The Randomness of Randomness » Entrepreneurship

Open Coffee Club Kolkata gets a new life!!!

Mitesh Ashar — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:53:55 +0000

It was this HeadStart Kolkata meeting in Pallav’s office! Post the meeting, I caught up with Manish & Sumit at the RDB Adlabs Cafe Coffee Day in Sector V.

We did some brainstorming & had short spurts of chit-chats over random topics. A part of this conversation was reviving the OCC Kolkata chapter. In fact, when Sumit suggested his idea, he didn’t even know he was talking about reviving OCC

Sumit’s idea:

Sumit hyperactively said that we could create a group of a few people in the city, who could meet regularly and work together, meanwhile sharing & discussing ideas and be helpful to each other. The basic concept of crowdsourcing per se.

How the picture was drawn.

I told him about the existing OCC Kolkata community, how it started in July last year out of my post-jaundice pastime and its current state, where Amitabh was frantically trying to survive the community.

It was at this point when we decided to take a plunge on this. And after two weeks of lethargy(We’re in Kolkata. You have to spare us for that ), I got in touch with Amitabh, we started shooting emails to each other much faster than the frequency of the consistent strikes in Kolkata, and eventually decided to imbibe the original concept of Saul Klein in Kolkata’s OCC, about which you can read more here and even more here!

And that was not very far behind. It was just this last Sunday! We closed the topic by Monday. Sumit took up the job of writing a blogpost & circulating it. Everyone else among us and the HeadStart Kolkata team decided to tweet & retweet about it!! A day-clash with something called the Toastmasters Club which happens every week on Tuesdays prompted us to schedule OCCs on Wednesdays instead of Tuesdays. So, we decided that we will arrange for internet, wi-fi & meet twice every week on Wednesdays & Saturdays. Wednesdays in the Sector-V CCD & Saturdays in the Park Street CCD!

Well, what it apparently meant was that the re-shaped OCC Kolkata would start off on my 25th birthday !!

The first new-faced OCC Kolkata – when it happened

The work culture at OCC Kolkata

On the D-day, me being sick joined in a bit late. But, when I reached, I found there were already 7 other people there. All were happily working. Bingo! That was a surprise!

Lending a supposedly incomplete list of people who’d come down, from Sumit’s blog:

Sumit Datta
Saikat Singha
Prashant Verma
Pallav Nadhani
Sumana Chakraborty
Sougata Pal
Bibhash
Samiran Ghosh
Mitesh Ashar(myself)
Nitesh Ambuj
Pankaj
Abishek Rungta
Sumit & Saikat in an intense discussion about their product, while Sumana is busy with her own work

Ashmita Brahma
Nikita Poddar
Debashish Mohanty

Now, as I see the first OCC after the re-design, the response was simply fantabulous. Apart from the number of people who turned up over the span of the whole day, there were people who took back some value, which has had been the lacking part, as I can say from personal feedback I have received from so many people.

The value

Among others, Sumana, who is a copywriter, got 3 leads!

Abhishek & Pallav

Where as, Abhishek & Pallav, who are planning to come up with an angel fund based out of Kolkata, actually ran the idea through the people present and crowdsourced the name of their angel investment firm! As requested by them, the name of the company is still a secret, and they’ve promised to launch the fund at one of the OCC Kolkata happenings!! They have also promised to have a cake-cutting ceremony on the day of the launch at OCC!!

Not to mention, there were a lot of mini-discussions with different results for different people, while they worked on their laptops, sipping on to coffees and munching sandwiches.

If not anything, you are at least doing the work that you would have anyways done otherwise!!

What’s next??

What’s next?? Yes… Next is the next OCC. Now it will keep on happening. Every Wednesday & every Saturday.

For this Saturday, the venue is going to be one of the CCDs in or around Park Street. We’re still contemplating which one to go for. Suggestions about this are welcome. To know the venue, follow either me or Sumit on twitter.

Once we crowdsource a definite venue, it will get fixed & come what may, if you walk in on one fine Wednesday or Saturday, you shall definitely find at least a bunch of few enthusiastic chaps to sit and work with

So, more of it this Saturday! Catch you there!!

Update: Please do join the OCC Kolkata mailing list here: http://groups.google.com/group/occ-kolkata

Update: Please follow the hashtag #occkol on twitter for updates on the timing, venue

India’s Startup Communities need to be concatenated

Mitesh Ashar — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 09:01:53 +0000

I write this post in response to the post “The Startup WorkForce : A Proposal to the Community” by Vijay Anand which he has published here & here and the comments on the post by various people on both the blogs.

This post is going to have two aspects to it.

Addressing the point of discussion, i.e. growing the Startup workforce in quantity & quality.
The other facet basically is about the bigger picture, viz. the need of a well-knit ecosystem that needs to exist in the country, which is the universal set containing the problem under the scanner.

Who to hire?

Now, if you’ve read, Vijay’s post talks about how to go about building up a flow of skilled workforce which can join startups and give them some fruitful returns. Now, what is the kind of employees that a startup looks for. Startups should definitely be aversive towards candidates who require spoon-feeding. The reason behind this is that a startup needs people who can think and act, rather than those who need to be instructed and taken from one step to another carefully. I would list out a few characteristics of a candidate who could be a prospective employee for a startup:

Initiative-taker & go-getter
The candidate should have the keeda in him to take the unusual or unconventional path/approach to solve a problem.
Enthusiastic
Not to mention, this is something even conglomerates or bigger established firms would look out for, but is like a basic requirement for a startup employee.
Multi-faceted multitasker
This is important. A startup generally has lack of resources. If you hire a programmer who can also do some decent Photoshop or make a sales pitch or handle a logistical issue, when required, it is always going to be a boon for you.

Freshers or Experienced?

Let us consider the employment of freshers. Like Vijay mentioned in his comment, around 20% freshers in a college are smart enough to learn. The question is not whether they are smart enough to learn. The question is whether they are smart enough and have a will to learn on their own, which I would estimate to be around 3-4%(this again depends on the institute they are in). I do not say the remaining segment of the 20% are unemployable, but a employee-crunched startup that is doing some first stage recruitment, I would estimate these 3-4% go-getters to be the most prospective candidates. What Rajesh mentioned, may be vaguely matched to what I just said.

Deepak adds to this here, that with the recessions and the economic downslide, there is going to be a lot of experienced folks flocking out, who would be game towards working with a startup; then why do we need freshers?? My answer to this would be:

Demand-Supply Mismatch
Experience is really valuable to a startup, but one thing that needs to be noticed is that like the experienced folks are growing, even the number of startups are exponentially growing. I bet there are hordes of startups who are not part of any of the various communities and hence untapped of when we sit down to count all of them, and they very much exceed the number of those who are present in the communities. So, there is a demand-supply mismatch heavier on the demands side, which needs to be met. So along with some experienced Einstiens we need loads of young energetic Wright Brothers as well.
Thriving in a cash-crunch
Also, a majority of the startups are generally in a cash-crunch; some waiting to be funded and some against the idea of it. So cost of employment is a very determining factor in the startup’s hiring policy. And hiring able freshers after they’ve got the top-brass/core team, is undeniably the approach to meet their requirements at costs they can afford.

The problem at bay

The gist of the problem highlighted by Vijay is the lack of supply in comparision to the demand. We can rather look at it this way: There is sufficient supply, but there is no medium to deliver it to the demand end and join the dots. The solution offered by Vijay is a community-based collaborative training solution. The advantages are already mentioned in Vijay’s post. The problems with this approach are listed below:

Like Alok mentioned, Vyaas mentioned & