Author: anandnataraj

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

10 years of Entrepreneurship & 2 Years for Cogzidel


September has become a special month in my Life as it is during this month that I started my career and that too as an entrepreneur. I still remember it was during September 2000 I started my first company in a Ganesh Temple in Besant Nagar during Ganesh Chadurthi. Then I didn’t know I’d have crossed soo many hurdles & would be blogging about it today.

Also my second venture Cogzidel was started during september 2 years back and again I cant believe it has been 2 years. I can still remember both the days afresh.

It was a wonderful journey which was a mix of;

  • Excitement
  • Learning
  • Experience
  • Betraying
  • Managing Cruelty
  • Criticism
  • Appreciation
  • Recougnization

It took me 10 years in life to understand only half what entrepreneurship is and I’m still learning. Now I’ve a past to show people about my performance. But time to redraw my future & this is how I want my future to be positioned or I want to be or I want to do;

  • Become an Angel Investor
  • Become a Business Mentor
  • Become a professor on Entrepreneurship
  • Experiment / Research on Entrepreneurship like
    • Social Entrepreneurship
    • Holding and scaling an Entity
    • Forming a Company with Crowd Funding
    • Run a Public Limited Company

Just understood where my heart is and slowly moving towards the direction of my passion. Finally on this day I’d like to thank all my friends, relatives & my associates who have helped me reach where I’m today.

I wish 2020 will have a lot more to Share than now.

Life has come a Circle


Thirteen years back when I was in college my neighbors & relatives who were elder to me by 7 – 10 years use to take me for movies. I’d be waiting for weekends and I was not sure then why they were taking all the pains to take me by spending on tickets and snacks for me.

Then after completion of my graduation and after starting to earn I use to goto movies every weekend along with my friends. Problem then was there were different sets of friends (School, College, Neighbor) use to call me at a same time. It was hard to take a choice but i managed by shuffling teams every week.

Then after a time I started approaching my juniors to accompany me for a movie. Yesterday I was in a situation where I wanted to go for a movie. When I approached my juniors whom I took for granted until sometime back CHANGED. When I approached then I started getting reasons my friends use to tell me or Vice-Versa.

Just realized that they have grown and they have become serious in their life. Only yesterday I got an answer “Why I was sponsored for movie by my Seniors”. Now I realize that I was doing a favor for them and they didn’t.

Life has come a full circle and now it is time to drill down and look for young Kids who can give me company.

I watch this whenever I’m down


Traffic Menace


Started the day by waking early in the morning & things started well;

  • Replied to all official emails.
  • Answered all personal emails.
  • Then took a Business Analyst friend of mine to give some advice to my new Business Analyst & also got good insights about Business Analyst practices.
  • Then met a Serial Entrepreneur friend of mine and it was nice interacting with her.
  • Then went to my favorite Aavin parlor in Adyar with my CFO & dropped him back.

It is from here my agony started. From GN Chetty road to reach my home it took 2 hours and I was really irritated. All the good progress in the day got overshadowed by the traffic and unruly drivers in the City. But the time I reached my home I got mentally tired.

Nothing is a barrier if you are determined!


An old man lived alone in a village. He wanted to spade his potato garden, but it was very hard work. His only son, who would have helped him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and mentioned his situation:

Dear Son,

I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won’t be able to plant my potato garden this year. I hate to miss doing the garden, because your mother always loved planting time. I’m just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. If you were here, all my troubles would be over. I know you would dig the plot for me, if you weren’t in prison.

Love,

Dad

Shortly, the old man received this telegram: “For Heaven’s sake, Dad, don’t dig up the garden!! That’s where I buried the GUNS!!”

At 4 a.m. the next morning, a dozen FBI agents and local police officers showed up and dug up the entire garden without finding any guns.

Confused, the old man wrote another note to his son telling him what happened, and asked him what to do next.

His son’s reply was: “Go ahead and plant your potatoes, Dad.. It’s the best I could do for you from here.”

NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE IN THE WORLD, IF YOU HAVE DECIDED TO DO SOMETHING DEEP FROM YOUR HEART YOU CAN DO IT.

