The 'X' factor in innovations - Simplicity

A company Spranq based in Netherlands has come up with a very innovative way to fight recession - by saving on printing costs. They have developed a font which will reduce the ink usage by as much as 20%.
The elegance of the solution is its simplicity. Just have a look at the font:





Guess what is different about the font?
Yes - you got it right. Its the holes that go with the characters.

This is where they say they have got the inspiration from:
"After Dutch holey cheese, there now is a Dutch font with holes as well."

They encountered the problem about how much of a letter can be removed while maintaining readability. After testing with all kinds of shapes, they figured out that the best results were achieved using small circles.

Hats off to the company for this path-breaking yet a very simplistic solution. That, according to me is true innovation. Did I hear someone screaming 'Why didn't I think of it earlier than those guys?' - Don't worry! even Microsoft couldn't think about it!! But, on the serious note here comes the morale of the story - You don't need to be a giant to create something really useful - all you need is to take some inspiration from your environment(Cheese in this case :D) and believe in KISS principle - Keep it simple and stupid.

Company website : http://www.spranq.nl/en/

Startup in the Finance space: Park Financial Advisors

Next in the series on upcoming startups from India, I bring to you a dialogue over coffee with one of the founders - Nikunj of Park Financial Advisors operating in the financial domain.
It was founded by four young entrepreneurs from IIM-A (IIM- Ahmadabad) who left their cushy jobs from India and USA to start Park Financials.

Chat transcript:
Me: Tell me something about your history before Park Financials happened?
Nikunj: Well, I did my graduation from IIM-Ahmadabad (2004) and worked for a couple of years in US with American Express Financial Advisors. After that, I came back to India to take advantage of the immense opportunities thrown open by the rapid pace of India's growth. I was with Kotak Institutional Equities Trading for a year before starting up our own company.

Me: So you graduated from the best MBA College in India and got a dream job. But when and how did this “entrepreneurial bug” bit you that led you to leave your cushy and well-paid job?
Nikunj: The idea of starting up a company was always there in my mind since IIM-A days, but when and where was the question. I decided to have some experience to learn valuable insights on the industry. In June last year(2006), four of us - IIMA batch mates got together, and gave final shapes to our plans. By October, we left our jobs to formally started Park Financials.
We felt that there are very few companies in the market who provide informed retail wealth management services. Also, this sector is booming and has the potential to grow very big. Moreover, having learnt some of the best practices followed in the wealth management services industry in US and how this industry works over there, we felt it's the right time we start something in this space.

Me: So tell me about Park Financial Advisors and the product launch.
Nikunj: We provide complete financial planning which includes incorporation of the future financial needs and goals. We provide a detailed analysis from our in-house proprietary research system in the form of 360 page report.
We provide you the tools, methods and guidance in evaluating your finances, provide a platform for you to see the state of your finances over time and assess the impact of your today’s decisions on your future.

Working with the clients, we evolve an integrated financial plan for them. We develop an understanding of your current and expected lifestyle, expected milestones, dreams and aspirations and your ability and willingness to take on risks.

At the end of the dialogue you will have a holistic plan telling you
• Milestone-setting and planning
• Medium term cash flow analysis
• Long term net worth projections
• Budgeting and lifestyle planning
• Retirement planning
• Investment advisory
• Insurance advisory
• Loan advisory
• Tax planning and optimization

Me: What is your USP?
Nikunj:
1) Our analysis is based on thorough research, which is again backed by sound analytical models.
2) We are independent and neutral as opposed to the services provided by some of the banks who may sometimes overlook the best interests of the clients and recommend their own products.
3) We've tie-ups with almost all mutual funds
4) We cover and give advice on all asset classes like real-estate, equity markets and fixed-income instruments as opposed to others who are generally limited to 1-2 asset classes. For Example, your broker and his company may be able to provide only the advice on Equity markets. But, we can provide the comprehensive and hence more complete financial planning for our clients.



