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The Al Dente Moment – What Pasta can teach Entrepreneurs!
May 7th
I am obsessed with Pasta. Ever since I traveled to Italy to get trained in the factories there (I used to work in my father’s socks factory), I cannot get Pasta, its permutations, shapes and sizes and of course how it is cooked – out of my mind.
In the context of Pasta, Al Dente in Italian literally means ‘To the tooth’. This refers to that ‘perfect’ moment when the Pasta is firm, strong, crisp and cooked – but not soft and supple. It’s just the way it should be. The best way to get your Pasta to be Al Dente is to keep nibbling on a piece of Penne or the Fettuccini while it is boiling. The very moment you can bite into the pasta and yet feel its firmness, it’s ‘Al Dente’. Immediately drain, add whatever you have to into your Pasta and enjoy (I like it with very little garlic and mushrooms sautéed in olive oil with mixed Italian herbs and top it with grated parmesan cheese). Buona Appetito!
Now, observing the ‘Al Dente’ method has inspired me to think of ‘perfect moments’ as they appear in an Entrepreneur’s life. As they say, you can never time anything to perfection, but just like Pasta, if you know when your best time is near, you can leverage it well.
Some of the instances when an Entrepreneur can enjoy her ‘Al Dente’ or perfect moment:
I can barely cook, but my cooking is better than yours.
Sometimes, knowing little of something absolutely new is better than knowing everything of something very old. To explain – in 2003, when we began working with Sony television in India on Mobile VAS, we were the only Company in India to understand ringtones, sms gateways etc. Just the fact that we could manage ‘mobile stuff’ won us the Indian Idol business in India and 50% revenue sharing across the board. Circa 2009, everybody knew how to do everything and the party was over. But in those 6 years, we managed to fund and exit the business!
Grow the Walnut – Don’t try to eat it if you can’t open it.
In 2006, Mobile2win China was in business since the last 5 years and the operational difficulties in China were increasingly hammering us. We had a great platform, operator connectivity across the length and breath of the PRC and very scalable technology. With all this, we were still struggling to make money. We had grown and ripened a beautiful walnut but couldn’t understand how to open it and enjoy it. If we waited too long, the fruit inside would rot. As we were wondering, the Walt Disney Company came along. They were keen to have a ready-made mobile platform with operator connectivity in China! They weren’t looking for revenues in a Company but an operation with employees and licenses and the knowhow. They bought out mobile2win from us in an all cash transaction that made us 6x on our original investment. Disney was the squirrel who was destined to eat the nut. We were fortunate to find them at just the perfect time!
Being the first item on the buffet table.
By 2007, lots of VCs who had made money in the MMOG (massive multiplayer online games) business in China and Korea were punting that India would be the next geographical bet for massive valuation businesses using these games. Their thinking was that China and India were similar in many ways, and if Shanda and The9 could become billion dollar plays in China, the same story could repeat itself in India. As part of this punt, VCs began looking at entrepreneurs in India who had gaming experience, and my name along with that of my co-founder – Mahesh Khambadkone popped up. A few meetings later, we had co-founded Games2win and were given a cheque of 5 million dollars by Clearstone Venture Partners to start up that business. It’s full credit to Clearstone that they quickly accepted our point that MMOG was not working and allowed us to change our business model to casual snacky browser games. But Games2win was started up because we were the first set of entrepreneurs that the VCs met when they came to the buffet table. I guess we were the right people, in the right place and at the right time.
‘When’ is a matter of personal taste..
If you look at the cases of Yahoo passing Microsoft, Groupon saying no to Google, it’s the chef saying, ‘I don’t want perfect Al Dente. I’m happy to serve the pasta maybe soft, maybe supple but at the time I want to serve it’. Nothing wrong with that! Yahoo and Groupon continue to march on. On the other hand, Sabeer Bhatia sold Hotmail much earlier than the Al Dente moment. Given the way valuations have soared, Hotmail could have fetched 4 Billion, not 400 million? Who knows?
