Search? Ask Google. But when it comes to social – Google knows next to shit.

Orkut failed to seduce anyone save Brazilians and Indians. I know why Indians liked it but that’s another story for another day. But as you read this, more and more Brazilians and Indians are ditching Orkut and getting laid with Facebook.

Google Buzz and Wave came with a lot of buzz and went away in a wave.

Now is the time to jizz your pants for + & Circles. This time Google is using their SEO card to have their +1 Button on sites. Bully, I tell you. Now that everyone is +1-ing it, you better do or loose on Google’s love for you.

When I got an invite, I made a profile and then did not log-in for ages. Recently I gave it a sincere try but it just doesn’t make sense.

Why should I share something on Google+?

Facebook has my friends, twitter has my Romans and countrymen. Who art thou Google+?

Sure there are some Google+ evangelist who light a candle when someone posts on Google+. They are also telling you how Google+ got more users in less time than Facebook and Twitter. How witless.

People change underpants faster than they sign-up for Facebook and Twitter. How facinating

May I remind you Google has gazillions of Gmail users. They did not get new kids on block like Twitter and Facebook did. They just made their Gmail users wear new +underpants.

If twitter dies, I will care. If facebook dies… damn that should not happen. But if Google+ dies. Oh well that’s the default trajectory.

Unless Google defines gets down to solve a specific problem, there is not much hope. Which usually happens when you are in the waters with your users and building around them.

But Google doesn’t get it. To build social, you have to build in social. You can’t go to your room and come back with solo-movie and call it social.

PS: As a designer, I care about typography. And dear Google, when you have a paragraph, Arial is the way.

Notorious business of an 11 Years Old

I am writing this in middle of 32+ hours train journey – from Bangalore to Delhi. Sort of on a flash-back journey too.

I started a cute little business when I was 11. Now some people will shoot me in the head for calling ‘business’ cute but I couldn’t care less. So read on.

Back then my dad was trying his hand at network-marketing. He had a collection audio books and talks on cassettes – they always made me curious. You know the ‘killer headline’ headlines and shit. And then something happened.

I got a Walkman! (Yeah, it was 90s)

Within few days I finished most of them. Half of them made sense, half of them made me sleep. It left my head buzzing with ideas. A need to build something and a desire to make money.

A few months forward, I started a club sort of thing called ‘Friends Club’. As the name suggests – my friend circle (and of some other popular dudes) was the club. I asked each one of them to introduce one more friend. Entry fee to the club was Rs. 5 (10 Cents). We managed to get around 60 bucks (some kids needed discount).

Purpose of the club was to have fun, be a strong gang group and access collective resources like comics, discounts, sports gear etc.

I don’t remember exactly what was the sales pitch, but soon we did not need one. The size of group spoke tons about credibility .

Word of moth, ftw.

Summer vacations were on, kids were bored – a problem to solve. So we organized events for kids.

First event was was a disaster. Our customers (the kidsies) were not happy. I still remember trying to pull of a magic show with lame tricks I learned from the newspaper. You know, crap like that.

Boy, people were pissed. Like totally.

Business is tough.

We needed more money to make it a tad bit better. So we went around to local shop asking people to give 10-20 bucks. That was my first experience with “fund-raising”.

Some donated, some shooed us away. One guy gave a lecture. Bah!

Next event was a hit. We had competitions, games and even a cricket match. We gave trophy to the winning team. There were snacks too.

But But But!!!

The team that lost wasn’t happy, they claimed that the winning team cheated. Cricket is huge in India, and I underestimated their emotions about loosing a match.

Oh! A match for trophy.

There was a heated debate, arguments and name calling. Then they called their parents. That’s when shit hits the fan.

We were officially labelled as ‘stay away from those guys’.

And bang! Business to dust.

Lesson learned: Know thy customer and dynamics of their lives.

So that was my first venture – what I can remember of it. I still remember the feeling of doing business – having a customer and making money. Nothing beats that!

Photo by VividImageInc

I love traveling. I love speaking. And traveling to speak – labour of love. Recently I went on to speak at Kamala Nehru College, Delhi and NIT Trichy.

