The Tangential Technologist

Startup Weekend, Sustainable Cities, Startup Saturday

2011-02-25T23:56:00.000-08:00

As was suggested in the transformation of this blog, I am going to talk about the events that are happening and may be of interest to the entrepreneurial community around Delhi/NCR. Although I will not limit the information to just NCR events, I would know much more about the ones that are happening within the city. Hence a bias shall prevail :)

1) Startup Weekend Delhi http://delhi.startupweekend.org/

"Startup Weekend is an intense 54 hour event which focuses on building a web or mobile application which could form the basis of a credible business over the course of a weekend. The weekend brings together people with different skillsets - primarily software developers, graphics designers and business people - to build applications and develop a commercial case around them."

2) Conference on Creating Sustainable Cities http://www.iaccindia.com/event.asp?id=3

This conference might be of interest to folks in the Green-Tech as well as energy efficient

architecture space. The conference provides opportunities also for smaller ancillary units

that can possibly be involved in the infrastructure creation. If you think there is value for you

in terms of attending this event, let me know. IACC just might be able to get you a small

discount towards the fees of the conference.

3) Startup Saturday Delhi http://startupsaturday.headstart.in/chapter/Delhi/

Startup Saturday Delhi is a forum for the entrepreneurial community, to come together once a month - and talk about what it takes to be a part of it. We invite people with all sorts of profiles to talk about their products, services, ideas, problems and what not. Registrations are now open for the March 2011 event.

4) Startup Saturday (all across India) http://startupsaturday.headstart.in/

If you follow the links given for S S Delhi, you would already know that Startup Saturday is a nationwide event happening in multiple cities. Pick your city and make sure you make it to the next event.

Startup Saturday Delhi - August 14, 2010

2010-08-20T22:26:00.001-07:00

Startup Saturday Delhi - August 14, 2010

==============================

Rains had literally brought Delhi to a standstill. Connaught Place was one of the worst affected

places in the city. And yet, we had managed a sizeable number to begin with. From a total of

more than 150 registrations, we had expected not more than 25 to turn up. But Startup Saturdays

have a reputation of getting the "entrepreneurial" - and we were around 55.

Alok Mittal from Canaan Partners was the first one to speak. He had come with a presentation

initially, but decided to drop it and just engage in a Q&A session with the audience. There were

questions like "what attracts a VC to a startup ?", "What sectors are going to see VC activity ?",

"why do startups fail even after getting funding from VC ?". Alok spent a good one and a half

hours interacting with the audience and sharing observations mostly from Canaan's portfolio

companies. He clearly mentioned some of the priorities that were attached to Canaan - they

were not so much into reading the educational backgrounds of the people they start engaging

with, but had rather focus upon the abilities of the founders. He spoke at length on what kind

of a startup might have higher chances to be profitable - and that certainly has got nothing to

do with the VC money. Chances of profitability will remain the same, and one or the other VC

will eventually recognize them as well.

Next up was Ashish Kumar, who also dumped his presentation to rather go extempore about

his experience of starting up a "Tech-Services" company. His father is a doctor and that's what

got him thinking on how he could possibly club the technical knowledge that he possessed in

order to do something which benefits the medical profession.Ashish was of the opinion that

such services companies will succeed if the founding members brought in different skill sets,

different thought processes to the table. Everybody excelling at the same thing isn't going to

make it work. Services sector has the dilemma of not knowing what projects would eventually

turn out to be beneficial in the long run. Initially, the service side entrepreneur would want to

hang onto every possible opportunity, but the same should not be a longer term policy of the

company. Ashish also took up questions on the motivation and success parameters of being

in such a business.

Next up were the Lightening Pitches. First one to go was "Intellect Assets" which talked about

their travel related offering. Second in this line was Arun, who was here to talk about an online

PDF magazine going at - http://www.aahsome.com . Arun wants to develop a platform for the

not so celebrity but creative people. You can send in your photographs, writings or other sort

of creations to be published in this quarterly PDF magazine. Finally it was time for Vinay Chadha

from GVC Systems. Vinay turned out to be the "star" of the day. Vinay never graduated and

has yet turned out successful products in the electronics domain. His company can be found

at http"//www.gvc.in . Vinay talked about how he has managed to earn money, blow it all away

after turning a little arrogant and now he has started from scratch once again - but turned

profitable very soon. Vinay is looking for people who can help him market his latest range

of innovations - and yes, he is already funded as well.

SSD Next edition - 11th July - Agenda

2009-06-30T09:37:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since this blog carried information about the SSD Agenda. This time we had the entire information and the complete program is all set. Here is what we will have on the 11th of July at the American Center, KG Marg.

1) 2:15 pm to 3:00 pm - "My Rules of getting Funded" - Rohit Agarwal of TechTribe fame. Rohit is an experienced entrepreneur who has co-founded many a startups. He has seen both ups and downs, one constant being - his ability to get funded. He will share some of his ways with money

2) 3:00 pm to 3:45 pm - "How we got here? From here to where?" - Harpreet Singh from CoCubes. He is going to give us the CoCubes story. How they started, Where they are now. Also a quick roundup of their business model, revenue streams. Why getting funded is not the end but the beginning.

3) 4:00 pm to 4:45 pm - "Entrepreneurs and VCs to focus on Offline Businesses" - Sameer Guglani from Morpheus Venture Partners (MVP). There is a much larger and untapped market opportunity in businesses that do not operate out of the "internet". Sameer will get talking about the space and such businesses.

Am seriously looking forward to this one. Especially the talk from Sameer. Have been always fascinated with businesses that don't function in the online world. He is going to talk about their proliferation, funding etc. This is really an exciting talk as far as I can see it coming from him. And then there is Rohit - just see the links Google reports on his funding for TechTribe and the aftermath. Its a good story to read and learn from. Harpreet on the other hand has a creative streak to himself. I was impressed with the way he communicated while we finalized the topic and content of his talk.

Overall, a very worthy spend of a half day. So come over and join us for some worthy thoughts. These are men who have been there and done it all. Register here for the SSD July edition.

