Forty Plus in Indian IT Sector

One day I got a call from a good friend who is in a very senior position in a bank heading one division in their IT services. He asked me question" Suresh how we can help people after 40s in IT". I was stumped as by then I left my job with Microsoft and started looking for another one after some soul searching and dabbling in diagnostic centres, small medical clinics, a food place, and a few others. Ezsentially, I was one of the people he was referring to. It made me to think a lot.

Suddenly I remembered my time when I was in US and working for IBM, everyone around me was going for PMP exam. I went and asked another IBMer "Is It important to have PMP Certification in IBM?"  Pat came the reply "Yes.. not only for survival to get in to Band 10 you need that". Obviously by then I decided to return to India. I also learnt that if you want to work for Government in US or IBM you MUST be a PMP certified person. I decided I am not going to do anything as I was returning to India and it did work for me to survive without PMP. Can it work for everyone? Probably not.
Thinking back about the question from my Bank friend, what I realized is in India we have a taboo, at 40 plus (not a plus size) you MUST be a people manager or Technology team manager. You don't like to be an Individual Contributor (IC) as people in your social circle look down upon you. So I started to think how the 40 plus can survive in Indian Landscape. I have a few thoughts not in the same order of preference but to evaluate and see what fits best for you. These are only suggestions based on what I saw in US and India, that will work

·        Start a 40 plus club where only people above 40 years age are allowed. Play music from 80s etc. Seriously.. check the patrons IDs J

·        If you made enough money by then, do what your passion is: Travel, reading, writing, painting, sculpture, coaching, mentoring, and anything you love to do including teaching Yoga

·        I personally think an MBA or PMP is not really good idea as it burns hole in pocket when you need the money the most. However if you think it will give you happiness be my guest and go spend money in a good MBA college 

·        On a serious note, I do suggest to think to be an employer by thinking of a start up business - anything you like. This must fill your passion and make you money. The employee turns an Employer

·        One other suggestion is go and explore the world, if you can afford. Meeting people gives you ideas and changes your perspective a lot. In my case I left a note for a GM of a famous diagnostic centre in Banjara Hills saying I want to meet him. To my surprise, he called me and over a cup of coffee, discussed 30-45 min.  good, bad and ugly of the business. Having an open mind opens doors. Go try it.

·        If you are pressed for another job, don't wait till you leave, start tapping into your network at least one year to 3 years before your dead line. You  might need that time to land something you like

So my dear Mid-Career Crisis people, first there is a lot of hope, so don't lose heart. Work on your next best strength. Get over the hill and do something you love to do. If you are in market - happy job hunting.

This is not a political post:

Yesterday sitting at home I was thinking of the day the younger one was born. Its a cold afternoon in Southern California, still in the operation theatre for C Section, I was probably sweating. The young one is out and did not cry. The doctor gave a slap on the back and she started crying. Me and my MIL who were in the room looked at each other with both faces lit up. The joy of someone born that we looked forward to is very tough to describe on words.

Reading a post by CBN after the foundation stone laying, I connected with his expressions. The pain that went into the whole process is commendable. The people who made all this possible including R&B who are responsible for roads,venue etc every one might have felt the pride.

I am a positive person. I was also pained when the cutting of the banana plantation in the rich agriculture land were shown on TV. I read a whole lot about food shortages etc. However, after watching everything for last three months, I felt for every act there will be a positive outcome.

I draw another comparison here with our younger one. I might have felt sweat in the cold Dec afternoon on my neck but when I see the young lady in our house, who hugs me and shows unconditional love, I dont remember anything that I felt sometime back. Same way, I am sure after 15 years or so when we have a proud Amaravathi, we also may not remember anything that we are talking today, but for good things. We might find alternate land to grow food.

In conclusion any birth brings joy after the pain, so is this new capitol, called Amaravathi, this also will bring joy later for sure. Lets hope and wish there is definitely a silver lining in new Sunrise State of Andhra Pradesh.

Failing Fast is the new Success Mantra

One of my friend visiting us from US was sharing that in Silicon Valley (where everything is about start-ups and many made it) if you fail faster you are considered a better start up and your stock goes up while people running companies with money from their own pocket or VCs are called living dead as they do not know when to exit the game.

Michael Jordan of the famous Chicago Bulls who won the NBA cup three times in a row against New York Nicks  is my all favourite athlete; not as he gambled off his money; not that he left the team a couple of times and came back but he always learnt from the mistakes.  You need to be really BOLD and GUTSY to admit your failure so my word to all start-up folks, if you think you are failing please fail fast and move on.

You need a mentor,  go find who failed a lot as they would give you best advice on what landmines you need to side step and what you should not do. They may need time to open up, but they are your best bet to get top class advice in my opinion. How many of them do we have in your city? You will never know as they don't have directories, they are not listed in Internet. So my friends it is hard to find these folks than finding the Start-up gurus who conduct conferences, run sessions lecturing, and project themselves as next best thing to sliced bread. Still I suggest you go after finding these unlisted folks who failed and ask them for their time to help you.

