Archive for December, 2007
By Rajesh Setty on Sat 22 Dec 2007, 7:25 AM - 3 Comments
On a lighter note, the only time to become an entrepreneur because “you have a great idea” is when you are sure that God personally sent you that idea with only your name put on it.
Many times you may feel that you have a “really good idea” and it is worth betting your farm on it and start a company. However, chances are that MANY other people in the world may have the same “really good idea” at the same time you had it.
A good idea is golden but that is only a starting point. A good idea is necessary but not sufficient to succeed. Without one, you may be at risk of a premature death. But with one, there is no guarantee of success.
When you have a great idea, the questions to ask yourself is
1. Now that I have this great idea, do I have the right configuration to execute and make this dream a reality?”
2. Can I convince the marketplace that I can make this happen?
When you look at what it takes to put together a configuration that can execute on an idea, you will see that in most cases, coming up with the idea is the easy part.
Next time when you pitch your cool idea and get turned down, think and see if it was THE IDEA that was turned down or whether it was their assessment that YOUR ABILITY TO EXECUTE on that idea that was turned down.
Wish you all Happy Holidays and the very best with your pursuits.
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Thu 20 Dec 2007, 10:17 PM - 1 Comment
Note: Previous post in this series – #2 – You want to get out of the box
Yes, you can. On the other hand, you can lose your shirt too.
First, let us look at the employment option. Theoretically, as an employee, there is a limit to how much you can make. Most stock options are not worth much as companies die at an alarming rate. Exceptions exist where employees have made a ton of money. Want proof? Ask any early employee of Google, Microsoft or Infosys.
It seems like, as an entrepreneur, you have a better chance of making a ton of money. Just imagine a future event with your new venture – it can be sold, it can become a cash cow (and you can take dividends) or you can go for an IPO. Take any business magazine and you will read stories about how some entrepreneurs made it big. Some of these stories also contain details of exactly how those startups succeeded. Yes, it does seem like you can make a ton of money being an entrepreneur.
If you are currently an employee frustrated with the knowledge of how much money you can realistically make with your employment option, you may be tempted to become an entrepreneur so that you can make a ton of money. Personally, wanting to make money is not a bad thing but starting a company with that sole purpose may be risky.
Rather than defending my claim, let me take a different view on entrepreneurship.
Suppose you are currently an employee and you don’t want to be an entrepreneur. For the sake of this thought experiment, imagine that you want to be an entrepreneur in about a year or so. Just imagine that you take this seriously and start preparing to be an entrepreneur. You ask for help, read books, attend classes and couple with already successful entrepreneurs or entrepreneur wannabes. The topics of your discussions and small talk will change. The magazines that you will read might change and the events you attend might change. In a year, you will be transformed and become a different person. At this time, you are “ready” to jump in and become an entrepreneur. At this time, you have a choice to NOT become an entrepreneur and continue as an employee. Whatever you do, your life has changed and you have become a better person than before.
In summary, imagine becoming an entrepreneur for WHAT IT WILL MAKE OF YOU rather than just for making money. It will become a wonderful and transformational journey.
Money is a by product of success. When you try to become an entrepreneur solely for the purpose of making money, chances are that speed bumps will seem like road blocks and road blocks will look like dead ends. In my opinion, money will come when you go after a cause way bigger than just money.
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Thu 20 Dec 2007, 6:20 PM - 8 Comments
Note: Previous post in the series – #1 – My friend did it, so can I
Large organizations can put people in boxes. You may be in one of them right now. Sometimes you may get a feeling that you are overworked and under-utilized. Being ambitious, you may feel a bit suffocated in that box sometimes and literally want to get out of that box.
You are smart and you know that there are MANY ways to get out of that box. For one, you can think about ways of “adding more value” to your current organization and execute on it. This may simply mean using a lot more creativity than what you have been using or walking the extra mile a few more times than your peers. You may say that the extra effort to get out of the box within the current organization may be too much of a price to pay. You may also conclude that if you join another big organization, you may just end up in another box of different size.