Agenda for Startup Saturday Delhi (June Editiion)

2009-06-12T20:04:00.000-07:00

Here is the schedule for Startup Saturday Dehi (June edition)

1) Vivek starts the proceedings with his talk.
  "Understanding the power of effective PR for Startups"
  We will start off at 2:00 pm

2) Prabind from Nivio will take us through a Demo of the
  Airtel Net PC. Nivio are technology partners to this offering.
  Lets look what they have to present here. - 3:00 pm

3) Harish goes on to explain
  "Early Stage Venture Funding: Options and Expectations".
  His talk will derive from his experiences at
  Canaan Partners. - 4:00 pm

4) Networking Session over Tea/Snacks  5:00 pm - 6:00 pm


See you all at the American Center.

Agenda for the 9th of May, 2009 (SSD Edition 5)

2009-05-06T09:48:00.001-07:00

This is what you will find , when you arrive at the American Center for the 5th edition of Startup Saturday Delhi.

Date : 9th May 2009

Time : 2:00 pm

1) Ankit Maheshwari from InstaBlogs - He is going to talk about the idea, team and execution behind InstaBlogs. The challenges he faces operating out of Shimla. And finally some of his thoughts on the "recession".

2) A sort of "Entrepreneurial SoapBox". This will be on a first-come-first-serve basis. We will invite 5 entrepreneurs among the audience to come up and give a short 2-minute pitch about their ventures. Then the floor will be open for discussion about what problems are they facing and what are they actually doing to make business sense out of their ventures. Invitations will be available on the spot.

3) Sarabdeep Singh from Fachak - Fachak is a platform to collect content from across internet and your desktop and build mash boxes (collections) out of it. It is something like a play list of YouTube but not confined to videos, but also contains Presentations, documents and images. You can aggregate content from third party services like YouTube, SlideShare, Flickr etc as well as pick up content from your desktop.

Expecting to see a lot of fantastic people - eager to hear some excellent folks - who have been able to find monetization in the world of digital social media. Catch you at the American Center for 5th edition of Startup Saturday Delhi.

Agenda for the Startup Saturday Delhi (4th edition)

2009-04-09T19:53:00.001-07:00

In the midst of continuously broken patterns of weather and governments, it feels good to see something that has a marked continuity to it. On the 11th of April, Startup Saturday Delhi will mark its 4th occurrence. Nevertheless, change has also been a constant companion to the Startup Saturday Delhi (SSD). Started under the aegis of HeadStart Foundation, SSD has so far been a mix of product/technology demos from software startups based out of Delhi/NCR. There have been a few "Gyan" sessions from people like Narendra Nag and Deepak Shenoy. Coming to think of it, it has been an interesting revelation about technology, business, HR mix that goes into being a startup.

This Saturday will again see the convergence of startup enthusiasts at the permanent venue of American Center. For anybody who is coming in for the first time, here is the complete address of the place you will be spending a good second half of the day - 24, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, Connaught Place, New Delhi - 110001. Here is the link to google map, for those needing exact driving directions.

Now a look at the way proceedings are scheduled for the day

2:00 pm	Sony Joy from MobMe shares his startup story. He is talking about the way his venture MobMe was brought about as a startup, their growth fundamentals and learnings on the way. A good few minutes on how did they go about getting funded. Also demoing their product offering.
3:00 pm	Vineesh goes on to take us through a demo of his new venture Weboword. He is also associated with Pictualize. Weboword is a visual vocabulary product. It portrays words through the eyes of somebody who can only understand pictures. Vineesh will talk about the things that make such niche products successful.
4:00 pm	Arun from SlideShare. He is talking about the "Essence of Design - for Startups" - why the presentation would really matter when you are a startup or developing a product. Arun has been with SlideShare for more than a year, and knows what it takes to build "presentations that matter".
5:00 pm	Networking over Snacks and Tea/Coffee

The registration mechanism from this SSD onwards has been modified. Now the registrations are hosted by the HeadStart Network. Take a look at the SSD Wiki for the agenda as well as the registration mechanism. If you have any questions/comments, please feel free to email me.

If you do not make it to the registrations on the blog posted here, it should not be such a worry. Just make sure that you are added to the SSD Project on the HeadStart Network. We will figure out the rest. Thats all for the time being. Hoping to catch up with lots of startup folks tomorrow.

Proceedings from the Startup Saturday Delhi - Edition 3 ( Part I )

2009-03-18T21:44:00.000-07:00

14th March 2009 saw the American Center in Delhi host the 3rd Startup Saturday Delhi event. Carefully screened and chosen were the presenters for this edition, after a not so enthusiastic response to the 2nd edition.

Michael Macy, the Cultural Attache at the American Center took to the stage before the invited speakers got there. He challenged the young people in the audience to use the recessionary period we're in to find innovative solutions to problems that we face daily. He cited a few examples of companies that were started during recessions to being very large powerhouses today - including Microsoft. This was a small involvement from the hosts of SSD, and it proves that they are always willing to support such initiatives.

Next onto the podium was Mrigank Tripathi along with a demo of whats being done at his 2 month old venture - VoiceTap. The idea behind VoiceTap was conceived sometime in January and they have already reached Alpha. Mrigank expects to hit Beta in the next 4 weeks. Now for the concept, VoiceTap is a service that is trying to create a connect between Knowledge Experts and Knowledge Seekers. It is a platform where you get to speak and interact directly with experts: people who have ‘made it’ in the field that is relevant to you. The service will be delivered over the phone – and the calls will be scheduled based on the interest levels shown in that particular call - the level being judged by way of numbers registering as knowledge seekers as well as the curiosity in terms of questions being put up for the expert. They have partnered with one of the largest conference call providers for the backend technology, since getting a larger set of people onto a single conference call is quite expensive.

Link to Mrigank's presentation about VoiceTap

Mrigank faced a lot of questions from the attentive audience. He identified revenue models under these heads - premium service where subscribers can take a 1-1 call for any subject, pay per minute, in-call advertising and sponsored calls. Authenticity of the experts and live calls were the basic USP upon which Mrigank hinges the success of VoiceTap. This link has the answers to a lot of questions about VoiceTap.

Next up was Wirkle co-founder Tarun Mittal. Wirkle is a products and services company in the mobile phone domain. He started off with a demo of few products in the Mobile VAS domain. They have an excellent product in the Mobileum platform. Its a patent pending platform, and is extensively provided to others who can build their products and services over it. This was first developed for the GSMA Mobile Congress, held annually in Barcelona, Spain. This is a platform thats based on the client-server architecture. The server collates information from a number of sources, and distributes it to the clients existing in the form of hand-held devices. Tarun went on to demo a few other applications in the social media space that work over the mobile phone device. Next in his kitty were applications for the iPhone. There is this special touch sensitive application available from Wirkle, that makes a "Kiss" sound when the iPhone is placed near human skin. Or at least thats where everybody could test it.

