Chintan by Atal Malviya

Investor, Entrepreneur, Mentor. All views are mine not Spark10's

[atalmalviya]

Pretending to be something you’re not.

Maybe you’re pretending to be a sports fan to impress your boss, or you’re keeping your mouth shut about something to keep the peace. Maybe you’re pretending that you’re an expert in something that’s really not your cup of tea. But continuously pretending to be something you’re not is not being true to yourself and will keep you feeling empty.

So think, act and shape your year - Happy new year 2015.

[atalmalviya]

Web Summit Reflections

Posted on November 20, 2013 by Atal Malviya on Odimax.com

This blog is little late compared to many summaries of learnings and experiences from the 2013 Dublin Web Summit, but there is a reason for that which I will tell you in a while.

The key questions for any startup going to an event like Web Summit are what should we expect, and what do we want to achieve? With these questions in mind, it’s then a case of how to prepare and execute the right plan.

We were in the same boat as everyone else when we were selected as an ALPHA startup by the Web Summit team. We knew we were being given a huge opportunity to meet with investors, potential customers, to listen to awesome speakers, and, of course, to see what else is going on in the tech and enterprise world, on a scale none of us had experienced before.

Practically speaking, the challenge for us was to prioritise our activities, because we had only 2 days and we wanted to take best out of it. I do not want to go and sit in the audience to listen to the great speakers out there for 2 hours – not because they won’t add value – but because I can see them later, while sitting on the train home (when Liz hasn’t set me lots of reading to do…), as everything was being recorded and uploaded, much like the fantastic TED talks. What I would not be able to do while on the train is to a have face-to-face meetings with so many potential customers, advisors, and investors.

“People buy people, not products or services” – we met with people face-to-face, built up a rapport with them, and have already converted one into a paid customer in just 2 weeks, and are in discussions with many others both as clients and partners. The same is the case with investors. I wanted to write this blog after the first conversion, hence the delay.

I have a little confession to make: To the team who were managing the speed pitching and networking event for startups and investors, I’m sorry, I didn’t leave the room after 20 mins. I was there for 3 hours. I met with almost all the investors in all the slots – I was exhausted by the end of the day but had some good meetings and am expecting some follow-up meetings in the coming weeks. You’ve got to grab the opportunities while you can, right?

Web Summit is a massive event and you cannot expect to cover and absorb it all in 2 days. The same is the case for any event of this size, so identifying the things that matter most to you in advance will help you in extracting best value from such a showcase. Saying ‘Hi’ to a person face-to-face cannot be replaced by any technology, and when we get an opportunity like this we should relish it. The priority for any startup should be generating and converting sales leads, and forging valuable connections which will help to take you forward, through your next round of investment or your next business milestone.

  In case you missed us at the Web Summit and aren’t sure what we do, here at Odimax we generate qualified sales leads from Social Media; our customers pay only for the leads delivered to them. If you’d like to hear more, don’t hesitate to drop me an email: [email protected]

[atalmalviya]

You fail when...

You start something and fail..you try again...you fail again and this goes on and on.... In fact it is very difficult to find anyone who was never failed... What interesting is to know how many of them have given up trying again.. And that is the failure... From example of Wright Brothers to a recent exited startup Seesmic, they had many stages where one could have said I quit - but they tried again and finally succeeded. So in my opinion you fail when you can not get up and try again - means when you quit.. And for the successful chaps of future, here is the quote from Winston Churchill said - "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. "

[atalmalviya]

Best practice...???

......with all the best intentions, executives often implement what is considered a "best practice" in their industry. What they do not know is that some of these practices are bad habits masquerading as efficiency boosters, their real consequences lying hidden. Questioning and uncovering such practices may significantly boost your competitive advantage, to the benefit of your firm and, eventually, us all.

[atalmalviya]

Revolution or evolution

In the world of entrepreneurs often people ask if your product is cheaper, faster and better then other competing products in the market? And if answers is yes then they go for next series of questions like market size, industry position, team etc.

Okay I get that, but what if I am making something which is not competing with any existing products in the market, I am making something new, unique, which is incomparable to date- then the answers of all those questions are baseless as there is no solution out there to benchmark to, and in that case, what should be asked?

There are many tech entrepreneurs living in there own world thinking that they made something cool and that it will fly as there is no competition - counter argument can be that there is no competition because there is no need of such product in the market- and this argument leads to some key questions - so whatever new product you made is that a solution of customer problem? or of a pain point? or you are creating a new market demand here? - and these three things are different but one thing is common that there are a lot of assumptions associated with your claim. And for anyone to believe in you and your product they need to see that your most of the assumptions, if not all, are right.

So list down all the thinks you think SHOULD work - go out of your building and ask your target user / customer if they agree with what you think should work - they are nice people they don’t bite :).

But until your assumption are not tested by primary research and proved right - whether your product is revolution or evolution - no one believe in you and your vision.

[atalmalviya]

B-School for Entrepreneurial Success

Grabbed 15 secs in this video of GMAC - 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxzMA4sbwQc

[atalmalviya]

Recipe model of entrepreneurial success

Like anything else in life, planning and long term vision will help secure the foundations of success. Starting a ‘killer business’ and making sure it will be in that 10% of successful companies in the next 3-5 years takes months of planning and taking critical decisions.

