Author: anandnataraj

Entrepreneur, Blogger, Traveller, Pet Lover, Networker, Social Drinker, Party Animal, Movie Addict, Startup Enthusiast, Organic Gardner, Avid Reader....

To succeed you must be on Right Place & Time


I wanted to take this topic because this in one topic which I debate with my friend K.Balaji. We have been astonished by the overwhelming success of India Premier League (IPL) and there has been lots of applause for itz architect Lalit Modi. Ofcourse he has done a great job by bringing all players at one place and added glamour by adding cheer girls and bollyhood.

 

But we have all forgotten the real person who was behind such an idea it was Indian Cricket League (ICL) and team. They deserve a lot to corner BCCI and the end result was a great product called IPL.

 

But what lesson we must learn from ICL is one must be in Right place and Right time to succeed. This reminds of my father who keeps feeling bad that he didn’t deserve growth in his company and he often feels bad that his juniors have gone above him.

 

But the sad thing is my father had a accounting degree and he was working with an Engineering company where people with Engineering background got more growth than him. My father didn’t realize this or didn’t understand this. He would have had great career growth if he has joined a Bank or any other company whose business model was related to accounts.

 

My father’s ignorance took a toll on me and my sister. He came to a conclusion that accounting specialization is of no value and only people with engineering specialization have value.

 

My father’s case can my compared with ICL where both of them lost because of being in a wrong place.

 

For wrong timing we can show cases of good movies in India which fails miserable because they might have got released when there is a Cricket World Cup or would have got released when theatres are on strike.

 

Likewise I see many people complaining about job satisfaction, fatigue etc. For all those people I’d ask them to see if they are in the right place or time.

On a last note let us not forget the contribution of ICL to Indian Cricket. They have pushed the competitor to get the best out of them. Still they are fighting and even of they loose they can feel proud for giving a brave and bold fight. For sure they have a place in my heart.

Shocking news about Beatz


Last weekend was full of drama. We were shocked to get a legal notice from our competitor where they have got an injunction (stay order) from Madras High Court to stop offering Beatz for download. So, what is the reason they have claimed for this?

 

  • They say we have stolen their code and we are offering the product for free. This was fully false & baseless allegation. We spent almost 3 months to develop this wonderful product.
  • Also they claim offering freebies is against competition laws. But we have used Joomla as the framework for the development of this product and we feel by using an open source it is only ethical to offer the product for free.

 


Also what disappoints me is;

 

  • All of a sudden we get an injunction order and we were not given a chance or prior notice to prove our point of view.
  • Also they have timed this at a time where courts are on a vacation and we have to wait till courts reopen.

 

I take this opportunity to inform my customers, employees and friends that this product is genuinely developed by Cogzidel’s team and we will prove our credentials as soon as the courts reopen.

 

For people who have downloaded the script before 23 May 2009 can use the script because we received the injunction only on 23rd May. There is absolutely no issues with this because we have enough evidence to prove that we have developed this product.

 

At this point I must thank my team members (Senthil, Sathick, Bala Krishnan, Boopathi and Major Karthik) who are my support and strength. They gave me the motivation and energy I needed.

 

Also I once again take this opportunity to thank customers and employees for their support.

 

If you want to help us you can do that by offering valid legal points, writing blogs, by tweeting on twitter, making forum posts against these kinds of unhealthy business practice and you can use any other legitimate ways which can help us get support of the community.

There are 100 world known personalities on this painting…


There are more than 100 world known personalities on this painting.  If you can name a minimum of 25 you may consider yourself a well-informed person.

Click for enlarged view
Click for enlarged view

Bad times big opportunity for startups!!


I started my entrepreneurship ride during the year 2000 in the month of September. It was the starting days of so called dotcom bubble. The buzz, happenings and the glamour have all come to a halt. It was one of the worst times to even think of starting a company and that too offering Web based services. We were criticized left right and center for becoming an entrepreneur. My parents asked me to take up higher studies and my friends asked me to take up a job till things revert back.

 

In spite of all those obstacles I started my company with the help of my mentor and well wisher Mr.Shunmugavel Yogan, founder TheITDepot.com. Initial struggles were enormous… When ever I failed there was more criticism than getting moral support… We had no mentors and also the startup ecosystem was not mature… Everything was starting to take shape unlike today;

 

  • Opensource and frameworks were starting to emerge and were not usable. So, we had to develop everything from the scratch.
  • There were not many market places like elance or scriptlance. We had to depend on forums and on top listing on search engines (SEO).
  • Startup ecosystem like proto.in, barcamps, open coffee clubs etc were not there.
  • Also the concept of bootstrapping was new. There was an illusion that to start a business one needs huge capital.

 

In spite of all those odds we were able to strike it big and I personally feel we can see persons best only when his character is put on a test. Why I keep repeating these kind of post is because I see many enthusiastic people who want to become entrepreneurs keep telling me reasons like it is recession, market is inflated, family commitments, emotional commitments etc.

