Bootstrap Hyderabad

Blog.. from successful Indian software (Java Infra) products' entrepreneurs!

2006-12-10T08:34:00.000-08:00

Finally.. a blog from successful software products' entrepreneurs! Jay and Vijay Pullur, founders (now CEO and CTO) of Pramati technologies, have started their blog- "Software (Ad)Venturing- Reflections on software, innovation and entrepreneurship".

Looking at the first few posts, lookslike the theme is going to be the new web and the applications infrastructure trends therefrom. Not surprising given that Pramati is a pioneer in Java based applications infrastructure products. (Not many know that Pramati started off with a Product for "Java enabling HTML". Back in 1997-98. This was very similar to what is now JSPs!)

The Indian software industry is highly regarded world-wide (recently came across first hand situations where the large Indian software companies now help companies evolve their IT strategies and enterprise architectures! Compare thsi with even a few years back, when these same companies couldnt even directly influence an App Server decision!). But, the industry is still predominantly services focussed. Very few companies have ventured into software products. And even fewer have ventured into Infrastructure products space. And even even fewer have ventured from India! There are many comapanies that are started by Indians, but from bay area. Driven from the valley, with just the development happening in India. Not too different from any other company with offshore operations.

There are just a handful that have a product built, marketed, sold and supported from India! Pramati stands out, as the most widely known among such companies! (Need I say that I am very very proud of this, given my long association with Pramati! :-) ).

This blog must be interesting. Hearing from two "(ad)venturous" techies. Hopefully, sharing a glimpse of where some of these technologies (and possibly Pramati products) are heading. Do check it out- http://pullur.wordpress.com/

Clayton Christensen @ TiECON EAST 2006

2006-07-27T03:48:00.000-07:00

A very interesting keynote address was given by Clayton Christensen at TiECON EAST 2006.

At a special reception at TiECON East 2006, Prof Christensen spoke about his research and on ‘How to tell if a business idea will succeed or fail’.

In the first part of his talk, Prof Christensen talked of a model he developed as a part of his research, which has two elements; one, any business has a trajectory of improvement and second, that every market has a different trajectory of movement. A company can move up its trajectory with simple year to year improvements and still be of tremendous incremental value to customers. That is, small innovations can bring great satisfaction.

He discovered that the innovation did not have to be groundbreaking but it is enough that there is innovation to ensure that the company stays competitive.

Full article can be read here.

VC decay

2006-05-31T10:09:00.000-07:00

Some thoughts on the the decaying VC industry are here.
They got triggered because of this.

I think bootstrapping has become all the more easy because some of the reasons stated in the post.

Hyderabad metroblog- LIVE now

2006-05-30T02:22:00.000-07:00

Finally.. we have our own Metblog. Metroblogging-Hyderabad. Check it out at- http://hyderabad.metblogs.com/. The blog is a multi-author blog, as part of the worldwide Metroblogs grouping. Hyderabad now joins other cities with its own metroblog. Where we will share views and news from/of/for Hyderabad.

Interested in contributing? Can apply using: http://metroblogging.com/apply.phtml

Now is the time....

2006-05-25T05:00:00.000-07:00

.. to start venture... thats what Business2.0 latest edition reveals..

In the late 1990s, a typical VC-funded startup needed roughly $10 million to amass the infrastructure and staff required to carry the company from its first business plan to its first product launch. Today that cost has been reduced to just $4 million

This has been seconded by Bnoopy's post (An old post though)..

With reducing barriers and increasing opportunities...time to embrace entrepreneurship is coming close!

Are your ready to take the plunge?

2006-05-17T03:16:00.000-07:00

Madhu Menon of Shiok was interviewed by Economic Times in February this year where he talked about his trasition to a restaurateur from an IT man and shared ideas on what needs to be considered before taking the ultimate plunge.

Many of our fellow bootstrapper are in ideation stage so they should find it useful. Here is the link to a post on this by Madhu.

Bootstrap Bootcamp at Austin

2006-05-17T02:47:00.000-07:00

Kxan.com which focuses on Austin News has a story which has inputs from our very own Bijoy and fellow Austin boostrapper Tina. Tina is now on to her second bootstrap. She took the first plunge when she started YellowFin.

This story is a build up to the Bootstrap Bootcamp that Bijoy will be facilitating on 19th May 2006.

Check out the article and know how Tina took the first plunge and how Boeing is using bootstrap approach of "First Demo and then Sell" for Boeing 77.

Technology focussed StirrMixer event in Hyderabad?

2006-05-05T00:15:00.000-07:00

Came across this interesting movement in the bay area- http://www.stirr.net

They have two main monthly events- Stirr Mixers and Stirr Founders Table. The Stirr Mixers event is interesting (apart from the fact that I just love the name Stirr Mixers- given my deep interest in spirirts :-) ). This is where technologists, entrepreneurs, tech bloggers/journalists and investors can all meet up. The common ground being technology.

