Last week, my friend Arun Agrawal agreed to do a guest post on my blog. I found the subject interesting and aligned to the taste of my readers. So here it goes:

Winning Strategies

What is your formula for incredible success in any field that you decide to work in? Technical skills, right connections? If you ask me, I will suggest you try ‘passion’. This is your secret USP for success. If you have a job and are looking for a raise, demonstrate your passion in executing your assignments and your team leader cannot help noticing your attitude and recommending you for that coveted promotion. If you have an entrepreneurial venture, develop some great products or deliver passionate customer service and you are sure to have lots of business all the time.

Remember – “One passionate person is better than 40 people casually interested!”

I will now do something that people don’t do on academic and business platforms. I will be sharing with you, 2 spiritual tips for winning almost any battle of life – be it studies, job hunting or business success.

1. Forgiveness:

Forgive everyone who has done anything bad to you. Yes, your girl friend who has ditched you, your friend who avoided you when you needed his help, your brothers and sisters who played loud music when you were studying – get rid of all the anger, frustration and resentment and you will feel a tremendous relief. Your mind and body will feel very light and you will be able to achieve your future targets so much more easily. This is an abstract thought – difficult to accept and act upon – but you will feel the difference in a day when you apply it.

2. Gratitude:

Be thankful to everyone around you. Be thankful to your institute which gave you the education that prepared you for a successful career ahead, to your parents who brought you in this wonderful world and your clients who ordered your services.

Think a little and you will be able to find ‘at least one’ reason to thank anyone you come across. And to follow my own dictum, I thank you – heartily – to have visited this blog and read my ‘tips’.

I will like to close with this parting message. We humans have great potential and are capable of achieving a lot. Believe in yourself and get on your job. Some French general once said “Difficult problems are no worries for us; it is the impossible that takes some time!”

I was recently interviewed by Kelvin Newman @ SiteVisibility.

Here is the link:
http://www.sitevisibility.co.uk/blog/2010/02/09/a-crash-course-in-seo-outsourcing-offshoring-with-abhishek-rungta/

I got a very interesting interview (questionnaire) from TiE Delhi. I think this is smart and I enjoyed answering it. So here it goes:

• I was born in Kolkata.
• When not in office, I like to be at home.
• Favourite holiday destination – Darjeeling.
• The quality that impresses me most in people is honesty and professionalism.
• Book I recommend others to read Getting Things Done & My Experiments With Truth
• If I were not an entrepreneur or professional I am today, I would be a mountaineer
• My pillar of strength is my family, my integrity and my persistence
• Top 3 ingredients that go into making a successful venture are hard work, customer focus and innovation
  
• My leadership style/mantra is atomic fission – do not let organization become too big. Break when needed and get new leaders grow and manage each new atomic unit.
• Entrepreneurship is a state of mind

I had precisely three envelope entrepreneurial ambitions! I call them envelope as each of them encompass several small ambitious projects. All three are aimed to change the world in my small way and make it a better place:

1. To build a successful Internet technology company which can enable millions of businesses
2. To bring mass scale change in education system in terms of quality, content, reach and cost
3. To become an investor with a difference!

To make sure that my journey at least start off to fulfill all the three ambitions, I (along with my partner Pallav) started up a technology specific angel fund and incubation center called Seeders. This is our attempt to bring finances, infrastructure, resources, connections and mentoring (technical + business) to the aspiring and daring ones.

For the more curious ones -

We will be investing in technology companies which uses Internet as a strategic enabler. These can be software product companies, SaaS projects as well as niche knowledge services. Any wild idea that makes business sense is also welcome! And yes, the venture must be based out of Kolkata or must be willing to shift its base to Kolkata (at least for incubation phase).

More on this project will be soon posted on http://www.seeders.in

So keep tuned in.

Hello Friends,

A fortnight back, I was having some communication with Kamanashish Roy (@doubts) and he told me about his interest in organizing a Kolkata Bloggers’ Meet. The idea struck a chord in my mind as I always wanted to organize an “Internet Strategy Summit” in Kolkata. So I thought let us start with the Bloggers’ Meet and check out if there is sufficient demand for the mega show that I was dreaming of! And I chipped in with the required funds to organize the event.