The Entrepreneurship Cell

This was the second time I was interacting with Entrepreneurship Cell (E-cell) of a college (that’s about NIT Trichy).

I think E-cell is a great idea. You get to hangout with like-minded people, make connections, get to some work and bunk periods. But E-cell make business plans. And Business plans do not create a business. It’s far from reality.

In fact, what they learned by organizing this event – inviting speakers from all over the country – was a thousand times more valuable than the stupid ‘SWAT analysis’.

Let me tell you what they did: They brainstormed over who all could be called over as speakers, discussed, shortlisted speakers, reached out to them, managed their tickets & arrivals, managed to pull off an event (despite of power cuts). All of it in a budget. I guess they even had to spend some money of their own. Now that’s real deal; no business plan could plan that.

Entrepreneurship cells need more time on the ground reality, rather than business plan competitions. They can be gateway for students to a lifestyle choice – but there is a lot to be done.

The Business on Ground

I reached there a day before. I wanted to kill the “You’re lecturer and I’m student humble syndrome” – it’s good for egos but not good for real work. Also, I wanted to interact and know my audience – what were their dreams, state of mind etc.

It was nice to see eyes full of ambitions and big dreams. Some of them are even working on business ideas. Though most of them will take a big team and expertise to execute. But I was there too, not very long ago. A café all entrepreneur opens – is a healthy mistake.

There are people who are onto some real businesses too. There is a team who are creating store for used books for the college. I go to talked to one guy from the team. During our very brief conversation he said, “It’s going good but the problem is the season of demand doesn’t come with season of supply.”

I don’t know about you – but man that’s some real problem. A green signal.

The Family Game

Most of the students were from a middle class families. Working parents expect their kids to get a good job & salary and ease their burden. Students taking a break of 4-5 years to build a business is not an option.

I’ve seen so many startups lose an important & brilliant member because parents can’t afford to have their kids not earning. I don’t think it’s sad – I think it’s a valid challenge.

Another thing that came up, while I was with Aditya in Bangalore, was social acceptance of ‘business guy’. People, in this part of the world, think it’s bad to make money. From my family, “Aren’t your parents earning enough?” – the comment I got when I talked about my business. Believe it or not business is a social stigma.

Some other facts:
1. Most of the E-cell members were non-Computer Science / IT Guys. Good thing!
2. Finally! There are some girls to be seen who are interested in entrepreneurship.

Some Things from My talk

[Waiting for the Video & Photos]

My presentation:

1. My intro and my first venture ‘the Friendz‘
2. Zen Stoy of Personal Power.
3. Story of Like a Little – one of the co-founders is alumni of NIT Trichy.
4. Story of AirBnB and how they raised initial money. (To tell them about hackers and how smart entrepreneurs work)
5. YCombinator, What is a startup and how it goes about.
6. Hacker News and why they should read.
7. Why they should write.
8. Why they should travel and invite an entrepreneur to lunch and pick on his brains.
9. Story of guy who made money off selling oil at the rate he bought it.
10. Read, Write, Travel, Explore, Dare and Make Decisions.

Apart from regular shit, there are some interesting things that happen in my college. A while ago, we were working on “design” (Design as in design patterns thingy not the logical design).

It's good, right?

I did all this by my own hand and a rotring pen, 8×8 inches!

The sheet is called “art card”. It’s a thick sheet used for printing greetings and such. It has glossy finish, absorbs (rotring) ink quickly and if you make a mistake – you can scratch it a bit and correct it.

But guess what? Our teacher never told us about the scratching bit – about the eraser. Not that we didn’t ask; she said, “If you make a mistake, you make a mistake. There is no going back. Start over.”

It’s a nice thing, we were extra careful while working and more confident after we finished it.

And recently, during drawing class, my teacher (one of my favs) took away my eraser. Good thing. Make mistakes, correct them on the fly and let them be a part of your work.

Entrepreneurs are artists too and making mistakes should be natural. It should be part of the work. No erasers used.

Some of my classmates work very carefully, afraid to make a mistake. They score good but never find out much. While there are those who play a lot and dare to do it wrong. Initially their work is so laughable and eventually they find… themselves.

I finished my schooling back in 2010. As norms have it, I was supposed to join a college. But I didn’t.