I love cooking, and when I am cooking something which I have made many times such as an omelette (LOL), I follow my gut feel, but when I am making something new, I follow the expert advice -step by step -  word by word. Yes, I am the kind of cook who follows the exact guidance on the instructions written on the back of the pack. I do not want to deviate and will try my best to ensure that once the dish is ready it will taste the same as the experts had intended and as I was hoping for.

[image curtsy : Gula Cookbook project at Kickstarter ]

Why am I telling you this? The reason is simple, every start-up is new and different and you as a founder should plan accordingly. There are many unknowns and it is not always possible to get the answers of all the questions, but it always helps to keep things in the right order and in the right quantities. If something goes wrong, you should know how to correct it for instance in cooking if you have added extra chilli, adding some sugar may help counter the effect.

Knowing what you are making, how many tech resources you need, when you should take the product into the market, how would you enter the market, when and how many sales people need to be hired, how much money will be needed to execute the plan etc. These questions do not come in any particular order; most of these have some dependency on each other. This can be compared to the process of preparing ingredients before you cook a dish, putting them in the right order and in the right quantities.

There is another aspect of this recipe model, you should be clear about how many people are going to eat the dish before you start cooking so you can plan accordingly. Thinking this way is more from an output perspective.

So as a founder you should have a clear picture of your burn rate, gross margins, net margins monthly/ quarterly/ yearly sales targets, gross revenue etc. From an output prospective, for example, clearly knowing the exit plan and timing will help you position better in front of investors when you pitch to raise money for your company.

Although much of this may be obvious,  I still meet many entrepreneurs who still have no clue about the areas I have discussed. There is nothing wrong with not knowing but if you don't know try and find someone who does know. This is why being surrounded by a great team is so important.

So next time when you thinking about your startup - think it as you are cooking somithing :).

[atalmalviya]

Auto pilot mode - what's that?

Recently I was talking to a friend of mine who was telling me about a possible business idea - he says that the business will take some time and money to kick off and once it will reach to a certain point it will run on its own - like an auto pilot - and my reaction was seriously??

Today’s business world is highly competitive and customers are highly demanding - you need to keep on innovating to be ahead in the game and keep your customers happy by improved offerings all the time.

If you will sit back and relax your competitor will take your part of the pie and customer will go to some one who offers better value.

Even if you think you have highly protectable idea and business you will see substitutes soon - when Samsung and Apple phones can look like similar, when Groupon and Living Social offers can be similar - don’t think that your offerings will be unique for long.

I think auto pilot mode are only true for pilots not for the businesses striving for a fast growth.

[atalmalviya]

The key question....

Yesterday I visited the beautiful and serene Ashridge Business School, I was there as a guest to speak at an MBA Entrepreneurship session. As always this is a great place to be, especially being surrounded by smart and energetic future business founders and leaders all set to disrupt an industry trend. Although we engaged in many interesting discussions and topics, one of my favourite slides posed a key question that eventually changed the fundamental beliefs of some students. The question was - What is more difficult? - Coming up with idea - Raising finance - Building a good team - Exiting the business? We had all sorts of discussions right from idea advocacy to money mantra. Ultimately, in the end we settled on the answer that ‘team’ is the key and if you have experts in all the key areas of business growth, you will most likely be successful. Today's business success is more about collaboration; founders should attract and surround themselves with key talent in the team to secure a successful future.

[atalmalviya]

Remembering Steve

A year ago today the tech industry lost a visionary. 

If you haven't already seen Apple's "Remembering Steve" video - you need to visit http://www.apple.com/

[atalmalviya]

Customer is King - Gandhi

Learning is continuous, often you will learn more impactful things from non-experts then experts. In life you will value those learning more and more as they make a deeper impact on your lizard brain.

Gandhi is well known for his leadership and political judgement, in life and in business you will often come across his statements without realising it. One such quote that has always stuck in my mind, builds the foundation of any business. 

“A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.”

The mantra "Cash is King" is well known and used by management gurus and successful business people, but when it comes to understanding the source of that cash, it becomes very evident that ultimately the "Customer is King".

Happy Birthday Bapu.

[atalmalviya]

My product is my company - Odimax

On a visit to the Odimax Head Office and Ignite100 HQ in Newcaste, I always have the same sense of excitement as I get the opportunity to meet and speak to some brilliant tech entrepreneurs. The energy levels and the excitement when they are discussing their ideas bring me back to not only our own experience of Ignite100 but way back to my college days. I also see and sense the same level of buzz here in the midst of London Tech city/ TechHub/ Google Campus.

The most common and obvious starter questions that often pops up at the beginning of such conversations are “so what are you working on?” and “What is your product?” This then starts the long conversation on many tech jargon like SAAS, API, Platforms blah, blah, blah… And that’s cool … but one fundamental thing is mostly missing …..

I feel we make products to make company a success but at the same time we sometimes obsolete the product as well, the question arises can you do this with your company? My hope is that we do not and continue with the focus on what is core to the business – many factors including ‘the product’.

At Odimax  our aim is not only to deliver great value to all our customers but also to all our stakeholders involved in the process. We are committed to build Odimax to a company with a great team, great technology and great offerings to all. In the process of doing so, we also want to make, and will continue to make, our very differentiated product, also named Odimax. The importance of a company over product has been previously debated and discussed many times - including by Jim Collince in his famous book “Built to Last”, some examples used include HP.

This brings me to my concluding point, we are here to make a great company with a strong team, clear vision and differentiated products in a fast growing industry, the next time someone asks me about my product - my answer would be very simple - My product is my company - Odimax.