[ohmygoditsgulu]

Hey you mentioned that you visited some Indian VC sites..

Please post the URLs..

Thanx
~ Gulshan

[ohmygoditsgulu]

My turn to post something..

Just came across this a few days ago..

Its some kind of research...

Here it is... (on VCs..)

~ Gulshan

[dhruvv]

a gr8 idea to start a thread where new budding enterpreneurs can share their views. hope 2 start contributing ser 2 this thread soon...

1q how many of ull genuinely feel we need an mba to back up our desire2 be an entrepreneur or ull prefer gaining experience in the field and and jump in(sans the mba degree) when u feel the time is rt!

[xcoolaryan]

Originally Posted by dhruvv

1q how many of ull genuinely feel we need an mba to back up our desire2 be an entrepreneur or ull prefer gaining experience in the field and and jump in(sans the mba degree) when u feel the time is rt!

i think a right experience is more imp thn MBA degree but again it depends at wht position u work to get experience

eg. in order to gain understanding of a particular biz u can join tht biz but pbm ll be u ve to start frm bottom of pyramid & in most of big org. decision r made at middle or upper layer, so u can hardly gain throught knw by starting at bottom

instead one can earn an MBA then join an org, here he ll be in a imp position so he can get more info in a short amount time

so i think "mba + work experience" is more imp thn any one of these alone

[xcoolaryan]

some useful links

http://india.gov.in/business.php
Want to start your own business, but don't know where to acquire loans? Are you in the dark about the laws and regulations related to various corporate issues? Now, here is a section that enlightens people on every possible issue related to the business industry. Whether you have a desire to do business with the government, want to be familiar with various Labour Acts, or simply want to know about India's trade relation with other countries, this section is the place to be in.


http://www.quickmba.com/
Collection of tutorials and frameworks in the various subjects of business
administration, as covered by a typical MBA program.
if u r not MBA, no pbm, this site covers most of MBA fundas

[StupidDream]

Originally Posted by dhruvv

1q how many of ull genuinely feel we need an mba to back up our desire2 be an entrepreneur or ull prefer gaining experience in the field and and jump in(sans the mba degree) when u feel the time is rt!

Is a good education a key to success in the business world?

If by education you mean book learning and class attending, then the answer is no. If by education, you mean the totality of experiences in your life, then the answer is yes. For example, someone could never attend college and still be a great entrepreneur. And someone could get a Ph.D. in management and not be able to operate a lemonade stand.

- Guy Kawasaki - CEO Garage.com

[StupidDream]

Originally Posted by ohmygoditsgulu

Hey you mentioned that you visited some Indian VC sites..

Please post the URLs..

Thanx
~ Gulshan

A list of (mostly tech) Venture Capitalists:
http://www.rekha.com/search/Venture_Capital/index.shtml

The website of this guy from IIML. Nice links:
http://dilbert.iiml.ac.in/~abhiyan/venture_capital.html

[StupidDream]

My favourite writer is Guy Kawasaki. "Rules for Revolutionaries" and "The Art of The Start" are two outstanding books written by him. I am posting a series of articles which are summaries of topics from "The Art of The Start". Hope you enjoy them

Rule No. 1: Make Meaning

This is where it all starts, says Guy Kawasaki, author, Apple alum, and managing partner of Garage Technology Ventures.

The Macintosh Division—where I started—had, arguably, the greatest collection of egomaniacs in the history of California. (And if you know many people from California, you know that's saying a lot!) The company back then was divided into product divisions: There was the Peripheral Products Division; there was the Autodesk Products Division; and there was the Macintosh Products Division. The Apple II Division, basically, was shipping: It was very profitable, and it made tons of money. The Macintosh Division, in contrast, was not yet shipping, and I don't know if it was losing a lot of money, but it was certainly spending a lot of money to finish the Macintosh.

