarter, and apply a tax rate of 35% on that. Which comes to 35% on Rs. 45 for the Rs. 100 earned.
Rs. 200 per employee per month goes as Professional Tax. Amortize that over our earnings
For every employee, their tax component is to be paid for by the company, or we are liable for penalties

It's not that we don't pay our taxes on time or evade them. It is also not the case that starting one's own business in India is difficult - we were up and running relatively quickly. But just when you think you've got it all figured out, in traipses an inspector and squeezes a few more thousands out of you. Sheesh!

Indian entrepreneur news update

2006-06-15T02:16:00.000-07:00

Here's some interesting news from around the country about Indian entrepreneurs:

The Mumbai underworld chooses soft targets: The financial year ended March 2006, and everyone's filed their income tax returns. At least the advance tax. A CNN-IBN report says, someone in the IT department leaked out information about the high-flyers, and they're now getting extortion calls from the Mumbai underworld. Thankfully, I am out of the country and don't take my cellphone on international roaming. Given their cut-off criteria, someone like me would probably be on that special list.

Interview with Jasjit Sawhney, founder of Net4India: Interesting interview with Sawhney, where he talks about his varied background in law and forex, before coming to India to launch one of the most successful ISP's we have. Note their venture into the PCO business, which is pretty low-tech, but must've appealed. Adds to my constant refrain that entepreneurs need not always look at high-tech stuff. Some of the best ventures are those that fill a niche, regardless of the technology. They're also strongly venturing out into the Middle East and South East Asia. Looks like a good time to approach them for potential partnership talks!

Ah, the dream looks like it might be coming true: As I have often evangelized earlier, the true rise of the Indian economy (India Shining and all that) depends greatly on the number of new enterprises that start and grow. This article talks about a significant increase in the number of new entrepreneurs, primarily in the "advanced" states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh. I think West Bengal is a state that will far exceed expectations in this regard. The commies aren't sitting quitely. What is even more interesting is that the growth of entrepreneurs in rural areas has outstripped that in the urban areas. Looks like this time the Green Revolution will refer to the color of Rs. 500 notes!

Overwhelmed!

2006-06-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

I am quite likely to take a hiatus from blogging till the 15th. The following work is piled up (and all my pride about my multi-tasking skills is faltering):

Writing and testing some scripts and developing a tool for a firewall analysis project we're currently doing - Perl, SSH and Visual Studio. We're already a tad bit behind schedule on this one.
Writing a book on a really cool security tool - actually I am just one of three other authors, but it should be nice to have a published book. It requires Linux, which requires VMWare, which hogs up half my RAM, and makes my work really slow!
Regular email correspondence - with Mumbai office, partners, and other assorted communication. I also managed to delete a couple of hundred emails accidentally, when trying out the mail2web service! ARGH!
Gmail is constantly on with its built-in chat functionality, which I use to keep in touch with people back at the office
Our accountant just got a very tempting offer from a larger firm, so preparing a counter-offer to make him stay on. I hope he does!
Managing an ISO 27001 compliance project directly, and a couple of other projects remotely
Have to fly out of here next week to wrap up one of our biggest compliance projects, and somehow extricate myself from the current firewall project (see #1). This is going to be one helluva challenge.
We posted for an opening on Monster.com for a VP of operations for our Mumbai office. (I need to take a vacation soon!). Have received over 250 responses in 4 days, and I now need to trudge through that deluge to find out who would fit the bill. Shall post on this more, as things progress.

Things got slightly more complicated due to a trip I had to make to Delhi to discuss a possible partnership with IBM. The deadline for the book is the 15th of June, so it is likely that I will be ale to post again only after that.

Another infosec entrepreneur's blog

2006-06-04T06:13:00.000-07:00

Well, here's a really nice blog on entrepreneurship from Andrew Fife, who also happens to be co-founder of an information security software firm Cryptine Networks. Since I happen to run an information security consulting firm as well, I thought I'd cross link to some of the really nice articles on that blog.

