Dreams do come true; but not all of us dream of exploring the space as a child. Anousheh Ansari did and realized her dream.The eight-day expedition which Anousheh started on September 18, 2006 cemented her place in history as;
1. First female private space explorer
2. Fourth private space explorer ever
3. The first astronaut of Iranian decent
It helped that Prodea Systems, the company she chairs, sponsored her space expedition. Still one needs a lot of courage and determination to set out to be the first in the world in any space. More so you if you are looking to explore the space beyond the boundaries of our planet.
Anousheh is a serial entrepreneur and currently serves as the chairman of Prodea Systems. Before founding Prodea, she co-founded Telecom Technologies. It was recognized as one of Inc. magazine’s 500 fastest-growing companies and Deloitte & Touche’s Fast 500 technology companies.
Anuosheh came to USA as a teenager who did not speak English and immersed herself in education and later tasted entrepreneurial success. She has a keen interest towards promoting good for society. One of her goals is to inspire youth, and especially girls, around the world to pursue their dreams. Hope Anousheh success will inspire youngsters around the world to dream big and achieve those dreams.
Anousheh probably is the first blogger who blogged from space. In this post she shared how they kept good hygiene in space. She also wrote a detailed account of her return to planet earth. Finally, I’ll leave you with this video where Anousheh does a flip in Zero Gravity.
For me, Anousheh endeavor is also a peep into - how one can evangelize an idea or a company by creating a buzz in some unique fashion. Sir Richard Branson has done it for Virgin and looks like Anousheh did it for Prodea and other causes she supports. Otherwise there was no way that many in the world would have known about what Prodea does. In that sceneario, it would have lived as just another digital home solutions company. It remains to be seen how far Anousheh's effort will take the company; but more than 1 million hits on Anousheh's space blog suggest that she has succeeded in creating the initial buzz.
Great effort and best of luck, Anousheh. ¶ 8:46 AM 2 comments links to this post
Facebook, till recently school-only social networking service,has opened its gates for all. As per Facebook blog now anyone with an email address can join. Still the college networks will need authentication. Others can join various regional and company networks.This move came after uproar that September 5 announcements (of launching mini-feeds and news-feeds) created. Mark did his best to calm people down.
Michael Arrington at TechCrunch hails it as a good move;
“….It’s interesting because Facebook clearly gets the idea of an attention metastream, where page views aren’t the currency that matters but rather how effectively the service allows users to communicate. Facebook users will now have a much easier way of staying up to date on what their friends are up to. It may mean less page views for Facebook in the short run as users rarely have to leave their home/admin page to see what’s going on with friends, but if it makes users love Facebook more (is that possible?), it’ll pay off in the end.”
The idea of launching feeds intended to provide better features to users. The current move (open to all) looks driven by a desire to compete against MySpace. Facebook also wants to justify the 1-billion valuations by attracting more users.
This will surely increase user base; but the response from existing users needs to be seen. Till recently they (students) were using a service which was meant exclusively for them.
Check out what the source (Mark Zuckerberg) has to say on current developments.
Looks like Facebook is on an announcements spree. Soon after the above updates came; Mediaweek reported that Facebook is planning to show sponsored ads in the user feeds. TechCrunch provided an update on this.
Facebook recently chose Microsoft as its advertising partner. It will be interesting to observe how far its monetization efforts will go, when its primary audience are young adults who, as Guy Kawasaki writes, dislike all sorts on online advertising. ¶ 4:23 AM 0 comments links to this post
Some readers may find the title strange; but truth sometimes is strange. The truth is that you need a certain degree of readiness before you jump on to the entrepreneurial bandwagon.By readiness to become an entrepreneur I mean - whether are you disciplined, motivated and organized enough to become an entrepreneur.
(Image Courtesy: Bruno Neves)
Next obvious question will be how to assess the readiness to become an entrepreneur? Try asking yourself, following 4 questions. (Be frank and honest when you answer these questions. I have assumed that you have the necessary skill set required to set up your enterprise.)
1. Are your ready to slog? If you want to create a successful enterprise, you should be ready to work for long hours.
You may have to slog it out in front of your computer, waiting at the office of a potential client and writing proposals to potential partners. Till the time you attain the size to afford a facility manager you will have to run errands yourself. These are what I call the Perils of being the master of your own destiny.
You will have to work hard to make a mark. And once you succeed, you will have to slog hard to maintain your position against competition.
Entrepreneurs hanging out in Page 3 parties, gong to expensive cruises, owning a yatch may not become a reality for you any time soon. (In fact owning a yacht is not suiting Oracle honcho Larry Ellison too much). Going to hip parties, and getting interviewed by media, all may happen but not when you start. It is possible after you have done your bit.
