New Delhi Times

If Tech2 is to be believed, then my plans of retiring my good old N70 might have to be shelved. I have been waiting for the iPhone to launch in India for a while now but at at a reported price of Rs. 31,000 it is simply not worth it. I find it hard to believe that a product that sells for $200 in the US (with a phone plan) would cost 4 times more over here. If that indeed turns out to be true, then shame of Airtel and Vodafone for not coming up with a better price plan. I am pretty sure that the device will come with a service provider lock in. In the US and elsewhere, service providers usually give steep discounts on the price of the device in such situations because it effectively binds the customer to them for a long period of time. However, it looks like that the Indian service providers want to have their cake and eat it too!

Posted by Gaurav at 07:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

It is conventional wisdom that bigger companies move slowly compared to smaller ones. Often, large successful companies completely miss out on an upcoming industry trend or opportunity. Consider the example of Microsoft in the mid-90s. For a while, they totally didn't see the internet coming and it took Bill Gates himself to shake up the company and change course mid way. Similarly, when Google came out with its search engine, there were larger players already in that space. Obviously, by definition, big companies have the resources to put behind a new idea. They commission tons of market research so it is also not possible that they don't know about the upcoming trends. They definitely have the money to hire the best and the brightest. So why is that many times we see a small little startup cause a disruption which in all likelihood should have come from the big industry leader who has been in that business for decades?

Busy protecting old turf

I think there are several reasons why this phenomenon happens. The first and foremost reason being that success is a very limiting thing. Most big companies grew big because they knew how to do one or two things very well and created a cash cow which sustained rapid growth. But having grown from the position of an upcoming challenger to the position of dominance, they now themselves had a turf to defend from even newer entrants. So as a company grows big, it spends more and more time in defending what it already has rather than building something new. Microsoft has fought hardest to fend off the threat from Linux or Open Office because Windows and Office are their two cash cows which they can't afford to lose. Similarly, Google spends bulk of its efforts behind its contextual ads system. Closer home, Infosys works hard to continually improve its existing services business rather than venturing out in building packaged products. So, when a company wins in one game, it is forced to constantly continue to win against new challengers. It simply cannot afford to lose its position of dominance - even if it means not trying hard enough to win another battle elsewhere!

Short term focus - living quarter to quarter

Many large companies are publicly listed. Public listing is a great way to raise money for the business and provide liquidity to share holders. However, it also means that a company's performance is monitored on a quarterly basis. Public companies must provide guidance on what results they hope to achieve in the next quarter. And if they miss their targets, it affects their stock price. Any piece of slightly negative news about the company can cause the stock price to fall. In such circumstances, it is natural that for publicly listed companies, a large amount of energy and effort goes in meeting quarterly targets and keeping the stock price healthy. In such circumstances, focusing on new opportunities which much might not yield any (or worse negative) results in the short to mid term is hard. This of course leaves the door open for smaller companies to come in and take the lead in a smaller niche within a big segment.

Lack of entrepreneurial drive

One might argue that even if it is true that large companies are busy defending what they already have and focused on short term targets, most of them still have enough resources to dedicate to new projects as well. In fact, they do often deploy several times more money and people on new ventures than what their startup challengers can. Starting a new greenfield project even within a big company is very much like doing a startup (albeit, a well funded one). And success of most startup ventures depends on the capabilities of the founders. When an entrepreneur is running a startup independently, she is likely to be really passionate about what she is doing and would have a very deep understanding of that space. In all probability, she must have given lot of thought to the venture before jumping in to it. Consider, on the other hand, how a new project would get staffed in a big company. The mandate for go or no-go on a new project would likely come from the top management or the board. Next, with a budget allocated to the project, the hiring exercise would begin. In such situations, often a successful manager from another part of company is deputed to lead the new effort. Or a key exec from a competitor might be pulled in. In either case, basically a job opening - likely with a fat pay check - is filled in. It’s not hard to see that the entrepreneur stands a fair chance against the big company in such situations. The entrepreneur has everything at stake as compared to a business head in a big company who could always move on to the next job. The entrepreneur is also doing what she is doing out of passion and genuinely belief in the opportunity as against the big company guy who might have been influenced by extraneous factors like pay package or company brand name.

I have made some obvious generalizations here. There are many large companies which are nimble and continue to succeed in many diverse territories. But no company every succeeded in everything that they did and smaller companies will always continue to challenge larger players. So if you have held back on implementing your ideas only because "a Google could also do it", its time to give it another thought!

