Posts Tagged dreams of an entrepreneur
C&binet
Posted by Saurabh Gupta in Phonethics on October 21st, 2009
‘The Creative side of technology and the technology side of creative’ – its not how usually people respond when you ask what they do for a living!
But earlier this year I met 9 other entrepreneurs, communications and media business – people from all over the world and I was delighted to meet someone who did exactly ‘that’. Crisscrossing The UK, on an insightful tour of the Creative businesses across the country, we chatted about the opportunities and business scenarios back home and compared notes. Inspite of the general doom and gloom (this was Mar 09, the nadir of the financial meltdown) all of us were extremely positive about the business we were in. Each one of us had great conviction in what we did. Some of us used digital tools to deliver unique products that were commercial and some used digital media as a tool for social change. The magic lies somewhere in the combination of the two.
If you think of digital delivery as a lens that can scale the reach of critical information the problem (of finding sustainable business models) suddenly becomes an opportunity. In the context of a large and diverse emerging economy glamorous digital businesses like news and music pale compared to the demand for educational and health based content. The Creative Economy program by the British Council creates the type of mini network and more importantly awareness which is needed for entrepreneurs to re-focus on ‘digital needs’ as opposed to ‘digital desires’ of their consumers.
Traditional news and music businesses have (much) bigger demons to fight, than the internet, to survive in the new world-media order. All that the rest of us have to do, is meet up! See you at C&binet
How will you know when you’re successful?
Posted by Saurabh Gupta in Articles, Enter'prize', Mobile Content, Phonethics, Visual Alphabets on September 16th, 2009
At the International Young Communications Entrepreneur’s forum in London, earlier this year, I was asked a simple question by Sir Chris Powell (the founder of DDB London & Worldwide), “How will you know when you’re successful?”
The question had me stumped. I gold-fished my way through the answer but the question stayed with me.
“How does one know when one is successful?”
100 more clients? 20 offices? Global product? Networks? million followers on twitter? A boat? private planes? Two divorces and three alimonies?
What?
How was I to know when I was successful? Would there be a sign or waving flags at the finish line? An invisible red tape that I could chest proudly? The problem is an enterprise is not a 100 metre run, it’s not even a marathon, more often than not its an entrepreneur’s lifetime. It’s a long enough time to get lost chasing short term goals and lose sight of the ‘big picture’.
The question had me thinking and prompted me to take another look at what we were doing and where we were headed.
To imagine ‘success’. What it would look, taste, smell, feel like!
The answer came to me as i prepared a case-study presentation for the National Entrepreneurship Network. I went through the entire story of how Phonethics was set-up, how our office got sealed off in Delhi, how folks did good and bad by us and how we went from a -40L to a 2Cr+ set-up in 15 months. It struck me that the journey is the reward! The very attempt to strike out, to do something different, challenge the status quo, create is an extremely powerful emotion! (the money helps and frankly there’s more of it chasing you when you no longer chase it)
I’m proud of this journey and of our goals, thankful to my co-travellers and the entire eco-system and determined to never confuse ’success’ with ‘intent”
Friends, Employees, Partners, Lovers
Posted by Saurabh Gupta in Enter'prize', Phonethics on July 9th, 2009
A start-up needs them all.
Friends who will self-lessly provide connections, introductions and listen to you at the end of a dark day when it’s all working against you. Who will be honest yet compassionate as they test the Beta. You cannot (or at least should not) take them for granted.
Employees, who will (hopefully) deliver at least what they’re being paid for. Maintain confidentiality, perform as competent resources and believe (reasonably) in what they’re (and the venture is) doing. They are critical to your success but don’t brood over some you lose along the way – there’s always more where that came from.
Partners, who will share risk, stand by you come hell or high water, be open and bring on the table distinct value creation abilities. These have to be chosen wisely. The success of the venture and your personal health (as an entrepreneur working in infra strapped India) depends on these people.
Lovers, will be the most difficult. These are the folks who feel just as passionately about the idea as the founders. They will kill, maim, beg, borrow and die for the ’cause’. They will also be the most difficult to
manage and please. They are the self image of the entrepreneur and will demand the confidence and attention that can sap ordinary folks. Don’t (and you can’t) cheat them. Unfortunately, You don’t choose them, they choose you!
Every organisation has all of these within. Sometimes people will switch from being one to the other as they spend more time or change roles, grow older or simply come to ‘believe’.
The challenge for the entrepreneur is to figure who s/he is dealing with and respond accordingly. Everyone else please figure who you are.
Why so sad?
Posted by Saurabh Gupta in Phonethics, upside down on June 22nd, 2009
just came across this wonderful resource www.academicearth.org
This is an online reservoir of academic lectures in top notch univs in the US. A particular post caught my attention http://www.academicearth.org/lectures/what-motivates-us-sex
It seems that respondents in a survey (in the US but i would imagine it’s true for many people across the world!) admitted to SEX being one of the MOST important things in their lives. The list of things connected with sex stretches to ‘cleaning up after sex, reading fashion mags’ and so on.. But when it comes to actually having sex or making out or doing it, people spent a paltry 4 minutes and 8 seconds per week!!
