By focusing on only a few core features in the first version, you are forced to find the true essence and value of the product.
Success is a journey, and failure is part of the trip. To have a chance of success, you should innovate and create new experiences for your customers. We sometimes do not hit it right the first time. But don’t let failure stop you from reaching your goal. You have to come out of failure, enlightened and learned. Only then will you become closer to success.
Do you love what you are doing?
Be it Guy Kawasaki or be it Paul Graham or be it Steve Jobs - every pundit swears by the mantra that you should do what you love. If you do not enjoy what you are doing, there are very few chances that you will be successful in it.
So, here’s a question for those of you reading this post -
- How many of you actually love what you are doing ?
- If not, are you doing anything to change that ?
Feel free to leave your responses via anonymous comments. It would be great to get a feel of how many of you are actually pursuing your passion, whatever that might be…
The theory of 80:20 perfectly applies to Indian Tech Industry. The 80:20 theory in corporate world goes as…
Almost all working people in corporate world must have heard about this. but still today no body is serious about this and day by day this ratio is increasing.
80:20 means it is a ratio of non-working employee vs working employee. In almost all the offices in world only 20% of employee do work and 80% enjoys. Today with the new work culture, I feel this ratio is increasing as most of the employees don’t want to work. They just want big money for small work.
I seen many such cases and they are so lucky that even they get the places like this.
This 80:20 theory doesn’t even exist in start-ups, because people in a start-up are passionate about what they do and love what they do!
Often I meet many people, many friends who work for this or this big-fat company with 40 international offices and a tiny things takes 10 days to finish company and after discussing with them one thing clearly comes out they don’t find any enjoyment in their work… they are usually a part of a project & some other major stuff like that where there are 40 to 100 people like them are working for the same thing, same stuff, everyday; thing which they might called an big project for some big-fish MNC client.
Nothing special about this post, It is not like that I’m not liking what I am doing… I’m loving what I am doing & I always love what I do…
This is just a post to see what you people think around about what you are doing right-now…? Usually, I come across many people, many friends of mine, Even if they’re not doing anything they are pretty happy, and they pretend to be happy earning money for doing nothing in their office space, but sitting & Goggling & forwarding shitty mails to their gangs or hanging out on Facebook, This is what we define as “typical-employee-minded”. Sitting & passing the month in the cube, almost doing nothing… 95% people I meet or know are working for IT companies in the town and they are either not happy with their current work, boss or manager or they’re looking for a change. Especially in the Indian Tech Industry, which is purely a service industry in our country… You must be familiar with terms like “sitting on the bench”… and stuff like that, So…
My question is why to sit if you can walk, you can do & most of all, you can think…?
There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.
“
| — | Sam Walton |
Things start-ups Do Need & Don’t Need
Things start-ups do need
- Sunny office
- Windows that open
- Democratically controlled music system
- Two forms of internet access
- Beer on fridays
- EVDO cards
- Video game system
- Good coffee maker
- Proximity to public transportation
- Proximity to park
- Heating that goes all night
- Health care plans for everyone
- Mac laptops with second monitors
- Plants
- Lots of in-person interaction
- Gmail and Google docs
- Soft lighting
Things start-ups don’t need
- Fancy (Aeron) chairs
- Expensive art on the walls
- Vacation policy
- PR firm
- Dress code
- Private offices
- COO’s and GMs
- Business cards
- Microsoft products
- Dental plans
- Free lunches
- Central air conditioning
- Doorman
- Phone system
- Set time you need to arrive in morning
- Meetings
- Carpeting
When you invent a brand or a word or a concept, you can spend a fortune to force it on the market. Or you can invent one that just fits.
“
| — | Seth’s Blog |
Relationships are like Start-ups
“One want to find someone who not only loves him / her, but lets themselves experience love and doesn’t worry about the chances of things actually working out.”
Yes, Relationships are like start-ups. If you join one because you think it will be successful, versus just joining one because its interesting, worthwhile, and its something you’re passionate about—regardless of its ultimate chance of success—then you shouldn’t be in one.
Most relationships, like most start-ups, don’t last forever. They’re also completely unpredictable, so you just find good people, communicate well, and do your best…
(Excerpts from a random discussion last year between me & Kris about the start-up life)
Idea Overflow…
Well… Ideas, by themselves, are worthless. Unless there is proper execution, ideas will go nowhere. To execute, you need focus and persistence. Unwavering focus on your ultimate goal.
While some of the aspiring entrepreneurs wither away trying to find that ‘perfect idea’, several others suffer from a different syndrome - one that can be attributed to ‘too many ideas’. These idea whores cant stop coming up with new business ideas. They tend to get so overwhelmed with all the new ideas, that the net result is that they cant focus on implementing any single one of them. As soon as they start implementing one idea, their mind wavers to the ‘next big thing’. At the end of the day, they’ve not properly explored a single idea.
I’ll admit - I’ve succumbed to this wavering myself, a couple of times.
Professionally & personally HCM is my first enterprepreneurial experience, I’ve learnt one very valuable lesson - based on my discussions with my partners who are successful entrepreneurs and several other successful entrepreneurs and businessmen.
Entrepreneurship takes discipline and persistence. Everyone gets ideas. Ideas are cheap and easy - executing on a particular idea is the difficult part.
Apart, A recommended reading on start-up life by Paul Graham here.
What do you think ? Have you suffered from the ‘Idea Overflow’ syndrome at any point?…Let me know?
Entrepreneurs don’t need degrees like lawyers and doctors do. They are credentialed by virtue of their track record. The first start-up is hard but if they make that one work, they end up with something much better than a college degree. They have a notch in their belt. They’ve got a track record of success.
“
| — |
Fred Wilson |