Me: Who are your target customers?
Nikunj: Right now, we are targeting the affluent retail segment, returning NRI's and the software engineers - that is why I'm here in Bangalore (with wide grin on his face)

Me: What is your revenue model like?
Nikunj: We make money from two sources:
- Upfront fee from the clients for financial planning
- Commissions on purchase of financial assets like mutual funds

Me: What are your plans for growing your market share? What are your constraints?
Nikunj: We’ve tied up with a lot of software companies and organize financial planning workshops for them on a regular basis.
- We publish research articles in areas like investment management and planning in the media.
We do have to make an extra effort as we do not have a big brand name right now, but again our experience and the services we provide compensates for that.


Me: What were the major difficulties-challenges you faced when you were starting? - on people-team, funding, technology.
Nikunj: Since it is a positive cash flow business and we don't need much capital for it, we didn't had much problems with regards to funds.
However, the most challenging part in running the company is to hire new people as the salary expectations in the sector is going through the roof.
Coming to technology, we've outsourced some of the technology needs, and some of it is taken care by us.

Me: Did you ever feel let down, and at that time what helped?

Nikunj: It has been a good experience so far, and has provided us with fabulous learning opportunities.


Me: Advice to future entrepreneurs.
Nikunj:
-- I think most difficult part is to decide and plan when to quit and jump into your plans full-fledgedly. But, believe me, once you do, everything else falls in line.
--- Patience is the key; you have to scale it up slowly, taking one step at a time. If you plan to make it big in one day, that is not going to happen. So my advice - hang on.
--- Facing the Real world is very different from the experience you may have while in the corporate circles representing your company. People like to work on their own pace. Even, seemingly easy tasks would become very difficult once you leave your company. For example, you may even have to wait for 2 hours to meet someone, who otherwise would have come running to your place if you would have been working for some big company. So, my advice is to come prepared for this before jumping into the startup bandwagon.


Me: How about the VC funding? Have you already got it or want to go for it?
Nikunj: We are mulling over some funding opportunities and some talks are going on in this direction. Hopefully, we should be able to close them pretty soon.

Me: Thanks Nikunj for the wonderful insight. All the Best!!!!
Nikunj: Thanks!!

Interview : IT pro turned Entrepreneur

I'll be carrying out features and interviews on startups, who have been there, done that and are gearing up for the next big challenge - scaling up.

Meet Mahendra, Founder and CTO of Shikshaplanet, a full service, full spectrum IT recuitment and outsourcing firm, which employs nearly 150 people across 6 locations in India. He has also launched "Mohanchoti" a third generation recruitment portal, recently.

Me: To start with, tell me something about your background.
Mahendra: Well, I completed my Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1996. Subsequent to that, I worked in the software field for almost 7 long years in companies like Aditi technologies, Ramco Systems and Talisma before taking a plunge in Entrepreneurship.

Me: When did this 'Entrepreneural bug' really bit you?
Mahendra:(Laughing) Well, I guess this was always in my mind since IIT days. In fact, just after graduation I took a loan to start a manufacturing facility for PVC pipes. But, Alas as soon as my parents got to know about it, the traditional middle class ethos of a secure job nipped my plans in the bud. Later on, when I encouraged my wife to get into recruitment thing. In fact, it took off really well. Then I thought, why not jump into it full time.

Me: Tell me more about the Launch of Shikshaplanet
Mahendra: I resigned from my job after 2 months of starting Shikshaplanet : But this time without telling my parents :-)[with mischievious smile on his face].
That's when we started to scale up. We got the first major contract for a training assignment, and then the IITK network and brand helped to gain other major contracts soon.

Me: There are so many recruitment firms around. What is your USP?
Mahendra: Most important aspect of Shikshaplanet is the Technology background of our people. We understand technology, so you would get right profiles for your needs.
Moreover, we have done very well to capitalize on contract sourcing model which is catching up pretty fast in India. We are outsourcing to tier-3 cities which have huge cost benefits. We're going to be ISO certified pretty soon.

Me: Did you ever feel let down, and at that time what helped?
Mahendra: Well one day in Jan, 2004, when I was taking stock of the situation, I had Rs. 50 in my pocket and had 50000 rupees as liabilities in bills, salaries. I almost thought of quitting at that point in time. But, on that particular day I received 3 Lac Rs. from my PF account. I thought this is a signal from God that I should continue.