Link to Tarun's presentation about Wirkle

Once the product demo was over, Tarun delved into the formation of Wirkle. The history has it that 3 friends working in US decided to come back to India and venture out on their own. Their exposure to an advanced mobile phone market in the western half of globe inspired them to start a products and services company in the hand-held device market. And thus was born "Wirkle".

This happens when you come out of an interesting event. This blog post has already gone past a readable length. I am going to terminate it here. And modify the title to say that this is part I of the entire coverage from 3rd edition of Startup Saturday Delhi. Will be posting the second half in a day or two.

Startup Saturday Delhi - 3rd Edition - 14th March 2009

2009-03-11T01:58:00.000-07:00

The 3rd edition of Startup Saturday Delhi is scheduled for the 14th of March, 2009. Venue, as always, is The American Center, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, Connaught Place, New Delhi.

And here is how the agenda looks like :

1) 2:00pm to 2:45pm — Product Demo from VoiceTap. The venture is a platform that connects knowledge seekers to experts using a mix of the internet and phones.

2) 2:45pm to 3:30pm — Wirkle gets talking about their products. Wirkle is a Mobile solutions firm providing services and a product in India and Internationally, based out of Noida.

3) 3:45pm to 4:30pm — A Presentation by Mr. Deepak Shenoy discussing his last venture and lessons learned.

4) 4:45pm to 5:30pm — Networking over some piping hot tea and snacks.

Hoping to see you there. Register yourself through this collaboration platform. Just become a part of the Startup Saturday Delhi project. And you will get all appropriate communication regarding the event.

Hoping to see some enthusiastic people this time around. We missed your energy during the event in February. Maybe love was in the air then. And this time around, you would do a lot of good carrying some of the fun from Holi to the event.

2nd Edition of Startup Saturday Delhi

2009-02-14T05:19:00.000-08:00

I am just back from another edition of the Startup Saturday Delhi. This was the second time that folks from the emerging companies converged at American Center for listening to a few chosen ones. Okay. I will give due credit to the ones who come from already "established" ones. But honestly, its about the mindset at this one. And whether it be speakers or presenters, or the audience that participates by way of questions - most would be easily found belonging to the "emerging" space.

Today was the chance for Vishal Chandra to open the proceedings. His was a presentation focused on the "Art of Bootstrapping".

Next on stage was Shishir Jain of Netcellence. He gave a demo of the Helpdesk 2.0 product that he is providing. It is software as a service. Still in the early stages of bootstrapping, Shishir has a product that has a mass market - but he is still to find the right marketing strategy that will enable him to fund the business through his revenues.

Finally, it was time for Nikhil to take over. He shared some of his insights and interpretations about the new IT Act thats been brought out by the Indian government. Its a step towards the "Safe-Harbor" thats implemented in the US. More or less, if you are an organization who has got user-generated content on your website or e-space, its good news for you. However, if you are an internet user generating that content, be very careful of the copyright issues.

More details to follow soon. Thats it for the first report from 2nd edition of Startup Saturday Delhi.

Logo design for Barcamp Delhi 6

2009-01-12T23:41:00.000-08:00

Naina Redhu at Aside is once again handling the coveted task of designing the logo for Barcamp Delhi 6. The first draft had come out on this sunday and what followed it was a feverish discussion about the design. She has taken a cue from the Delhi Metro and the idea appears brilliant to my eyes.

After a huge bundle of feedback, the second iteration of the logo has come out. You can go to this page and be a part of the discussion or if there is a feedback that you want to give.

For the sake of convenience, I am giving out the present iterations here :

First ImageSecond Iteration

Barcamp Delhi 6 is all set to roll

2009-01-05T06:52:00.000-08:00

Before the colleges get into exam mode, before the budget comes in and ruins your mood, and before the weather turns from the cool-cozy winters to the sultry summers - Lets have the 6th edition of Barcamp Delhi. Yes, you read that right.

The Barcamp Delhi 6 (BCD6) is all set to roll out soon.

And to put our foot on the accelerator, there are 2 things that will need an
immediate attention from the Barcamp folks:

Dates - the choices are :
1. Feb 21/22 2009
2. Feb 28/Mar 01 2009
Could somebody suggest a good enough venue in Central Delhi, which is most probably close to a metro station as well. If you have any contacts who can help us book the venue, all the more better.

We are waiting for your votes and suggestions. Get onto the googlegroup for Barcamp Delhi. And you will figure out that a poll for the dates, and suggestions for a venue are going on. You can either communicate through that mailing list or send your e-writings to Piyush / Ritesh . We would soon shout out for more volunteers to get the logistics in place.

Okay. Thats it for the time being. We are all set for Barcamp Delhi 6. Here’s for a innovative and learning BCD6. We are proud to involve Technolabs as a volunteer for Barcamp Delhi 6.

Interview Series from the Tangential Technologist - Part I

2008-12-26T07:00:00.000-08:00

Starting today, we are going to put up some interviews on our blog. These are "celebrities" in their own right. Most of these are people who have ventured out on their own, with some quitting decent jobs to feel what its like in the "dungeons of a startup". One trait that is common to all these people is their penchant for carving out a "place under the sun" for themselves.

We are starting off this series with Narendra Nag. Narendra opened the delhi chapter of Startup Saturday with his cool and composed dispositioning of an HR department. Thats when we caught up with him. Lets see what this self confessed "Informed Citizen" has to reveal about himself.

Tangential Technologist (TT) : Nag, tell us something about what you do.

Narendra Nag (NN) : I think of myself as a parallel entreprenuer. After taking the entreprenueral plunge in August, I decided to work on multiple ideas. The first one of the blocks was Calculus Research -- an attempt to leverage the knowledge and strengths of Political Edge, a political analytics company set up by school friends, who were looking to expand. We have been moderately successful with Calculus Research.

I have also been working with technology and media startups on various aspects of their businesses. I describe myself as a startup coach, passing on my experience and skill sets and serving as a sounding board and friend.

There are a couple of technology ideas that I had that are currently under development. I plan to start launching these starting January. I will share more details about these at the time.

TT : Would you elaborate upon the work being done by Calculus Research ?