My question: Why the f*ck?

Hell broke loose! Relatives were all restless, self-righteous were giving lectures, concerned were trying to explain and dad nagged me day-and-night. But even after seeking advice of respected ones; there was little logic anywhere.

I didn’t think I could learn anything valuable in a college. So why go? Just because everyone does? It’s funny how “education” (I call it literacy) is not good enough for the real world. And still they are the standard. Irony!

So I took a gap year, to figure out my life and what next. During my gap year, I failed a startup, helped people, failed people, lost things, gained things, travelled, met people and did things I always wanted to do.

They told me I was wasting an year. I though it’s wise to waste 1 year than waste 3 doing something I am not sure about. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. Totally worth all the repercussions I was told about. (I am yet to see any)

Without it I’d have lost my brains to year-after-year score game. Someone else tells you your worth.

The College

Fine Arts was the only option that looked hopeful. Computer Science is a joke (as they teach it here), humanities is ‘cram it all’ game, and engineering… well let’s not talk about it. So I joined Govt. College of Art, Chandigarh – one of the most reputed art colleges in India. Another good decision!

In just one month it has taught me a lot. Apart from learning art, I learned (and still am) a lot about people.

It’s the same dividing line everywhere: those who know where they are headed and those who don’t. This simple thing makes a huge difference.

Learning, here, is a bit different process. We learn by doing and daring to do it wrong. We don’t learn as much as from each other and seniors as from teachers (if not more).

There is no end to useful critique in college, and no end to bull-shit either. Though value to poop ratio is towards the better side. To know the difference, you’ve got to use your own brains and common-sense.

I now see what Buddha meant when he told not to follow his teachings blindly but to test them first. Also, I see value of good editing too.

Only problem I’ve with my college is it’s timing. 9-5 becomes a job like thing. If that wasn’t enough, they do 2 days of work in 5 days. Oh and the degree is for 4 bloody years.

But then last Friday something unexpected happened. I tried water color painting. Painted same thing 5 times! And not even a single minute was boring. In fact, I was running around in lunch break to get some feedback. It’s fun when you learn something new.

I wish minimum required attendance wasn’t 75%. It has sort of hampered my work.

The Teachers

Teachers have the same dividing line – those who know where they are headed and those who don’t. That makes or breaks the passion for teaching and their interest in the very thing they are teaching.

You can see those who want to teach, and those who are there because they were not good enough for anything else. What an ironic teacher they make. As Prajjwal put is for his college, “Yea right! A Scala and C expert. If they were experts, they wouldn’t be doing 15k a month job.”

Then there are teachers with whom you are in a different world. They see artists in you, not a student.

So…

In the end college is just a fertile ground, it’s up to you what you make of it. Full of opportunities, any and all types and ample time at disposal. It’s like living your life in brief for once. How you treat your college is practice of how you treat your life.

Or maybe like so many others, you let the college treat you the way it does – and let life treat you the way it does.

It’s funny how many people tell me they wanted to take art when they hear I am studying art. Don’t play that game, if you are not doing what you like, love or want to – then dude – it’s not worth it.

As for me, I still have mixed feelings about it. I had an interesting conversation with a classmate that explains how I feel:

Him: This is the best time, we are free. It won’t be nice when we’ll need to make money and do work.

Me: Oh! That’s what I did last year – work, money and learning. I liked it better.

If you are still not sure about college, take a gap year or two. Travel, meet people, read books… live some life. That will make you clear about it. College won’t put anything in your hand, but it will put a lot of things within your reach.

tl;dr: Empower the people who interact with your customers. Keep them happy, train them, love them. They are your shining stars.

Usually a company’s power hierarchy looks like this:

• The inner circle of CEO and top-heads have the most power, they care about company the most and yet they are most distant from their customers.
• Managers and in-betweens have moderate power, sort of care about company and are sort of near customers.
• Retail people, customer care and sales people are closest to customers, not at all worried about the company and least powered to make any decisions on their own.

Who is breaking the pattern? Apple Stores and Nordstrom, Beyond Computers, Small businesses, DIY Themes, Open Source Communities…

KFC! I remember they offered me and Risahbh Verma free drinks, while we waited for their kitchen tour. Can the people who interact with customers in your company, win customers?