This is not too different from what we have set out to do at BootStrappers Hyderabad. While BootStrappers is more about just-start ing-startups, we do stronglybelieve that having it as a technology group will probably help promote more entrepreneural buzz in Hyderabad.

How about a BooStrappers' StirrMixer here? We can have one of the pubs host it. Say on a Saturday 11am? Can be pure dutch event- everyone pays for what they order. Can have a brief tech talk followed bty discussions.

What say?

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At STIRR our goal is to catalyze entrepreneurial activity in the SF Bay Area and beyond.

STIRR currently hosts two monthly events that help make things happen:

Our Mixers are open to everyone in the tech community (stealth-mode folk, startup-savvy engineers, journalists/bloggers, connectors and investors). Stirr Mixers are not sit-down-and-listen events, we want people to stand up, interact, socialize and swap thoughts/ideas. At Stirr mixers we provide an opportunity for early stage entrepreneurs to present ideas to their peer group

At our Founder's Table dinners we host up to 8 startup founders (and former founders) to discuss business challenges and forge relationships. This is a limited space event held once a month in both South Bay and San Francisco locations.

5 ways to start a company (without quitting your day job)

2006-05-04T05:21:00.000-07:00

Came across this article by Erick Schonfeld, Business 2.0 Magazine editor-at-large on Yahoo ! Finance today -

Key points from the article -

- Chances are you have always wanted to launch your own start-up

- Odds are you are still working for somebody else

- You did not start may because you are afraid to loose that steady paycheck

If you find yourself in this scenario; author provides a 5-point plan to help you kickstart your business.

Use Your Salary as Funding
Turn Common Complaints into a Business Plan (Idea)
Make your Boss a Beta Tester ~ not sure what it is the read the article through the link provided below.
Take Advantage of Your Company's Reputation
Convert your Employer into a Business Partner

Author provides relevant examples for each point. Find interesting, read on.

Here is the link

Beyound VoD - Right time to take investor cash

2006-04-26T11:18:00.000-07:00

From Bootstrap Network Blog:

Bijoy in a recent post titled "A Bootstrapper's approach to investor cash" pointed bootstrappers to a post by Matt Mullenweg, where he posted about selling a minority stake in the company to a few select partners.

Bijoy comments;

It's a common misconception that bootstrappers have a total aversion to investor capital. Rather, the bootstrapper knows that capital is just one of many interventions available to her. Applied at the right time (post VoD) and in the right dose (minority stake), it can be just the thing needed for the venture's next stage. By taking your venture through the Ideation and Valley of Death stages without investor capital, you take full advantage of a key bootstrap principle: necessity is the mother of innovation.When the organization emerges from the VoD, it has clarity about its "business model." By having the discipline to only consider investor money post VoD, the bootstrapper takes advantage of another key principle: money is an amplifier (and that's about all it is!).

Mass Media to Personal/ Partcipatory Media

2006-04-25T11:21:00.000-07:00

[via Bijoy]

From The Economist print edition

The article starts with ... "THE next big thing in 1448 was a technology called “movable type”, invented for commercial use by Johannes Gutenberg, a goldsmith from Mainz (although the Chinese had thought of it first). The clever idea was to cast individual letters (type) and then compose (move) these to make up printable pages. This promised to disrupt the mainstream media of the day—the work of monks who were manually transcribing texts or carving entire pages into wood blocks for printing. By 1455 Mr Gutenberg, having lined up venture capital from a rich compatriot, Johannes Fust, was churning out bibles and soon also papal indulgences (slips of boss Barry Diller comments, “Self-publipaper that rich people bought to reduce their time in purgatory). The start-up had momentum, but its costs ran out of control and Mr Gutenberg defaulted. Mr Fust foreclosed, and a little bubble popped............."

Elsewhere IAC (behind AskJeeves.com, match.com, evite.com...) boss Barry Diller comments, ".... Self- publishing by someone of average talent is not very interesting,” he says. “Talent is the new limited resource......"

Check out the article here.

Bootstrapping Strategies for Early Stage Companies

2006-04-25T04:31:00.000-07:00

This is a talk by Ashhar Farhan... in TiE Chennai
http://labsji.wordpress.com/2006/04/02/convert-your-2-cents-to-20m-with-almost-zilch-by-ashhar-farhan/

Any thoughts??

Play baseball with only one hand!

2006-04-21T21:27:00.000-07:00

Got this forwarded in Bangalore group.. found interesting!
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You CAN build the business of your dreams You are stronger than you think. You are more capable than you think. Lance Armstrong says this in his best-selling book and I believe him.