Even though the Macintosh Division was essentially funded by the Apple II Division employees, we wouldn't let the Apple II employees into our building. They were, in essence, paying for that building, and we wouldn't let them in! I get so embarrassed when I think about that. However, the Apple II Division people got great revenge by coming up with some great jokes about us—for example, How many Macintosh Division employees does it take to screw in a light bulb? Answer: One—the Macintosh Division employee holds up the light bulb and expects the entire universe to revolve around him!

The key to that division was without question Steve Jobs: He founded Apple (obviously); he ran that division; he took a brief involuntary sabbatical from Apple for a few years; and then he returned to save Apple. For Steve, this was a hell of an experience—not an experience I'd want to go through more than twice, but it was certainly an experience. If any of you have a chance to work with Steve Jobs, I suggest you take it. It is a thrilling experience.

Because we worked with Steve Jobs in the Mac Division, we had a very, very special life: Unlimited supplies of Odwalla juices for $2 a bottle, a grand piano in our building, and—believe it or not—massage therapists coming to our building every Thursday and Friday so that we could get back rubs in our cubicles. (This was before sexual harassment and inappropriate touching was an issue in the workplace!)

Another rule we had that I just loved and I hope that all of you can institute in your companies was that all Macintosh Division employees—not Apple II employees—got to fly first class on all flights over two hours. As I interpreted that rule, those two hours began the moment you left your apartment. After Apple, when I worked for other companies, I was shocked to find they didn't have a similar policy: 'You mean you can't fly first class to Los Angeles?' So that was the Macintosh division.

One of the things I learned about in the formative stages of my career was public speaking. I learned by watching lots of presentations, and one thing I figured out early on is that most CFO-level speakers—particularly CEOs, particularly male CEOs—really suck as speakers. They're boring; they're long; they wander around. I saw speech after speech, and I discovered that if there's anything worse than a speaker who sucks, it's a speaker who sucks and you have no idea how much longer he or she is going to suck. That's a horrible feeling.

To prevent you from getting that feeling, I've developed a Top 10 format. All of my speeches are in Top 10 format, because if you think I suck, I at least want you to be able to track my progress through the speech so that you know approximately know how much longer I'm going to suck.

So these are my top 10, shall I say, discoveries, lessons, and rules for entrepreneurs and intrepreneurs—for all of you who are trying to change the world.

The first thing I learned is that the people who change the world—the people who really make a difference—aren't motivated by money. I learned this lesson the hard way because as a venture capitalist we have to fund people, and as an entrepreneur I have to raise money. I noticed something 20 years later, which is that the people who failed were the ones who said, 'We want to make money, that's what motivates us.' This was particularly true in the dotcom period of irrational exuberance when people were coming to us saying, 'We want to have a quick flip. This market is so hot. We need a few million bucks. In 18 months, we'll go public. You'll get 10 times your money back, and we'll sell the company. It's a quick flip: We want to buy German cars, buy Armani clothes, live in our own estates, and buy private jets.'

These people failed. The people who succeeded were the ones who wanted to make meaning and create products they themselves would use.

There are three principle ways of making meaning. The first is to increase the quality of life of your customer. What motivated us in the Macintosh Division? Well, one thing was, quite honestly, fear of Steve Jobs. He was a frightening person to work for. He has no compunction about calling you a bozo in front of 90 of your closest friends. Actually, there were several things that motivated us: fear of Steve Jobs, hatred of IBM, and—most importantly—a desire to improve people's lives. We really were drinking the Kool-Aid. We thought that by creating this new computer, we could increase people's creativity and productivity. That's what motivated us: We wanted to change the world.

The second way to make meaning is to right a wrong: To take something and look at the marketplace and say, 'You know, there must be a better way to do this. There must be a better computer interface. There must be a better way for people to interact.' This is another way to make meaning.

The third way to make meaning is to perpetuate something good. So to make meaning, you must improve the quality of life, fix something that's bad, or perpetuate something that's good. Thus, as a first step with any business, you must analyze your motivation and the motivations of your employees.

[StupidDream]

Rule No. 2: Make Mantra...