Posted by Gaurav at 08:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

One of newer fads of our times seems to be starting a company! I say "fad" because its happening so much and so fast all around me that it doesn't seem real. While it is great that the Indian mindset towards entrpreneurship has gone through a radical change of late, it also seems like a bubble. A few years back, most techies were extremely risk averse and content working at one of the big three IT companies but today I see many youngsters (some fresh out of college) leaving lucrative jobs to start up. Though I have always advocated my belief in entrepreneurship, I still feel certain amount of prudence is a must before taking the plunge. If too many people take this plunge without giving it sufficient thought, many of them will fail. This can have the effect of simply putting off others from starting up - which could burst our current startup bubble! So here is some food for thought for those trying to figure out if they are ready to start up.

1. How is your financial situation? This is first question you should ask yourself. Do you have enough money in the bank to sustain a decent life style for at least another year? Do you have any dependents? Is there a big EMI for a house or a car due every month? Can you really afford to deplete your bank account so much? You will need all your energy and concentration to have any chance of success in your startup. Worrying about how the bills will get paid is not going to help at all. This is one risk simply not worth taking. Save up before starting up!

2. Do you have a support system around yourself? Do people around you support your idea of starting up? How do your parents view your decision? Is your spouse ready to put up with what starting a new venture takes? Startups invariably go through ups and downs. During the "downs", you will need complete support of your family and friends. If you are starting up in the face of opposition then there is a likelihood that every small failure will be met by a "I told you so" at home. That is not a good situation to be in. So get a buy in from those who matter.

3. Does your idea depend on external funding to survive? As a first time entrepreneur, it is not a good idea to depend on external funding to stay afloat. Your business plan might require external funds to grow, but it shouldn't depend on external funds to stay afloat. Web startups should particularly take note of this. It always makes senese to build a business which starts bringing in revenue early on. Even if the revenue is small and not sufficient to meet the expenses, the fact that somebody is willing to pay money for your product or service is a good validation of your plan. Depending solely on future ad revenues or a buy out by a bigger company is not such a great idea because those things happen to maybe 1 out of 1000 web based startups out there. VCs don't fund too many inexperienced first time entrepreneurs. So if the entire existence of your startup depends on convincing a VC, it might make sense to give it a second thought.

4. Do you have the right credentials? A new company is nothing more than its founders. Since there will not be a proven track record for your product or service, potential customers will judge it solely based on their perception of the founders. So if a mobile VAS startup is being run by people with no experience in mobile industry, selling will be that much harder for them. If an IT services company is founded by engineers fresh out of college, they will find it difficult to convince potential clients of their ability to deliver. So, while it is not essential that you startup in the space that you know well, it does hurt your chances of success if your credentials, background and experience can't vouch for you.

5. Does somebody on your team know how to sell? Selling is an art and most of us techies have no clue about it. A team with complementary skills has a much higher chance of success. In particular, having somebody in your team who knows how to sell helps immensely. Building a product is one thing, being able to sell it another. Whether you like it or not, fact is that most companies became big and successful because they could sell better and not necessarily because they had the best product in the market.

6. And finally, do you understand what you are getting into? Have a frank talk with more experienced entrepreneurs about what they went through when they started up. Starting a new venture is very hard, especially for those doing it for the first time. It takes immense amount of hard work and sacrifice. It means having virtually no time outside of work. It means seening less of your friends and family. It means taking up the constant stress of managing cash flows. It means fretting about losing clients or people. When you look at it up close, it really isn't that glamorous!

My intention of writing this article is obviously not to discourage future entrepreneurs! However, even the best of startups have very little chances of success. So it makes sense to maximize the factors that are in your control. Just a little bit of extra thought, planning and introspection before starting up can make the differnce between success and failure!

Posted by Gaurav at 08:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Come Monday morning and Tekriti would have moved out of Palm Court and Sun Tower for good. We came to Palm Court in October 2005 when we were barely 15 strong. Back in mid-2005, when we had started hunting for new office space, we were targeting a space of around 2000 sqft. In fact we had zeroed in on a 2200 sqft office in building nearby but thankfully the deal did not go through over a pretty minor issue. The next weekend, a property dealer showed us 602A Palm Court. The office at 3510 sqft was almost double in size and budget. We were told that we could take half of that office. The building also housed two call centers at that time. Hence, the courtyard was full of young kids and it almost felt like a college campus. That appealed to us and we decided to move in. I don't exactly remember how we ended up taking the entire space because 3500 sqft seemed like "way too much space" back then. The office owner had been pretty suspicious as to why we needed this much space when we were only 10-12 of us.

 The office was furnished in the most unconventional way. Right from the color of the fabric used, to color of walls, to the texture of wood used in the cubicles, there was nothing "office-like" about it and we loved it for that.