If there was ever a perfect ‘Al Dente’ moment, it was when Steve Case sold AOL to Time Warner. A small fledgling company positioned itself so cleverly to an old media behemoth and the values that it extracted are now historical and soul shattering. Unfortunately, in the case of Time Warner, what they thought was ‘Al Dente’ Internet Pasta turned out to be Al Dente Rotting Garbage. Billions of dollars of value were destroyed cleaning up that horrible stinking kitchen (AOL+Time Warner).
Chef’s tip: Be your own Chef. Taste your Pasta at all times. When you think the time is right, just serve it – ‘Al Dente’ or not.
[via Rodinood]
Are you happily married?
Apr 26th
They say that happily married couples begin to look like each other as they age and grow older. I don’t know how far that is true, but I do know for sure that getting the right co-founder(s) for your business can be as rewarding as the soul mate you may have found or may still be searching for.
It takes two to tango
Hewlett Packard, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Larsen and Toubro – look around and will be stunned by the number of legendary firms that have been built by two or more partners. There is a magic that comes alive when like-minded people come together to create an enterprise. Sure, there are businesses like Facebook or Apple that are one man armies, but if you speak to Marc Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs, I am sure they would agree to some of these concepts:
Ownership:
The Soul of a Company rests with its founders. Sure, the heart lies with key executives and senior management but there is that critical heartbeat that only founders can emit. Pain is what founders feel whereas discomfort is what employees feel.
Ask any start up entrepreneur and she will understand. Hired folks who seem so dedicated and committed to your business suddenly become cold and unattached when it is appraisal time or even the weekend. It’s co-founders who have 2 hearts that beat simultaneously.
Race Tactics:
I often say that a start up is like a relay race. You run your course and then hand over the baton (Company) to the next runner (acquirer) who runs his lap. In reality, after the first lap, when the entrepreneur looks around for the acquirer, there isn’t anybody there. That’s when you need your partner to really take the lead so that you can slow down for a couple of laps at least.
I remember what Gaurav Deepak of Avendus Capital told me once. He said ‘Alok, when I get beaten down and am completely dispirited, I look forward to my partners to take over from me’. It’s similar to professional bicycle racing. The lead racer takes on the headwinds for a few laps and then slowly slips behind for the next biker to take the lead in rotation, always making sure that their team is leading.
I meet so many older generation and very successful entrepreneurs who run small and medium businesses. They have no co-founders and lead very sad lifestyles. They rarely take holidays, work almost all days in a year and seem so distanced from their families. They just haven’t understood the concept of co-owners.
Ditch the Horoscopes:
In the arranged marriage circuit, the easy way to drop the discussion for either the boy or the girl being matched together is to inform the mediator that ‘the horoscopes didn’t match’.
In my humble start up experience, my belief is that the similarity of the mindsets (more than training and skills) is what actually makes the value creation happen.
If your co-founders have the same set of principles, goals and dos and don’ts, then everything falls into place. It’s not about ‘I am the marketing guy and my co-founder is the tech guy’. It’s about a couple that THINKS in the same manner, even before doing.
Try this test – take Co-founders of a great Company into separate rooms and ask them ethically challenging questions – you will notice that their answers will be identical.
Role Playing:
There is a fine balance of role-playing in a relationship that works well. In the highly complex business world of today, you need clear demarcations of who is the aggressor- the person who fires and screams, the mild mannered founder – who should always be in front of the investors, the motivator – the leader and sure enough the partner who can call you in the middle of the night without any hesitation.
Study successful marriages carefully and you will see how beautifully role-playing is carved out. Couples quickly figure out their strengths and weaknesses and then distribute who does what as they start and raise their families.
In my businesses, I am the bad guy. The maniac, who loses his patience and just blows up like a fuse. But how do I get away with it? All thanks to my co-founders who balance my destructive behavior beautifully.