...Not mission statement, advised Apple alum Guy Kawasaki, who told an Autodesk "Realize Your Dreams" audience that a few simple words summing up their companies' raisons d'etre are far more important.

Guy Kawasaki [Garage Technology Ventures] | POSTED: 10.04.05 @07:00
The second lesson that I'd like to pass on to entrepreneurs and intrepreneurs is that organizations need guideposts. They need an outline; employees need to know each day when they wake up why they're going to work. This outline should be short and sweet, and all encompassing: Why do you exist? What motivates you? I call this a mantra—a three- or four-word description of why you exist.

Now, many of you may believe that you need to create a mission statement. However, a mission statement is very different from a mantra. A mission statement has to serve the needs of the customers, the employees, the shareholders, and—because it's all encompassing—the whales, dolphins, and everything. This mission statement is supposed to be the Holy Grail, the Magna Carta of documents.

When you have a desire to make that kind of mission statement, you end up with something like Wendy's mission statement: To deliver superior-quality products and services to customers and communities through leadership, innovation, and partnership. Now, don't get me wrong: I love Wendy's. I love fast food. But I have to tell you, it never, ever occurred to me when I ate at Wendy's that I was participating in something involving leadership, innovation, and partnership. Honestly, I've been scratching my head since I found that mission statement: What kind of partnerships does Wendy's have? Is it with the beef growers? I don't understand.

So, there are two things wrong with this: The next time you go to Wendy's, and Trixie or Bruce is getting you a hamburger, I want you to ask them to repeat their company's mission statement. I will be astounded if you send me an e-mail or call me up and tell that either of them can repeat it word for word. I'll send you an all expense-paid trip to Kona if you can do that.

I don't think even the founder, Dave Thomas, if he were alive, could repeat that mission statement word for word. This is the kind of mission statement you pay someone $20,000 to write for you, or you do this off site. This kind of mission statement—particularly for young organizations—is a big mistake, however, because it doesn't guide the initial actions, the initial thoughts, the initial plans, the initial strategies of the company. It's useless. Instead, you do a mantra. Wendy's mantra should be 'healthy, fast food.' It sounds like an oxymoron—healthy fast food—but that's what the company stands for.

Nike has a great customer slogan, arguably one of the best customer slogans ever created: 'Just do it.' I love that slogan, but a slogan is not a mantra. A mantra's purpose is to remind employees what they exist for, why they go to work where they do. A Nike employee goes to work for authentic athletic performance. That's what this company stands for; that's its mantra: 'authentic athletic performance.'

Now, I hope this impassioned plea has convinced you to come up with a mantra instead of a mission statement. But just in case I haven't succeeded, I want to show you a way to save $20,000 in the creation of a mission statement. If you insist on creating a mission statement, at least let me save you $20,000. Let me pick one for you. This is a $20,000 mission statement: 'We exist to professionally build long-term, high-impact sources so that we may endeavor'—I have to take a little breath here—'to synergistically leverage existing effective deliverables and stay competitive in tomorrow's world.'

Now isn't that the kind of mission statement you want to put in your annual report when you go public? Don't you want to put that up in your cafeteria so your 10,000 employees can understand what the hell they do every day?

Make mantra, not mission statement.

[StupidDream]

Rule No. 3: Jump to the Next Curve

Aim high and be willing to kill your cash cow—this was the advice Apple alum Guy Kawasaki offered to an Autodesk "Realize Your Ideas" tour audience.

Guy Kawasaki [Garage Technology Ventures] | POSTED: 10.12.05 @07:00
My third rule for entrepreneurs is jump to the next curve. At Apple, believe it or not, this is the test for product development. It's not, Can we duke it out on the same curve? Can we take a character-based interface and do it 10% better or 15% better? This is about perspective. This is about goals. This is about what you're aiming for. I think that the real test of innovation and entrepreneurship and intrepreneurship is not that you're fighting it out on the same curve but that you're going on to the next curve.