With a seating capacity of 36, the office used to feel really empty when we first moved in. Almost a third of the cubicles were vacant. Central air conditioning was a new luxury for us and with so few people around, the office would become terribly cold even during peak summers. Few of the girls carried shawls and jackets to office every day!

Late nights in Palm Court were always felt like more fun than work. Because of the call centers, the building was buzzing with people even at 2 AM in the night. There were a few all night "dhabas" within the building courtyard. Having a hot Maggi or chai in winters over there was almost a daily ritual for most of us.

The Tekriti Cultural Team was born at this new office. All the extra space we had was a great excuse to party without reason. We had many samosa parties, quizzes, skits, Diwali, Holi, Xmas parties at that office. One of my favorites was when I donned the red Santa outfit (back then I definitely looked like a Santa on a diet!).

I guess it took us just about an year to fill up the 6th floor office. We then got another office on the ground floor and then another office in the nearby Sun Tower. In the last three years, we have been through six different small and big offices. Amongst all of these, after the first one at Galleria, 602A Palm Court holds a special place for me, and I am sure, for many of the Teknokrats.

Posted by Gaurav at 02:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Its been a very long time since I last wrote a blog post. Unlike other addictions, blogging seems to have few withdrawal symptoms. That would be why I just haven't gotten myself to update the blog in a long time! However, there are many updates to share and hence this post!

Travel Boutique Online nominated amongst NASSCOM TOP 100 IT Innovators

 Travel Boutique Online (TBO) is our travel industry focused B2B platform. In our first year of operation, we have seen tremendous growth in this business and to top it, we were nominated amongst the top 100 IT innovators for 2007 by NASSCOM. This was a great accomplishment for our technology team. As a business, we have largely flown under the radar in a space (online travel) which sees lot of news and activity. We have also followed a radically different business model by going B2B in a space that is so far dominated by B2C players. TBO deserves a post (actually several posts) to itself. But getting the NASSCOM nomination was definitely a high point for us.

Three years of Tekriti

Tekriti completed three years of existence on 7th Feb 2008. It has been a terrific ride so far and time has flown by fast! We are now nearing the 100 employee mark, have added new clients, delivered several dozen projects and very importantly, brought domestic mix in our client list. Our commitment to product/platform based model has borne fruit and our video publishing product TekMedia has found good adoption in the last few months. There is a lot more to share which I will leave for future posts. However, we do have a new logo (as seen here) and a brand new company website. Do take a look and send back feedback my way.

New office move!

We are moving to a new office! For almost an year now, we have been operating out of three different offices. Obviously this makes things difficult. It increases costs and reduces communication. So now we are moving to nearby Udyog Vihar. We will have a whole building to ourselves. With 15000 sqft of space, a nice cafeteria and a recreational lounge, I can't wait to move in!

I am hoping to get back to blogging. I started getting back in the mould by micro-blogging on twitter but New Delhi Times is the real thing!

Posted by Gaurav at 05:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Cricket, they say, is a game of glorious uncertainties. Unfortunately, when it comes to Indian cricket, life is predictably certain. It was less than 3 weeks ago when India had won the T20 world cup. The excitement, ecstasy and media hype was predictable. The showering of awards and cash on the players by state governments was also predicable. Comparison of Dhoni's mane to that of a lion's was also something not unexpected. Comparison of Yuvraj's sixes to the rising stock market was somewhat amusing but not inconceivable. And then Australia came to spoil the party.

Just like a twenty20 game, our delirious celebrations were fervent but short lived. The Aussies landed in India even before the Indian team had managed to take off the garlands off their necks. The rest, as they say, is, history. And boy, does history repeat itself! So after having lost the series pretty comprehensively, we still have one more match to go. Once more, like so many times before, India will be playing for pride in this last match. Ironical it is to play for pride immediately after having lost all of it!

Posted by Gaurav at 11:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Today morning traffic was blocked off on many major roads in Delhi resulting chaos and many people not being able to reach their work place. A few people in our office also called in to say that they are stuck in traffic jam and wont be able to get to work. I didn't know the reason for these road blocks but I assumed it must be something really important to cause such a huge loss of productivity to so many people.

Well, it turns out I was wrong. VHP (the radical Hindu organization) had organized a chakka-jaam (road blockade) across the country today to protest against the Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project which will dredge a channel in a narrow strip of sea between India and Sri Lanka, reducing distances and cutting costs for freight traffic. Now you may ask why would VHP have a problem with something like that? Were they worried about environmental effects on the marine life? Nope. VHP claims that this project will destroy a bridge between India and Sri Lanka which was built by Lord Ram. Firstly, there is no concrete evidence to validate this fact. Scientists claim that is actually a natural structure that developed from sedimentation. Secondly, even if it was indeed built by Lord Ram, who gave VHP the right to protest by disrupting traffic and causing problems to millions of people across the country? Protesting thousands of miles away in Delhi makes no sense. Maybe they were too lazy to go all the way down south to actually protest onsite?