Sometimes it’s time to let go:
Sure, the best of relationships drift apart. Sometimes the departure can be ugly and sometimes just smooth and easy. The real challenge is to accept it and move on. I see folks clinging on to partnerships and co-founders who have stopped creating value and are actually destroying equity. It’s your role to step up and actually have the heart to tell your partner to move on.
Trust me, when you put on that Armor of Steel and let go, you will be so relieved by the burden that was crushing you and in a few months or years, your co-founder will thank you for the move.
Partners are what make life successful. Don’t ignore them.
[via Rodinhood]
Which Train are you Riding?
Apr 7th
Often, when I ride a train, I look at my co-passengers and wonder where have they come from and where are they headed. The train is my metaphor of traveling – not distances but careers and lives, and how the decisions that we make may turn into the best or worst journeys ever!
The Subway
Recently I had the privilege to interview someone who had changed his jobs 13 times in 4 years. When I told him that in 48 months, changing 13 jobs meant that he had not even spent an average of 4 months in a job, he chuckled and said, ‘Yes Sir, I am in big demand’. Honestly, I felt like charging him for the coffee that my office had served him. How I wish I had read his resume before getting into the room. (He was one of those frivolous introductions one has to meet as an obligation).
This call center guy turned analyst turned telemarketer turned support service guy is the quintessential ‘subway rat’. Folks like him ride short distances; work nights more than days, nibble away loose food (quick moneys) and live in the world of dark underground, in the sewers of negative progress. I have to yet meet a subway rat that came out of the subway alive.
Despite my revulsion, I still resolved to be helpful and asked him – ‘So, think of yourself 5 years from now. What do you think you will be good at? How long do you think you can keep doing this?’ Mr. Rat had already switched off by then. Possibly the bright lights of my office and my fatherly questioning was not his poison. He quietly slipped away.
A lot of folks are entrapping themselves by riding very short career plans. Sure it’s the quick money, but what they don’t realize is that they ARE losing something very important – Experience in a domain & a normal lifestyle!
The Inter City Trains
I so loved this train that I rode from a Central station (got there via a Subway) that took me to a beautiful hillside resort for a day and then got me back.
The journey lasted for a couple of hours both ways. It went via the city, across the country and into the hills. It made me think of young folks I know who have taken similar career journeys. Dedicated to a job for at least 4-5 years, learning the business and the domain, weathering the seasons of change, understanding the ups and downs – just like this train would have encountered everyday when it made its journey, and across the year.
It’s fun to ride this train once and surely not every day. There is a difference between a fast rushing subway ride that makes you meet exciting new people versus this longish boring ride that always goes thru the same hills and trees.
But it’s the penance of the journey that takes you a long way head. The Inter City takes you out of the Subway and into a real City.
Our best folks of 2win, after having spent 5-7 years in our group Companies have taken up senior positions in companies like Yahoo, Disney, Turner etc. These are the folks who have ridden the Inter Cities, bore the brunt of long journeys and have come out shining like Gold. Similar stories abound with focused individuals who took on a tough and grueling job for a few years, only to come out on top of their race and then join the biggest companies of their Choice.
The Long-Haul Train.
Almost 20 years ago, I rode a train that took me from Mumbai to Bhubaneswar (in the State of Orissa in India). I remember it being almost a 3 nights and 4-day journey. After the excitement of the 1st night, the 2nd and part of the 3rd day were dreadful. The journey never seemed to end. Then interestingly, post lunch on the 3rd day, a certain calm and patience came over me. I knew that the train was moving and headed towards its destination. I had to wait. During that period, I read, played cards and even studied a bit (shucks – there was no iPad then).
When I compare my two entrepreneurial journeys so far (a decade with my father making socks for him in his factory) and another decade as a digital entrepreneur, that train journey constantly flashes before me.
I see so many similarities between that physical train and the career train that I have ridden:
- An immediate excitement when the journey starts that quickly turns into boredom.
- Sometimes just getting frustrated that this journey is never ending.
- The Highs and lows – the small breaks at small stations which seem to give you freedom from entrapment of the train and yet the whistle that makes you duck into the train again reminds me of the mini successes I had enjoyed in my business ventures, yet knowing that it’s not the end and I have to go back and do much more.