NN : Calculus Research gathers demographic, economic and psychographic data that helps people take informed decisions. If you’re planning to develop a property, we help you find answers to some of the most important questions you’ll have. We use carefully crafted surveys, historical data and deep statistical analysis to give you the tools you need to make informed decisions.

For political leaders, companies or NGOs trying to assess their relationship with people that live in a particular area we have evolved a survey and statistical analysis method based around Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies.

We can tell you how you are perceived, what are the issues that matter most to people, what's working and what isn't, and who's important at the local level in shaping public opinion.

TT: Why a fresh start ? As in, why a startup ?

NN: After nine years working for other people, of which the last four were with startups in the media space, I decided that the library of ideas for new businesses that I had slowly been building needed to be implemented. I also think an economic downturn is one of the best times to start up. I've written about this on my blog -- but briefly, if you can make an idea work in bad times, its going to soar in good times.

TT: What brings you to Startup Saturday Delhi ?

NN: I believe that community events like SSD are part of my support network. Since I don't come from a traditional business family, there's a lot I don't know, and there are very few ways for me to find out about business. While I can rely on my work experience to a certain extent, it's fantastic to be able to meet people who're at various stages of setting up a business and ask them questions. It's also a great place for me to bounce around ideas, since the reactions help me refine my thinking.

TT: Would you come back to SSD if you were not a presenter or on the panel ?

NN: Absolutely.

TT: Whats your motivation to keep walking on this path ?

NN: I'm motivated on a daily basis by my belief that the ideas I have deserve to see the light of day. Hopefully, some of them will succeed and make me money. But I've given my ideas a year. If all of them flop, I'll go back to job without any regrets. The way I see it, I don't want to be sixty and wondering what if.

TT: Are you hiring ? If yes, what kind of people ?

NN: I've just completed one round of hiring. At the moment I'm looking for developers with experience and a wide range of interests.

TT: What have you done in your past ?

NN: Was involved in developing code for various people in the late nineties. Switched to journalism after that, mostly because I was looking for new challenges. Soon became involved in media startups -- first internally for the Hindustan Times -- and then with CNN IBN as part of the launch team of a major network. The organisations I have worked for, in chronological order
Prohost Consulting
Hindustan Times
CNN IBN
INX
Mint - Wall Street Journal
Calculus Research

TT: From hindsight, would you like to analyze a decision to join some organization as bad ? Something you wont like to repeat ?

NN: I'm now wary of organisations that are clearly entering a business/sector that's attracting high valuations purely to go in for an IPO and exit. I don't know how you can know this for sure before you join, but while interviewing for any position, and through conversations with the people already working there, it's possible to get a sense about this.

TT : Any blog ? or place that you call your own over the web ?

NN : http://www.narendranag.com

Startup resource crunch .... and a possibility

2008-12-20T07:47:00.000-08:00

What does a certain Dhoni wants when the entire team is back into the dressing room, with India still needing a good 67 runs to win. On the crease are our top most bowling pair of Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan. To speak in a complicated manner - he would want an "Instant Transformation" of this bowling pair into the willow wielding giants of Sehwag and Yuvraj. And to say it in an easy manner would be - he would have loved to see this pair acquire the extra skills that could have possibly given India a hope. Ah the "skill-set" dilemma. Isn't that something all entrepreneurs face up to.

A startup is not about specific resources for every single function that a company requires. What it really is at least a few of those "instant transformations". Switching of roles from being a developer into a sales guy is not so rare. From somebody who was working with the client to define a certain functional specification, walks back into the company and starts coding the same. However, these transformations are not really "instant". They are carefully crafted shifts onto a new responsibility.

If you were an entrepreneur, how would you love to see your developers get to the end of product development. And then take on the mantle of going out in the field to do the marketing and sales. Obviously, yours being the "founder" does not alleviates you to a higher pedestal - where you could do away from undergoing these transformations.

How would an entrepreneur like to hire a person with more than one specialized skill ? How about building a platform that enables you to build more ventures and thereby more entrepreneurs in the society and makes the thought process little easier? How about spreading the word and telling anybody you know - that a certain venture seeks experts in all fields. Yes - they are going to get paid as well. Experts on all technical knowledge - whether it be C++, J2ME, Drupal, Ruby-On-Rails, Python, Communication Skills, Business Development, Business Communication - we want them one and all.

Flying Minds is coming to town. Its an effort for the startups, by the startups. Keep tuned in. We are coming back with more. Right now, if you are looking for skill enhancement in order to convert yourself from just another IT guy into somebody who can be easily hired by the exciting world of startups, drop in an email to either gpiyush@gmail.com or riteshgoel@gmail.com . Do mention the particular skill that you want to learn from the experts.

Flying Minds is all about trying to bridge the gap between the specialized skill required by product development companies and the talent pool thats available to them. Its about asking the experts residing within the startups to come out and teach. Its like getting paid to create future employees as well as being in the company of people who think alike. If you are such an expert who knows how to talk as well, we would be interested in getting you up on our panel.

Its the coming together of some brilliant minds. Its the beginning of a venture that could create more entrepreneurs as well as startup employees. Its a new dawn....its a new sunrise...and the name is Flying Minds.

A good First for Startup Saturday Delhi

2008-12-13T07:47:00.000-08:00

The secod half of today saw Startup Saturdays come to Delhi. American Center in the heart of city proved to be a good gracious host for the Startup Saturday Delhi. The setting was just excellent with a large sized comfortable room for the presentations and demos. A large lobby for snacks and networking. Thanks to Pankaj Jain for arranging this very appropriate venue.

Starting off with just a very very small introduction to the American Center from one of their folks, it was time to jet set into the real world of sweat, blood and passion. Narendra Nag got it going with his take on why an HR department is not at all needed at startups. Introducing the concept of Executive Assisstant, instead of an elaborate HR department - he went onto discuss the strategies to hire the right people and keeping them happy.

Next in line was Anupam Varghese. He is the Vice-President, Technology at Eko India Financial Services. He went about explaining the concept that has got Eko into headlines. And also did a small demo of how things work through the mobile. Its an almost complete banking solution for customers wanting to own a bank account for small amounts. The pilot project that they did in Uttam Nagar went off to top at 2000 customers for the Centurion Bank. I consider that phenomenal success.

Time for a break now.