Do check out:

Investor Pitch: Bottoms up market sizing - on how to size your potential marketing when pitching to potential investors. Welcome change from the usual Gartner report yada-yada.
I'm funded, now what? - which actually links to other very nice posts on operating plans and marketing best practices for startups
Raising capital: Why VC's need Grand Slams - on why VC's need to see mind-boggling returns on their investments, and won't be happy with Warren Buffet style 30% net compounded growth rates.

There's also other good stuff on elevator pitches, and setting up VC meetings.

Reading list

2006-06-04T04:59:00.000-07:00

I've always debated the point of getting very personal on this blog, but then that's what blogging is about, right? So here are the books I am currently reading, the one's I just finished reading, and the one's on my reading list:

Current list:
1. On Equilibrium - an absolutely brilliant book by John Ralston Saul on the six qualities of the new humanism - common sense, ethics, imagination, intuition, memory and reason. Liberating to think that there's so much more to humanity than the godhead of Reason.
2. The Wealth of Man - just started on this one. It's breathtaking in it's sweep of the human endeavor from the start of agrarian economies to the modern day knowledge economy.
3. Shakespeare's Tempest - a friend very strongly recommended it, and I happened to find a copy of it online here. Reached Act II, Scene I.

Just finished:
1. Iacocca - yup, I'm probably the last adult on the planet to read this book, but I just got my hands on it, and lapped it up in a few days. Excellent stuff. The unceremonious exit from Ford, and the amazing comeback with Chrysler
2. The Jeeves Omnibus: P. G. Wodehouse is an eternal favorite. The adventures of Bertram Wooster, and the life-saving help from the ever trustworthy Jeeves is always a pleasant break from work.
3. Globalization and it's Discontents, Joseph Stiglitz - a scathing critique of globalization in it's current form, and the hidden agenda of the IMF from the man who was the Chief Economist and senior vice president at the World Bank. I regret that he does not mention India, which is now one of the main focus areas of the globalization forces.

On my list to read:
1. The Wealth and Poverty of Nations - why some are so rich and some are so poor, by David S. Landes
2. Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman!, by Richard Feynman
3. The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran

Customer service - the best and the worst

2006-06-03T05:17:00.000-07:00

Here are two diametrically oppositive views of customer service. During one of my previous trips to the Middle East (Bahrain), I happened to be with a colleague who is equally adventurous about exploring new eating joints as I am. Even when we can't read the menu or pronounce what we want to order. During one of our jaunts we walked into a Turkish restaurant, and essentially pointed to what we wanted to order. They had an oven with freshly baked bread, and pies and other stuff. The food was so good that we didn't notice the really lousy customer service. And when I say lousy, I mean it was really bad. Not once did the waitress or any of the others so much as smile. In fact, all of them had a clear expression of not wanting to serve us, and disliking our presense there. And nothing racial about it at all. This is actually the way they were with everyone. It was as if they simply didn't want us there. But we're made of tougher hide, especially when the food is as good as it was. So we kept going back there 2-3 times during the week and their demeanor never ever changed - the waitresses, the cashier/owner, the baker, the cooks - they all had a really sullen expression on their face. But the place was doing amazingly well. There was tons of competition along that street, but it was simply the food, which was so good that nothing else mattered. So all those gurus of "customer delight" should do a rethink. If your product is god damn amazingly good, then you can probably scrimp on the customer service!

On the other hand, I had a screw come off on my spectacles and walked into what looked like a really nice spectacle shop - again here in the Middle-east (Riyadh). It's called "Magrabi Opticals", and they're a chain of really high-end eyecare shops all over the region. At first, I thought they'd charge me a bomb to replace the screw, but even though he didn't speak much English, and my Arabic sucks, the proprietor smiled, took the glasses, and told me to take a seat and they'd get it done in a jiffy. The place was impressive, it looked more like a jewelry store than an eyewear one. They had some really cool software to calculate the price and the lens quality and the whole nine yards. Their eye testing equipment was absolutely state of the art. I've always wanted to get powered sunglasses, and given their superb customer service, I ended up indulging in a 900 Riyal (USD 300) pair of Armanis. Sheesh! So here's the other perspective - if you're in a highly competitive market such as eyewear, then great service can induce really vain customers into spending hundreds of dollars, when they could've gotten out of there for free!