The discussion started off on twitter and soon the idea picked up steam with a steady flow of people showing interest. The list of attendees kept on growing and soon it crossed 160+ registered blog addicts who showed interest to turn up! The interesting thing was use of twitter for spreading the word and coordinating the entire event. We hardly exchanged emails!

The event was organized at Cafe Coffee Day in Sector V, Salt Lake. 125+ blog enthusiasts turned up to share their passion and ideas about blogging. It had talks by Arun, Saptarshi, Aji, Vikas (via video conferencing) and yours truly.

There was energy in the air as the most vocal and active Kolkata + Web2.0 citizens gathered to learn, make friends and speak up! It started with a cake-cutting ceremony by the youngest blogger who turned up for the event – definitely a great way to encourage someone. Participants were given an opportunity to do a one minute elevator pitch. Very few could actually do a ‘real elevator pitch’ and hardly anybody maintained the one-minute deadline. But nobody complained. Everyone was enjoying the experience. This was followed by presentation by speakers and ended with product demo of FusionChart (by Sanket Nadhani) and HeadStart (by Mitesh Ashar). Throughout the event, networking was ON.

We all got to taste the de-facto Cafe Coffee Day cold / hot coffees and snacks. When we thought all is over, we were surprised by the dinner (surprised – since we were so engaged in the event, we felt that ‘we are full’). This was topped up with t-shirts and an ELearning CD (from Indus Net Academy) as a parting gift.

The success of the event is evident from the fact that even after 10 pm, participants were in no mood to return home

My small presentation was on blog monetization. I tried to cover both the audience – i.e. a blogger who blogs for a company and as an individual. Here are the slides for you!

The four people behind the success of this event (in my opinion) are the guys who represent a virtual organization called Webreps.in. In fact I was amused to know that there is no structure, format, legal existence of the organization. But then I realized – who cares! I have myself flouted the ‘conventions’ so many time. And this is cool. There guys are Anirudh Lohia, Kamanashish Roy, Shimul Aich and Saikat Sengupta.

Photographs of the event are at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/album.php?aid=128692&id=129612851702&ref=nf

Can someone share the video links to all the presentations?

Friends,

I will be speaking @ Internet World in the Web2.0 theatre on 28th April 2009 from 16:40 hrs on “Three Dimensions of Internet Strategy”

The talk will revolve around an approach that let businesses put together a comprehensive Internet strategy order to optimize their revenues and profitability by connecting – communicating and collaborating more effectively with the stake holders of the business.

The slideshow is attached

So, do drop in. 

Regards

Abhishek

P.S.: Internet World will take place @ Earls Court in London between 28th-30th April 2009

There are so many people working to get a new technology out to masses – a new invention to make things better. However, in my experience I firmly believe that:

Technology is as good as its implementation.

Many a time, little imagination is put into implementation of the technology which is existing. If the existing technology is properly explored, understood and implemented in creative and innovative ways, I think it will do a lot of good to the mankind than decades of new inventions. For billions, the usage is falling behind the rate of discovery.

Let us implement the available tools and technologies properly, because poor implementation will not make any difference to the mankind and the guy next door (for the sake of simplicity).

Thoughts are welcome…

I was wondering last day –
Why am I enjoying the downturn?

Today I got the answer at Seth Godin’s blog.

Because it brings around change. Status-quo is being challenged.
Things will not work the way they used to work. Innovation and hard work will score over luck and speculation.

It is a problem for those, who were lousy in their work.

It has not changed anything for the fit entrepreneurs and enterprises. In fact, it has just opened new opportunities for them. They will survive, for they remained grounded to reality. But, unfortunately, thousands of people took the sunny days for granted. And I am sure those people will wake up to this new world and realize – "Someone has moved their cheese".

I feel much safer today – for I know that my adaptability and hard work is setting me apart from the vulnerable one. 

So, if you are a creator and someone who have always "been in action" and loves to be "in action", I bet you are enjoying these days!

I have recently taken an entrepreneurial pledge led by National Entrepreneurship Network (nenonline.org).