Who is embracing the pattern? Many of us!

In fact, I just experienced a well known blog handing over it’s emails to an intern. So the main communication channel is in hands of someone who doesn’t know better! (They have balls!) The intern sounded like an automated reply, because the top-heads asked him to be “neutral”.

Now that’s an “interaction”! [Sarcasm, yes]

More Examples

Recently I was invited to a product launch by HP, thanks to 64 Notes. It was nice to see a corporate honoring blogs or organic news medium, in India.

It was really interesting experience to interact with people behind the giant brand and see local reporters at work (aka free lunch). Brands would do so much better if the leverage the faces behind the logo. Here is what I mean:

I met Seema Dawar, who’s working with HP in Delhi. The best part of her introduction:

“… I love what I do! I love my job!”

She was interesting, full of energy and eager to interact. She helped me try out their new printer. She wanted me to try it out, genuinely! She was Zappos of HP. There HP, you sold me a printer.

How? With their refreshed logo? Nope! (yes a refresh, they added a gradient to it!) Was it that the launch was at Taj? Was it that I was invited? Nope! Nope! Nope!

I am sold because of the people who are representing that brand.

Small and traditional businesses understand this. They know who sits on the counter is their going to close the deal, not the name of the shop, not the color, not the variety they have.

Once my aunt called up a TATA Telecoms guy to enquire about new internet connection. She asked him something about the billing. Reply? “I wouldn’t know about that. That’s work of billing department of company!”

Hello?! Right here and now, you are representing the company!

Beyond Computers is a traditional computer sellers with non-traditional relation building. College crowd (read: the gadget buying crowd) is on their facebook group – winning free stuff, buying other stuff. And their customer service is just fab! You can’t think of buying a gadget from anywhere else. [More on this later]

How can you break the circle? How can you meet your customer over a cup of coffee?

PS: The launch was for HP’s wireless printers. Here is one I liked. They still need an industrial designer though.

PPS: Thanks to nice people at the PRactice for inviting me to the event.

“… that’s my startup!” he finished explaining his idea. Last time we met he was onto some other idea. I asked him again,

“But what about the app you were building a month ago?”

“Oh, that? That’s my another startup!”

“[Gulp!] Oh, I see. How many startups do you have, again?”

“Erm.. dunno… several. 5-6, I guess.”

Suddenly, startup is cheap. The cost of the word has gone down. Every weekend app is, now,  a startup. I am no expert on terminology, and there is no one right way to anything; but I I think there is a better way to see things:

Problem > Solution [the Idea] > Experiment > Project > Start-up

The Problem

You experience or observe a problem. Maybe you wanted a tool to schedule tweets without putting worrying about time. Maybe you really thought that banking sucks. Something that is pain-in-the-ass or maybe something that you know, can be done better.

Without a problem there is no solution.

The Solution aka Ze Idea!

The Eureka moment! Overrated, but that’s where passion flows. There is already too much said about this so I won’t say more. But want to point, Eureka moment won’t be possible if Archimedes didn’t have a problem to solve.

Experiment

You start experimenting with possible soultion(s). You just build the bare minimum (or MVP). Test your assumptions against real-life (read: lean). This is getting your hands in the clay. Things start to take shape.

Most of the apps are experiments. You never know if they will succeed or not. hackerByte was a good experiment I did with UK, AJ and Prajjwal.

The Project

Things are going good. Your experiments are stable, growing and you are onto something big here. People are using your stuff, they are really liking some and hating some. Good point. It’s taking all of your weekends and almost all the free time.

Besperk is a nice example of a project.

The Start-up

Now things have gotten so big that you don’t have time to do anything else. Maybe it’s pooling in money too. It’s asking you to leave your day-job. When you think it’s time you have a business around it – and you are trying to get it right.

This is huge. You have to do it full-time. Also, startup doesn’t happen from home.

Now, these are not hardcore rules that can be applied to everything. But that’s the general scheme of things in my mind. What do you think?

Photo Credit: Art Poskanzer

PS: If you feel the same, send this to your co-founder. Let me know how they reacted. And wish me luck that it’d work for me too. :)

Note: These are my personal opinion and NOT official guidelines, I am NOT affiliated to the Morpheus.

We  (me, Utkarsh and Prajjwal) applied to the Morpheus back in 2010 with Besperk, back when it was called Createens (more on that later). After initial application, we landed an interview. We didn’t get through – and we know the valid reason. But here are some tips form our experience:

What are you doing?

First understand what you are doing, you are associating your startup with experienced entrepreneurs and a very strong network of founders (alumni).

I will skip the details of why and who should apply, assuming that you know that already. But in nutshell – what your startup can die figuring out in next 1 year, with The Morpheus, you can know and walk your way through it.

You’re selling yourself to them, and they are selling their network and experience to you. It’s a win-win. Remember I said – you are selling yourself not the idea. Idea is not that important unless you have something ready to show (a prototype or something).

Of course they want to hear what drives you aka your idea but you are far more important than the idea.

Before Applying:

• Have all the founders on same page. You really need to see the one thing. It’s not a good thing if everyone is headed in different directions.
• First, get each founder to fill the application form alone. Pour your thoughts. Just let it flow. No group thinking, just fill it up alone. All alone. Some what like watching porn.
• Now compare the notes – you will be amazed at how you answered things differently and how some things are same. Generally speaking – you know your weak and good points.
• Now just discuss and put them together as one application.
• By this time (in fact, asap) get in touch with one of the founders of The Morpheus portfolio companies or Nandini (N) or Sameer (S). I think this is a must. Just shoot them a mail or something.
• N & S usually travel while applications are open, try to meet them in person. Application from someone they know and someone unknown – there is a difference.
• Talk, bug them – ask questions. Go as far as asking for their or a founder’s help with your application. We asked N to help us out, and she agreed!

The Application:

• Tell them as much as you can – the facts. (eg: Your startup was funded by your dad or your girlfriend’s money and other legal stuff.)
• Keep it simple (stupid!). KISS! – they are not looking for your copy-writing skills – just basic information. At this point I highly recommend a coder filling out the facts, they are used to writing clear-cut things.
• Interact. Though filling a form is a bit in-human in itself but it’s humans who are going to read it. So interact.
• If you don’t know the answer find out or say “Don’t know”. Admit it! Never fake an answer. You really wanna start this with a lie?
• Don’t try to fake it. They’ve read gazillions of applications and they can smell fake from miles away. Especially N – she knows when she sees fake [anything]. She just knows it.
• Be yourself. If not now, then when?
• Have fun. Chill dude. It’s just an application after-all.
• I am not very sure, but they just look for interesting people to meet, they don’t expect you to know all the answers or know every God damned thing in the world – just show them who you are. The more honest you are, more likely you are to land an interview.

The Interview:

• This is where the fun begins, and IMO the program begins too. Createens evolved a ton during our interaction with N & S (and it still does). Just one meeting changed a lot and made us think and see things like never before.
• Seriously, I can’t emphasize enough how much the interview did for us. Try and meet them in person than on call. Though they are pro with calls (I’ve spent hours with them on phone) but still – you owe it to yourself to meet them at this point. Even if you have to travel to Chandigarh for a day.
• As a kid, when I did something wrong, I’d imagine every possible question my parents could ask and an answer for it. If they ask this, answer that – if they ask that, answer this. Leave that for your parents. It won’t work here.
• I am yet to decode what happened really, but I guess your attitude will be far more important than your answer. You can’t fake it; so don’t even try. Relax.
• OK, if you feel like it, prepare all that you want. Yes you can try taking a bath and putting on that deodorant but again that’s your satisfaction (bath can be useful though). And when you meet them – Stop preparing and be yourself.
• Don’t dress-up, they don’t.
• Usually they will have questions for you in the end. Note them all down (mentally on a meet, pen and paper on a call). Note their pointers. This stuff is treasure your first taste of The Morpheus. They were life changing for Besperk and still are.

After Interview:

Don’t rush to reply. Think. Discuss – at priority.

Then reply. Yes, actually do it. (Don’t act like how we did, spent next 3 days partying! What a fail.)

