End Game

I read a very nice article other day in live mint written by Sanjeev Bikhchandani, co-founder of Naukri.com. He talks about his experience with VC community. He says they had hard time convincing VC that they don’t have an intention for exit any time sooner. They are in it for a long run. How ever for a VC it is not so as he has a stipulated timeline to exit. He will always have an End Game in his mind.

In real life I have been also asked similar questions from VC. It took me some time to understand the rational behind the question. Basically we need to understand how does a VC makes money. Most of the VC will choose a market or technology to invest. They invest in some 10 companies thinking at least 4 of them will do well. And most of the time they will. Thus these 4 investments will makeup for the rest of the 6 investment losses. This is just a thumb rule. This may vary from VC to VC.

VC will take a stake (shares) from your company. Now there is no standard theory which says how much stake will he take. It all depends on your Business Plan, market strategy and things like that. They would typically evaluate the idea and invest. Now most of the time he will tell you that he would exit by 3 to 5 years. If he hasn’t then you should understand that. I feel there is nothing wrong in his exit plans as there would be newer investors who would be willing to invest as and how you grow, based on how much value you have created. Most of the time VC himself will find newer investors to invest. Now this is where he makes money by selling his shares to a newer VC.

VC can make or break your company. What is important is you need to safeguard your company. Because they are in it for their interest. This is their game and they would like to end the game as early as possible. You need to figure out how long would you would like to be in it.

First few baby steps as entrepreneur

“Magic of  Thinking Big” is the book which changed my life. I still remember the day when I decided to change my field from  harder Mechanical to the much softer IT. I never thought I would be coming so far. I have covered many a distance in the last 10 years. My entry to Bangalore was the turning point for me. After that I didn’t look back. Not to mention how difficult the turn was. People bunk exams, but I had to bunk an interview to create my new way. Any ways the hitches and glitches which I passed through were many but none of them matter now. What matter’s is only “What Next” and nothing else.

In the year of 2002 when most of the ".com" companies were down with the bubble burst, I got an opportunity to work in a start-up. The founders were young and wanting to make their own dent in the market. I sailed in this boat for an year. This opened up a new door for me and I was exposed to Software  Product business, SME business and the markets around. At the same time this bug of “wanting to do something of my own” was chewing my mind and I was looking for different avenues and options to start. I saw an opportunity in this very Company as the founders were split and were on their own. I proposed the idea and Bingo, I was part of the new venture. This is how I became an entrepreneur.

There is no hard rule which says this is how you need to start or something like that. I had taken my first step towards my entrepreneur journey without even asking my friends or parents. I thought that was the best thing to do at that moment and I did it. Now when I look back I feel I did the right thing. 

Rules of the Jungle

Often in paper and the television it is portrayed that success in entrepreneurship is overnight. But it is far away from the truth. We need to see how long the so called “over night” was. For some it is years and for some it is months. The later ones are the luckiest. Very often it takes many years to accomplish. In the recent years however some of the tech companies like YouTube & Skype have changed some of these dynamics. But still it is not over night.
Speaking of my own experience it took us some time to get somewhere. It took us 3 years to raise money. Not that raising money is an accomplishment but without money you can’t do any business. And most of the new age entrepreneurs are all from a middle class family. So expecting financial support from friends and family is ruled out. At the maximum you might get moral support that too if you are blessed. So before starting of your own you better know what are you up to. Get your feet wet. Take some time to feel the water and then jump. At least you will be mentally prepared to face the challenges. Very often we start when we are in peak of enthusiasm and when that drains off you quit saying it was difficult. Of course the journey is difficult. When you are in jungle don’t except the journey to be smooth.

ಅನಿಸುತಿದೆ ಯಾಕೋ ಇಂದು

ಅನಿಸುತಿದೆ ಯಾಕೋ ಇಂದು ನೀನೇನೆ ನನ್ನವಳೆಂದು

ಮಾಯದಾ ಲೋಕದಿಂದ ನನಗಾಗಿ ಬಂದವಳೆಂದು 

ಆಹಾ! ಎಂತ ಮದುರಾ ಯಾತನೆ 

ಕೊಲ್ಲು ಹುಡುಗಿಯೊಮ್ಮೆ ನನ್ನ ಹಾಗೆ ಸುಮ್ಮನೆ 

ಮುಂಗಾರು ಮಳೆಯ ಹಾಡನ್ನು ಕೇಳದವರೇ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಜಯಂತ್ ಕಾಯ್ಕಿಣಿಯ ಬರಹ ತುಂಬಾ ಮದುರವಾಗಿ ಹಾಡಲ್ಲಿ ಬಂದಿದೆ. ಭಗ್ನ ಪ್ರೇಮಿಯ ಇ ಪ್ರೀತಿ ಮತ್ತು ನೋವನ್ನು ಅನುಭವಿಸಿದವರೇ ಬಲ್ಲರು. ಆಹಾ! ಎಂತ ಮದುರ ಯಾತನೆ. 

Software Product Management, how different it is from the traditional?

I have been fortunate to work on Product Management for the most of my career till date. I have worked on all the aspects of PM, be it innovation or market research or productisation of an idea or market launch. I often got the opportunity to meet Product Managers from different industries. On one such occasion I met a Product Manager from Auto industry, one of the most matured industry. We shared our notes, discussed about our respective products and the challenges we often encountered. During the conversation he casually argued with me  me saying "After all how different Software Product Management can be? " I didn't have much answer to it at that time. But now looking back there are quite a few differences compared to the traditional PM. At least couple of them are worth mentioning.

First of all the entire business model is so different as compared to the traditional. Why? Because in Software PM the Beta launch is your commercial launch. Time starts ticking from here. How ever you look at only acquiring new customers/subscribers who may or may not (which is usually the case) be paying. You will figure out later in the stage probably during growth stage on how to make the  money out of your customers/subscribers. Many a times its not your customers/subscribers who shall pay the money but its your advertiser. This is a huge shift from the traditional Product management.

There is nothing called production line and cost in Software Product Management. You build it once and you sell the same to all. Only different is the License keys which are unique to each customers. These days there are no medias/boxes which shall be shipped as well. So what is the result; you end up in huge margins. One of the most successful product (Which is MS windows) has more than 70% as a margin. Another advantage is your cost of prototyping is very minimal as compared to the other industry.

At the flip side, Yes! there are quite a few challenges and threats.  You will have the competition from "Copy Cats" and "Me Too" all around you, almost at the very next day of your launch. There is no essence of "touch and feel" in the Software Products. Lack of maturity in building the Product as compared to Auto and Construction.

There are of course, significant improvements in the Software Product Development Life Cycle in the past few years. With Rapid development tools, UML and Agile methodology the life shall be much simpler and smoother.