Coming back into the room were 2 gentlemen - Yashish Dahiya (CEO - policybazaar.com) and Harish Bahl (Founder CEO - Smile Interactive Technology Group). Nikhil Pahwa of Medianama was going to be the moderator for a discussion on "The future of Consumer Services in the internet space". The entire range of topics would need more than just a post of its own. I am going to skip it for a while. This went for quite some time. It was interactive in the true sense of it with the entire audience chippin in with comments and questions.

Finally it was time for networking. Conversations went on and on aided by hot cups of tea and coffee being available. So much so, that the American Center folks had to literally push us out of the building, once our allocated time was over.

All in all, a very good first start for the Startup Saturday Delhi. Beginning off with a fiery presentation that no HR folks are going to ever like, moving onto a path-breaking product demo and finally the discussion on why E-commerce has not really been the "it" thing inside India.

Keep tuned in. We are going to come up with something very interesting with respect to the Startup Saturday Delhi - First Episode. Videos, Interviews and Surveys. Its all there in the post-event coverage. Catch you soon.

Special Attention : Startup Saturday Attendees

2008-12-12T05:23:00.000-08:00

After the overwhleming response to attendance registrations for SSD Episode 1, we had to close registrations as the number was threatening to go over 100. Neither the organizers, nor the venue hosts had anticipated such an exceptional number to attend SSD. Honestly, if everybody turns up, it would be a truly amazing beginning for the Startup Saturday Delhi.

Now for some very important information around the American Center. The recent terror attacks in Mumbai have worked wonders for such public gatherings. Just about every single venue on the face of Delhi has turned into a virtual fortress. You cant get inside until and unless thoroughly checked and frisked. Not to scare away or anything, but you can come really "unloaded" to the SSD. The first thing you want to have on your person is a valid photo I-card. Its your key to access the American Center. Forget attending the SSD until and unless you are well identified by their security.

You can do without all sorts of fancy things that you may otherwise carry on your personal self. the less loaded you are, the less trouble you may face with the security arrangements. Next step is the SSD entry itself. Attendance is strictly restricted to the people who had registered. We do not intend to entertain any last minute additions to the list thats already frozen.

I guess those are the 2 most important things to keep in mind, before you set out for Startup Saturday Delhi - Episode 1. Everything else that you want to know about SSD is here.

Thanks to Headstart for being the pioneer behind Startup Saturday's in India.

Come on in. For some juicy talks, debates and conversations. Also in existence would be some very yummy snacks. See you at the American Center tomorrow. Startup Saturday Delhi would love to have you company on this journey.

First edition of Startup Saturday Delhi - 13 Dec, 2008

2008-12-11T08:26:00.000-08:00

Its approaching. And its approaching fast. The first edition of Startup Saturday Delhi (SSD) is happening on the 13th of December. The venue is American Center, 24 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, Connaught Place. Here is your location map. Look for the American Center or Hindustan Times on this map, and you should be within shouting distance of the venue.

Here is a glimpse of what you can expect at the first SSD.

1) Introduction by the American Center - 2pm

2) A Presentation and Discussion by Narendra Nag on why Startups should NOT have a HR Department. - 2:15pm till 2:45pm

3) A Demo by Eko (http://www.eko.in) by Anupam Varghese, VP of Technology - 3pm till 3:30pm

4) A Panel discussion, moderated by Nikhil Pahwa of Medianama featuring Sanjay Sindhwani of IndiaTimes and Harish Bahl of Smile Interactive on 'The Future of Consumer Services' what are the opportunities beyond travel, jobs and matrimonials, etc. - 3:45pm till 4:30pm

5) Networking over Tea/Coffee and Snacks - 4:30pm till 6pm

Thats all for the time being. Going to post some guidelines for attendees tomorrow. Keep tuned in. This is Radio Startup, playing at your very own city. Catch you tomorrow. Same Time. Same Frequency.

Startup Saturdays are coming to Delhi

2008-11-30T07:17:00.000-08:00

To quote from the official page of "Startup Saturday",

"Startup Saturday is an initiative by Headstart to provide entrepreneurs in each city with a monthly community driven forum that is structured in agenda but open in discussions. A Startup Saturday provides a forum for entrepreneurs to discuss, present, network and learn from peers, prospective customers, adopters, partners and investors.

The fundamental idea is to have all parts of the innovation ecosystem interact with each other with high frequency and through rich conversation. We strongly believe that this would lead to faster evolution of the entire ecosystem."

Pankaj and Vineesh have taken the lead to bring Startup Saturdays to Delhi as well. Here is the link to all that you would like to know about the first edition of Delhi Startup Saturday.

Register for Product Demos and Presentations here. We are in the last leg of finalizing the presenters and the product demos. But certainly wont mind an 11th hour addition to the list we are scanning. Welcome to Startup Saturday.

When to add more "Strength"

2008-11-15T05:12:00.000-08:00

Me and Nikhil got talking about some new requirements of "personnel" for some additional work that his company has deservedly got out of bidding exercise. I remember a lot of people talking about the right employees to be hired for a startup. Both the Proto Delhi event as well as the Barcamp Delhi 5 had some words of wisdom in this direction. But is the employee attribute the only defining criteria ? What about the extremely critical point when you feel the itch to hire another employee ?

Nikhil is facing this dilemma right now. He has got an extra piece of work. But the number of hands that are accessible to him are not proving enough. I am in no way indicating that he wont be stretching the existing ones to their limits already. But thats what a startup is all about. The unending painful effort which is like squeezing a lifetime's effort into the bootstrapping times. Now it could be really simple to suggest - go out in the market and find yourself another suitable "guy" - or "girl" to be politically correct.

Ah- the simplicity of the decision. The work on hand should get completed in a month or two at the most. Now if Nikhil had a heart of stone, or maybe a borrowed one from the so many HR guys who are facilitating layoffs left, right and center. But this guy is not so cold in his blood. And thats the reason we could not decide upon hiring somebody for the time being, and then firing once the job is over.

So what do we really do with this incoming resource ? And its just not human capital that we are investing into. Some logistical investment would need to accompany him or her. It would be ultra nice if there was a stream of projects one after the other that could provide for "stretching" the extra resource. Ah - the simplicity of our dreams.

This simplicity is not helping us. Oh God - will somebody out there step up and say - "Here's the solution to your resource problem." If you do exist, Nikhil would love to drown you in beer.

