Saturday, October 23, 2010
It's WOW!! - Is it sellable?
Many organizations are working towards some of the great ideas. The ideas which they think can change the world. Working on your idea is always a great thing. But you need to be extra cautious when you want to make money out of it, specially if you are a startup. I suggest you not to work on something which is WOW, which is extraordinary, until and unless you are very sure of making money out of it or you are backed by some investing agencies. The very reason behind this is my personal experience. We have learned it by hard way. Let me share it, so that it benefits the people who are starting their entrepreneurial journey with a great idea.
We had an idea to build a fudge safe job portal, a very first of its kind. Job portal space was already crowded when we thought of it. But we had something different, something which no other portal had. Our portal had lot of intelligence built into it. It had many interesting features like versioning of marks, versioning of joining and releasing dates from organizations. We used to track all the modifications done by the candidate and based on the recorded changes we used to predict the genuineness/truth fullness of the candidate to the recruiters. Believe me, eight of ten persons who had seen the product have told WOW. But was it sellable? Are we able to make money out of it? The answer is NO.
So is the case with many organizations. Heard of Google wave? It was the much talked product in recent times backed by Google. It had many WOW features. It claimed that it will change the way the world communicates. Even Google had to scratch their one of the most ambitious product "Google Wave". But it hardly matters for the organizations like Google. Such things doesn't pinch them anywhere but for their ego. So is not the case with the startups. We will lose everything - our time, our effort, our money and if you are weak hearted then even courage to move ahead.
The lesson here is , We can't sell something because we have a great product. We will have to check its sellability. As told by Sir Winston Churchill "It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required."
If you want to make money. Build something sellable.
Praveen
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Sunday, October 17, 2010
A dream neglected
Everyone in the world have one or the other dream. Dreams are part of our life. Dreams are not something which people force you to see or visualize, dreams are something which comes from within, its your wish, your imagination. The big question here is, what are you doing with your dreams? Are you working towards it? Are you waiting for the suitable time to start living your dream? or are you neglecting your dreams?
Many of us are waiting for the right time and in the process we are neglecting our dreams. If you just see the people around you, the way they live the way they work, there is no motivation no enthusiasm, our work life is filled with boredom, we crib about our daily routine. Its all because we don't do what we love, we don't follow our dreams, we fear walking on different path we always want to do what people and the world can accept.
The most successful and most happy people in the world are the people who walk their dreams. There are many examples from sports to business. Be it Sachin or be it Dhirubhai Ambani. Remember, It doesn't matter what's your dream. What matters is are you living your dream? Don't be bothered about the end result don't think what if I fail. Its better to fail at what you love then to excel at what you hate.
As told by our former president APJ Kalam "Small dream is crime" I would rather say "A dream neglected is a bigger crime"
I personally believe "The pleasure in living your dream is much higher than the pleasure in seeing a dream"
Live your dream!!
Praveen
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Labels: Dreams, small dream is a crime
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Let’s build something tangible.
This article was long due from my side. This is part of my story to why I choose to be an entrepreneur .It may not apply to everyone, but if you have a dream and not made up your mind then give it a thought.
An American author Les Brown has told "Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears." Let me modify it a bit "Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living others dreams." That’s exactly what many of us are doing. Have we ever tried to answer some of the most important questions which shape our lives?Let’s do it.
1. What are we doing?
We work work work and work. We work day in and day out. We go early and stay late at office. Put in our extra effort to make things happen. Our work has effected our lives to a greater extent. It commands us rather we commanding it. All said and done I am not against it any day, but who is reaping fruits of our hard work? Are we getting what we are suppose to get? That’s exactly what my second question is.
2. What are we getting?
Hmmm... well! A five/six digit pay check? A Flat? A Four wheeler? An expensive Holiday trip to Newyork or anywhere for that matter? Yes we are capable of spending for all of those but only on EMIs, which will stretch to years together. We can’t even afford any of them at a single shot and that’s where it ends more or less. Is it worth working for whatever we are getting?
3. How long will it last?
Believe it or not six out of ten people are just a paycheck away from being homeless. Many of us scramble from paycheck to paycheck. No matter what our position is and no matter what the size of our paycheck is. Isn’t it strange that we work for decades and cant even manage a year if we quit our job today.
So, why work this way? If we should work anyways then lets work for ourselves, lets make ourselves more powerful and more independent. Let’s build something tangible, something which creates true value. And ofcourse for that you will have to work more harder than what you are working now and you will get much lesser than what you are getting now , But yes it will last more longer and it will be more valuable.
Wonderful thought by a student .
“It's better to live a few years of yours life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t”
Let's do it!!
Praveen
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