The solution, you say, is to just go and start on your own. That way you are “out of the box”.
Problem solved? May be.
It’s may be because when you start on your own, you get an initial euphoria of not having to answer to anyone and hence you are “outside of any box”. It may seem like it’s the best thing to happen. Of course, this is short-lived as you will soon realize the truth – while you may be the Boss, you are more accountable than ever before. You are “answerable” to
* shareholders
* employees
* customers
and in some way, to your
* partners
* vendors
* media
and so on.
In summary, you are not “out of the box” – you are just in a “bigger box” than before.
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Wed 19 Dec 2007, 6:05 PM - 8 Comments
When you watch someone you know take the plunge and become an entrepreneur, it seems like may be you can do it too. What is “visible” is only the “actions” taken by this person (like writing a business plan, meeting with investors, raising money, incorporating, creating product, getting early customers, getting media attention…). It may be tempting to see that you can “copy” the actions taken by this person and repeat the process and you can be successful too.
However, upon close observation you will also notice that there are a ton of things that are “invisible” about this person. These may include but not limited to the person’s
* history
* network
* knowledge
* skills
* support (especially family and friends)
* drive
* self-esteem
and so on.
While the actions can be copied, the “sort of invisible” attributes are hard to copy.
These attributes are not exclusive to the other person. You probably have all these attributes and a healthy dose of them too. However, the make-up of these attributes in that person’s case may be “right” for life as an entrepreneur and in your case they may not be.
The wisdom is to recognize this early enough so that you can avoid suffering later.
Happy holidays to all of you.
Note:
Next in the same series: #2 – You want to get out of the box
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Mon 17 Dec 2007, 11:59 PM - 2 Comments
The investment track record for Venture Capitalists is not that great. Everyone knows that. Eight out of ten of their investments go south.
It is easy to get a “No” from a VC. Since they are always looking to cover their risks, one or two risk areas can prompt a “No” from them.
The big dilemma is how many ideas should they reject before they say “Yes” to an idea. I don’t know the number but the number has to be high. Here’s why:
Let us say a VC says “Yes” to three consecutive deals. It doesn’t look right because none of the ideas will seem to be uncommon. If an idea is not uncommon then naturally you should not expect uncommon results. In other words, they have to say “Yes” to an idea after only after rejecting MANY ideas so that they get a “feeling” that they have funded an uncommon idea.
In reality, however, a funded idea may not be an “uncommon” idea as 80% of projects that a VC funds will go south. Something is wrong somewhere here. But there is no way to figure that out easily. The easiest defense, therefore, is to keep rejecting a lot of ideas and chose one. That way, at least it feels that they have funded a “winner” out of many “losers” they have come across.
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Mon 17 Dec 2007, 12:04 AM - 4 Comments
Every significant project that you undertake will transform every team member by the end of that project. The right project and the right team will lift every team member up. This is unavoidable and has to be dealt with.
If you are leading the project, you have a huge influence (in turn, a huge responsibility) on the lives of individual team members of the project. In fact, you determine the location of the “fulcrum” of this project lever.
[Note: A lever has three parts - effort arm, fulcrum and resistance arm. Generally speaking, you can do more work with the lever if the fulcrum is closer to the resistance arm]
In the schematic above, there are two projects that are similar to each other. If you are a better leader than Bob, you move the “fulcrum” farther away (closer to the resistance arm) – resulting in lifting your team members higher than Bob’s team members.
However, the leader is not the only person who has a say on the position of the fulcrum. Every team member (with reasonable influence) will help to move the fulcrum to left or right or hold it in the same place. As a leader, you have to get help from people who are trying to move the fulcrum towards the resistance arm and fight (in a nice way) with people who are trying to move the fulcrum away from the resistance arm.
Imagine a dream team – where every team member participates to move the fulcrum towards the resistance arm. Life would be fun there.