Think of some examples of curve-jumping technology. Let's say you made the world's greatest daisy wheel printer (I hope some of you are old enough to know what a daisy wheel printer is!): You had over 10 typefaces, and you thought, "My God, I'm going to revolutionize the world; I'm going to go from 10 typefaces to 12 typefaces—that's 20% better." But really, the curve you should be aiming for is going from letter-quality daisy wheel printing to laser printing.
If you were in the telegraph business, you wouldn't just think, 'I'm going to make a better telegraph; maybe it will have an ivory handle.' No, the test for the telegraph company is to get to be a telephone company. And the test for the telephone company is to get to be a wireless company. And the test for the wireless company is to become a voice company. That's how it goes: telegraph, telephone, wireless, voice. You have to jump to the next curve.

And I'll give you another example because I'm an author, and I love books: The first bookstore was a revolution. You couldn't have bookstores before there was printing. But the first bookstore, that was a big deal. And the bookstore business evolved: Fast-forward to 1980, and you have a bookstore with 5,000 titles that serves a small geographic area. Two book lovers own the bookstore. They know everybody that buys books in their small area. Then we go to the strip mall store: We go from 5,000 books to 25,000 books. Then we go from 25,000 books to 250,000 books. You go to the superstore, the Barnes & Noble.

So then what's the next curve? The next curve is to go not from 250,000 books to 275,000 books, but to go to 2-1/2 million books. We go to Amazon.com. And we go from brick-and-mortar bookstores to digital bookstores. That's the kind of leap I'm talking about. And the first thing you need to do if you're to take this kind of leap is reboot your brain, because people are accustomed to doing things in certain ways—selling books by opening a physical store or communicating via paper and pencil. Rebooting your brain is particularly difficult to do if you're successful because you want to continue on the proven path, the safe path.

The second thing you need to do to get to that next curve is be willing, able, and indeed eager to kill your cash cow. This is one of the most difficult things we had to do at Apple in trying to figure how to deal with both Apple II and the Macintosh. Apple II was making all the money; it was a cash cow with beautiful, large, milk-gorged udders. And we were milking that cow. Yet we knew that if Macintosh were to succeed, it would kill Apple II. And eventually it did kill Apple II.

Should we not have done the Macintosh so that we could preserve the cash cow? I don't think so. If we hadn't done the Macintosh, somebody else would have. Someone, sometime, somewhere would have figured out there is a better way to interact with a computer than through character-based interfaces, right? So we had to kill the Apple II. We tried to sort of narrowly define that Apple II was for consumers and education and that the Mac was for business, or that Apple II was for hobbyists and gamers and the Mac was for power users. We jumped over all of these hurdles, but at the end of the day, we killed the cash cow. If you want to be revolutionary, you have to be willing to kill your cash cow. Sometimes it's an internal cash cow; sometimes it's an external cash cow—that's easier. When Scott McNealy was creating Sun Microsystems, he didn't care about preserving DEC or Data General: He wanted to kill those companies. But you have to be willing to do that.

You also need to be willing to polarize people. The product you create should excite and incite. And it should polarize people. Some people are going to love it; some people are going to hate it. That's OK. Just don't try to create a product that makes everybody happy, because then you'll just end up with something mundane. I'm not telling you that you should intentionally piss people off, but I am telling you that it's OK to piss people off by creating a very passionate product.

How many of you have a TiVo or some kind of PVR? I have one, too. I love my TiVo because I travel a lot, and I still want to watch the final two-hour version of 24, and I want to find out who really killed the guy's wife in Desperate Housewives. The thing is, I love TiVo, but some people hate TiVo. The people who hate TiVo are advertisers because you can press a few buttons and skip through two minutes of commercials and you're back to the show. This is a beautiful thing—and advertisers hate TiVo for it. There are also people that believe that TiVo and TV in general lead to the deterioration of American minds. I guess that might be true. If so, I'm certainly on the degradation path. But the point is, TiVo is a passionate product: There are people who love it and people who hate it.