Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” -Steve Jobs

When steve said these words he had no clue what effect this will have on his next generation. “Remembering that i’ll be dead soon” always solved every question for me in my short life.

This all started with simple internet browsing back in 2005 and landing down on the commencement speech by Steve jobs. I little knew about steve jobs back then or the effect he had over the world. I knew he was “Father of modern computer” and that was enough to respect this awesome guy. As soon as i heard the commencement speech it made me so excited that for next few months i was seen running around sharing this video with everyone i can catch, i even got my teachers to share this video in classes. I hope few got the essence of the learning Jobs was sharing.

To me his death was a shocker, i wanted him to live long and give more to the society. Not in terms of products, but definitely in term of innovation and perspective.

Here’s the video which helped me all along and will always with me as a guidance.

What comes after the rise? The fall and that what will define 2011 social media market.

Please note I am not predicting the way brands may move on social media, but the challenges that Indian social media industry might face and the way it shall shape up in 2011 . This might not be in the interest of several social media experts, but will definitely excite people who are working hard to create big social media stories in India.

#1: Some brands will move from Social Media Marketing to Social CRM mode. Tools are already in place, brands have already accepted the presence of  angry consumers on social media. However, brands are yet not ready to integrate SCRM process internally in every department. It will take some real muscle power from some big names to get big SCRM stories out.

#2: We have seen a lot of small medium sized social media startups dying out last year. Among which some where very promising and understood the internet/social media very well. Performance didn’t burned them up, but a hirearchy of Client –> Media Planning agency –> Social media agency did. We will see brands settling for either a independent social media agency or a big Media planning agency to take care of their social media activities. The three level hierarchy outsourcing model will die to the end of 2011 as brands come out from a campaign approach vendor model.

#3: We will see a premium and non-premium segmentation of the market. While some agencies will take a volume approach to there business for small sized clients to thrive and scale there business, others will work with a few clients at a premium cost. People who see 2011 as the time when the pricing becomes stable in the industry, will be highly dissapointed.

#4: Measurement and ROI talks will become fierce, brand managers shall live in a hope that the measurement methods for social media shall give them a window through which they can relate traditional campaign goals on social media. Social media mavens like it or not, fans/followers count is still a measurement for most of the brand managers in the industry and this is not going to change very soon.

#5: We shall see the dust settling down and self-proclaimed social media gurus fading away. We have seen it happening with internet startups/ FOSS domain and social media shall follow the same path. It’s business my dear friends at the end of day .

Would love to hear your views. All agreements and criticism are welcomed.

Cross posted on MediaRedefined.com

Lately i found really hard to track my friends timeline , What they are doing ?, Were are they ?, What they are doing ? ( I have a huge list of friends , though) .

And that’s called for an experiment calling one new guy/girl each day ! here new means that guy was not called atleast for past 2-3 months.

Hope it works good !, Will post the results soon too.

–Carl Rogers

And the best one

“As we speed along this endless road to the destination called who we hope to be, I can’t help but whine, ‘Are we there yet?’”
marklugris

– Sarah Jessica Parker(American Actress. b.1965, Nelsonville, Ohio, USA)

India posing as a knowledge hub is having worlds one of the largest youth population. Using this massive population effectively to achieve maximum growth is a mammoth task before indian government and market players.

If we count on some stats , India has almost 300 million youth out of which only 100 million will get jobs. Therefore, the country faces a 200 million employment gap.

Since the current economic infrastructure is already saturated . Filling this huge employment gap is only possible if there are bodies which start producing more jobs to fill the gap.  New ideas, New ventures opening up possibility of squeezing more globlal economy weatlh in India is always welcomed. These bodies are famously called “Entreprenuers”

Many industry experts believes that this gap can be bridged through self-employment and entrepreneurship-driven employment.

“We strongly believe in the entrepreneurial spirit of India’s youth. In order to support entrepreneurship, the right framework, funding and mentoring needs to be provided. Entrepreneurs and small businesses are always most vulnerable in times of crisis when funding becomes dearer and difficult to come by. While others may put their efforts on hold during this economic crisis, it should be India Inc’s organisations’ corporate social responsibility to continue to fulfill their vision and commitment to this effort.”