Great pieces of advice

2006-05-29T14:10:00.000-07:00

When I started the company, I had absolutely no idea on how to provide consulting services, let alone run a business. A lot of people gave us a lot of good advice, and I thought I would list out the more unconventional pieces of advice we received, and immensely benefited from:

Never lose goodwill (Dad): My Dad's always been a big proponent of goodwill. I usually am quick off the handle, but he's always stressed the importance of ensuring that any disagreements are handled such that at the end you can always shake hands and walk away without leaving a bad taste. I've tried to adopt this approach with clients, partners and employees, and it's turned out quite well. For instance, on one particular consulting assignment, things unfortunately got very heated up between us and the head of the department we were working with. But later that day, I went around and apologized, and he was more than willing to apologize as well. Today, we have a significant annual consulting contract with the same department.
Never let the other guy lose face: This advice has come from quite a few people. During any negotiation or discussion, make sure you don't let the other guy lose face. Even if you win the argument, make sure the other guy doesn't come across looking like a sore loser. No one likes to be pushed against the wall, and in any situation she/he must be allowed to save face.
Get a hang of the financial numbers (Dad): Dad's been a financial whiz, and my background has been in technology. But poring over balance sheets, income tax rules, and listening to my accountant discuss depreciation, has forced me to get pretty interested in the financial side of things. Now, I have monthly key parameter reports which give me important numbers such as salaries, fixed expenses, domestic and overseas revenues, cash withdrawn, bank account balances, Internet/mobile/phone/electricity expenses, etc. A general idea of the main rules of taxation and accounting is extremely important when making operational and strategic decisions.
Never sell yourself short (Sabeer Bhatia): Yup, that's the dude who sold Hotmail to Microsoft for a neat $400 million. I happened to meet him at one of the rare parties I was at, and went up to him and asked him if he had any advice given I had just started. And that's what he said. Initially, of course, when we didn't have too many options it's difficult to put a very high price on oneself. But we've always avoided going in for low-priced projects, and rejected a couple of pretty-tempting buyout offers along the way as well. In the consulting business, if one does not value one's own time and skills highly, then surely the clients can't be expected to do so.
Increase your expenses (Dad): This is the one where I violently disagree with my Dad. His is the pure consumerist approach. Spend now, increase your expenses, increase the pressure to earn more revenues. Mine is the more conservative response: "Dad, I need to see those reserves in my bank, to be able to sleep well at night!". To which, he will usually say, "You should have the confidence in your future earning abilities to not need 6 months' expenses lying idle in your account".
Trust your people (Ricardo Semler): The idea that a company can and should be run as a democracy comes from Ricardo Semler's ground-breaking book, "The Maverick". There are no policies, people set their own time to come and go, they are forced to take vacations, the pyramid is a circle, people set their own salaries, and other crazy stuff! As an entrepreneur, the toughest challenge is letting go - letting go of one's own responsibilities and allowing people to flower and learn from their mistakes.
Look for people with energy and maturity (Jack Welch): As a consulting company, our valuation comes from the people that work with us. To be able to hire the right talent and attitude among the multitude of applicants, is a skill I am still learning. But Welch, in his book Winning, specifies these two attributes - energy and maturity - as being very important to look out for in potential leaders. Maturity is specially important when the consultant finds himself in a spot of bother on a given project, and needs to handle a delicate situation or reassure a frazzled client.

Feel free to add advice you've received, which has worked for you. There's also a lot of really bad advice we received, and I'll probably post on that as well!

Google Adsense - show me the money!

2006-05-24T07:55:00.000-07:00

Well, the entrepreneur within me could not resist the temptation to make money through the Google Adsense program on this blog. I asked some A-list blogger friends, and they related woeful tales of having a lot of hits, but not much in the way of Adsense revenues. As usual, I thought my case would be different, and soon enough I'd be making hundreds of dollars a day through Adsense. Unfortunately, those revenues are still only trickling in. But in the process, I've gathered an excellent list of links to help you along.

I was inspired by this guy, who's quit his day-job and earns a living only from Adsense revenues. Pretty cool, eh? Check out some of his postings on the topic - here, here and here.