In business, in education, in non-profit community service, and in sports there are many noted examples of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. There are even more examples of less well-known people quietly, but confidently achieving their own impressive goals.

Think about baseball player Jim Abbott. Beyond playing for several major league teams, one could say his unmatched achievement was pitching with only one hand. Though I never met him, I imagine he was teased as a youngster. I imagine his family tried to protect him from disappointment. I imagine he met more than his share of raised eyebrows and expressions of doubt. I imagine he had to perform better than other pitchers just to get scouts to pay attention.

Afterall, how can someone play baseball with only one hand?

Jim Abbott was a joy to watch. In fact he was amazing. A memorable day was September 4, 1993 at Yankee Stadium when Jim Abbott became the seventh New York Yankee to pitch a no-hitter -- a tremendous accomplishment for any professional ball player. Clearly Jim Abbott paved his own road to success.

Similarly, entrepreneurial business building is not just about taking a different road; it's about taking an unpaved rocky road to an undiscovered place. Business builders have a vision for a different kind of product, service or business model. They believe in it, even though it may be well beyond other people's imaginations.

Unfortunately there are too many influences surrounding business builders that can easily undermine confidence and lead them to operate in the shadow of the black dog of doubt. Despite a confident public persona, we are painfully aware of our perceived inadequacies. We'd like to think we're never haunted by doubt or the potential for embarrassing failure, but all business builders are.

Actually, successful business builders don't have to have high IQ's, they don't have to have the best equipment, they don't have to have the most money, they don't have to have the most resources, they don't have to have an MBA or a college education from an elite school, they don't have to have fancy offices and they don't have to have all the contacts or come from the right side of town.

Yes, there will be times when business problems seem so complicated, so overwhelming, and so beyond your company's reach that it might seem like a complete joke to fight back. However, as much as you'd like to wish the problem away, the answer will always be in your own magic -- your own potent determination to find a way to beat the problem.

Within every young company is another David and Goliath story. We all know the tale of how a fearless, seemingly meager challenger out-smarts a powerful giant. On the battlefield, David takes his sling and selects a pebble that will penetrate the one place where the giant is vulnerable. The pebble reaches its target and Goliath crashes to the ground in defeat.

The next time you feel over-matched by the industry brute, remember every competitor has one or more weaknesses. You can find them! There is no single handicap that your own reservoir of grit and innovative thinking can't overcome.

Consider the combination of your capabilities as your own pebbles of power. Let them give you hope and confidence. Value them, nurture them, improve them, share them, and like an ol' Jim Abbott fastball, hurl them at your naysayers with pleasing satisfaction.

Entrepreneurship Wisdom by Gary Hoover

2006-04-21T01:40:00.000-07:00

Bootstrap-student recently brought Gary Hoover to UT campus.

Gary who is originally from Indiana studied economics at Chicago University. He then worked on Wall Street and later at two big department store chains. He then founded pioneering Bookstore chain BookStop. It was later bought by Barnes & Nobles for $41 million in cash. He is also the founder of Hoovers Inc.

Neville Medhora, who is one of my favorite bloggers captured the entire session in his post titled "Gary Hoover Speech". I hope you like it. (Neville's profile is slightly dated. Current update: He has already passed from UT at Austin and busy with his entrepreneurial pursuits.)

Some points that I specially liked;

Gary started reading fortune magazine at around 12 years of age.
He met a big failure like every successful person with Travel Fest (1993-1996).
He had a "3rd Grade Rule" about business plans: If a 3rd grader can't understand it, it's no good. He also said "Present it to your grandmother"
Gary put a lot of emphasis on reading business history, to avoid repeating same mistakes.

Nev in an earlier post captured bubbles in history, you may find them useful.

The one I liked the best - ………"You never know where the answers come from." He gave an example of a 6 year old who told him it was stupid to put children's books in BookStop so far away from his mom who was browsing in the cooking section………

For a detailed report check out Nev’s post.

(Image courtesy: www.bootstrapstudent.com)

Boot Wrap

2006-04-17T11:01:00.000-07:00

Boot Wrap is Bootstrap Network's monthly newsletter. To sign up send an email to: bootnews AT bootstrapnetwork DOT com.

Resources for entrepreneurs

2006-04-17T10:44:00.000-07:00

Via Bootstrap Austin Website:

Irrespective of the stage of your bootstrap enterprise, you will find these resources useful.

Bootstrap Enterprise ..........Various Stages

2006-04-17T10:37:00.000-07:00

If you are a bootstrap entrepreneur, chances are that you are at one of these three stages;

Ideation
Valley of Death
Growth

Read Darious Mahdjoubi's paper to know the definitions.

Welcome Bootstrappers!

2006-02-27T23:22:00.000-08:00

This blog will serve as a space to record the events and share knowledge among Hyderabad Bootstrappers.