If you think 9000 shots and 300 games is a small number better re-think again. Every day we fail in one or other thing, but beauty is have we learnt anything out of that is the question you should be asking yourself. Have you misplaced the trust people put on you in those 26 shots that might have won the game? Don’t worry to admit that you missed and move on. You need Scottie Pippen likes to be on your side to bring a winning company.

So my dear start-up friends, get wet behind ears, see some bad things in life, the earlier you see them the faster you grow. Following the yellow brick road may lead to a fantasy that cannot be fulfilled but creating the road you want to travel will be definitely get you to be on top of the world. 

My Thoughts on startups in Hyderabad

Wednesday Morning turned up to be very nice one. Some time back when there is a lot of activity happening around startups in Hyderabad, a few people asked me why I am not seen in many of them. At that time I told them in private that still Hyderabad start up ecosystem is struggling with many only talking while these must be people with action orientation. One such action oriented person I see is Ravi Gururaj from Bangalore. Do we have our own Hyderabad Ravi? In my opinion the answer is NO.

I see a bunch of events with out any tangible results. Yesterday morning in a one hour phone conversation with a moderately successful entrepreneur from Bangalore we were discussing why still Bangalore address is prefered address to Hyderabad in VCs mind. It is for obvious reasons. We need mentors, we need people who can spare time with out ego and available. If some one postpones a meeting to talk to you would you call him Mentor? My friend in Bangalore approached a Boston based person to be mentor. The gentleman told him politely "you need to have some one close by so you can run to him at midnight when you need help". Do we have such mentors in Hyderabad? I know a few who are doing fabulous job from TiE. Still we need more such individuals.

Location Location Location is key for any good start ups. A product company that sells solutions to Automobile industry that is well placed in Madras outskirts having a office in Delhi wont help. This is so true when you create solutions, services and products for manufacturing. Are people thinking that way in Hyderabad? I have not seen any such folks. All I see is a lot of copy cat ideas. One of the incubator/accelerator head (call him Mr. X) I was talking to was sharing this. He came across a person with an idea (Mr. E) When Mr X asked Mr E how it is different from snap deal or flipkart Mr E said they both don't have what he was doing. Obviously the next question by Mr X is how much time do these giants need t add that function? Think your self: is that a viable business?

All these thoughts I was sharing came to light now as when I was talking to a friend about Hyderabad. This lead to a conversation with Sadhana Chathurvedula. She wrote a nice article about some of the thoughts at a very high level. Proud to present the article that I am quoted along with great people (Srinivas Kollipara)

http://www.livemint.com/Companies/jo8U9TiKFpISL7xnRqTj9K/So-what-is-THub-anyway.html

Thank you my teacher

Many were celebrating Guru Poornima while I was thinking why people are so much into that as for me September 5th is Teachers day. We all play a role of teachers at some point in life. We also are students most of the time; be it parents, friends, mentors, our kids, people you observe and learn, people that cross your life and leave a lesson, and even the nature around you.

On this Teachers day, I will start from present to past in thanking all the people that helped me to be who I am today.

After leaving my last corporate job, while wanting to do many things, there are many people who gave their time to educate me on what the finer details are about what I was researching. I met young and old alike and learned from every one of them. I also made a lot of connections in the process who even today share with me new lessons that I learn.

Many of managers that I worked in IBM and Microsoft, taught me adding human perspective to the job, goes a long way to be a successful leader. If an employee is not in office as someone in his family is sick or unwell, when they come back, check with them how the family is? I followed it and Still feel happy when people call me for advice or direction.

My professors from masters in IIT Roorkee, who always taught me to explore research opportunities in Canada or US than in India so I will have a great exposure. This pat on the back lead to live in US for 15 years where I learnt a lot in research, working in start-ups and also working for great BIG BLUE

My Professors from SVU College of Engineering, Tirupati where I survived in English medium coming from Telugu medium. Had most fun. Made lifelong friends, started developing my network that only started expanding. This is the place where I learnt spirituality while college taught analytics, logic and rationalisation.

Plus two in a small town called Venkatagiri in Visvodaya College; the lecturers taught me basics in Maths, and physical sciences. I am happy I still can remember some of these concepts and the words in Telugu Medium. A temple where we used to spend long hours chatting about everything and anything which taught me to appreciate the culture in a small town

The three years I spent in my HOME called AP Residential School Kodigenahalli, are the best formative years I went thru; values, ethics, helping each other, working hard, can do nature and being a social person with everyone. I owe so much to these three years and the school and its first principal and the staff, anything I can do will not complete the giving back.

My schooling in early life in Small village Zilla Parishad Elementary and high schools, under the trees where we co-existed with snakes and birds, taught me how to respect each other’s space. The teachers that taught me here are selfless people and one of them is the reason for me to join the AP Residential School.

Finally my parents and siblings who taught me sharing, living happily with what means we have and how to be dependent on each other’s.