It is surprising and both funny and sad that even today it is possible to get away with this kind of anti-social behavior. I am sure Lord Ram will not not have approved of it!

Posted by Gaurav at 07:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

The Indian IT industry is one spoilt industry. An experienced and successful entrepreneur once commented to me that for an industry to grow at a healthy pace, an unemployment rate of higher than 7-8% is needed. I think it makes a lot of sense. In the IT industry today, with manpower being scarce, the focus is merely on retention, hiring policies and compensation. While that does not mean that the industry is not growing at a scorching pace, it does mean that as a group, we are focused on the wrong issues.

Being a service focused industry, the dependence on manpower is inevitable. As such, I think it is a good thing because it generates employment, improves lifestyle and overall helps in GDP growth. But I absolutely despise the fact that the biggest "challenge" that the industry faces is a employee retention. So much time, effort, energy and money is spent on just one aspect of business that we are losing focus of the bigger picture. This trend is especially harmful for the fresh and young graduates who have just joined the industry or have been here for only a few years. Constantly pampered and hailed as the country's saviors, these young IT professionals live with a false sense of security. They start at salaries at which people in other industries retire, switch jobs every few months and in general lead the good life.

While this appears to be a win-win situation for both the workforce and the organization, it unfortunately prepares neither for the long haul. With organizations constantly focused on retaining and hiring employees "at all costs", our price competitiveness in the services industry is bound to suffer. Average salary hikes in the IT industry are in the range of 12-15%. If profit margins have been traditionally pegged at around 30% and billing rates are only going down, its easy to see how this current model is unsustainable in the long run. The answer of course is to move up the value chain, provide higher quality services and innovate. But with most organizations spending all their energy in maintaining headcount, where is the time to strategize and move up the value chain?

The IT workforce is actually getting an even worse deal. Switching jobs usually means a 20%+ rise in salary. Hence, on an average, an IT worker spends less than 2 years at one organization. Consequently, we have a large pool of inexperienced yet expensive workforce. This in turn ill equips IT organizations in India to move up the value chain since the workforce isn't stable and doesn't have enough expertise to add more value in a cost effective way.

The situation doesn't appear grim today because the world economy has been largely on an upswing for the past few years. So there has been enough business for IT companies to grow and thrive in spite of mounting costs and increasing difficulties in retaining employees. The media also paints a rosy picture and loves to glorify the Indian IT story. However, the big question is how well prepared are we for a downturn in economy? Are Indian IT companies prepared to handle an economic slowdown? More importantly, is our IT workforce equipped to face tough times? Are our young Turks taking their profession seriously enough? Are they spending more time on honing their skills and learning the ropes or are they only fretting over pay packages and job interviews? Do they have the maturity to prepare for future market correction?

Only time will tell but till then sorry, we don't have time to innovate!

Posted by Gaurav at 01:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Michael Vick reminds us how easy it is to lose it all!

Posted by Gaurav at 08:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It always surprises me how much fuss is made about these agreements that India signs with US and other countries. The recent nuclear deal is a good example. One thing that we got to remember is that a deal or agreement between two nations is only a piece of paper and that's it.

If US was to break the agreement, you can't really put their president in jail for that. Likewise, if India was to tomorrow violate some clause of the nuclear deal, what is going to happen? Say, we conducted nuclear tests. Would the deal be off? Would US stop supplying the know how to us? Perhaps but maybe not. That would depend on the position, power and weight that India holds at that point of time. If we are a strong nation with a strong economy which has impact on the US interests, or if the world political situation requires US to align interests with us (maybe to counter China or contain Pakistan), US will be happy to overlook some "minor" infringements of the deal. Another way to look at it is that if we weren't important to US interests in the future, they will anyway try and force us to curb nuclear tests AND stop us from reprocessing spent nuclear fuel (which the current agreement allows) AND impose a sanction or two for good measure. India never signed the NPT and on top of that publicly conducted nuclear tests few years back. But we came out alright at the end of it.

So maybe we should just stop crying ourselves hoarse on how we have sold off the national interests to US (unless you are a politician in which case you should, by all means, gain maximum mileage out of this juicy opportunity to oppose the government policy). World politics is like a capitalistic economy. Market forces and not signed agreements decide the future course of nations. So let me finish off by quoting a famous sher

Khud hi ko kar buland itna ki har taqdeer se pehle

Khuda bande se khud poche bata teri raza kya he

Posted by Gaurav at 07:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)