Me: So, here we are from Rs. 50 and a team of 10 people to around 150 now. Now, what are your plans of growing your market share?
Mahendra: Well, we are aggresively looking at contract outsourcing model. Moreover, we are betting big on RPO - Recruitment process Outsoourcing where HR functin of recuitment is outsourced to us.
And I'm looking at scaling up 'MohanChoti' - Third Generation Recruitment Portal. It provides access to information of candidates and instant validation through references. It is an online system which values time and reference. Candidates are rewarded monetarily by a unique point system based on the number of genuine people referred.



Me: What were the major difficulties you faced?
Mahendra: Major challenge initially was how to cover the running cost. You have to dig deep into your pocket intially. Then, there is always the problem of getting right people and how to keep them excited about the job. And then we faced some problem while scaling up from 40 to 120 people. The people grow but the revenue does not grow in the same proportion. There was one time when I had to study management books for one week without going to office, just to know the dynamics of team management esp. when it grows big.


Me: Any interesting experiences you would like to share.
Mahendra: The biggest satisfaction I gain is when I see that I have helped to create jobs for so many people - esp. in very small cities where the jobs are scarce - you very well know about that personally.

Me: Advice to future Entrepreneurs
Mahendra: If you are really passionate about something - do it, don't think about what will happen. And be prepared to do anything for it. Since it may happen that you have the run the show on a tight budget, so you may be required to do even menial things like repairing EPABX system at 12.00 in night because you have to carry on with your work.

Me: It has been a pleasure talking to you Mahendra and gain insights on the challenges. All the Best!!!
Mahendra Thank you.

Startups with a Kewl quotient

In the past few months I had the chance to talk to some of the start-up owners/VC investors, which had some really cool concepts. I'll give the concepts of those startups only which are in production i.e. out of stealth mode for obvious reasons.

1) When you call someone and the guy is not able to take the call, then it goes to the voicemail. He can get the message only when he is free. Suppose you are the guy; you need to go to the voicemail number, retrieve the voice and play them to get the message. This is pretty old usual and slow stuff.
Now, what these startup guys have done is that, they record the voicemail, convert it into text using 'Voice recognition' and 'speech-to-text' technology and send the message as sms text to the user. I feel this is a pretty handy stuff esp. when you are in middle of a meeting and you cannot hear the voicemail. Cool, no problems; just subscribe to this service and bingo: you get an non-intrusive sms in the middle of the meeting - conveying what the other person has to say.

2) Then there is one startup, which has a web portal. You can go to their website, select a design and get it printed on your T-shirt, coffee mug or whatever. The beauty of the system is that these guys have created an ecosystem which is analogous to Open-Source Software. i.e. artists and designers can contribute their designs, and the users can select the designs they want. The design contributor gets a royalty based on the usage of the design. So, it's a win-win situtaion for all, the users have a plethora of designs to select from and the artists get paid on actuals for how well their designs are sold, so it also fosters the creativity.

3) I really like the startup called rupeex.com which can be used to track your portfolio. I like the ease with which their portfolio tracler integrates with most of the trading/demat accounts. You just need to upload the html copy of your Demat Account statement or your Trading book, it'll add each transaction automatically and will calculate your net loss/profit or the positions. Most importantly, you don't need to calculate your income tax liabilities manually by feeding into an excel sheet. Just upload the file, let it analyze the Order book and bingo you have all your profit/losses, short term /long term capital gains taxes calculated for you. It also brings relevant data like company news for your portfolio companies. If that was not enough they have brick and mortar model to suppllement it, as they'll collect the info you have fed into the website, take your signatures and submit to the IT department for a nominal fee of 100 bucks. Really handy, and a huge time saver.

