My first podcast came out last week. It has Gaurav, Veer, Aditya Mhatre and me talking about startups and mobile advertising. Gauravonomics has done a good job summarising it so I'll just point to the link.
Friday, March 28, 2008
BarCamp Mumbai 3 (and BCB6)
BarCamp Mumbai 3 seems all set to rock. With almost 600 people on the list, we can see over 400 turn up. We had some initial worries about the pace of topic registrations, but putting the topics onto the main page seems to have made a big difference. In addition, there will be several additions at the venue. Quite a few people have mentioned it in the registration list, in mailing list or even offline.
I'll have two sessions at BCM3. First is a FireTalk. Details only at the talk but it has something to do with unconferences. Second will be the launch of Startup Saturdays in Mumbai. Do drop in and add your views.
BarCamp Bangalore 6 meanwhile has been announced on 19 and 20th April at IIM Bangalore.
Its interesting to see these two events shape up side by side. Both have a very enthusiastic planners team. Both teams have seen an increase in number of folks who want to be planners. In fact, we've had people add themselves to the Google groups or crib on the general list about being left out from the planners list. In the end, all got included in the true spirit of BarCamps. The confusion arises since each edition has a different planners' mailing list. This allows for new faces to come up and olds ones to recede. The only criteria is demonstration of some degree of commitment for doing things. Usually turning up for a planning meet is enough. This time all commited folks got into the planners list and I guess more would be getting in.
I'll have two sessions at BCM3. First is a FireTalk. Details only at the talk but it has something to do with unconferences. Second will be the launch of Startup Saturdays in Mumbai. Do drop in and add your views.
BarCamp Bangalore 6 meanwhile has been announced on 19 and 20th April at IIM Bangalore.
Its interesting to see these two events shape up side by side. Both have a very enthusiastic planners team. Both teams have seen an increase in number of folks who want to be planners. In fact, we've had people add themselves to the Google groups or crib on the general list about being left out from the planners list. In the end, all got included in the true spirit of BarCamps. The confusion arises since each edition has a different planners' mailing list. This allows for new faces to come up and olds ones to recede. The only criteria is demonstration of some degree of commitment for doing things. Usually turning up for a planning meet is enough. This time all commited folks got into the planners list and I guess more would be getting in.
Monday, March 10, 2008
The Calacanis controversy: What happens in India?
Jason Calacanis' recently wrote a post on ways to save money. It quickly became controversial when others such as Jeff Nolan responded indignantly to it. A good summary is here at Techcrunch. Essentially, Jason said Fire all those employees who are not workohlics and the rest fired him for such a ruthless and casual approach to one's own people. Jason seems to have missed the obvious: A start up aims at making money and not at saving money. It saves money to last longer to have a better shot at making money. Make cost cutting a priority by itself and you've shot your self in the foot. He seems to get it in his chair tip but missed it when it came to people. Maybe Michael Arrington got it right in his post that Jason didn't mean it.
Later Gauravonomics asked an interesting question:
The answer is a bit complicated actually when it comes to India. I thought of providing an overview of what's happening today rather than my views (which are not very different from others! Relaxed mind produces better and more).
In silicon valley, one quits a large company and takes a cut in salary for stock/stock option. However, in India one joins a start up for a higher salary plus stock. This is in an extreme form in the Indian Mobile VAS industry where the average life span for an employee is about an year before s/he hops to another VAS player for higher cash. This means that the bosses do demand more work and results. This also means that the future holds little incentive and doesn't drive people. Only the founders and very early employees tend to motivated by the future ahead.
On the other hand, the Indian family man (or woman) doesn't have the same concept of work life balance as in US (and certainly not Europe!). Almost everyone here works long hours without any protest; start up or not. Its common to sit around in office even without work because it doesn't look nice to leave early. Amongst younger folks, the real reason is that there is nothing better to do at home. Older folks just can't say no the boss who asks for one more thing at 6 PM.
The end result: Long hours almost everywhere. But some are working hard for the extra cash, some because they are too timid to say no, some are not working at all!
Its not all bad at office though. Most of the early stage startup offices that I've visited seem to be a bunch of friends or a family. They get along very well and have fun together. They also have pizza parties, siesta time, movie outings etc. Later stage ones may compromise a bit on location for saving money but offices are quite plush and comfortable inside. People are taken care of.
Later Gauravonomics asked an interesting question:
"Has anyone read an Indian perspective on the "startups need workaholics"
controversy created by the @JasonCalacanis post http://xrl.in/mz ?"
"Especially because part of the controversy was about "family vs work"
& Indians are supposed to be both more hard-working &
family-oriented."
The answer is a bit complicated actually when it comes to India. I thought of providing an overview of what's happening today rather than my views (which are not very different from others! Relaxed mind produces better and more).
In silicon valley, one quits a large company and takes a cut in salary for stock/stock option. However, in India one joins a start up for a higher salary plus stock. This is in an extreme form in the Indian Mobile VAS industry where the average life span for an employee is about an year before s/he hops to another VAS player for higher cash. This means that the bosses do demand more work and results. This also means that the future holds little incentive and doesn't drive people. Only the founders and very early employees tend to motivated by the future ahead.
On the other hand, the Indian family man (or woman) doesn't have the same concept of work life balance as in US (and certainly not Europe!). Almost everyone here works long hours without any protest; start up or not. Its common to sit around in office even without work because it doesn't look nice to leave early. Amongst younger folks, the real reason is that there is nothing better to do at home. Older folks just can't say no the boss who asks for one more thing at 6 PM.
The end result: Long hours almost everywhere. But some are working hard for the extra cash, some because they are too timid to say no, some are not working at all!
Its not all bad at office though. Most of the early stage startup offices that I've visited seem to be a bunch of friends or a family. They get along very well and have fun together. They also have pizza parties, siesta time, movie outings etc. Later stage ones may compromise a bit on location for saving money but offices are quite plush and comfortable inside. People are taken care of.
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