Founder University – My Best Learning Experience in the Valley

Earlier this week, I had the chance to spend two intensive days at the Founder University program (April ’18 Batch) in San Francisco. For those who don’t know about this program, it’s a two-day event by Launch, led by none other than Jason Calacanis. About 50 startup founders are handpicked for this program through a selection process which I am sure is one of the reasons why this program ends up being super impactful.

I wanted to be part of this last year as well. I moved to the valley from India in pursuit of more growth for my startup but also for myself. After all, if you are in tech and also doing a startup where else to be than the mecca itself! Sadly, I did not get picked last year. So, I was super excited to see the confirmation email from Jacqui – the Emmy award-winning producer of all of the Launch’s events! Well, that’s Jason’s words about her but having spent the two days at the program, I totally get it why she is so awesome!

Anyways, enough of the rant about the program. It’s needless to say that if you are a young startup with a product in the market and some early traction, this is one program you have to be part of.

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Working at a Startup Before Starting One Yourself [Is it a good idea?]

I started my first company when I was 19, the second one when I was 23 and my third and current startup when I was 26. In between, I worked for a little over 15 months for two different startups. Over the last few months, a few people have asked me whether working at a startup is helpful if one plans to start up soon.

The simple answer to that is, yes! In reality, the answer to this question is much more complex. There are good startups and there are bad startups. I am not referring to the business performance here. Rather, I am referring to the environment and culture. The right kind of environment and culture can teach you a lot of things that will be important when you start up on your own.

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The Toughest Startup Challenge – Hiring!

This is a reblog from a post I did on KillerStartups in 2012. It still seems to find relevance hence I thought of posting it here.

I am sitting at my desk in Bangalore, India, trying to figure out why so many startups around the globe fail. Many times, startups are backed by great ideas as well as awesome founders, then why can’t things be materialized as intended? From what I understand, and I am sure many will agree with this as well, the biggest challenge for startups today is not securing funding or having a great idea, rather the biggest challenge is hiring. Continue reading →

Hurdles For an Aspiring Entrepreneur From an Indian Middle Class Family

Since I decided to take the path of an entrepreneur, I have met a lot of people in the past one year. A lot of them have genuinely asked me this question, “How did you convince your parents?”

Well, I belong to a very typical middle-class Indian family. No one in my family has even run a business, no one. In fact, most of my family members are into government jobs. When I told them what I was up to, they thought I had lost my mind. Well, they still think so. And this is not the story just for me. In fact, this is a very common occurrence and I am sure a lot of Indian entrepreneurs can relate to this. Continue reading →

The Professor as an Entrepreneur

All those who know me well know that my ultimate goal in life is to be an entrepreneur and a teacher. If I combine both, we get a new term “Academic Entrepreneur.” And that is what I want to be. And like Prof. Randy Pausch said in The Last Lecture, “If you can sell, why not sell education.”

I have always believed Professors are entrepreneurs. Now don’t go rolling on the floor laughing about that statement. I am sure many of you do not agree, maybe because you never had that kind of teachers around you. But I am sure some would agree as well who have had the chance to study and work with some of the academic entrepreneurs around the world. In simple terms, that is what I think Professors should be. They should be entrepreneurs, academic entrepreneurs. Continue reading →