2. Do you have the energy levels to pursue entrepreneurship? It calls for high energy levels. You need the energy to sail through long hours of brainstorming. You need to think about new ideas and create plans. There may be instances when you will have to greet clients with a smile even when you are tired.
If you plan to take a bootstrapped approach in building your business then you will have to wear various hats (strategy, sales, PR etc.) Better if you can find a partner who compliments your abilities. If you are a good hacker then find somebody who can do customer interface or somebody who can evangelize your product.
3. Are you a good finisher? People start business because they feel strongly about what they are planning to do. At that point motivation is high and mostly the bright side is visible. But there can be times when going gets tough. In such situations, more than motivation the discipline and commitment to face complex situations is required. Such attitude is called the finisher attitude. It goes beyond the initial level of excitement which prompts one to start something new.
Realize one thing – “For an entrepreneur the expenditures are most likely to be more than expected and profits will always arrive later than expected.”
When you start an enterprise on the above footing, you will stick to it and eventually succeed. This is a very important trait if you want to succeed in any part of the life. As somebody has said – One needs to stay long enough on course to arrive at the destination.
If you doubt about your finishing skills then find a partner who compliments your skill-set and who is a good finisher.
4. Are you motivated enough to do it? What is your motivation to become an entrepreneur? Do you want to become an entrepreneur because a young Haravard drop-out is being offered a reported $ 1 billion for a company he started 2 years back or because you saw somebody on the cover of Business Week magazine or a young boy with a simple idea made a killing in a short span of time? Is it because one of your distant relatives made a little fortune as an entrepreneur?
Ask three gentlemen (Mark Zuckeberg, Kevin Rose, and Alex Tew) in question above, did they do it because they were aware of the market potential of their respective ideas. I doubt. They did it as a hobby in one case and as a small gig to make some money in another. With some luck and lots of slogging they became what they are now.
These are good examples for taking inspiration; but chances of you success will increase if you are doing something because it gives you satisfaction to create. Another scenario that has chances of bringing success - you realize that What you did last summer (the project work... I mean) can be a potential spin-off and start working on it.
Now let’s move to what arguably is the most popular reason of people wanting to become entrepreneurs. Don’t you hear so many individuals showing their distaste for taking orders from their boss? They cite this as the primary reason of their willingness to become entrepreneurs.
Are you doing it because you do no want to take orders from your boss? For a change think about taking orders from a client. What about taking order from an advertiser if you are a media owner.
Learn to take orders early in life without compromising on your self-esteem. When the time comes to take order from your clients towards the success of your enterprise, you will be ready to serve them happily. This will pave the way for a grand success.
So now you have answered all questions. Hope you found yourself ready to take on the next opportunity. Even if you realize that you are missing some ingredients from the list and your heart asks you to go ahead; then my suggestion will be to just do it. It is better to play in the field and loose than to be a fence sitter thinking that you could have won the game if you were in it.
Who knows you will defy all rules to win the game. This is the best situation to be in; because the satisfaction that a win against odds brings, is immense. This can become one of the most cherished memories of your life.
So, whether you start today or take you time to get ready, my wishes are with you. Let the success be yours.
I will leave you with something interesting I discovered today. Some nuggets to be picked up. Stay tuned for more. ¶ 1:00 AM 4 comments links to this post
The search giant is celebrating its 8th birthday.After yesterday's outage I hope and wish that next year will bring new triumphs for the company. I am no Google evangelist; but its success and growth is very important for the health of an entire ecosystem. In this ecosystem Web 2.0 enthusiasts, hobby programmers and solopreneurs are creating new applications, products and companies; hoping that one day Google will come and acquire them.
It also feels good to know that small beginnings can create big impact. Google's journey from Standford University's Computer Science Department to the lives of almost all computer savvy human beings is indeed a tale of success worth looking at. It started life as Backrub (based on a research paper by Larry Page and Sergey Brin). You can check out one of the earliest archived Gooogle home page and one of the earliest articles that appeared in media.
You never know how fast will time pass by you. It looks like yesterday when I got to know about Google, the search engine. If I remember right, I came to know of it during a discussion with friends about cool search engines.
Do you remember how YOU came across Google? ¶ 11:52 AM 0 comments links to this post
Bootstrapper Yvonne Shortt left a six figure salary at AmEx to start Small Biz Booster from her basement with $ 865. Her motivation: Opportunity to be close to her daughters Rebecca, 8 and Clara, 3. (Image Courtesy: Mark Schafer, Inc Magazine)If you are an entrepreneur or ever dreamt of becoming one; you know for sure that any interesting idea related to entrepreneurship lights up your eyes.
