Virtual Scientist

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...

For last couple of weeks… I was caught up in much of a debate with my fellow mates at BHUMI  and few others who knew about Freedom Under Construction . The discussions was mainly around points raised by my dearest friend Rakesh Dubbudu , An ardent RTI Activist (you read about his work in newspapers once almost every couple of months) and one of founding members of BHUMI. He raised simple and most valid questions that every citizen need to think on...Plenty of discussions already on the facebook page ). One question that struck me was… Why are we doing things that Govt. is supposed to do?  Here is my attempt NOT to answer the question… but just wish to express my thoughts on them... Are we supposed to do them? Govt. is supposed to do in first place; we need to remind the responsible authority and get things done. NGO’s just do all the work that Govt. is supposed to do… (NGO’s I mean all those emphatic people who take up activities feeling sorry about the situation) Th...

I am revisiting my blog post on AIDS on this day Dec 1st. 2009 :) Two years ago on this day i wrote a post " Fight Against AIDS " as an attempt for spreading awareness. I sent it out as a mailer, and was most happy when 2 months later I received the same mailer forwarded by one of my friend. Here i am today to just with the thought of what actually causes AIDS... I did not get answers, but more questions came to mind... is it really the virus that causes AIDS? or is it our personality that spreads AIDS? If we look at evolution, The virus was just created for what it was meant to do... and it is doing its duty. Though there are several technical reasons on how the virus spreads and a campaign is on, for creating awareness, what i realized is, they are mostly the emotions and attitudes that cause the spread of HIV, and there is a need for awareness campaign on emotions and attitudes that spread it... I just listed a few I got to my mind, please comment o...

After the resolve to write my blog regularly, here I am… with my first post on "my pursuit of happiness" About 9 months ago I made the decision to move out of placements looking at the recession, which came as an omen, not to put 'corporate job for one year' even as an option. The omen goes like this… The placements at NITIE that usually took 3 days showed no signs of settlement even after 30 days. The 100% placement record since inception seamed to break with our batch. The two Business Plan contests I won just preceding the placement season augmented to my bank balance, providing seed capital for 8 months sustainance. Mujeeb (President, BHUMI ) had come to mumbai and the 2 year old plan to set up "Lazeez" for bhumi's sustainability moved out of shelves. Dad seamed very supportive and wanted me to find a job in Hyderabad!  and that’s it :) I got my 'internship at BHUMI' letters ready… and I moved to hyderabad without informing our Placeme...

Many at times my friends, colleagues and relatives ask me this question what do you get by doing social service... this is meant for the people who have well settled in their lives... have much time to spend and so do social service to pass their time!!! “you first settle in your life, build up your career then do service to society” is what every one advices me... this made me think, think again and again... that made me to question myself “what did BHUMI give to me?” First thing what BHUMI did was... it made me to think! It made me realize “what I am and what I want to become”... In short it made me realize my true potential; ‘Paresh’ a year back was a procrastinating guy, used to watch movies first day first show, spending most of the time either chit chatting or roaming along the roads; though I used to study simultaneously, Life was never so interesting. BHUMI taught me how to handle things in critical situation... coz, for the whole time I had been with BHUMI, life alwa...