Virtual Scientist

Jan 2017 would mark 8 years of me out of college and about 7 years of following the dream full-time - wanting to connect every institution in the world back to their alumni! That's Awesome!! can be the first reaction. But wait! Is it really? People these days are building startups, raising funding and going places within 2-3 years! “What the hell are you doing?” my best friend taunted me. The question put me in deep thought. As I discovered the connecting dots, I thought it would be good to share them: The journey has been tough, some ups and many downs, but I enjoyed all along the way! When I started, I knew it's not gonna be easy and I was prepared for a long haul. Though I had ideas, I did not have a plan. After spending close to 8 months exploring various thoughts, I decided to work full-time on the idea of Vaave. We started Coherendz in the extra passage space at the guest house of BHUMI (an NGO we volunteered for). The trade off was to manage it for being allowed t...

My friends know that I always claim to be 23 years old :D.  Ok here I admit today,  I am 23 since last 7 years. I formally started the company when I was 23 and ever since my age refused to grow. Today, not sure why, I feel a little old, a little wise. I look into the mirror and see the white hair shouting at me – “Oh Paresh, you entered the Thirties”. That left me wondering – how fast the last 10 years went by? I sat introspecting about my twenties and I could connect the dots looking backwards. I stumbled upon website building Couple of months before I entered 20’s , I stumbled upon a piece of article meant for school kids in a newspaper that showed some basic html code and grabbed my attention. I was introduced to Internet a little earlier by my brother. Net connection at home wasn’t available  those days and so I  saved almost every Html & Javascript tutorial I found and carried them home in Floppy Drive (yes the 1.44 MB ones)...

yes the same seagull in the book “ Jonathan Livingston Seagull ” by Richard Bach that inspires all of us It’s been little more than 5 years since I moved out of college to choose entrepreneurship over placement @ NITIE. I came back to Hyderabad in Jan 2009 with the “Guru” style thought “mai biginess karunga”. Though there were many ideas shortlisted to work on and a little prize money from b-plan competitions, I had no plan laid out. Coherendz was started while in campus and had completed more than 15 projects by then. The idea of alumni portals existed back then, but I wasn’t very particular about choosing a sector. I knew, whatever I work on would be a first step that would prepare me for a long haul, so I started! After 6 months of experimenting with various ideas and decided to pursue building our product – vaave, we setup our fulltime office in November 2009. The first 10 months were so good that made me sometimes wonder why people said: “entrepreneurship is toug...

Disclaimer: I know my this piece of scribbling will spark a debate about my personal life, i am writing this post as a continuation of the post on yourstory.in a few days ago http://yourstory.in/2013/03/ys-lounge-10-reasons-why-dating-an-entrepreneur-is-a-bad-idea/  Date in the context is looking forward for long term relationship. Everything said in the post was true, however I felt it presented a half picture so here i go... (replace "he" with "she" and vice versa to match your preference, am not a female chauvinist) Knows the value of time, can create time for you : Prioritizes time differently, an entrepreneur values time so much that feels 24 hrs a day is very less, he has so many ideas and so many things to do that family gatherings or parties do not fall into his priority list, however when you need his time, he has the ability to put aside everything for you. He does not worry about losses while making choices. He has the ability to create time for yo...

Does any of the parents today aspire their kids to start a kiraana store? Most would answer with a NO!! Leave alone kiraana, they do not want their to take up any kind of business!! When i was working on an idea for quick service food chain (in simple words: selling food on cart), i faced stiff resistance from my dad, it was an idea that won me 2 business plan competitions. He rather, then allowed me to pursue setting up a software firm. Reason: they feel it is a dignified profession!!  In India, these professions, Grocery / Provisional Store or to that matter any shop, is considered as income source for those who cannot secure a job! Even parents already in these professions want their educated kids to look out for a "White Collar" Job. Are these professions risky? No, they will run as long as we use soap/ toothpaste or till we stop eating!  Do they require heavy investments? No! A kiraana store can be setup with a max of 50k in hand. Are the revenues le...

I was at my campus (NITIE) couple of days ago, had a small session with juniors who were interested in starting business. There was a nice metaphor that struck me when questions were asked - how do I get funding?, how do I find a co-founder? Which idea is the best? I am making an attempt to jot down the insights, like any other metaphor request to take this in its spirit. This post is intended to my young friends who are planning to start business. Entrepreneurship like a sport, is a passion, and sportsmen across the globe, do not take it up for fame or money, they do for they love the game, also most of the sportsmen do not choose the game looking how popular it is, they just try it, feel they are good at it and take it up seriously. How to start? Once you decide to take it up, regular exercise is a critical part of it. So, say the exercise you choose is jogging. Jogging everyday is like starting a small business that gives you revenue. You start with probably a mile for first we...

Reposted from article written for our alumni magazine I was wondering on what I should write about. The alum team approached me to write about my entrepreneurial journey straight after NITIE, however I felt it would be nice if I write something that is of interest to many. I decided to write about my learning's during the attempts in building an organization. It’s been just about 30 months of bootstrapping experience and fewer attempts to build an organization, which is far negligible compared to magnanimity of this subject. I am just trying to pen my thoughts and understanding of what it is. For a quick intro, I moved out of NITIE to take up fulltime job as the business that I had started while I was a student. During early 2009, recession came as an omen for me to take up the entrepreneurial journey, and I got my winter internship papers ready and moved out of campus without informing Pundir sir, our placement dean (frankly I did not have courage to tell this to him). It’...

Satya Sai Baba! People who believe him call him GOD! Few tag him as fake... Few others Say, he did good despite controversies.. Some say he did no harm... I am not sure, i probably was never got a chance to get closer to peep into his life even... so wish to restrain and play safe! What struck me when I was going through newspapers was... he built an empire of Rs. 40,000 crore! I don't know why, i quickly relate things to business and here are a few thoughts i could collect... Entrepreneur solves  "needs"  of people, and creates a market..... for me he is no less than an entrepreneur who capitalized on the innate need of people -  "Belief" . We often fall short of belief in ourself and seek external support to reinforce it... More often its either GOD or people whom we feel are near to GOD! Trusting someone you feel is more powerful as it removes fear and gives us power! So this (holy) man  "May"  have used various techniques to...