Keep watching this space for some more cool ideas and startups :-)

Reportaire : Singapore - The Experience of Holidaying Single

This was the conversation that took place between myself and a friend:

Friend: "Hey man, where have you been? Haven't seen you for long"
Me: "I was on a Holiday to Singapore."
Friend: "Cool man, How was the trip?"
Me: "It turned out to be good, much better than I had anticipated"
Friend: "Did you go with your colleagues or college friend(s) or with someone special, Huh?"
Me: I travelled single.
Friend: Looking Shocked. Are you insane, How can one go on a holiday alone? you would be bored to death.

Well, the Singapore sojourn was my take to experience how it is like to go on a holiday without the company of known. I've been to almost 15 holidays either with my family or my with my friends, but this time I wanted to explore this uncharted territory.
The best thing I experienced about travelling single is that it gives you a great opportunity to meet new people and experience their culture. I made good friends with some wonderful people like Lin Yu, a local lady and with the CFO of Zapak.com, India's largest gaming portal. Lin, who is a local, was amazed and wanted to know whether I always travel alone. Then, she took me to Sentosa island, which is great man-made tourist attraction. She introduced me to the taste of local cuisine, a dessert - Sea-jelly(a local delight made from sea coconut, sea-grass and some other ingredient which I could not fathom). Initially, I was very apprehensive about having the same, as I'm a vegetarian to the core, and this looked very much like a Jelly-fish!!! Moreover, the people in the Eastern side of the Globe usually consider feed consisting of sea-animals as vegetarian. However, only after Lin assured me that it is completely vegetarian, I had a go at it. And Wow!!! didn't it tickle my gastronomical senses.
The other advantage of holidaying single is that you can actually enjoy the things without the rush that comes with travelling in a group. For example, I enjoyed being at Singapore zoo with several species in close proximity. Here, not being with a group helped as I could spend more time exploring the zoo without having to care for someone's tired legs. I would recommend Singapore zoo to anyone visiting Singapore. It's not just for kids, grown-ups can also enjoy and feel the nature's gifts. This zoo is a bit different in the sense that animals are not strictly kept in cages all the time like in India. There will be trails where they are left open and you can watch them very closely in close proximity. (Don't panic :-) as only non-dangerous creatures are left in the open).
But, as they say, nothing is perfect in real world, so here you go:

Disadvantages:
1) You end up spending more money on hotels, as you could have shared the accommodation costs.
2) You could get better deals from travel-agents if travelling in a group.
3) If you are not very much self-motivated you might be found sleeping in your couch after a tiring travel instead of enjoying places.(I've seen that happening for quite a few people)
4) Sometime, you may feel the need to blabber in front of someone about the experiences, but here you might feel a bit edgy. But then, What is Yahoo messenger for?

Tips when you are travelling single:
1) Try to make friends with some locals - they shall be able to guide you in a much better way and you can experience their culture.
2) Explore some places on your own like travelling on MRTS in Singapore.
3) Try some local cuisine too. If you a vegetarian, it would be a bit difficult but you can actually get some delectable dishes - something different from the food you usually have in your place.
4) Take care of your belongings and travel light - without heavy luggage.

And most importantly, leave the worries behind and enjoy the vacation. After all you deserve it after so much hard work.
Au Revoir and Bon Voyage!!!

Caught in the Startup Web

The years between 1999-2001 saw the madness and euphoria surrounding the startups, with every Tom, Dick and Harry trying his hand at opening something(may be a page :-)). And mind you, the unbelievable part was not the hysteria around startups but the sheer number of people who were ready to fund these startups.
After the Dot Com bust there was a period of lull. But the human spirit has the habit of learning from past mistakes and life goes on to explore new fromtiers. This insatiable appetite of human-beings to do something new, something different again led to a new generation of start-up companies that had interesting ideas and MOST importantly a good revenue model in place.

Doning on the new role of Business Development Manager has given me the direction to explore the world of startups and see what all new things are coming up. And, definetely having a big network helps to explore these oppurtunities.

Now, comes the question: Why I'm there, why the heck I'm not having dinner with some big client who can give me big business at one go?
Actually, there are a couple of reasons for that.
First, these start-ups feed my business model directly and can be real growth engines for my firm (To be honest, if it is your idea, then you tend to work on it much more to make it happen).
Also, if the startup grows, you will also grow along with it since you have forged a relationship in the very beginning.
Second reason has more to do with my heart. Finding out what are the new directions in which people are thinking, the barriers they face and studying those fantastic new ideas excites me to the core.

