One of the dilemmas I think a would be entrepreneur might face is whether to “think small” or to “think big”.

Think Small:

Considering you have never tried your hand at entrepreneurship earlier, have finally gathered the courage to say good bye to the corporate world and are in times of self-doubt, you may find comfort in thinking small – “to do the doable”. Thinking small would mean being conventional in terms of value of the solutions or services, impact, size, scale, investments and returns. The would be entrepreneur might be ok with it because that’s what he thinks he’s most comfortable or confident with. And everything starts small (bottom-up) anyways. On the other hand the ‘think small’ attitude might lead one to question is it really worth leaving the comfort zone. ‘play-it-safe’ versus ‘are the returns of thinking small really worth pursuing?’

Think Big:

We know returns on efforts are directly proportional to one’s ability to think big. Thinking big will lead to a proportionate sized effort and hopefully returns. However for one used to working in a ‘do-as-directed-mode’ in the corporate world, ‘think big’ might be very overwhelming and could potentially scare the would be entrepreneur from taking the plunge.

We all know if we are thinking then might as well think big, however at the same time how do we ensure it does not scare the first timers off? How can a smooth and confident transition be made from the think small to think big? What are your thoughts and advice?

I have come to realize it takes guts to just think big – ‘Dare to Dream‘.

I will be on my annual vacation to India from Oct 11 to Nov 9 – both days inclusive. After slogging for 15 months in Hong Kong, this is the first real long break I will be taking and I am really looking forward to it.

Looking forward to:

• getting my bad back fixed.
• eating a lot of junk food.
• meeting with friends and family.
• speaking to a few entrepreneurs.
• partying in my farm house.
• driving my 2.5 ton 4WD car.
• visiting a few religious places.
• touch and feel India’s business space.
• shopping.

If you wish to get in touch, you know which number or email I will be available on. Hope to see you soon.

Source startupdunia.com:

An insightful article by “Businessworld” on the scene of online advsertising market in India. Informative and interesting.

The original Google thesis. Interesting read.

A great post yet once again from Paul Graham. He has listed few of the common reasons why people are reluctant in starting a startup of their own. He also classifies the reasons as valid concerns or bogus. And it serves as a checklist to exmaine one’s feelings.

The reasons are:

1. Too young.
2. Too inexperienced.
3. Not determined enough.
4. Not smart enough.
5. Know nothing about business.
6. No cofounder.
7. No idea.
8. No room for more startups.
9. Family to support.
10. Independently wealthy.
11. Not ready for commitment.
12. Need for structure.
13. Fear of uncertainty.
14. Don’t realize what you’re avoiding.
15. Parents want you to be a doctor.
16. A job is the default.

I initially thought I would extract the most important points and list them down here itself, but then having read the post multiple times already, I would say every line is important. And if I attempted to just highlight the key points and arguments that would some how not convey the entire picture and meaning correctly. Which is absolutely critical.

However the very essence of the post is to start a startup early, rather than looking for a regular job for the sake of experience. A regular job tends to take you away from the goal of starting your own startup rather than assisting or speeding the very process. As a regular job would transform one into a tame animal and what a startup would be able to teach, a regular corporate job will not be able to in the same amount of time.

In a nustshell. The Sooner the better!

Source Wired.com:

The top 10 being:

1. Google
2. Apple
3. Genentech
4. Samsung
5. News Corp
6. Nintendo
7. Salesforce.com
8. Cisco
9. General Electric
10. Nvidia

Visit the article for the complete list. Raja of outsourcing – Infosys is ranked 14th.

Anil Gupte has suggested me to read a book called ”The Secret” and watch the movie too. Seems like the basic wisdoms of life have been very well written in this book.

By the way, I see that this book in Amazon.com has a ranking of #2. Must be really nice. The book has close to 994 reviews. The highest ranking and number of reviews I have ever seen for a book so far.

Need to get my hands on the book.

All this while I had been creating posts online, using WordPress’ online interface.

I came across “Windows Live Writer” – an offline blog editor from Microsoft this morning. My last post was written via Windows Live Writer. It’s a gem. Very easy to manage and create posts.

The software has a nice user interface and is free for download.

Cheers!

Yesterday I had the opportunity to catch up with my friend, customer and mentor  – Anil Gupte here in Hong Kong. He is on a trip to Hong Kong to attend the Electronics fair that is being held in Hong Kong’s Asia World Expo. 

He is an entrepreneur and a technologist par excellence and a great human being. A serial entrepreneur  having built and sold successful IT firms in the US. He is currently working on his new venture and I had the opportunity to help him build a part of his system, while I was working as a free lance developer / consultant back in India.

Anil is a great teacher and a mentor. He is the one from where I get most of my first hand  lessons on entrepreneurship. The other mentor being my father who has been a successful businessman since the past 30 + years.

Anil is a fighter, persistent, confident, positive, logical, patient, humble, down-to-earth and as he mentions he is not meant to fit into the corporate space. He loves challenges and looks at exploring life to the fullest.

He joined us for dinner at home last night.

SDA India Magazine and sda-india.com present the first of its kind conference on Java, Eclipse, Enterprise Architectures, SOA, Web Services, Software Testing, and Project Management, to the Indian Enterprise IT community of CIOs, CTOs, Management, System Analysts, Development Managers, IT Managers, Project Managers, Project Leaders, Software Architects, Software Developers, Software Testers, Database Administrators, and Web Developers. Whether you are a decision maker evaluating the use of these technologies, an IT business looking for partners and networking opportunities, or a working professional looking to stay on the cutting-edge of technology, this is one conference you don’t want to miss.

The core of the program is aimed at dissemination of information on all Java technologies, Eclipse and related technologies, Enterprise Architectures, and SOA, which are necessary ingredients for a successful business. Besides this, JAX also focuses on aspects pertaining to project management and software testing, which are key to the functioning of distributed enterprises

Date and Venue: 28th to 31st May 2007, J N Tata Auditorium, IISc, Bangalore, India

More details here.