–
Amy Christen, Vice President, Corporate Affairs & General Manager, Networking Academy Operations, Cisco Systems, Inc

Many MNC’s are coming forward to tap this oppurtunity and create entrepreneurship ecosystem for young emerging business man. A recent example is Cisco, in a quest to achieve just that has collaborated with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and Tiruchirappalli Regional Engineering College- Science and Technology Entrepreneurs Park (TREC-STEP), a science and technology Entrepreneurs Park to promote information and communications technology (ICT) entrepreneurship and innovation in the country.

We look forward to such more endeavors from industry giants and hope that this gap is soon filled .

    Paul Graham (the Startup guru) neatly summed up all success mantras in few points , Worth reading .

 http://www.ycombinator.com/pagequotes.txt

Nearly everyone is one or other blindfolded brand follower , The Brand followers always have a feel of trust for their respective brands whom they preach.

This preaching can be explained through Emotional science . Everyone feels before they think. Practical, rational thinking comes after the initial emotional reaction towards a product , service or event. Sometime the initial emotional reaction is so strong that it become nearly impossible to break that first reaction.

However if we see marketing process in Marketing industry, There are no processes catering the emotional reaction which plays so important role in any sale process. All measuring , reporting system rely on the data which tells what a customer thinks (logically) regarding the product or service, Missing completely the emotional response part which may prove a vital part in the final sale process.

The brain science which creates emotional connection with consumers/clients is essential part to study in Business intelligence

The best use of Emotional response science is used by Ad industry. Now and then we are used to see ads on TV which have least connection to the product that the ad is endorsing. However the ads are so good that it’s hard to miss them.

“The emotions aren’t always immediately subject to reason, but they are always immediately subject to action”

–William James

If we see hard towards the luxury industry , the booming luxury market is result of Emotions of human nature . Emotions are the reason you buy a Luxurious car which can be afforded with nearly same functionality by a lower price model car.

Emotional response marketing deserves a separate full fledged discussion as I believe that this is the basic science behind all selling happening in this world.

So next time you put your product/services out there in market , Make sure you are ready to tap that emotional response of the public/clients and use it to advantage.

Finding what you want to do , I.e What is one thing that you will want die doing. Is a ultimate recipe of achieving ultimate happiness. Many people in the world claim to “Know” what they are passionate about, But none realize that even knowing that you may want to do is not knowing your passion.

Finding passion is a journey rather than a decision. We can`t find a passion just by saying “Oh this is good and brings a lot of money, this is my passion”

Passion is defined by the ultimate love to the matter of subject we explore each day. The work, the culture , the environment.

‘You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers’ . This words in 2005 came at a very right time for me and helpmed me right through my career, Hope they enlighten your entreprenuerial journey too.

Every Entrepreneur has a story to tell, Experience to pass on the younger generation. We all make so many mistakes in our early startups and wish that the coming younger generation of Entrepreneur don’t repeat same mistakes.

So here is top 10 advices for a young entrepreneur set to achieve his/her dream. Please take note that these all tips are based on my experience rather than on some market buzz.

1. Rely on Market Research in comparison of your assumptions:-

If there is no market for it, You are never going to be succeeded .

The above quote looks really simple and hard to be missed, But I have seen a lot of startups failing due to this simple reason.

Usually we all entrepreneurs are very sure of our idea and very excited with initial turnout that we miss the bigger picture of story. Always judge your product/service critically and make sure you cover and researched every market possible and the presence of competitors in the market. These research time spent will benefit startups in longer run with better data to compete in the market.

2. Choose best people out there as Partners/Employees:-

Any organization is nothing but the quality of the people/ service by people employed. There is a common pitfall in earlier days to recruit cheapest people and trying to do maximum things on own.

However these are the recipes that hampers the growth of any organization. Founders are nearly always not the best persons to be CEO, COO, CTO of an organization . They are visionaries , A Founder should always try to find right people for right jobs, Show them the way and then hand over all responsibility to them. Entrepreneurs are people who know to move on , make new things, innovate and create. Not to stagnate at one point .