Here are some good Google write-ups on the topics - the Woot case study, and the Adsense Help Center, and most importantly Google's helpful optimization tips.

Some helpful hints I've picked up - but not necessarily applied - are:
1. Ads should be unobtrusive. Colors and fonts should match and blend in with the rest of your site
2. Have Adsense banners for each individual post. That way RSS feeds will also link to the ads
3. Use multiple channels in your Adsense configuration so that you can track which format and position works best for you
4. Use image and text ad combinations, instead of just text ads
5. Use the link units option as well. This I found pretty cool. It simply lists out subjects for Google ads. When a visitor clicks on the link, it opens up a page of Google ads on related topics. You get paid only when an ad on that page is clicked. It is less obtrusive than the regular banners.
6. Use horizontal formats rather than vertical formats
7. Position ads near content that is rich and near navigational aids, which are likely to attract users (this is a no-brainer)
8. Play around with Google's Submit a UR L and Sitemap features.
9. Try to shoot up your blog's search engine rankings. This of course involves standard search engine optimization techniques.
10. Click on the ads on my blog. Umm...actually, I couldn't come up with a 10th tip!

Software startups blog

2006-05-20T06:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a nice blog for software startups - Onstartups, by Dharmesh Shah. I like this post on Usability vs. Buyability. Especially, because for our own software we've been guilty of violating almost all the points he lists out there:
1. Transparent Pricing: Our pricing is not available on the website. I think we can rectify this almost immediately. The reason we didn't put it up there was so that we would at least know the people who were interested in it, when they sent us pricing enquiries. But I think it is time we changed this.
2. Immediacy: We require the request to be sent to us via email, and then we email the code back. It would be really cool to have the software activate immediately.
3. Minimal and 4. Payment methods: We don't really make it easy for customers to pay us. Heck our site doesn't even interface directly with a payment gateway.

Sadly, since most of our revenues come from the consulting services, the product has been treated as an orphan child. I wish someone would come along and buy out the whole thing lock, stock and barrel!

For the love of the game!

2006-05-20T05:27:00.000-07:00

This post is triggered by Rob's post on how Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (ZAMM) actually can be an inspiration for would-be entrepreneurs. I know it was a huge inspiration for me, and also happens to be one of my favorite books. (Please don't ask me what it is about!) There are some really great lessons in there, which are very well-presented in Rob's post. In fact, a number of my postings end up looking like the Chautauquas - or traveling tales - that Pirsig mentions.

I think at the end of the day, the singlemost important characteristic of any entrepreneur is the sheer love of the game. You got to absolutely love the whole entrepreneurial saga. Not just the specific business you are in, but the whole bloody thing in it's entirety. The ups and the downs, the beauty and the crap, the excitement and the boredom, and everything else that comes along with it.

Even now, once we've reached a certain level of success, there are days when you just feel the dumps. Not too far ago, we had one of those weeks where everything simply went wrong - absolutely wrong! And to get through that, you got to believe that it's a game, and you got to play it like that. The good part is that many of the rules are under your control. You're not a small cog in the larger corporate wheels, driven by their rules. Here, you can play the game the way you want to play - at least most of the time. It's tougher when you're struggling, but you have to believe that this is one game you're just going to win at.

There's also the other related aspect of philosophy. It's really not about the money. You've got to be driven by a deeper underlying philosophy, because that's what'll keep you going through the tough times.

So here's the balance - while you look at the whole thing as a game, you also got to play it with as much sincerity, seriousness, and diligence as you possibly can.

What idea?

2006-05-18T02:27:00.000-07:00

Often I come across people and situations where budding entrepreneurs are looking out for that grand big idea that will propel them into instant millions and fame. I like to back ideas that are already proven, and strongly recommend that if you're really looking at starting your own venture you don't really need to create something radically new or unique.

For instance, in his book Good to Great, James Collins talks about identifying your sweet spot. The work which is a confluence of the following:
1. Something you love doing
2. Something you're genetically programmed to do
3. Something for which a market exists

I completely agree with #1 and #3, but disagree with #2. I don't think we're genetically programmed for anything specific atleast as far as entrepreneurship is concerned. And I would rather believe that if you do set your mind to it, you can generally accomplish it. For instance, my current profile requires me to interact extensively with people. Five years back, I would've been labelled an introvert and at most parties I'd be the wallflower. I still don't network aggressively, but it is an almost 180 degree turn for me in terms of my interactions with people.