Now, based on my interaction with people who either owned the startups or funding the startups(VC guys),
Below is the list of obsevations regarding startups and some really cool and practical ideas which have already found many takers.

1) Many of the startups are coming either in the area of Mobile telephony or applications based on it(Telecom revolution), or in the Financial Domain(This may be the result of Indian economy booming)

2) Most of the times when the startups are flush with money, they don't know how to spend that efficiently.(It takes some time to digest, but it's true). I've seen the same in recruitments.

3) It's a real challenge to start something. You are always juggling between your startup and your job. And if you jump in it full time, there is always a nagging thought "what if it fails?". Some days back, I was talking to an alumnus of IIM Ahembadabad, who is running a succesfull startup . He shared a view which challenged some of my beliefs. He said that he has found the Tech guys much more receptive to starting-up rather than the MBA's(even who are from the most prestigious colleges). Conventinal line of thinking says that since they are MBA's they will have better business sense and thus open up more firms. But may be, he was right : MBA's with their high flying jobs have more stakes at hand with the jobs, so risk taking ability is reduced.

4) It's very diffficult to keep the morale high all the time esp. when revenues are not coming in the initial stages. Most of the time. startups break up because some partner had his morale in a abyss and he wanted to quit. Startups by their very nature are very sensitive to this situtaion as they are short on resources, budget and time. It has a dangerus effect on other guys too and they tend to break up and abondon the idea. So, it's very important how you choose you partners - they have to be self motivated and should believe in the idea from the core of their heart.

4) The sooner you start, better off you are as your oppurtunity costs keep on rising(since you'll be earning much more in the later part of your career, so it's kinda difficult to leave that high-paying job esp. with family obligations)

5)There is always a challenge for a startupc- how to protect your idea: What if some biggy picks your idea and with it's marketing and fianncial muscle, edges you out?

In the next post I'll cver some good ideas. Till then ..............(searching for something)

PLEASE be generous in writing your comment on the articles in this blog. It takes a few minutes and it is very precious to know about your thoughts(whether you agree or disagree, or have something to add, or may be just to say you that you liked the post :-))

101 Things to do before I die

1) To get admitted to a good B-school, learn how to structure my thoughts better.

2) To start running :-)

3) To become lean and mean machine

4) Finish CFA certification

5) Writing 100 posts on my blog (at least this post helped in to do a count++)

6) Finish up 100 new novels esp all the ones by Dan Brown and Jeffrey Archer.

7) Become a crorepati thruugh investment in stocks,
Ha, too ambitious may be, but with sensex at 19K who is compaining :-)

8) Get My company up and running.

9) Make a phoren trip.
Done. Singapore Ahoy!!!

10) Do a job in financial services company.
Partly done(In a Fin company, although slightly different profile, but worth it)

11) To improve the lot of at least 20 children by providing them the means for education.
50% done(10 children).

What's up, Dude?

This may seem to be a cliche question when it comes to software engineers. Although, this question is overused by the Software guys, this question like the word "Fuck" can give rise to a lot of connotations, when used in conjunction with different expressions on the face of the Questioner. A subtle change in expression will change the whole meaning of the question. Say for instance, this question when asked with just a casual look will ask what are you doing at this moment i.e. in real sense.

Now came another day and I was taking to a friend of mine. She was standing with me, her eyes scanning me from top to bottom and finally getting fixed on my new HairStyle, and then suddenly THE question popped up "So, What's up dude?". Yes, there she came getting to me straight on the point that Have I got a new girlfriend? with this seemingly inocuous question..... What u're expecting an answer, no way, esp. here in public!!!!

Then there will be people who'll come to you and ask the same question with probing eyes, with special empahsis on the pronunciation of "Whtz up" and then following it with some questioning glaces. That my friend is a sign, that Ok man you have been hanging around inthis company for quite a long time, When are you switching the job? Or is it that you want to do an MBA... The only option that seems to be remaining for software engineers to get out of the drudgery of manual labour of coding. And this my friend means either you need to do an MBA or fairy luck will come and take you to onsite where you can mint money like anything.