- A routine inside the train that becomes a habit. So working day to day, doing the mundane and unexciting jobs while remembering that it’s all part of a long journey.
- Fellow passengers who get on and get off between stops and cities remind me of fellow colleagues who joined us, stayed in the companies and then hopped off when they felt they had done their distance.
Even the longest train journeys finally end in happiness. The rush of completing a long journey is incomparable. In longer planned careers, this is exactly the feeling. Folks become masters of an industry, revered for their experience and are recognized as thought leaders who have demonstrated the fortitude of surviving long and arduous journeys.
The Cross Country Trains.
I hear of train journeys that take months and sometimes years to complete – trains like the Trans Siberian Railway (takes weeks).
I have never attempted such a journey and doubt I ever will.
Career wise, it seems that you are committing to a journey that you cant get out of, hop off mid way and quickly go back to where you started. Imagine riding the Trans Siberian and getting of mid way in Siberia!
A lot of ‘government’ job employed folks remind me of this type of train travelers. People who take up a job in a PSU assuming that it will last forever. Not really caring where the train is even going as long as they get the monthly stipend and yearly increment. Folks who increasingly become ‘isolated’ from the real world remaining cocooned in this train that chugs along without care.
An uncle of mine had proudly got his young son married a few years on the boast that he was employed by Air India and hence a job and salary was guaranteed. I was always intrigued how any Company in the world could generate a perpetual cash flow for itself and I felt worried for the girl and her family. A month ago my uncle was complaining that Air India was delaying salaries. And the tragedy is that his son will never be able to work for anyone else. If you sit in a train for 7 years and get fed and housed, you will never know what to do if you land up on a stationary platform.
Finally, what kind of train travelers are serial entrepreneurs?
Believe it or not – they ride the Subways, Inter City and Long Haul.
Not as passengers but as the train drivers. Never getting down.
Getting Noticed with Akshaya Murthy
Nov 3rd
This article was featured in the Experts Corner section of GrowVC.com – the virtual silicon valley on 29th Oct 2010. The article covers some aspects of making your startup visible online. the main article can be accessed here: http://ibng.me/dkNx0M Read on after the break.
Which Train are you Riding?
Oct 18th
Often, when I ride a train, I look at my co-passengers and wonder where have they come from and where are they headed. The train is my metaphor of travelling – not distances but careers and lives, and how the decisions that we make may turn into the best or worst journeys ever!
Read more after the break
Are you bribed to work or is your work a bribe?
Sep 13th
For the past 12 years of being involved with Start Ups, I’ve always been quizzed about compensation questions, dilemmas, challenges and upsets that prevail in entrepreneurial set ups. This is my attempt to put my words where my money is.
Are you Bribed to work?
Sure you are, if you in a typical ‘corporate’ Fortune 500 Job!
Read on after the break.
Idea 279: Start a multi-author blog
Mar 22nd
A single author blog is easy to maintain, and run. You have no one to convince, except yourself. But if you are thinking of a multi-author blog Darren Rowse of The Casual Observer has some insights for you. Head here – link
Idea 272:Make your blog work for you.
Mar 18th
Have a blog running your life but not enough money flowing in off the adverts that you post on your blog? Chances are that you are running a pay per click program on your blog. The problems with CPC based adverts are a million but there are ways to get around these headaches. To start
Idea 267: Find the right CEO for your company
Mar 17th
Why bother finding a good CEO for your startup? Ever heard of the HP fiasco? A good CEO can help you avoid those scenarios, and grow your business at the same time – like Eric is right now, for Google. More expert tips on finding the right CEO here – link
Idea 250:Make sure your ideas make the cut before you implement it.
Mar 11th
OK, how many of you have been trying out ideas for a LONG time with no success what-so-ever? I am guessing 99% of you. The problem is that you have a great idea, but your idea may not have a market. Make sure you do your research before you dive. More at this link –