An Information Security Collateral for India

2008-09-27T07:10:00.000-07:00

Having already paid the price for not being e-secure, there is every possible need for a security collateral in the electronic space. The recent terrorist attacks in various indian cities has once again highlighted our lack of even basic protection of the "e" kind. Among other things in common, terrorists used unsecured Wi-fi networks to send anonymous emails. In this networked world, what could have been a better medium for these anti social groups to inform the media of its intentions, obviously having the "anonymous" tagged to it. And here we wonder who is responsible for this - intelligent computer programmers with some great hacking skills or irresponsible and careless netizens. It does not takes an Einstein to point in the right direction.

Wherever you go today, you can easily find an unsecured Wi-fi connections whether it be malls, offices, coffeshops or schools. That is exactly what Wi-fi squatters are looking for. Even if Wi-fi's are secured through the provided WPA security mechanism , anybody can easily google a step by step guide to break it and get access. This problem is not just limited to Wi-fi, but is endemic in almost all forms of networking that exists for personal and professional use.

Coming to think more of it, the problem is not just about communication technology either. It is related to information technology on the whole. To keep pace with ever growing IT sector, somewhere we all are turning a blind eye towards need for Information Security. Last 5 years have seen enormous growth in number of web applications and hopefully the growth would be even better for next 5 years. All big companies or SME's have opted for automation of their business processes in the form of enterprise web applications. But how many of these applications have been properly tested against Security attacks, how many regularly undergo security audits ? How many of them use standard cryptography methods to save confidential corporate data ? I am sure that the numbers wont be encouraging.

So who is responsible for all this ? It does hurts to say "All of us". From Big IT companies to startups, project managers to software engineers, ISP's to non techie users. We all should contribute our little bit towards information and network security. Big IT companies should have a organization wide information security policy while project managers could do with proper consideration while designing for security testing framework before deliveries. Software engineers should code in proper security checkpoints wherever they can. Service providers should not give away unsecured Wi-fi connection by default at the time of installation. And last but not the least, our current Information Technology Act should be scrapped and re-written with inputs from experts. The "babus" in erstwhile panels who thought that internet is one big computer in U.S may please excuse themselves from the expert panel.

Let us all create a secure E-World. Might as well be the gateway to a much free and fair world - without fear, we may get to like it more.

Inherent Anonimity for not-cricket-like sports

2008-09-22T09:25:00.000-07:00

If one ever needs a proof of how badly we have been ignoring the not-cricket-like sports inside of this country, here is a small example - how many of you have heard of Chidi Edeh ? Do you even know what sport is he associated with ? For the uninitiated, he happens to be the Golden Boot Winner during the 121st Durand Cup. Now on the other hand, if I ask for Vijay Bhardwaj - a few lakh hands will go up in unison acknowledging the name and the player's contribution to indian cricket.

Some facts straight out of google search -

"Vijay Bhardwaj Cricket" yields 23900 results.

"Chidi Edeh Football" yields2110 results.

I may not be fair in judging their contributions to the respective sports (for my "unbiased" and "hearty" support towards soccer), but my firm belief is that what Chidi Edeh has achieved should be considered no less than what Vijay Bhardwaj had.

Why am I cribbing ? What am I cribbing for ? To state it in as simple words as I could - I am asking for the world of media (including the internet) to start giving a fair percentage of space to non cricketing sports. And not just that, its also the ask for better management from the authorities. I hated to do this but one look and you would agree with me - we need better support and infrastructure for other sports. Take a look at these 2 pages

1) Official website of the AFC Challenge Cup. You could probably spot the logo somewhere on the left hand side of this page.

2) Official website of the All India Football Federation. And you could almost see the same logo on the right hand side of the homepage.

In this land of outsourcing and information technology, is it really that hard to find some techie who could do a proper copy paste of the logo from AFC's website onto AIFF's website. I guess not.

The official BCD5 Logo has arrived

2008-09-05T05:30:00.000-07:00

Yes - thats the official BCD5 Logo that you will get to see on everything related to the event.

Abhishek from a company called Earlysail has designed this cool piece of art. It has everything that I could envisage as a part of the BCD5 logo. It has the standard "fireball" albeit in different colors this time. The words bar-camp appear in such a nice manner - am almost sure that we would be soon engaged in a lawsuit with some other barcamp for not paying royalties on the logo design. Let me ask Abhishek to get a copyright on this one. I also loved the way version 5 is represented with that dice embedded in the right hand corner.

Oh....why am I describing everything as if all of you are blind - and your imagination needs the input of my words. Nevertheless, I'm Loving it.

Here is something I found over the web. Some points pertaining to the event and to set some expectations as well.

Preparation for the Barcamp Delhi 5

Pre-register on the wiki. There's a signup page for our local event. Please put your name and any organization you represent on the form, to give coordinators an idea as to how many people are coming (and to get your name tag printed). There are some suggestions on how to go about adding yourself on the wiki. Please do adhere to those steps.

Bring a laptop - It's great for showing off that program you mentioned in your session. Plus, there are many hot spots provided, and plenty of downtime to browse around and look into everything you've learned.

Come early, but not too early - Showing up at the announced starting time will be fine. Show up earlier, and you'll get drafted for setup work (much appreciated!). Show up later, and you'll miss some social activity and your T-shirt (possibly).

Be ready to participate - come with an idea for a session you can lead. You don't have to be an expert at your topic; as long as it's not too specific, there'll probably be someone else present who can help you out. You can also contribute to the conversation during a session. This is a great way to participate, since it spreads knowledge from everyone, instead of just the leader.

Wasn't that a fantastic logo ? If you thought I had finally got it off my head, it gives me immense pleasure to tell you -You were WRONG !!!

Durand Cup - Oldest football tournament in India

2008-09-01T21:26:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it ? Yes - if you have not heard the name yet - Durand Cup happens to be the oldest football tournament in India, and ranks third on the worldwide list. You stand a better chance of knowing such facts if you are a hardcore soccer enthusiast. Unfortunately enough, most of the people who will go through these words are mostly dependent on the web for their "fact files".

And here I stand - feeling sorry for this Grand Old Soccer Event. I cant link the words "Durand Cup" to a website - for it does not have an official one. The Google search is unable to find the most comprehensive page on this tournament. It exists on the Durand Coverage at www.indianfootball.com . The parent body responsible for organizing this huge event goes by the name of Durand Football Tournament Society (DFTS).

What a state of affairs for the sport in a country which caters to the Information Technology needs of the whole world. Why cant the DFTS build a proper website for the Durand Cup ? Can you imagine ESPN-STAR spending enough money and resources to bring English Premier League, Spanish League, Champions League - all sorts of European soccer to the Indian TV sets if there was not enough of fan following for the sport ?