3.  Always give users more importance than profits:-

There are always hard times and easy times for a business. Booming economy or easy times is when it’s easy to bring business and trading time is good.

However for sure the bad times come too (like current recession), these times your loyal customers, Old customers are best bet. Because they know you, they believe in your capability and you understand their business needs and their business process as you have worked them earlier.

So for always winning customers make sure you give them preference over profits.

4. Be open to ideas and learn to adapt:-

Always be open to ideas and keen to learn new things. Many startups (including mine) usually ended up being what they never planned to be in starting.

Founding and running startup is a art , Were every next stroke of brush depends on the previous stroke, just like colors your ideas may not look worthy while they are independent. But once they combine they intend to produce masterpiece.

Being in control and confident is always necessary , However always keeping senses open is a essential habit of entrepreneur.

5. Always be in control of your finances:-

There are CAs, Accountants and a whole finance industry, So why would someone like to do companies finance by himself ?

When I say control , I don’t mean to sit and make transaction sheets, ledger bills, Estimate liabilities etc. What I mean that you need to have a basic understanding of all  finance matters to make sure that your projections is not governed by some finance guys.

Now best ways to make sure that you are in control of your organization finances is to try and maintain finances of your startup when it’s early , This will help you to get basic understanding of all finance science and thus will help you in long run

6. Plan your future expenses before you quit your day job:-

In today’s competitive world every talented  , smart and innovative are easily hired on a fat package job easily.

But slowly the fat package charm goes away and people leave their job to follow their entrepreneurial journey

The above scenario is discussed by many industry thought leaders like Paul graham , And all are sure of one thing. If you really want to be successful in your startup , You need to leave your day job.

But question is when should you leave your day job ?

Leaving a day job is a bold decision, And like all good decisions it should be based on proper research and planning.

So, Before quitting your day job make sure that you have calculated your minimum expenses and ready with a backup plan if all fails.

7. Manage company on whole, Not a part:-
Entrepreneurship is very different from a job, No body will tell you to do something, No body will ask you to work hard.

A entrepreneur is a jack of all trades, He/she needs to understand every aspect in which his business is into.

8. Never say quit:-

There always a moment come when you are ready to leave your all efforts and go back to a daily routine life. However it’s very true that this is the moment from where you can move onto a ladder of success.

So , Never say die..

9. Keep your emotions at your home:-

When you are in a business, You come at the top of food chain. It’s really important to keep your fears, emotions at home and have a perfect practical mindset.

Being at top means the stakes are high and thus the competition too. So you have to make sure that you are the best and ready for every challenge or else fall is certain.

10. Entrepreneurship is not a destination, It’s a journey:-

Stay hungry , Stay foolish

These lines of Steve jobs stayed with me from past many years, These lines defines mindset of a entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurship is not a destination , It’s not important were you end. It’s a mindset, a religion that you follow . It’s tough, risky , uncertain. But this is the only way to get most out of yourself and your life.

I would love to hear comments from fellow entrepreneurs, to-be entrepreneurs,  Business people and thought leaders . Keep posted and best of luck for your entrepreneurial journey

Graphics by Flickr

Open source , FOSS , Free open software are all in buzz words current recession days and lot of startups are talking of adopting open source as a business model.

However there is a small problem, Open source is not a Business model (Open source is a development methodology).

Many would not understand what I meant here by development methodology, So let me put some more light on terminology , Development here signifies development , modification of software by IT developers . This could be making software codebase, modules, plugins etc.

Now most of the companies nowadays are opting for open source software’s to cut development cost mentioned above or to avoid companies deploying development teams and making proprietary software’s.

So in short “Open source is used to cut down operation cost in a company” , So just companies putting open source as a business word and terming as them open source startups are according me to people without a vision.

However there are some exceptions like Cynapse who have really used open source software’s very well and packaged there service support system very well around it. But organizations like these are very few and they cater to a very set niche of Enterprise Sector.

In the long run either these companies will drown or vanish, Or else will be standing in the market with a complete different vision and approach.

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