Wouldn’t know much about this part, since I never actually got to this point. Maybe founder of their portfolio company could take care of this.

After you get in:

Remember me and pass on the advice you get from them to the world.

Apply to The Morpheus →

I’ve wanted to write this ever since I wrote a comment on HN while discussing Evernote’s $800,000 monthly income, someone commented:

“When I see news like this, all I think is that a proportion of Evernotes users must be quite dissatisfied with their services and would switch if there were a better alternative. Then I think – perhaps I should make a better alternative.
I store some of my stuff in Evernote, but it’s not convenient for writing. It’s too cluttered and distracting for that. I’d like to make something with the storage facilities of evernote, but a much less distracting writing interface.” [Original]

This was not the first time I saw such a comment. In fact, when I approached Utkarsh with idea of Besperk, for first few discussions he always had “this already exists; why will they come to us?“. Or when there was a launch of similar platform / app – we’d ping each other with ” :| ” emoticons. Early on I didn’t have an answer; but now I do. Building an app is not what start-ups do; instead startups solve a problem and build a business around that solution. They can build better apps, but without a better business – there is no real competition.

here is what I replied on thread on HN:

“This is the biggest mistake most of the people make. If it worked that way, every weekend app released here would be making tons of money. (We have better apps here as weekend projects than out there in market).But this is NOT app v/s app game. This is business v/s app. And you can’t take down a business with an app. You need to create a business.Sure you can build a better ‘app’ then Evernote or make a better burger than McD’s (one of the best in my country at least) but you can’t make a better business, the day you do – you are in game.There are many other dynamics too. But just a quick note.(Note to self: write a detailed essay about that)” [Original]

I see this point coming back again and again. It’s not very hard to build an application. You can pretty much install Elgg or, if you are a programmer, replicate functionality of twitter, facebook or whatever – but that’s not what it is about. It’s about two things:

1. What is the problem that you are solving.
2. What is the business behind that.

…and together they make the complete equation of start-up.

Solving a Problem

If you ever happen to meet Mohit (and you should), you’ll find him chanting these words religiously “Solve a [pain in the ass] problem.” You can have the most amazing app in the world but if it doesn’t solve a problem of mine, I am not gonna use it. (Hint: fun is a purpose too, thus Angry Birds – or maybe it solves the problem of taking out frustration)

Don’t get me wrong; I totally get those weekend projects for fun. In fact, if you have fun while building something for fun (that also solves some problem) then it can be a great business for you.

You can have the most shittiest technology behind the scenes, but as far as it solves the problem – you are relevant, you are in business. I don’t think a huge majority of people who have WordPress blogs actually knows (or care) what goes behind the scene. They don’t care whether it’s Python or PHP – all they care about is the problem it solves. If something better [easier] comes off – they will move.

Business Behind It

And then sell the solution, I really don’t have much to say about this since I am also learning about this very part of the game. For geeks, behind the scene is so intoxicating that they just want to continue with that. That’s what separates geeks from entrepreneurs. Geeks / Programmers / Devs. know the technology behind it. And Entrepreneurs know the business (and sometimes technology) behind it.

I’ve noticed the change of perception that occurs when geeks join programs like Y Combinator, The Morpheus or L-pad. They help you sharpen the ‘business’ mindset. It’s perfect for hackers to join in, they’ve been hacking around with programming for years – time to hack around business and make some money.

So let’s rephrase all that the big-shots are doing:

1. Evernote lets its customers take notes the way they like it. (You might not)
2. Apple sells experience. Who else can dare charge $200 for 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM ?
3. ICanHazCheezBurger might be just another blog (appically speaking) but it makes people laugh and that’s what it sells.
4. The awesome dude at The Oatmeal has worst drawing than me (app) but he can sell / crack better jokes than I do (business).

And adding to this I’ve been told time and again that building the later (business) takes loads of care and years of patience.

ext time you see some “cheap & shitty app” making loads of money – try to see what business is backing it up, and what problem it is solving instead of how bad or good it is technically. Before saying that there are better apps than that, know that there are not better deals out there… yet (That’s where you can jump-in, btw).

PS: Do read more on the business side of it by Jason Fried of 37 Signals