I can easily guess that there are enough soccer lovers who would need their daily dose of whats happening at the Durand Cup. I cant help but promote the coverage done by Indian Football.

Let me see if there is some way I can connect with the DFTS to make them see good reason behind having a place for the "Durand Cup" on the web. I am ready to work for them. Support them with ideas and implementation to get a place for the Durand Cup. A place of its own. The "abode" of Durand Cup will be a piece of pride for every Indian soccer fan.

BTW, for those soccer fans who want a quick glimpse of the Durand Cup - JCT Phagwara and Sporting Clube de Goa have already reached the semi-finals. In all probability, they will be joined by Mahindra United and Churchill Brothers. There is one match going on right now as I write this post. But for my luck, I cant find out which one is it. Its either Mahindra vs Churchill, OR Army XI vs Mumbai FC.

Raging Bulls

2008-08-21T09:54:00.000-07:00

While the stock market seems to be following some sort of a sinusoidal wave, it appears that the indian startup industry just knows one direction. And that happens to be upwards. A recent study by NASSCOM indicates an explosion in the number of startups during the year 2007. No wonder that Proto and Barcamp like events are gaining traction all across the country. Looking at the attendance profiles of such events, one could easily infer that the desire to "have something of my own" is truly democratic and socialist in nature. Boundaries of states, religion, sex, education are unable to present themselves as limitations. Looks like these "bullish" trends are here to stay.

It brings a lot of excitement , energy, passion to an organization like Carmik Technologies. It serves as a great motivation to strive for the realization of our dreams. No amount of sweat and blood could possibly push us on the backfoot.

Another study upon the outsourcing trends to india points towards a healthy growth percentage. This comes from a report published by ISA. People like us take heart from such revelations. It clearly tells us about the huge business opportunity that is still knocking on the door. But just opening the door might not be sufficient to capture and monetize such opportunities. It will take a lot of diligent preparation, exhaustive implementations and precision personified marketing to make sure that we earn ourselves something more than just the immediate green bucks.

Time to fasten our seat belts, pull up our socks and run hard enough. We need to catch this wave right at the beginning of its crest. No room for whatsoever laziness that might have crept in during the "troughy" times of indian startups.

ZIP....... ZAP ...... ZOOM .... Here we GO !!!!

Disappointment. Frustration. Loneliness. Not at BCD5

2008-08-14T09:25:00.000-07:00

Reading through Chetan's speech, it appeared to me - how much has my job consumed the guy I used to be at college. How liberated I was from all evils of the "jobbed" life. Some elements of disappointment, frustration have crept into my very existence now. However, the rays of hope are not indifferent to me. A change of vision, a change of environment, a change of perspective. Thats how I am looking at BCD5.

Passion. Energy. Freshness. Liberation - defining attributes of Barcamp Delhi 5.

Piyush is working on the sponsors. I have taken up some writing stuff for the blog and press releases. Prashant is also working on the PR exercise to be conducted alongside. Shweta is helping with the wiki and blog setup. A lot of other folks are contributing in all ways they can.

Here is another pitch for volunteers. There is a lot to be organized. As things get into shape, there will be tasks arising out of the finalized details. Do register here and help us.

Techie or not, be there and listen to how the organisms of micro-economic growth are spreading their tentacles. Its the Barcamp Delhi 5.

Keep the Spark Alive

2008-08-14T09:22:00.000-07:00

An excellent piece of text to read. An excellent thought to ponder upon.

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Keep the Spark Alive

Inaugural Speech for the new batch at the Symbiosis BBA program, Pune 23rd June, 2008

By Chetan Bhagat

Good Morning everyone and thank you for giving me this chance to speak to you. This day is about you. You, who have come to this college, leaving the comfort of your homes (or in some cases discomfort), to become something in your life. I am sure you are excited. There are few days in human life when one is truly elated. The first day in college is one of them. When you were getting ready today, you felt a tingling in your stomach. What would the auditorium be like, what would the teachers be like, who are my new classmates - there is so much to be curious about. I call this excitement, the spark within you that makes you feel truly alive today. Today I am going to talk about keeping the spark shining. Or to put it another way, how to be happy most, if not all the time.

Where do these sparks start? I think we are born with them. My 3-year old twin boys have a million sparks. A little Spiderman toy can make them jump on the bed. They get thrills from creaky swings in the park. A story from daddy gets them excited. They do a daily countdown for birthday party - several months in advance - just for the day they will cut their own birthday cake.

I see students like you, and I still see some sparks. But when I see older people, the spark is difficult to find. That means as we age, the spark fades. People whose spark has faded too much are dull, dejected, aimless and bitter. Remember Kareena in the first half of Jab We Met vs the second half? That is what happens when the spark is lost. So how to save the spark?

Imagine the spark to be a lamp's flame. The first aspect is nurturing - to give your spark the fuel, continuously. The second is to guard against storms.

To nurture, always have goals. It is human nature to strive, improve and achieve full potential. In fact, that is success. It is what is possible for you. It isn't any external measure - a certain cost to company pay package, a particular car or house.

Most of us are from middle class families. To us, having material landmarks is success and rightly so. When you have grown up where money constraints force everyday choices, financial freedom is a big achievement. But it isn't the purpose of life. If that was the case, Mr.
Ambani would not show up for work. Shah Rukh Khan would stay at home and not dance anymore. Steve Jobs won't be working hard to make a better iPhone, as he sold Pixar for billions of dollars already. Why do they do it? What makes them come to work everyday? They do it because it makes them happy. They do it because it makes them feel alive. Just getting better from current levels feels good. If you study hard, you can improve your rank. If you make an effort to interact with people, you will do better in interviews. If you practice, your cricket will get better. You may also know that you cannot become Tendulkar, yet. But you can get to the next level. Striving for that next level is important.

Nature designed with a random set of genes and circumstances in which we were born. To be happy, we have to accept it and make the most of nature's design. Are you? Goals will help you do that.

I must add, don't just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before successful. Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in good order.

There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup.
There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.

You must have read some quotes - Life is a tough race, it is a marathon or whatever. No, from what I have seen so far, life is one of those races in nursery school, where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first.
Same with life, where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die.

