On Entrepreneurship

After a stint, I happened to read the Entrpreneurship article by Guy Kawasaki. This is not a lengthy article and it tells about the five most important lessons that GK has learnt as an Entrepreneur. Out of the five lessons, I strongly agree with the 5th one although the other 4 might make a great sense to people who are Entrepreneurs.

http://www.sun.com/solutions/smb/guest.jsp?blog=five_lessons

Though I read Fake Steve's (Real Dan now), Seth Godin's, Tom Peters' and Guy Kawasaki's, I always like Seth's more than the others because to me, his writings are direct and to the point which is more meaningful. If you would like to read any of these, check my 'I Peek @' column.

Start-up...

I was reading this 'What inspires people to startup?' and suddenly this flashed my mind - 'What inspires me to startup?' Literally speaking, I dont have a startup but I would like to... It's my dream...My pathway to Success!...That's my wish, my hope for future and what not? Easier said than done :) I remember watching the KWA show in VijayTV where the music legend ARR talked about his dream of making an Orchaestrial Symphony and that inspired him to start his conservatory. It took him 8 years to implement this idea.

Actually speaking, it is not easy to set a startup. Everyone knows that. It requires years of toil and passion, plethora of ideas, capital, resources etc., On the other day, I was talking to one of my friends when he quoted about his group of friends who have a small startup and what they do in business. As always, I had the same question - "When they are devoid of ideas after their startup goes fine for few years, what will they do? It's nervecracking when I think about it...". But got an answer from him that it's not like the way I think. When you start and move forward, you will always have various areas of improvement and enhancement that keeps you going. Maybe, he's true.

It's fascinating to hear people's success stories but at the same time it's a great learning too...For some of them, entrepreneurship is dream, to some - it's money, to some - it's ideas, to some - it's that passion in that area that percolated their minds, to some - it's an outer world from the 8/5 monotonous job....If you ask, to me what it is? It's a blend of all these above :))

There are not much people in India who would like to give it a shot. People are afraid of taking risks but want to savor the taste of success...But if there is someone who could give me support and motivation, it would be a great asset to me...Wat say???

'Go, Kiss the world'

Subrato Bagchi, the COO of MindTree Consulting in India has released his latest book 'Go,kiss the world'.While I was grazing over the news lines today and checking for this book, stumbled upon the link for the speech that he gave 4 years back @ IIM. Simple thoughts, realistic life's happenings and the principles that he has inculcated from his life, is worth reading and following!

Those I liked:
"I have to create a bloom in a desert and whenever I am given a new place, I must leave it more beautiful than what I had inherited".

"You should leave your newspaper and your toilet, the way you expect to find it".

Imagination is everything. If we can imagine a future, we can create it, if we can create that future, others will live in it. That is the essence of success.

Success is about the sense of independence. Success is your ability to rise above your discomfort, whatever may be your current state. It is about giving back more to life than you take out of it. It is about creating extra-ordinary success with ordinary lives.

Go, read the full version here...
http://1stholistic.com/reading/prose/A2004/liv_go-kiss-the-world.htm

Mr. Inspirer!

Junk the job, idlis are tastier - IIM grad shuns rat race, follows in mother's footsteps - There was a headline in 'The Telegraph' during April 2006. Got a forwarded email from a friend few days back about this Entrepreneur, the Inspirer...

His story is an inspiration for millions. A self-made entrepreneur, his mission is to help the poor through job creation. E Sarathbabu hit the headlines after he rejected several high profile job offers from various MNCs after he passed out of IIM, Ahmadabad two years ago.

He instead started a catering business of his own, inspired by his mother who once sold idlis on the pavements of Chennai, worked as an ayah in an Anganvadi to educate him and his siblings. As a child, he also sold idlis in the slum where he lived. "We talk about India shining and India growing, but we should ensure that people do not die of hunger. We can be a developed country but we should not leave the poor people behind. I am worried for them because I know what hunger is and I still remember the days I was hungry," says Sarathbabu.

In August 2006, Sarathbabu's entrepreneurial dream came true with Foodking. He had no personal ambition but wanted to buy a house and a car for his mother. He has bought a car but is yet to buy a house for his mother. The "foodking" still lives in the same hut in Madipakkam in Chennai. Today, Foodking has six units and 200 employees, and the turnover of the company is Rs.32 lakh a month. But it has not been a bed of roses for Sarathbabu. After struggling and making losses in the first year, he managed a turnaround in 2007.

Want to read more? Check this out:
http://www.indiancricketfans.com/showthread.php?t=102536

E-week challenge winners

If anyone want to know the background of e-week challenge, here is my previous post on this. http://reflectionsraji.blogspot.com/2008/02/beyond-borders-innovation.html

The Stanford's e-week challenge winners have been announced. This time, the everyday object provided for the challenge was 'Rubber band'. The team 'Rubberband together' created a ball out of a bunch of rubberbands and their goal was to sell it for $1/band. The sales value will go for the Breast Cancer foundation. The Team has a website too: www.rubberbandtogether.com. Check it out!

Babson's Entrepreneurship

Look at the statistics of Babson College - Arthur's Centre of Entrepreneurship.
Number of entrepreneurship courses: 53
Enrolled students: 1583 of which 13.6% started a business
Percentage still in business: 89%
Faculty who are entrepreneurs: 95%
Recent grads who started a business: 12%
Percentage still in business: 100%
Scholarships: $150,000
Number of entrepreneurship clubs: 13
Mentorship programs: 10
Business plan competition: Yes; Prize: $35,000

Good that I noticed this atleast now. All that I checked was Stanfords and Harvards which doesn't actually have good Entrepreneurship programs.

Thanks to Entrepreneur.com for throwing some light on this!

Beyond Borders - The Innovation!

I was just skimming through GK's blog and to my interest, there was this - The Entrepreneurship week @ Stanford. It's commencing on this Friday (Feb 22) and spans over a week. Although the collection of events, the hosts and the jury panel makes you feel like 'Wow, I wish I were there'...it is one thing that made me feel it - 'The Innovation tournament'.

Innovation tournament is an apprentice style student competition wherein the team of students will be given an everyday object and challenged to create more value out of it. It may sound generic when you read it and think that you have had such competitions in your school/college. But it's not what we think. It's the mode of creating true values. I realized it when I saw the Innovative tournament called 'Imagine it!' which was held during last year's Entrepreneurship week. The daily object was a post it note wherein teams from various countries like US, Ecuador, Thailand, Australia, India etc., participated and created core values of Political statements, Educating children, Helping Charity Organizations, a collabarative music project and a comedy show with those post it notes.

If you are interested to watch it, try this link
http://www.imagineitproject.com/events/downloads/imit_downloads.htm

I was curious to watch people giving crispy details on Entrepreneurship with topics ranging from Micro financing, lending, venture capitalism, tolerance of failure, risk management, rapid prototyping and much more. It's been a very long time since I have taken notes like this :)

Overall I liked the video theme 'Promote Creative thinking!'.This is what 'Innovation @ it's best' means to me :)

I am waiting to see what this year's daily object is going to be. I have to keep an eye on the related websites to see the creative juices flowing out of people's minds.