Now both my lovely daughters teach me a lot to be more humble and not to harm others every day. They are the kindest humans that I know. Of course my 25 years of partner in crime after marriage is something that taught me patience and looking things in a very different perspective.

When I have so many people that are my teachers, how can I forget them on Sep 5^th. Thanking all these people in my life including many good friends for being there always..

Finance Prudence in Start-ups for Success

A lazy Saturday morning, sipping my fresh coffee and lost in thoughts with the success (??) of TheAugustFest behind all of a great team, I was pouring over the many tiny teeny things that could have gone better. One thing I am not able to get over is sitting thru the pitches, thinking we should have done a better job. Then my mind travelled back to few months back to a Sunday evening in ISB listening to people sharing their ideas. A few shortlisted groups shared ideas. While watching these kids present and during TheAugustFest one thing I noticed commonly is that not many of these Wannabe Entrepreneurs know what it takes to go another mile than many have travelled.

Two points every one misses for a successful journey in the start-ups world in my mind is – managing finances and pricing the product /services right. I will run by two scenarios (one for each) and write what to consider in these situations.

Managing Finances:

Investor:  how much money did u put so far and what’s the source?

Start-up:  about 20 lakhs – raised thru friends and family

Investor: Do they have stake in company? and what percent?

Start-up:  no no they don’t want anything.  They are helping me.

Investor:  What did you use this mosey for?

Start-up:  Spent it in last year

Think for a minute not as company owner but a person or organization investing in your start-up. Every penny that was ever put in a company MUST have a stakeholder; be it your parents, friends, family. RK from Uttistha a private incubator says “Most of these people do not understand finances. They don’t keep record of the money invested and money spent which is key to raise money in next rounds”.

Lesson: Be prudent about your money; whether someone helping you or the money you are spending.

Price is Right:

I have come across many youngsters who are using the money in their start-ups without thinking of ROI.

Me: How much are you charging for your services?

Start-up: I am using AMC model where I charge Rs 4,000 to Rs 1,00,000.00

Me:  Does it work for you to make money?

Start-up:  No not necessarily

“most of the people I meet do not have a concept of ROI and break-even” says Praveen of Kauphy Talkies. They don’t understand the break-even point and profit.?

Lesson:  You as a start-up person must have an idea of what and how to fix a price. Are you making money at the end of year or you still losing money

“In Valley (Sa Francisco valley) people expect to fail, but fail fast and move on. They don’t bet on Living dead” a quote from a CEO visiting us from US. Find your exit soon instead of becoming Living dead

Product design: Art or Engineering???

If you watch James Bond movies like me many times and try to remember every dialogue I will bring your attention to a situational dialogue in Die Another Day. The villain gets on plane after show casing ICARUS and tells the person who is working on the machine, “This is still a suitcase, make it small – have you not heard about ergonomics”. I draw your attention to the word Ergonomics here which means “Ergonomics is about designing for people, wherever they interact with products, systems or processes. We usually don’t notice good design (unless perhaps, it’s exceptional) because it gives us no cause to, but we do notice poor design.” (Ref: http://www.ergonomics.org.uk/learning/what-ergonomics/)

We want our phones to look fancy and cute. How does a phone manufacturer or for that matter a product seller know what sells best and why? That is where design of product comes into picture. Have you ever heard of a man named “Sir Jonathan Paul "Jony" Ive”?? I never heard of him too.. but wondered the famous Apple Inc that become a iconic company& how was Apple designing products. Naturally I typed in Google Apple Designer and Voilà came up with a wiki page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Ive ) about Jonathan Ivy, the Man behind the Apple’s Industrial Design Group.

For an IT person in me the products’ software capabilities are amazing, , however the engineer in me is pleased by their gorgeous looks and the joy of handling them and using them..

Human body is a marvellous engineering model. Anything I see right from a cooking utensil to a chair or any product is designed by someone. This is where I started thinking – So product designing is it an art or engineering?

In our daily life we use so many things from morning till evening -- a toothbrush, bucket, towel, shoes, a  vehicle, office desks, laptops, stairs, elevators, and finally the bed we sleep  -- In every one of them a design principle is used.  

 A friend shared the knowledge with me recently that designers use a grid and align everything during the process of ‘designing’ a product.

When a developer does not code that exactly the way the designer envisioned, the Designer might get upset. This is where my confusion started, as usually only artists get upset when their vision is not fully presented; like a dance master when the disciple do not perform the mudra perfectly, an artist when the painting is not making sense to him, or a sculpture when he/she cannot make a stone come alive.

Here is what finally I ended up with:  for any product be it in Software or in physical world, it is important to bring together art and engineering. It’s a natural confluence to make best products.

With Engineering comes innovation and with innovation you can become an entrepreneur. How do you bring both of them together??  That is where we from Eat Sleep Drink Start-ups (ESD) present The August Fest 2014 celebrating art and entrepreneurship. The dates: August 30^th and 31^st 2014. Venue: ISB Hyderabad. See you all there (http://www.theaugustfest.com/ )