One last thing about nurturing the spark - don't take life seriously.
One of my yoga teachers used to make students laugh during classes. One student asked him if these jokes would take away something from the yoga practice. The teacher said - don't be serious, be sincere. This quote has defined my work ever since. Whether its my writing, my job, my relationships or any of my goals. I get thousands of opinions on my writing everyday. There is heaps of praise, there is intense criticism.
If I take it all seriously, how will I write? Or rather, how will I live? Life is not to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It's ok, bunk a few classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people, not programmed devices.

I've told you three things - reasonable goals, balance and not taking it too seriously that will nurture the spark. However, there are four storms in life that will threaten to completely put out the flame. These must be guarded against. These are disappointment, frustration, unfairness and loneliness of purpose.

Disappointment will come when your effort does not give you the expected return. If things don't go as planned or if you face failure. Failure is extremely difficult to handle, but those that do come out stronger. What did this failure teach me? is the question you will need to ask. You will feel miserable. You will want to quit, like I wanted to when nine publishers rejected my first book. Some IITians kill themselves over low grades - how silly is that? But that is how much failure can hurt you.
But it's life. If challenges could always be overcome, they would cease to be a challenge. And remember - if you are failing at something, that means you are at your limit or potential. And that's where you want to be.

Disappointment's cousin is frustration, the second storm. Have you ever been frustrated? It happens when things are stuck. This is especially relevant in India . From traffic jams to getting that job you deserve, sometimes things take so long that you don't know if you chose the right goal. After books, I set the goal of writing for Bollywood, as I thought they needed writers. I am called extremely lucky, but it took me five years to get close to a release. Frustration saps excitement, and turns your initial energy into something negative, making you a bitter person.
How did I deal with it? A realistic assessment of the time involved - movies take a long time to make even though they are watched quickly, seeking a certain enjoyment in the process rather than the end result - at least I was learning how to write scripts, having a side plan - I had my third book to write and even something as simple as pleasurable distractions in your life - friends, food, travel can help you overcome it. Remember, nothing is to be taken seriously. Frustration is a sign somewhere, you took it too seriously.

Unfairness - this is hardest to deal with, but unfortunately that is how our country works. People with connections, rich dads, beautiful faces, pedigree find it easier to make it - not just in Bollywood, but everywhere. And sometimes it is just plain luck. There are so few opportunities in India , so many stars need to be aligned for you to make it happen. Merit and hard work is not always linked to achievement in the short term, but the long term correlation is high, and ultimately things do work out. But realize, there will be some people luckier than you. In fact, to have an opportunity to go to college and understand this speech in English means you are pretty damm lucky by Indian standards.. Let's be grateful for what we have and get the strength to accept what we don't. I have so much love from my readers that other writers cannot even imagine it. However, I don't get literary praise.
It's ok. I don't look like Aishwarya Rai, but I have two boys who I think are more beautiful than her.. It's ok. Don't let unfairness kill your spark.

Finally, the last point that can kill your spark is isolation. As you grow older you will realize you are unique. When you are little, all kids want Ice cream and Spiderman. As you grow older to college, you still are a lot like your friends. But ten years later and you realize you are unique. What you want, what you believe in, what makes you feel, may be different from even the people closest to you. This can create conflict as your goals may not match with others. . And you may drop some of them. Basketball captains in college invariably stop playing basketball by the time they have their second child. They give up something that meant so much to them. They do it for their family. But in doing that, the spark dies. Never, ever make that compromise. Love yourself first, and then others.

There you go. I've told you the four thunderstorms - disappointment, frustration, unfairness and isolation. You cannot avoid them, as like the monsoon they will come into your life at regular intervals. You just need to keep the raincoat handy to not let the spark die.

I welcome you again to the most wonderful years of your life. If someone gave me the choice to go back in time, I will surely choose college. But I also hope that ten years later as well, your eyes will shine the same way as they do today. That you will Keep the Spark alive, not only through college, but through the next 2,500 weekends. And I hope not just you, but my whole country will keep that spark alive, as we really need it now more than any moment in history. And there is something cool about saying - I come from the land of a billion sparks.

Thank You
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The BCD5 Logo

2008-08-11T00:26:00.001-07:00

Piyush pointed out the BCD4 logo in my last post. Here is the updated BCD5 logo

Bar Camp Delhi - a small window to the world thats growing

2008-08-08T01:41:00.000-07:00

It all started when Piyush asked me if I have some spare time to volunteer for the Bar Camp 5 in Delhi. Jumped upon the opportunity. My first window to this world of amazing success stories was the Proto event at IIT-Delhi. So excited and pumped up I was feeling, couldn't have let this opportunity go at any cost.

BarCamp is an event where all sorts of people are in attendance. Thinkers, Executioners, Listeners and Wanna-Bes. There are talks around what people have done, how they have done it and what it takes to do something "different". Delhi has seriously woken upto the "BarCamp" culture starting with No prizes for guessing that Camp 5 is slated to be even bigger and better.

Unfortunately enough, the BarCamps have been mostly crowded with IT and ITeS. There is enough happening in the non-IT world that needs to be on this stage. Me and Piyush will definitely try to diversify this time. In case you know of non-IT folks who have made a name/business for themselves, we are interested in meeting them.

With things starting to fall in place, schedules and sponsors getting onto the table, its time to get down and get our hands dirty. Volunteers welcome in all shapes and sizes. Right from printing of banners, t-shirts ---- on the spot organizers ---- help with caterers ---- we need them one and all.

Drawing the Tangent

2008-07-21T21:17:00.000-07:00

I was at the Proto (http://proto.in) event on the last friday and saturday (18, 19 July). Over the course of these 2 days, I figured out the importance of having a blog to talk about my work. A lot of people were using this now "distinguished" medium of communication to learn about opportunities that exist in their domain of influence. And it is not just about learning, its also about creating opportunities for people around me.

Here I am, Nikhil Aggarwal - starting to draw my tangent from this big circle of the Indian software industry. My organization is called Carmik Technologies (http://www.carmiktech.com).

One can easily ask - why the Tangent ? Yes I do follow the outsourcing model - but with a slight difference. I am not into taking up projects which are sort of run-of-the-mill stuff. I only take up software projects which include work on niche technologies (thats the motivation behind my blog's address), work that is significantly different from what a lot of other people are doing.

I will be posting a lot of stuff that I am working on and some of the technology that I am constantly learning.

Here's wishing some good luck to myself and praying for continuity over this space.

--Nikhil