 

Unless we have control on us we can’t strike the gold. So instead of getting inspired by successful people try to know their path to success which can teach you lots of lessons.

How I bootstrapped my first venture!!!


This is how I bootstrapped my first venture which was started during the starting days of Dotcom bubble.

 

  • Shared office space from a Gingelly oil company where they gave us 100 sq ft space, 5 systems, internet connection and a telephone line for $200 a month.
  • Provided out of our business model services which helped us sustain till we got a groove into our core business. Services we offered were;
    • Linux installation
    • System Assembling & Trouble shooting
    • Java Training
    • Offering real time projects for college students
    • Sub sourcing resumes to manpower companies

Since we were out of college we had big network of friends who were college pass outs or students which helped in spreading our services and we got decent response to recover our monthly expense.

  • Since it was recession there was acute shortage of jobs. We offered jobs for deposit and we got tremendous response for this. We made $2000 from two people which were our six months liquidity with which we stopped all non core activities and concentrated on core business.
  • Apart from those two paid resource. We hired talented people who joined us for no pay. This changed our fortunes.

Having generated 6 months cash flow and a team of talented people we were able to win projects with the HELP of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and market places like scriptlance.com and elance.com.

NLP BASIC PRACTITIONER CERTIFICATION TRAINING (IN CHENNAI)


NATIONAL FEDERATION OF NEUROLINGUISTIC PSYCHOLOGY (NFNLP) U.S.A.

 

Offers

 

NLP BASIC PRACTITIONER CERTIFICATION TRAINING (IN CHENNAI)

 

WORKSHOP LEADER:

 

Mr.K.ARAVAMOOTHAM

Management Consultant & Corporate Trainer

Certified NLP Trainer from NFNLP,U.S.A.

 

INTRODUCTION:

 

NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) offers rapid & practical methods for personal growth and influence. It is the study of how people think, process information & behave.

 

NLP is used extensively in business, sports, sales, education, therapy & many other fields.

 

WHO WILL BENEFIT:

 

This course is essential for anyone serious about fulfilling their potential. Businessmen, Doctors, Therapists, Trainers, Teachers, Consultants, HR executives, Managers, Lawyers, Salespeople & other Professionals will find it rewarding..

 

YOU WILL LEARN:

 

  • How to access personal strengths & resources.
  • How to solve problems at the subconscious level.
  • How to see & hear expertly.
  • How to improve personal & professional relationships.
  • How to make rapid & lasting changes.
  • How to change internal states.
  • How to do quick impact therapy.
  • How to change personal history.
  • How to reframe your life.
  • All types of anchoring techniques.
  • Re- parenting your inner child.
  • Fast phobia cure – stop phobia in minutes.
  • Modeling & reproducing excellence

 

YOU WILL RECEIVE:

 

A Reference manual for use during the training which will give you a tool you can refer anytime. The manual provides techniques in a step by step manner.

 

CERTIFICATION: 

 

Upon successful completion of this course, participants will be certified through the National Federation of Neurolinguistic psychology, U.S.A.

 

PARTICIPATION FEE:

 

Special Offer    Rs.9500/- per person ( includes tuition, course materials, lunch, refreshments & certification from NFNLP, U.S.A.)

 

Note: Cheque should be drawn in favour of  LIFE ACADEMY

 

COURSE SCHEDULE

 

DATE       :  30th & 31st May,

                   6th & 7th June 2009 (4 days)

 

TIME        :   9.00 am to 7.00 pm

 

VENUE   :   CCMC Hall (A/c)

21, First main road,

Indira nagar, Adyar,

Chennai – 600020

 

As the seats are limited, you are requested to confirm your participation in case you would like to attend this course.

                        

FOR REGISTRATION

 

CONTACT: Mr ASHRAF

Mobile: 98412 92715

 

(Please refer you are from Chennai Entrepreneur group)

Entrepreneurship!! Whose piece of cake?


I’ve seen many highly energized people who approach me with their business ideas asking to review their idea or for investment… Most of these people who approached me said they were meeting more people with their ideas for more than six months… When I asked the reason for their wait;

 

  • Some said they had family commitments to fulfill and hence they can’t quit their job.
  • Some said they work to gain experience which would be helpful when they start a business.
  • Some said they are waiting for proper timing (Some said market is at itz high and waiting for correction & some said it is recession).
  • Some say they don’t have enough capital to start a company.

 

There were many more reasons which sound crazy… Though I respect their reason be it genuine or not. I can’t buy their reason for delaying their entrepreneurial ambitions because;

 

  • Mr.Narayanamurthy founder of Infosys had a family (Wife & 2 children) when he started Infosys. Commitments are man made and we have control over our commitments and we have to plan and control our commitments to bring out other desire.
  • Job experience and business experience are different ball game and when one starts a business at any point of time (with or without experience) they have to come across challenges.
  • Timings can’t be timed because when market is on a high note there will be business but costs are high and when there is a recession costs are low but business will be poor. Always there is no right time to start a business or to put it optimistically every time is right time to start a business.
  • Always one need not have capital to start a company. There are many ways to bootstrap and one must read success stories how they bootstrapped in they their early days.