Then there will be some lucky guys, when some pretty girl comes to them, Whtz Up? That essentially means, Hey Will you be my Date (I hope to be one of them one day. I've resolved to go to the GYM daily from now on... Hey, don't laugh..Ya I know I've promised this 24 times before too. But that doesn't mean I should stop trying)..

I would love to hear some more variants of the usages of this phrase. If that ignites a bulb in you , go ahead and post it in comments..... And if it doesn't ring a bell, then "Whtz up with you Dude?"......(Top 5 responses will earn a gift hamper from me :-))

Metrosexual Holi(Contd.)

So, here I come again with my soul fully drenched in the reminiscences of the colours and vigours of Holi. Now, coming back to the main Holi day, we used to do all sort of preparations for our body that would put any masseur in the world to shame. That would include ointing ourselves with oil and vaseline so that we would be least smothered with colours.
Then comes the main part when we would go to each and every house in our Mohalla and play to our heart's extent with colours and throwing Buckets after buckets of water at everyone who passes from the street. I really loved the part when we used to throw our beloved friend Manoj to a pit which was full of water, and I followed this tradition quite religiuosly year after year b4 coming to bangalore:-). Although, after adoloscence this tradition was superseded by the attraction of playing Holi with Bhabhis and a lot more PYT's u know. Hehehehe.
Now, coming back to the present Holi@Bangalore,Delhi. Secluded groups in flats, with the so called middle and upper middle class people with feeling like Touch-Me-Not, My skin will get damamged even if one trace of colour is smeared. And then u'll find some people drinking there hearts out without knowing whether it is Holi or Diwaali. Can't understand the aloofness and high handedness of the people here. And at night it would be partying in a disco or a pub.
Is that all to a Holi???

But, roots can not be cut away,
Doston, Chingaari to bujhaaya nahin ja sakta, rangon ki duniya ko berang nahin kiya ja sakta,
Ek din josh ka khumar uthega tab Rangon ki nadiyon ko baandh banakar bhi samaya nahin ja sakta.
And as far as I'm concerned 'I'm loving it" - Gujhiya nahin to Mcdonalds ka burger hi sahi, Agar bhavnayein hain to Holi ka parv Kyun nahin manay ja sakta!!!

Holi goes the metrosexual way

Ha, This time Holi seems to be pretty different from past years. Remember the days, when we would all be so excited much before Holi. Preparations used to start with Mom preparing the delectable dishes, the yummy ghujhias and the mix inside it that would melt as soon as it entered the mouth, the mouth watering samosas(both of moong dal and Aloo variety), assorted namkeens that would kindle the insatiable appetite inside us :-).
Then, on the day of Choti Holi it's the celebration time with our the friendly neighbourhood community or Mohalla as it is called in local parlance. Getting up early in the morning for Holika Dehan was quite some task, with me being a night creature, always cribbing about the same. But, man isn't the morning ordeal worth it's salt. The yellow flames in the backdrop of rising sun and the tranqilness of the serene atmosphere presents an unparalled scenic beauty which, believe me, would fade the likes of Angelina jolie and Aishwarya Rai. (Ok, Ok Don't take offence they have a different genre altogether). And who can forget the baking of wheat twigs and potatoes in the fire. I guess it's the thing that remind me of my roots, and the ties with nature which although, are very important are almost forgotten by us, the metrosexuals. How far removed we're from the nature can be gauged from the incident, when I asked a child about who produces milk that he drinks everyday. Do you think you know the answer? Man, u're wrong, brush up ur fundamentals and rise to teh new processed world. The answer was Mother Dairy vending machine.
This is where I feel the importance of customs lie, you may scoff at them, but without them you are like puppets in the hands of life. Well, gotta go now, some metro creature calling me up. Will continue in the next post.. Till then,
Mere desh ki Dharti oooooooooooooo, mere Desh ki Dharti Ohhhhhhhhhh....

Am I missing this Holi?? You bet............................