Please go ahead and take this pledge at http://nenonline.org/eweekPartner.do?method=fetch&businessFn=eweekPartnerRegister

The hype around Slumdog Millionaire hit me and I ended up in the theater to watch the Anglo-Indian movie which bagged the Golden Globe and is nominated in several categories (ten nominations to be precise) for the Oscars. To be honest, I went with high expectations. But it turned out to be a sadistic satire.

There was no takeaway from the movie:

- No entertainment
- No message
- No reality

If the movie is all about its technical excellence, I did not see anything exceptional (as an audience).

I found the story line to be a sadistic satire, which picked up the the ‘worst’ of the slum life and has portrayed on a large canvas to tell the world that India is not only a country of snake charmers and call centers, but also a country of slums!

It seems the movie follows Murphy’s Law – "If it can go wrong, it will go wrong".

I was also shocked to see the nomination for Mr. A. R. Rahman. It is not that I don’t like his music. Undoubtfully he is one of the greatest musician in India. But he has done better scores than the ones that have been nominated. The ones he has done for Slumdog Millionaire does not come close to his best. If he has to be honored, then why not honor his best work. Why was he ignored in past? Only because he was part of a Bollywood production house?

These nominations leave a lot of questions unanswered.

I wont be excited if they win the Oscars. It is unfortunate.

Hello Friends,

I am glad to let you all know that I have been honored by the Vocational Excellence Award by Rotary International District 3291. It was presented to me at a function at Rotary Sadan, Kolkata on 25th October, 2008.

I will like to thank Rotary International District 3291 for their recognition. My heartfelt thank you everyone, who have supported me achieve the same.

Regards
Abhishek

It is the first official award I have won for my entrepreneurial efforts!

Indus Net Technologies has been selected as the #1 IT SME (Small and Medium sized Enterprise) in India 2008 by Dun & Bradstreet in a glittering Award Ceremony in Mumbai on 30th September 2008.

For more information on the Award, please visit: http://www.dnb.co.in/SMEAwards_2008/
Indus Net Technologies has also been prominently placed among the Emerging SMEs of India publication, which was unvieled on the same day.

I will like to thank our 5000+ clients who put in their trust in us (even though 90% of them have never met us) and the team which delivered and fulfilled every promise that Indus Net Technologies made.

We look forward to grow at a steady pace and achieve many more milestones in days to come.

So keep checking!

I will not wait for your answer. I know you cannot see a child die when he can be saved with medical intervention.

But the fact is that millions of newborn infants die worldwide due to Congenital Heart Defects (CHD). These are a lethal constellation of birth defects of the heart. Eight of every 1000 children born alive (0.8%) will have some form of congenital heart defect.

CHD affects not only patients, but entire families. Along the winding, tortuous road ahead, with major surgery and continuing medical care looming, most families need a helping hand, a friendly shoulder to cry on and peers they can count on for support and encouragement in difficult times. Here is a list of some wonderful resources to find such assistance.

More info about CHD can be found at CHDinfo.com

So what can you do?

There are thousands of families below poverty line, who cannot afford the medical expenses when CHD strikes them. You can help them by donating at (http://www.chdinfo.com/chdaware/donate.htm). You can also help by donating some valuable time by spreading a word about this problem and the noble work Dr. Mani is doing to help people who are suffering from CHD.

Now who is Dr, Mani?

I was told about Dr. Mani by my colleague Arun Agrawal. I was curious about this person who is an expert heart surgeon, an Internet marketing professional and someone who find enough time for social cause. It encouraged me to dig deep into his profile and this describes him very well:

Dr.Mani is a heart surgeon. He lives in India. He treats little children born with congenital heart defects.

Heart surgery is expensive. Many of his patients, from poor families, cannot afford the cost of treatment. So Dr.Mani decided to try and help sponsor the operations.

This was the simple concept behind an online adventure that started in 1996.

Ten years later, Dr.Mani’s team has raised over $100,000 and funded heart surgery in 23 children, with many more to follow. He’s well on his way to achieve an ambitious mission – make high quality heart health care accessible and affordable to every Indian child.

More information about Dr. Mani can be dound at http://www.drmani.name

So friends, come up with an open heart and help Dr. Mani in every possible way for the cause he is so committed. Donate for those poor children who cannot afford heart surgery and medication on their own. Give them the right to live. Save them.

