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I finished reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell a couple of days back and lots of thoughts have been churning in my head. Putting them down as a letter to myself - a letter I would write to the 20 year old Venkat whose career is just beginning ( also applicable to anyone who is in college right now ). Hi Venkat, How are you doing? How is your new college? Here are some tips for you. 1. Eat Breakfast.  This is not from Outliers - but my personal advice. I never ate breakfast in college - slept late, woke up late and would miss breakfast. Just by eating your breakfast daily you will get a better grade. Trust me. 2. Work hard. You see your class topper ace in all the subjects. You think he has got an extra chunk of grey matter. Take a peek into his life - he works hard and works effectively. Takes notes in class, brushes through the chapter before coming to class, and he practices the problems. His parents taught him the right methodology to study, perhaps he had a cousin who taught h...

Today I attended the Bangalore Open Coffee Club's meeting in an interesting venue called Jaaga. Before I  jump into Mr.Sharad Sharma's speech / adrenaline shot - will talk a little about Jaaga. It is spear headed by Freeman Murray and Archana Prasad. They have identified an unused piece of land - and has built this structure with minimal and eco-friendly materials. This space can be used by NGOs or communities who want a place to get together, startups can come and plug in etc.  They call it the Urban Community Art Architecutre Experiment - http://jaaga.wikidot.com/start . Brilliant concept and I am sure you will be visiting this place sometime in future - it is going to take off well.  Now to the Orbit Change Catalyst's lecture ( thats his twitter bio   http://twitter.com/sharads  )  Mr.Sharad Sharma took us through his entrepreneurial journey and kept giving his insights and his learning peppered with lot of interesting anecdotes. 1. Innovation ...

Who is lifting the world on their shoulders? Politicians? Philosophers? Writers? Philanthrophists? None of the above. The right answer is - entrepreneurs / business folks - they are the ones lifting the world. They create new markets, promote new ideas, blaze new paths by fighting the system, fighting stereotypes, taking risks against all odds. In this post I will introduce you to "Atlas Shrugged" - a magnum opus by Ayn Rand.  This book glorifies the entrepreneurial spirit. The key players : Looters These are the scum of the society - apparently holding top positions. The top brass in the Government, the industry lobbying heads - they do not produce anything but they loot - from the business and from the public. They know only to take and not give anything. They outnumber and control the producers. Producers The producers are the entrepreneurs, the inventors, the innovators. They are the ones fighting the system to introduce new ideas and keep the world ticking and moving for...

"The FountainHead" by Ayn Rand is an eye opener in many ways. Howard Roark is an architecture school student who has a different philosophy on how buildings should be built. He wanted to build structures that will be aesthetically pleasing, economically meaningful, in tune with the environment and the building should make a statement. Whereas the industry was aping what the Gothic and romantic architectures of the past had built - with meaningless arches, facades and wasted space. He is thrown out of his college because he refuses to design the traditional architecture and struggles for work - but he never once compromises on his ideals . He waits and his time comes and the world accepts his style of architecture. It is one man against a well established industry who tries hard to keep him down. But the harder you push a ball into water - the faster it rises out and with more force - Howard Roark wins in the end. As an entrepreneur - you might have battles yourself - as you...

The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho This book written by the Brazilian author, Paulo Coelho - is a very very bad book - in a good way  - because it has the potential to change your life upside down !! You can finish it on a weekend  - 160 pages is all it is. It traces the journey of Santiago, the shepherd boy who goes in hunt of a treasure. This book will have a huge impact on your life. While reading and after reading it will leave you disturbed, questioning yourself, and if you had suppressed a dream - a dream of starting your own business, or learning something like guitar which you keep postponing, or going on a crazy bike ride to another city - anything - these dreams will come alive and will dance before you. The book teaches  you to follow your heart. It is as simple as that. In fact all of Paulo Coelho's books have this recurring theme - do not suppress your dream, you have one life and you have to allow it to go where it is destined to go. Do not restrict yourself saying this is ...

First the disclaimer - I don't have the answer to the question - What is the secret sauce of these companies. It is a rhetorical question. Today morning I woke up to be greeted with iPod shuffle - and Apple has released a simple but very useful feature ( unlike the shuffle feature they bragged about in shuffle's first release ). Now shuffle can talk to you about the song or the playlist name - very neat. Most of the time when you are working out or driving - it is hard to switch playlists - now this feature has made it really easy to use an iPod. I hope Apple updates its firmware so my iPod classic gets this feature. But it makes me wonder how Apple can consistently come up with "cool" features. Is it the culture, is it because of Steve Jobs, is it some magic potion they put in the employee's food? I really wish Steve Jobs writes a book on Apple. Nintendo is in the same league as Apple. Their graphics is rudimentary when compared to PS3 or XBOX 360. But Nintendo...

Last weekend we saw the movie "300" - the amazing story of a crazy bunch of 300 Spartans who bring the mighty Persian army to its knees - almost. Had I watched this before I started working on Apartment Adda , I might have only appreciated this movie for its slick production and technicality. But I was emotionally involved and felt charged up while seeing this movie.  The Spartans believed firmly in their abilities - all their life they practiced for this one day. They were able to draw all their life's experiences and lessons to this one fight - which they know is extremely hard and odds are stacked heavily against them. Yet, they hold on amazingly as wave after wave of attacks hit them. It is a fantastic story that will inspire you and push you to do things that seem daunting - just like running any startup. Like the Spartans, Apartment Adda is a lean team now  - and we are trying to build useful features, build a brand name, sell the product, support our customers, fig...

" The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something." -  Randy Pausch This quote is from the last lecture delivered by Randy Pausch. There is so much to learn from his life experiences.

Guy Kawasaki is following me on Twitter !! Woohoo - I was shocked when I saw this message. Thanks Mr.Kawasaki!! Some day I will take you out for lunch - to a sushi bar or an Indian restaurant when we meet. You have been a great influence on how I think and run my startup.