IT IS THE THOUGHT THAT MATTERS NOT WHERE YOU ARE OR WHERE THE PERSON IS.

Is being mean a mistake?


For 20 years in my life i’ve been an ordinary person by leading a life for my parents wishes. I was scared of criticism but thankfully I always had an opportunity to find compassion in someone. But it all changed the day I told my parents, relatives & friends that I wanted to become an entrepreneur I was criticized by everyone. That struck me really hard and I wanted to prove everyone wrong. From then on I had come across a lot of good and bad moments.

In the pursuit of my dreams I’m traveling in a place of uncertainties. I carry a lot of responsibility & commitment unlike a normal person. For all this the cost I’m paying is ignoring my responsibilities & commitment in my personal life.

  • Last weekend my mother was feeling bad that my contribution towards my sisters marriage preparation is zero.
  • I’ve been ignoring important ones in my life for my personal interest.

I don’t want to justify my acts but I’m forced to be mean as the situation demands it. Again I don’t have a better place to open my guilt other than my blog.

Folks I’m Guilty of Being Mean for my PERSONAL INTEREST…

Adidas & Puma Story


Rudolf and Adi Dassler learned at an early age the enormous impact that gold medals had on their shoe business.

When U.S. sprinter Jesse Owens got to Germany for Berlin’s 1936 Olympics, Adi Dassler drove from Bavaria on one of the world’s first motorways to the Olympic village. There he found Owens, unpacked a suitcase filled with spikes and persuaded him to try them. Owens won four gold medals in Dassler shoes.

“Owens’s success cemented the good reputation of Dassler shoes among the world’s most famous sportsmen,” Smit writes. “Letters from around the world landed on the brothers’ desks, and the trainers of other national teams were all interested in their shoes.”

Business boomed and the Dasslers were selling 200,000 pairs of shoes each year before World War Two.

The war exacerbated tensions between the two brothers and their wives. Although both Dasslers joined the Nazi party and signed their letters with a “Heil Hitler” salutation, Rudolf was a more devoted Nazi.

The origins of the split between Rudolf and Adi are hard to pinpoint but an Allied bomb attack on Herzogenaurach in 1943 illustrated the growing tension. Adi and his wife climbed into a bomb shelter that Rudolf and his family were already in.

“The dirty bastards are back again,” Adi said, apparently referring to the Allied war planes. Rudolf was convinced his brother meant him and his family. The damage was never repaired.

In 1948, the brothers split their business. Adolf called his firm ‘Adidas’; Rudolf called his ‘Ruda’ before changing to ‘Puma’.

Second Step to Crowd Funding


After a week of thinking, to and foe changes on strategies we finally decided on two things yesterday;

  • Deliverable to the investor…
  • Business Model for the investment pitch…

Thought that is just a start from today have to plan a lot of parallels and still we have a lot of things to do like;

  • Forming Intermediates (Brokers / Affiliates) to sell the project.
  • Meet more people like Investment Bankers, Serial Entrepreneurs to understand the legalities and challenges we might foresee and work on solutions.
  • Start working on Business Plan to show it to investors.

From now it is going to be interesting as it is going to be a test for our patience, leadership, team-work and skills.

Next time someone starts to spread gossip – think of this :)


In ancient Greece (469 – 399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom.

One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance who ran up to him excitedly and said,
“Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?”

Wait a moment,” Socrates replied. “Before you tell me I’d like you to pass a little test.It’s called the Triple Filter Test.”

“Triple filter?”

“That’s right,” Socrates continued. “Before you talk to me about my student let’s take a moment to filter what you’re going to say.
The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”

“No,” the man said, “actually I just heard about it and…”

“All right,” said Socrates. “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not.
Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?”

“No, on the contrary…”

“So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about him, even though you’re not certain it’s true?”

The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.

Socrates continued. “You may still pass the test though,because there is a  third filter – the filter of Usefulness.
Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?”

“No, not really…”

“Well,” concluded Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful! Why tell it to me at all?”

The man was defeated and ashamed.

This is the reason Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.

It also explains why he never found out that Plato (his student) was having an affair with his wife.

Moral: It’s good to gossip sometimes!!!  🙂