I will be off to participate on my 4 hour tweet_a_thon which Dr. Mani is doing to raise awareness about this noble cause. If you care, do follow us there and tweet about it to spread the word. My twitter feed is available at http://www.twitter.com/abhishekrungta

Have a great weekend!

I am always interested in investing in new venues. Few days back, I stumbled upon a bunch of entrepreneurs who wanted to develop a 3D action game. It looked like a freaky idea and I was all game for it. I asked them to put together a basic business plan. Nothing monstrous. Just a simple paper-napkin business plan.

I got back a business plan, which looks like this:

This is the most funny business plan I have ever seen. I could not help myself but share it with you all. I have removed the name of the company which was scribbled on top of this page!

Few things to notice:

• The plan talks about all expenses. It does not talk about revenue channel.
• The salaries of administrative staff = salaries of production staff.
• They want to start off with 3000-4000 sq feet space. I do not remember seeing many start-ups doing that. May be I am an old fashioned guy, but I think start-ups should work at shoestring budget to pull break-even point closer and to allow more space for experimentation.
• No cost for the game development engine. I have heard that this is one of the major costs in starting off a game development company.
• No breakup for administrative expenses which amounts to almost INR 1 million every month.
• Investment in 2.25 million pieces media for a product which has not been test-marketed. 
• Approximating INR 75.425 million to INR 80 million. It clearly shows that they do not value money.

The business plan clearly shows:

• There is no plan.
• The team does not know about the business that they want to get into.
• They are non-committed.

It goes without saying that I will never associate myself with such a business.

Hello Friends,

Sorry for not updating my blog for quite some time. I had a hectic schedule for last one month with Internet World in London, followed by a family holiday in Dubai. Before I could recover, I am visiting the NASSCOM BPO Strategy Summit in Bangalore. To be frank, I am not used to so much of travel.

Anyways, this means that when I am back to writing, there will be far more many insights, experiences-that-i-wish-to-share and ideas that struck me during all these events and interactions!

Abhishek

Guys,

Recently some of my employees got unsolicited call from a gentleman called Manish Gupta, who wants to woo them away from my company to his startup. Of course like every normal human being, my colleagues also need a reason to go and work for a relatively unknown and small company.  So they need convincing. And he did put up an argument to convince them…

And then came the bummer!

He thinks that my colleagues should work for his company because he has a bigger vision and everyone has a bright future with him. But how do people believe him? Simple – His was the runner-up of the Business Baazigar contest of Zee TV.

I could not stop myself from laughing out at this humbleness.

Then I thought of doing some research on the business model and modus-operandi of his company. I found out that there was no innovation and no marketing strategy (mind you, he must have spent time in sales, but definitely not in marketing). He is selling the same old wine in the same old bottle with no value addition. There is no investment in human resource development, since the human resource policy is absolutely based on poaching.

Is this the vision, he is selling to my employees?

I wish him best of luck!

BTW, in all my humbleness, I will like to get my message across to Mr. Gupta that I have been on the jury panel of nationwide business plan contest (organized by one of the most reputed management institution in India), giving my inputs to several business baazigars who are working hard to build their dream company!

And yes, it does not hurt me anywhere. But it is sad to see this approach to business after getting the said recognition.

I hope he learn to differenciate, innovate and deliver!

And yes, I am fast losing faith in TV programs like Business Baazigar if this is the talent they have identified

I often hear from people:

• I hate my job.
• I don’t feel like going to work.
• I have no excitement in my career. It is the same old grind.

This happens more so often because most people are doing things that they never wanted to do in their professional life. I have written about this problem in my post – Are you what you always wanted to be?

I suggest a three step solution for people who are stuck in such a situation!

1. Take a positive attitude to work.

Even if you want to change the big picture, you got to do what you are expected to do on the given day when you reach your workplace. You may hate the work, but you have to do it. Now, if you can take a positive attitude towards your current job and enjoy the same, you will have a good day at your workplace and you will feel satisfied and happy at the end of the day. If you keep cursing the world for putting in that position, you will end up feeling more frustrated and probably mess up the work that you are doing.

So, cheer up and take a positive attitude to work. Think of the ways your work makes a difference to others. It does. Else you would not have been doing it and your boss / client would not have been paying you to do the same. 