Coming back to the point of waiting for a unique idea. I have seen a lot of people come up with lots of original ideas. But more than likely, the original idea isn't really unique. For instance, we recently thought it would be damn cool to productise one of our consulting offerings. As excited as we were, a search on Google revealed half a dozen other firms already doing the same. Which is not to say we're not going to go ahead with the idea. But it just goes to show that original ideas are rarely unique. The other thing about unique ideas is that if there really are no other players in the market for that idea, then possibly the market itself does not exist. Which means, you now have the humungous task of actually creating a market.

So the point now is what kind of an idea do you begin your business with. Here are some pointers to help you along:
1. Is it something you absolutely love doing? The task you plan to venture on, is it something you would do every day, weekends, even if you didn't get paid for it. Do you thoroughly enjoy doing this core task. Your entire business will be built around the fact that you, and the people you hire must love what they do. Otherwise, you simply won't be able to bring the energy and the passion to the field.
2. Is it something others are already successful at? Look around you. There are hundreds of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs working hard at their ideas. There are lots of businesses that are already very successful. Can you adopt a 'follow-the-leader' attitude and do it successfully enough to get to at least #2 or #3. For instance, I was inspired by a US-based consulting firm, which was highly successful in the same field. And I thought, if those guys can do it, so can we.
3. Is it something you know you can improve? Observe carefully at the establishments you frequent. What is it that they could be doing better? Are their customer service reps unfriendly? Are they not located in your specific part of the city, and people have to end up traveling a long distance to avail of their services (think restaurants)? Are they not catering to a specific market segment? They could be focused on large enterprises for customers, leaving you with the SME's to target. Are there specific technologies that they are not covering? If you can determine a specific differentiator, which your competitors would find difficult to replicate easily, then go after an already-successful idea, and you'll up your chances of success.
4. Is it something that you loved during one of your trips, and sorely lament it not being there where you live? For instance, a nice Italian restaurant! Or a service provider who provided an excellent service during your travels, but no one of that type exists back home.
5. Oh I wish, we had this! Have you faced situations, where you've thought: I wish there was someone who would do X for me. Or I wish there were a software that did X,Y and Z.

And, don't jump at your first idea. Dwell on it, let it play back and forth before you make the plunge. I know I toyed with half a dozen ideas before starting my current venture.

Multi-level marketing or network marketing

2006-05-17T02:11:00.000-07:00

Before I even begin - let me unequivocally state my stand on multi-level marketing - don't do it! Yes it works for some people, and yes it just might work for you as well. But at the end of the day, the effort and skills required to make it work might just as well be put into an enterprise of your own, and I can guarantee you'll do many many times better.

Here's a brief intro of what these are. Essentially, they're pyramid type schemes, where someone convinces you to join in, and buy goods through him/her - also known as your uplink. And you then need to convince others to join into your group, and they become your downlinks and so forth.

I have spent quite some time studying and reading up on this, and here are some of the best reasons not to get into this:
1. It's not something you can do part-time. All that is bs. This is something that will require a lot more effort and persistence than you can every imagine.
2. It's not something that lets you control your time. Sorry, simply not happening. Most people start of thinking they can hold onto their day jobs while they do this. But that doesn't work. The only successful people in MLM are those who do it full-time and then some.
3. These are pyramid schemes. Outlawed in most states in the US, companies such as Amway are now pushing into China and India where laws pertaining to pyramid schemes are vague.
4. You cannot keep earning if you stop working. They often tell you that you can continue to earn through your downlinks. But that's simply not true. As soon as you stop showing the plan around, your income drops.
5. The money really comes through the tapes and the training material. There are some excellent resources out there that do the math. There is simply no way for you to make money selling FMCG goods. The real moolah comes from the tapes and other training material.
6. It's not fulfilling. It really isn't. It's simply depressing to keep selling the same fake story to your friends, family, and others, when you know it's all hollow.
7. You will lose friends. Every time you try to con someone into attending an MLM seminar or listen to tapes or buy the kit, and they drop out of the program, they're going to dislike you from that time onwards. In fact, eventually most of your friends circle will consist solely of people who're in the program.

