Right to the Top !

We are looking for hardcore (IITLingo: Hapaix Chaapoo, Hindi: tod-fod) programmers to join us.

We are an early-stage product startup operating in the Mobile space based out of IIT Kanpur. We work in small teams where individuals assume full responsibility of their products. You decide not only the technology, but also contribute to a wider range of business functions from product conceptualization, design & implementation to client interfacing, sales and marketing strategy.

We are looking for performers who can create products they are so confident of that they can put their name behind it. We believe in a lean and tough team, and need only four people.

If ‘life in the line-of-fire‘ excites you, and your mind craves for a race against the best brains in the industry – we invite you to be a part of our team.

.

What we value?

• Fire & Desire to DO something.
• A thirst for knowledge that cannot be quenched.
• Masters of Java, J2ME and C/C++

We are looking at people who are good at design and great at architecture. You should be able to design extensible products that serves not only the current specified audience, but can evolve to serve unintended future spaces.

If you are looking for an opportunity to work in a highly-charged high-adrenalin environment, mail your CV to animesh [at] animesh [dot] net with subject line ‘Empowered Careers’.

Experience, Education, Institute and CPI do not matter, the only criterion are the ones above. Please include a brief of any academic, professional or independent projects that you have done. Also note, We hire only the best, and we settle for nothing less than that. If you are not confident that you are the one we’re looking for – we request you to not apply, it will help us in saving your time and effort (and a bit of ours too).

Thank you for your time in reading this.

 

The Golden Cage and the IITians.

I had a small chat last night with an EE student here at IIT, who has a business idea that a bit of financing and refinement can help him launch off ground. And in there my young friend commented, “We’re IITians and we get paid well. So its easier for us to do a startup.”

While I admire his conviction in his idea, his comment sets me thinking. “We’re IITians and we get paid well. So its easier for us to do a startup.” Really?

I agree that while there may be some truth in the campus salary of IITians vis-a-vis other engineering colleges, I beg to differ on the inference derived. Higher salary => higher reserves => Easy to Quit and startup.

No.

Human mind works in queer ways! Its less maths, its more psychology. And I have experienced it first hand.

The more paid you are, the more difficult is it to let go. I had frequent discussions about it with one of my colleagues Anshul in Bangalore; we had both landed the highest paying Indian job at our respective campuses 🙂 And both of us had a strong urge to do “something”. Work at DrKW was immensly satisfying, and I believe I was lucky to be writing software for Risk and Credit Derivatives and the likes in my very first year – indeed, very few people were exposed to this kind of work way back in 2001. The guys we worked with were all brilliant, but we still missed the thrill that you only get out of “creating something”. We both wanted to “build a business”.

And we both found the salary an inhibitor, not a facilitator!

While a top-of-the-line salary ensures that we build up a comfortable reserves early off in the career, which should ideally allow us to quit and work out a dream – it often works the other way. I call it the Golden Cage. The more you get, the more difficult it becomes to let go and the more the notional loss it seems. And a more stronger leap of faith it requires. And it goes on increasing. You are smart, so you work smart and you get paid more, and you end up deeper in the Golden Cage.

Infact I have seen more people who have worked at startups, do a startup themself, rather than the masses at bigger companies. Work at startup is like living at the fronts. You are standing in the line of fire and exposing yourself to a wider range of responsibilites, technologies and business functions. From financing, sales and marketing, strategy to product conceptualisation and execution. A bigger company cannot give you the same amount of learning, because its a huge machine – the nuts and the bolts, the gear and the pulley needs to work well in their closed domains to keep the machine working.

So to all those in the Golden Cage who think they will be free ‘later’ – my humble advice to them – a later never comes. You end up deeper in the Golden Cage. Have an urge? Have an idea and does it makes business sense? Then damn the salary and take the plunge.

When I quit Bank of America, my colleague did an MBA from ISB (probably hoping that an MBA will help in startup) but the more smart you are, the deeper you end up in the Golden Cage – he is working at a leading Investment Bank in New York! Few nights back he mailed me;

“Work is great, money is wow, but yaar, the entrepreneurial itch pings a lot at times.”

Deeper in the Golden Cage.

 

Reading Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston.

My already boundless respect, admiration, love and awe for Steve Wozniak goes up by another unquantifiable amount yet again.

If any one person can be said to have set off the personal computer revolution, it might be Steve Wozniak. He designed the machine that crystallized what a desktop computer was: the Apple II.

He single-handedly designed all its hardware and software-an extraordinary feat even for the time. And what’s more, he did it all while working at his day job at Hewlett-Packard.

Being a technology person myself, I cannot help but wonder about the true maverick Woz is. Must read for every student. More so if you are a wannabe-entrepreneur.

India definitely needs a culture that embraces risk-takers. With so many engineers I think we can do with much more than Infosys & Wipro. Why do so many IITians and best brains across other engineering colleges have to get sucked into mind-numbless work? Your best bet to learn? Work for a startup. In a high-adrenalin atmosphere you’ll learn lots more, and are probably more likely to end up starting one yourself.

We need many more startups. Not in 100’s but in tens of thousands. And the Govt. would be better off encouraging the starters and taxing the biggies rather than the other way round – Gaurav has an excellent coverage of what recently happened but largely went unnoticed. I hope this one will be rolled back.

 

It’s official – India ends Japan’s 20 yr reign. Has the highest number of Billionaires in Asia !

The Forbes list for 2007 said India ended Japan’s 20 year reign as home to Asia’s highest number of billionaires.

“After a 20-year reign, Japan is no longer Asia’s top spot for billionaires: India has 36, worth a total of $191 billion, followed by Japan with 24, worth a combined $64 billion.

India’s rich are also marching toward the top of our rankings. Brothers Mukesh and Anil Ambani, who split up their family’s conglomerate in 2005, join Lakshmi Mittal, who heads the world’s biggest steel company, Arcelor Mittal, among the world’s 20 wealthiest. India now has three in the upper echelons, second only to the U.S.”

Wow! I just love the sound of it 😛

But as a country, we have lots to do. Education, Cleanliness, Standard of Living, Infrastructure and Corruption, Corruption, Corruption. So pat your back for that, and get back to work. Lots to do, as I said.

Also, someone tell this Govt. to tackle this.

 

@IIT Kanpur

I was at my good old beautiful IIT Kanpur!

1. IIT-K has become more beautiful. A couple of new buildings surprised me. But most surprising was a sprawling piece of architecture we came across when we were walking towards the Director’s Residence. ‘Hall 1’, it read! ‘What! A new Hall1?’ Then we figured out, it actually was ‘Hall of Residence for Girls 1’. Relief.

Its Beautiful. Impressive!

2. Interacted with alumni of different batches. Most satisfying was the interaction with current students. Same energy, same enthusiasm, same insane dreams, same starry eyes! The will to do, a desire lust to succeed. And the same fears, the same concerns.. Nothing has changed. Absolutely nothing!

3. Spotted someone I knew very well. Twice. But..All in all, great to be in IIT K. The golden lights, beautiful trees, the breeze. Peace, tranquility. I just luv it there.