We met Wilson Tan on a trade trip across China. In just over a week, thirty technology companies from the Asia Pacific region covered 3 cities and one hundred Chinese partners, trying to understand the opportunity that was China. Wilson was the President of the organizing body, (the outgoing President of Mercury interactive and on…
Category: Desi Startup
Funding for dummies…two
It’s not that money is not available. Or that you can’t raise it. Or that it’s a fairytale that come true for only a select few. Truth is a lot less absolute; there is no black and white, only shades of grey. Let’s take a look at how and why a 37 year old, father…
Funding for dummies…one
You dream, you write, you pitch. If you put your heart in it and have an idea with merit you collect, build, sell, retire and live happily ever after. You never have to ask, borrow or steal another dime since the millions of dollars you have put aside as a result of your efforts are…
Things to do in a down market when you are not dead…
We were lucky that the downturn hit us early. In July 2008 we lost two of our largest clients; within a week of each other and on a week’s notice… It made for interesting internal conversations and a scramble to conserve cash. We were luckier still that between attrition (top heavy), expense management (read: extended…
Dreams…
“Let’s just say I dare to dream bigger dreams”, said a spunky student when the rest of the class was done with introducing themselves. Quite a few sunsets and students later, the dreamer called again. This time he wanted to be a sponge and observe in first person the special sauce that made a technology…
Stepping out of your comfort zone…
2003 was a good year in many ways. On 1st of January we came back home after 4 moves in 4 years, one addition to our family and pitstops in London, New York, Southern California, Tokyo and Northern Virginia. 2003. 10 months later we were a team of 4 people, significantly cash flow positive, still…
The joys of working for yourself
In 1993 and 1996, I was too young to care or know the difference between a booming economy and a recession. In late 2000, I was too close. Come 2008, this is my third down cycle. Things are hard. At one level they are much harder than what was eight years ago – the outlook…
Things they never taught me at Columbia Business School…
Despite my numerous comments about how much I owe Bruce Greenwald, Mark Broadie, Don Sexton and Ralph Biggadike on this blog, there are a few thing that they didn’t get around to covering in my all too short stay in school. Here is my list The link between dropping kids to school and closing deals…
The state of the Pakistani Economy – part ii
(This post follows on the comments made in my previous post “The rise and fall of the Pakistani Rupee“) Entrepreneurs are the most irrational of all creatures. We see hope and optimism, when the rest of the world sees doom and gloom. While our internal outlook at times may turn to despair (we never have…
There goes your coolant; here comes your core…
Running a small business is difficult. No one ever said it would be easy. You sleep less and work harder and that is the part you actually enjoy. Everything else is a struggle. If your small business is a technology company it just upgrades your nightmares to a different class – your personal nuclear reactor…