2. Visualize the value chain

Once you know, how your work helps the company / social setup in the bigger context, try to visualize the value chain. So you might like to find out what happens before and/or after you do your job. What is the value that the end consumer gets? Try to visualize the entire value chain and see where you fit in based on what you will like to do and the profile which can have maximum impact on the company / social setup where you want to contribute.

3. Make your moves

Once you have learnt to live your daily workday in a positive way and have visualized the area where you will like to see yourself in you can start making moves towards achieving the same. Please note that this should be closer to what you always wanted to be or should be able to derive similar level of satisfaction, else you may not feel the drive to achieve this new position.

You can start training yourself appropriately. Gather knowledge through books, Internet, friends, professional gatherings, etc.

With the appropriate knowledge, show your organization that you are capable of doing something better or more valuable than what you are currently doing. Everyone wants a proof-of-concept! Once you have proved your credibility and capability, you can surely find you way to reach your goal.

Take action.

Hello Friends,

I will be visiting London from 13th October till 23rd October for some business meetings.

If you –

• are an existing client of Indus Net Technologies (or any of our service brand) OR
• are a business considering outsourcing your web design, web development or Internet marketing business OR
• just want to meet up for a friendly 1-2-1 meeting

Please drop me a line at talash@indusnet.co.in and we will meet up!

Abhishek

Everyone who watches television in India must have come across the "Hari Sadu" advertisement aired by Naukri.com. This ad became very popular for its creativity and also won the award from the Advertising Club Kolkata. Here is the full story board followed by the video of the ad.

There has been a lot of controversy around the advertisement by two set of people:

1. Whose first name is "Hari"
2. By a group of people who caused objection since "Hari" also refers to a deity in Hindu mythology

Naukri.com decided not to withdraw this advertisement citing that this is a work of fiction and they got a clean-chit from Advertising Standards Council of India.

This advertisement is really humorous and can be a great way to advertise a job site. In fact they managed to create a character – Hari Sadu, who can be recognized with the Naukri.com brand.

On the other hand, I find the ad to be in a very poor taste, showing bosses in very poor light who should be insulted and abused when opportunity strikes. This is teaching people to consider boss (or a business owner) as a blood-sucking beast, an idiot and an inhuman being. This is definitely not true in most of the cases. Above all, it shows that – when you don’t need someone, have a go at him – and walk out of the door!

In a growing economy like India, where attrition is sky high, job ethics are hard to spot and consideration for one’s job responsibility is at an all time low, this ad has only added fuel to the fire.

I know, Naukri.com has got superb mileage from this ad and it is close to heart of thousands of people. However, the question remains – Is this ad instilling the right culture? As a corporate, does Naukri.com understand it’s responsibility to communicate the right culture to the people who are destined to shape the future of this economy – the young executives.

I think online networking is the best thing that has happened on Internet in last few years. I see several benefits of networking and spending time to meet new people and build professional and personal relationships.

• You can make new friends in new places.
• Someone might be of great help to you in a given situation. You never know.
• If someone cannot help, they might know someone who can help. They can simply connect you to the right person.
• You might get references for business and professional engagements if you can build a trust relationship and prove your expertise. We all know that word-of-mouth publicity is the best advertising. It is most influential and cost almost nothing. Most of the times networking is the only way to reach a particular person to discuss a proposal.
• You can get feedback on your idea, plan or work from different people with different point of views.
• You learn by sharing knowledge and experience. This can be done on a 1-2-1 basis or in a knowledge forum where people with same interest can discuss on a given topic.
• You can create mastermind groups where members discuss individual problems and help each other achieve their goals.
• You can help others. It is a great feeling to be of help to others. It makes you feel purposeful.

I have seen several online social networking websites. The ones which I liked the most are:

• Ecademy (No doubt the best business social networking website on Internet)
• LinkedIn (A great fan following and very good selection of people to connect to)
• Facebook (Looks like a decent social networking website – I really do not have much experience on this platform to make a firm comment)

BTW, I keep traveling between Kolkata, Chennai and London for business and will love to meet people who feel that I can be of help to them. Please write me a small note with your area of interest and I will get back to you.

May you have a million connections!

Abhishek