Resources:
1. Merchants of Deception - free e-book. Excellent insider's point of view.
2. Amway - the Untold Story - very informative
3. MLM Survivor - website with a number of good resources
4. Dateline show on Quixtar

Negotiation - I

2006-05-14T01:26:00.000-07:00

At some level, I think all of life is nothing but a series of negotiations. In the straightforward sense, we negotiate to win new projects or for partnerships or with employees for salaries. At another level we negotiate the time we spend between work, family and ourselves. But this post is not about the philosophy of negotiation, rather about key pointers to a successful negotiation. I do not claim to be the best negotiator out there, but I constantly try to learn from every won or lost deal.
1. Ask. This is the most important one, and the one thing most people forget to do. They simply forget to ask the price they really, really want. It's really as simple as that. If you don't ask, you won't ever get. Also, you usually want to ask for more than you expect to be happy with. The other side of this is to also ask all sorts of questions to the other party. I never hestitate to ask a client questions like which other companies have quoted for the project, and where in the list does the client rank us, and how we are placed on the pricing scale, and what their budget and time constraints are, and almost anything else other than the actual competitors' proposals!
2. Gasp. For any price offered to you, gasp! Act as if you're really not happy with it, and in most cases you actually won't be happy with that price. So express that emotion, and tell the other side, that their offer is simply unacceptable.
3. Counter-offer. Never be at the negotiating table with only one thing to be discussed and finalized. Always go with multiple options, and multiple things to be negotiated. Usually, most negotiations end up being about money, but always try and keep many things on the table, such as payment terms, future business, referrals, etc.
4. Be ready to walk away. This is the toughest. And is usually almost impossible. But ideally, you always want to go into a negotiation ready to walk away from it. The other thing is that you shouldn't really walk want to away from the deal. The successful negotiation is one where both parties get what they want, without one side waking up the next morning and thinking, oh shoot, we got screwed. So, while you should be ready to walk away, your goal should always be to arrive at the best possible solution that works best for both sides.
5. Nibble. Often once a negotiation has been settled, it's always worth your while to try and nibble for that bit more. To ask for a minor concession every now and then. Not the best way to win respect, but it's worth your while to walk to the door, turn around, and say, hey I was just thinking, what if we also...
6. Smile. Sooner or later, any serious negotiation will get tense. The atmosphere will darken up, and people will begin to get grumpy and grouchy. The best means to break the tension is to smile. Especially, if you follow that up with a call for a break, that often helps to break the deadlock. Meeting the same people at the neighbourhood coffee shop often changes the eventual result of the discussions.
7. Be discreet. For me, this is the hardest part of any negotiation. By nature, I am a very upfront and straightforward guy. Although, this is usually a positive thing, during negotiations blurting out all your thoughts and facts is foolhardy, and I often stand guilty of doing that. Holding back on critical information is the key to getting through to a succesful negotiation.
8. Shut up! This is even more important than just being discreet. This I am usually good at. Often during negotiations, when there is no headway being made, both parties will clam up. At this stage, you should never ever break the silence. This should usually be done by the other party or a mediator. Usually, the one to speak first is probably going to end up making concessions.
9. Do your homework. Remember information is indeed power. Get onto paper all the facts that help push your side of the story. Get as much information as you can about the other side. This is usually tough, but it does help to know. Assume that the other person is indeed not giving you the full version of the story, but do not accuse him/her outright of lying.
10. Control your emotions. Do not get too emotional during a negotiation, unless that's a ploy you intend to use. Remember Vito Corleone's "It's business, not personal". However, I recollect once storming out of a negotiation, and forgetting my jacket in the process, and coming back to retrieve it 5 minutes later. During that time, the other side felt a bit sorry that they had upset us so much, and offered another few thousand dollars on their last price.

Resources:
1. Secrets to power negotiating, Roger Dawson. This is one of the best books on negotiating that I have read.
2. Bargaining for Advantage, G. Richard Shell.