This is what happened to me when fellow bootstrapper and friend RK Dhanvada of DH&R Consultants shared the article - 7 strategies to start a company for nothing – with me. It is one of the best compilations of ideas on entrepreneurship that I came across in recent times. (This article earlier appeared in Inc July 2006 issue.)
In the article, Stephanie Clifford makes a point about bootstrapping and points readers to the success stories of 7 bootstrappers who bootstrapped their way to success with fund ranging from zero to $2000. In these 7 artilces various Inc.com contributors have related the success of featured bootstrappers to 7 ideas which can set any bootstrapper on the path to success.
Lesson 1: Brand it creatively - First example is of Madsoul, an urban street wear founded by Marc D’Amelio in 2000 with $1000. Marc realized his inability to afford $100,000 billboard. He used his creativity to use free blank label and free ink from business relationships with UPS and Tektronix.
In true bootstrap fashion Marc crated a demo t-shirt for free, promising the screen printer a contract if he was able to close the sale closed. He was able to make the first sale with the demo t-shirt and rest as they say is history.
Lesson 2: Switch business models on a dime - This strategy has been successfully used by 1-800-Mattress founder Napoleon Barragan when he started in 1976.
He started this company with $ 2000 and ran an $18 ad in classifieds section of a newspaper to land 2 sales.
Later he put his commercial on late-night TV with a $30 spot. It brought more sales. By 1985 he graduated to daytime TV. His willingness to experiment made sure that his company crossed $ 100 million in revenue.
He continues to experiment with co-branding and franchising models to take 1-800-matters further ahead.
Lesson 3: Work from home – It looks very easy to do and makes sense to many. Yvonne Shortt started Small Biz Booster with $865 during June 2005, from her cramped basement in NY City.
The firm helps small companies in marketing. Currently she averages monthly $2150 with 25 regular accounts. She has the ambitions of taking revenues to $ 25 million within next 10 years.
Lesson 4: Get paid up front – This is the lesson that many entrepreneurs learn after getting few bruises. It was no different for David Segura who founded VisionIT with $100. In 1996 David got a moonlighting gig for a company for a $ 7000 fee. The client refused to pay after project was delivered. (Familiar territory for may entrepreneurs)
His next break came up with a job offer from hot dogs company Ball Park Franks. He declined the job offer but took up the project for a $20000 fee; of which he took $ 10000 upfront.
During the transition period; he continuously dressed the part, set web-domains for potential clients and worked free for NGOs who provided referrals.
Lesson 5: Use cheap web tools – In 1999, Jason Fried started 37 signals with 150 dollars and fielded customer queries through a gmail account. Thought initially he has set aside & 10000 to start a web consulting company but later he realized he doesn’t need that much. He did it all with open source web tools.
Lesson 6: Get your suppliers to finance you –Gary Haberland founded Genicon with $1,000 in 1998. Gary found out the pain point of its suppliers and offered them 15 % equity for $ 1 million. Later, he issued 35% equity to 20 surgeons as they were the major stake holders. Sales in 2005 hit $ 10 million for Genicon.
Lesson 7: Get to know your customers really well – Pete Kight started CheckFree, the pioneers in electronics payment processing in 1981 with $ 777. He knocked on 900 doors because he could not afford sales staff. These early experiences were excruciating but very useful. It helped him understand what would make customers pay heir rents online.
Currently CheckFree’s market capitalization is in excess of $ 4 billion.
The ideas presented in the article are all workable. You just have to pick the one that works for you. You may even write your own rules; who knows down the people will read and learn from your success stories.
Happy bootstrapping. ¶ 11:26 AM 0 comments links to this post
They say good times never last. Never mind if such times return fast enough. This has been the case for BarCamps at Hyderabad.You heard (oops… read) it right. The BarCampHyderabad3 has been announced. This time folks are scheduled to camp at TCS, Hyderabad on November 4, 2006. The theme for the Camp is “Social Communities in Web2.0”.
Those of you who enjoy hanging out with geeks, sharing and learning new ideas; must go out and add your names to the wiki. Your role at the camp is to be picked by you. You may choose to speak, interact with fellow campers; volunteer to take responsibilities at the Camp or suggest and add topics to wiki that you would like to be discussed. You may do any or all of these. I am looking forward to see you there.
Folks at Bangalore are also gearing up for BarCampBangalore2. Arpit Agarwal and Kesava Reddy with ideas chipped in by Manish, Jace and Shreyas are getting ready for an early December event. Good luck guys!
With Foss.in scheduled during November 24-26, 2006 the last quarter of the year will be a time for tech-feasts; of course for those who like these types of cuisines.
Enjoy. ¶ 11:57 AM 1 comments links to this post
It was an eventful evening. A series of small events triggered by a call from Vijay to Rajat, made sure that all bootstrappers were able to meet successfully for an interesting round of discussion at Café Coffee Day, Jubilee Hills.