 

I personally didn’t have much job experience when I took up entrepreneurship but today I gained much knowledge and experience which is required by an entrepreneur. But my friends who started business with 8 years of job experience are overcoming the same challenges which I came across.

 

One more thing which I want to tell every striving or wanna be entrepreneurs is “Start something immediately” only then you will create a focus and can find your path. Until then it will be a chicken and egg story…

 

Let me end this blog with this note;

 

  • Ship is always safe in the shores but it is not built for that.
  • Start small Think big Work on quick iterations.

Nunook Interactive Pvt Ltd Looking for engineering interns and full-time game designers


Nunook Interactive Pvt Ltd is a fast-growing educational gaming startup headquartered in Mumbai with a branch office in Chennai. The founders of the company have a total of over 15 years of experience in Silicon Valley, and have recently relocated to India from the US to develop a company for the Indian market. 

Nunook currently have the following openings their organization.

Job Opening 1:

 

Engineering intern: Looking for engineering interns from May to August 2009. Your duties will include:

 

  • Working with senior Action scripter’s and Flex engineers to develop the client side for a new product
  • Developing the server backend for the product using PHP and MySQL
  • Maintaining, troubleshooting and debugging various parts of the product
  • Developing and maintaining our corporate website using HTML, CSS, AJAX, and other Web standards

 

To apply for this position, you must be currently enrolled in a BE/BTech or similar degree program. Company looks for a strong programming background in all candidates.

For this position, experience in PHP, MySQL, Actionscript or Flex is desirable. Most importantly, company looks for talented engineers who love technology and learning new things.

Job Opening 2:

 

Game designer: This is a full time position. Company looking for a game designer to perform the following duties:

 

  • Developing concepts for new easy to learn, fun to play games targeted at schoolchildren
  • Creating design documents based on these game concepts
  • Working closely with artists and programmers to ensure that the game designs are implemented to high quality
  • Tuning and testing the games to make them challenging and entertaining
  • Providing design input for other parts of our educational gaming product

Company is looking for candidates who love games and have previous exposure to game design. Experience in creating concept art using paper sketches, Photoshop or Flash is a plus.

Requirements:
Both these positions will entail taking on a significant amount of responsibility and working with a high degree of autonomy. To succeed in these roles, candidate must be able to work well as part of a small, highly-motivated team. Candidate must be enthusiastic about their work and keen to take on new challenges.

If you are interested in either of these positions, please contact Abhijeet Vijayakar at abhi@nunook.com.

Study in China


My cousin Gopi has taken a new job as Sr. Consultant with SINO- INDIA Education & Technology Alliance (P) Ltd, Chennai and he wants me to put a word about the services his new company offers.

 

Sino-India Education & Technology Alliance (P) Ltd (SIEATA), Chennai, India is an independent organization established in 2005 with links spread out in countries like China, India, Malaysia, USE, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and many more countries around the world.

 

Sino India serves as a bridge between China and India over Education and Technology.

 

Over 3500 students from both countries are studying in various fields such as Software related programs in India and Medical, Engineering in China.

 

Our Websites : http://www.sieata.co.in  & http://www.aec-edu.com

 

Universities we work for:

  • WUHAN University
  • Zhengzhou University
  • China Three Gorges University
  • Nanjing University
  • Central South University

 

Courses Offered:

  • MBBS
  • MD – Medicine, Surgery, Radiology, Orthopedics, Pediatrics, Gynecology, ENT/Ophthalmology
  • Engineering – Aeronautics & Astronautics Engineering, Mining Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
  • Management – BBA & MBA

 

 

Why China?

  • Excellent, World-Class Infrastructure
  • Quality Education and value for your money
  • Moderate fee and cost of living compared to UK/US/RUSSIA/OTHER COUNTRIES
  • Global Recognition
  • Welcoming Environment

 

Interested candidates can call Mr. Gopi Krishnan @ +91 – 9381381301 or e-mail an enquiry to administrator@sieata.co.in  or you can also walk-in to the venue mentioned below:-

 

SINO – INDIA Technology & Alliance (P) Ltd

No.14, 1st floor, 4th Seaward Road, Valmiki Nagar,

Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai – 41

Ph : +91 – 44 – 45018756 / 42300932

GLIM eMBA Batch 3


GLIM emba III
GLIM emba III

This is a picture that stands close to my heart… They is my MBA batch and I’m glad to be part of this Batch… We didn’t know each other and each of us had too much diversity even by age… I was the youngest at 26 and the eldest person was 45 when the batch started 2 years… But we all stood united with great compassions which I realized when I was totally down last year… I can’t forget those 90 days where we were together studying, playing volleyball, swimming and many more activities :)… Learning was fun filled… Now I’m worried as those days have become history and can’t come back and I’ve to live with those greener moments I had spent…