We sideline things that we ‘think’ are important to us all the time. This is particularly true of our workplace, how difficult it is to take out the time for the project you definitely know you’ll enjoy doing, where we constantly push away the ‘attractive’ stuff in favour of things that have to be done! and then we crib, complain about what we do, our jobs, bosses, clients which affects the quality of our work which..well..takes us a little further away from our dream projects.
What if you spent some time everyday, without fail, chasing something YOU like! What if you doubled the time to 8minutes and 16 seconds! i know it’s not much but it’s twice the sex and they say the more you have, the more you want and the more you get!
A vision article for I.T magazine
Posted by Saurabh Gupta in Articles on February 17th, 2009
Phonethics tells stories. Frankly, there is nothing new about that. From the bard to Bollywood, they all do. The difference is we tell stories which are consumed on evolved mediums. Does that make it really new? Is a book read on the Kindle not a book any more? Does it become something different?
Is a song on your ipod, more or less precious than the LP you inherited from the collector hippie Uncle?
Is playing FIFA on xbox better than watching it on digital TV?
Is it enough to create content for one platform? is it enough? Is it good enough?
These and many more such questions constitute much of what we at Phonethics grapple with daily.
And that is the central vision I have for my company, to continue to ask the most daring, foolish, intelligent, absurd, insightful questions.
Hopefully we'll find the answers to some, hopefully some of those answers will lead us to the right products and services. Hopefully we'll never be (or feel) too big, busy or informed to ask and seek as opposed to ‘know' and ‘cynicise'
Some years ago, after I'd finally finished ‘Ctrl + Alt + Del', a short film that took considerable time and effort to produce, I was sitting with my colleagues and wondering how to find an audience for the film. I wondered (and asked), if it was going to be possible someday for people to be able to watch the film using a small personal device that helped them project it on a surface of choice. A sympathetic audience informed me that I was speaking from the desperate point of view of a ‘creator' who'd like their work to be seen and appreciated. Some openly laughed. Others mocked.
The film finally was distributed on mobile phones and was viewed by more than 40,000 paying consumers ON THEIR PHONES!!
A far cry from the ‘dream' of a device that allowed folks to get one-up on their peers by projecting the content and sharing it with their friends but nevertheless a well-documented and hailed FIRST in India and perhaps the world.
So, another dream, closely linked to the first, is that I would hopefully be able to build a company that is not afraid to dream. The most ambitious, impractical, crazy, heartfelt dreams.
And finally when we're on the subject of vision, here's something that I've tried to implement as a CEO – a flat organization. Hierarchy prevents free flow of information, ideas, Questions and Dreams. This is the most difficult to implement. As we grow older/smarter (hopefully) and richer (well!!), people build walls around themselves that exclude new people simply on the grounds that they are new (to the company/idea/industry/whatever). Beauracracy disguises as meritocracy.
I've begun the implementation of this very difficult vision already because I know it will be the most difficult one to execute – I don't sit in a glass cabin, I don't sit in a corner. I sit and work on the shopfloor. I thrive on the conflict, opportunity and demands of my team. Everyone/anyone can walk up to me or anyone else and share their problem/idea/opportunity/joke!
As we inch closer to making our dreams a reality this is the one thing that I find most people struggling with. A creative guy who's closed to new people and ideas, a business development person who seeks a STANDARD product as opposed to innovation, a producer who looks for excuses instead of talent. I believe that the root of this to some extent is insecurity. I envision an organization that rewards and punishes NOT on the basis of years spent on the bench but for initiative and innovation. At every level.
While dreams (and what else is vision!!) for an organization should be inward looking I cant resist some vision that I have for the market, especially since Phonethics today occupies a small but solid space as an innovator. My vision for the space we operate in is that as content begins to move to digital delivery, a ‘paid content' model as opposed to ‘ad supported' only, will evolve.
Advertising too will begin to move to ‘measured consumption' models where the content and ads would be suitably matched (which they already are in some cases) and advertisers would KNOW (for once, and this time for sure) the consumer and their preferred content.
I could provide here an extension of the convergence argument too as vision for the market. The most relevant part, to Phonethics, would be the demarcation between content and advertising.
A last one – scale, it is my vision to NEVER scale to an unmanageable level or build a company simply to sell it. Look back at folks who've achieved anything today, they didn't build a succession of companies to auction! They went after ideas that they believed in and followed them through. The glory, riches and rewards find you sooner or later, as long as you're committed. My vision is to build an organization that grows, or as the older adage goes, [as if it were a snake] scales! Without artifical support and orchestrations, a company that lives on, beyond me, my vision and goes into every new challenge as a NEW company with fresh ideas and original takes
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