Whether you are a leader or a team member, think about your own team today. Is the fulcrum moving in the right direction? If not, what are you doing today to move it in the right direction?
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Sun 16 Dec 2007, 12:44 PM - Leave Comment
There is a common phrase used to describe some job candidates – “I don’t know whether he has 10 years of experience or 1 year of experience repeated 10 times”. It is just not how many years of experience you have that matters. “What” that experience was becomes important. Here is a quick quote that summarizes this brilliantly
__________________
“It is not how old you are, but how you are old”
– Jules Renard
__________________
Posted under Great Quotes.
By Rajesh Setty on Sun 16 Dec 2007, 12:43 AM - 2 Comments
What you say: I work for <<INSERT BIG COMPANY NAME>>
What they may hear: He is part of statistics in <<INSERT BIG COMPANY NAME>>
What you say: I have worked for CLIENT1 and CLIENT2
What they may hear: Does CLIENT1 and CLIENT2 know that and do they care?
What you say: I am working on the latest technologies on this project
What they may hear: Latest as of when? If you work long enough in this project you may be working on outdated technologies soon.
What you say: My company loves me and they ask my opinion about key things
What they may hear: And, do they do anything about your opinions? Do your opinions really matter?
What you say: I have fifteen years of experience in this field
What they may hear: Then, why are you still in this position?
What you say: I am involved in a mega project along with thousand other colleagues
What they may hear: Part of statistics again…
What you say: I am a well-known expert in this field
What they may hear: Well-known according to who?
What you say: I am not able to sell my ideas to the management
What they may hear: Are your ideas really sellable in the first place?
What you say: My Boss does not know much
What they may hear: Do you say that because he hired you…
What you say: I left my job because my Boss and I had differing views
What they may hear: You were fired…
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Sat 15 Dec 2007, 8:25 AM - 2 Comments
When young professionals get into the job for the first time there is much to be happy about. Until now mostly they were spending money and for the first time they get to see serious money coming in.
Actually for about ten years into their career they don’t have to worry about things (unless they screw up big time) as their salaries go up according to their industry practices.
As their earnings and net worth increase, there are generally two types of approaches that people take
1. The Practical Approach
In this approach, lifestyle line lags the “earnings and net worth” line. This will be the case for the rest of their career. The advantage with this approach is that there is a healthy buffer to take care of bumps (market corrections, personal projects, further education, family issues) in the road.
2. The Fairy Tale Approach
In this approach, the person gets carried away mostly due to peer pressure and sometimes due to lack of long-term vision. There are marketers out there wanting to make everyone feel that their product or service is a MUST. It can be as simple as a Television that is too pricey, a car that you can’t afford or a home that is beyond your reach.
Once the lifestyle line crosses the “earnings and net worth” a time bomb gets activated. The person obviously has more expenses than his or her earnings and net worth will support. While there is all the reason to celebrate an upgraded lifestyle, here are some of the problems associated with it:
1. Lack of flexibility: Since there is not much room to play, the person may not want to look at all opportunities that are opening up UNLESS there is a CERTAINTY that this will work
2. Lack of risk-taking: Healthy risks are a must to make big moves. There are no guarantees on almost anything in life. Because of the situation at hand, the person won’t be interested in taking risks even when it hurts.
3. False ego: When the person has a lifestyle that is not “real” and the person starts associating himself or herself as if it is, more problems show up. The person now has to defend something that is not what it is. You can imagine the issues there.
Note: Thanks to Naveen Lakkur for this. Naveen and I were talking until late in the night yesterday about a ton of things and this was one of the topics.
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Wed 12 Dec 2007, 8:36 AM - 1 Comment
Just assume that you agree with Bob’s definitions of success and significance. If you do, try and answer these questions:
1. What am I going after – success or significance?
2. Are you happy about it?
==========
“Success means using your knowledge and experience to satisfy yourself
Significance means using your knowledge and experience to change the lives of others”
– Bob Buford
===========
Posted under Great Quotes.
Recent Comments