Our designated venue for the meet-up - Barista Coffee at Jubilee Hills was closed for renovation without any prior notice. With the information from Vijay and Rajat, I managed to communicate this to all but Gaurav Trikha and Shoumitro Goswami. Gaurav is a friend who landed in Hyderabad few months back to head quality practice at Satyam and Shoumitro is fellow bootstrapper and founder of Bootstrap Bangalore.
In all, 12 bootstrappers (Amit Thakral, Anand Morzaria, Ritesh Prasad, Shiv Mangesh, Vijay Yalamanchili, RK Dhanvada, Rajiv Fernando, Rajat Gupta, Tarun Jain, Vishal Tangirala, Siva Prasad, Mallayya TV and yours truly) were there.
The meet up kick-started with an interesting round of introduction where everybody who was introducing himself had to recall and tell the names of the person who have already introduced themselves.
After introduction, Global Bootstrap Community was soft launched. The idea behind creation of the community is to make linking with fellow bootstrappers across the world, real easy. It is similar to Linked in and other professional networking platforms and caters to the networking needs of bootstrapped entrepreneurs. For starters, Hyderabad bootstrappers may create their profiles at community portal.
During the discussion, Ritesh came up with a query about posting permissions on Bootstrap yahoo groups. Currently, all members can post to the group. This is the scenario till the time we move the dialogue to Bootstrap community portal.
RK was all praises for the book “Leaving Microsoft to Change the World” by John Wood. Through the book Wood, one time marketing director at Microsoft shares his journey from an all-consuming corporate career to starting RoomtoRead, a non-profit organization.
Since its inception in 2000, Room to Read has impacted the lives of over 990,000 children by:
- Constructing 197 schools
- Establishing over 2,930 libraries
- Publishing 77 new local language children's titles representing over 690,000 books
- Donating over 1.2 million English language children's books
- Funding 2,079 long-terms girls' scholarships
- Establishing 92 computer and language labs
The above data is from RoomtoRead website.
I really liked this sentence from the review at Amazon –
Stressed from the demands of his job, he took a vacation trekking in Nepal because a friend had told him, "If you get high enough in the mountains, you can't hear Steve Ballmer yelling at you anymore.”
Amit shared his love for trekking (Amit any plans like John?), his current responsibilities at PennyWise and his business development strategies. Others chipped in with their ideas and praise for the work Pennywise is doing.
Vishal suggested creating a space to showcase the expertise and strength of community. This idea was well taken and it was proposed that everybody will write a small story describing the journey of there lives so far. Major focus will be on sharing the major challenges and victories on the road of life.
Tarun Jain talked briefly about his educational and entrepreneurial travails.
Siva Mangesh who works with CapitalIQ shared his entrepreneurial ambitions with fellow bootstrappers.
I shared my earlier brush with entrepreneurship and future plans (startup and all).
Ritesh said that it was his first interaction with fellow bootstrappers and he will look forward to further interactions in future. He shared that the meeting was his chance to put faces to the names. He was especially happy to see Rajat whose writing he really likes.
Rajiv shared his inclination towards writing and his tryst with research in various domains at work. Rajiv is an entrepreneur-in-making. He has also created a multimedia case study on Share Micro Finance.
Shiv was all ears for ideas. I was happy to see him twice in one month as he is currently based at Bangalore. Our first meeting this month, happened at Blogcamp.
Anand talked about his bruises (clients defaulting on payments) and victories (the growth of PennyWise Solutions from a one man start-up to 60 employee company – serving more than 120 clients - on track for bigger things) on the road of entrepreneurship.
He shared that one should give his 100% focus to the enterprise. It can not be a side gig; – it should be the core focus of entrepreneur’s life. Initially one may have fewer resources but they will come if one sticks to the task.
He further suggested that bootstrappers should get value out of the activity of the community then only they will stick to it.
I liked when Anand proactively offered a lead to RK. Hopefully this small start will lead to future collaborations.
RK proposed PennyWise solutions as the venue of next Bootstrap meeting which Team Pennywise (Anand, Amit and Ritesh) heartily accepted. This gesture is deeply appreciated.
So, the October get-together of Bootstrap Hyderabad will as per following schedule;
When: October 15, 2006 (Sunday) [6.00 – 7.30 pm]
Where: PennyWise Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
6-3-655/4, Civil Supplies Bhawan Lane
Somajiguda, Hyderabad - 500 482
Some of us stayed back for offline discussions after get-together was over.
Enough said, it was day to remember in midst of unexpected Hyderabad rains. I am looking forward to more such interactions.
Cheers.
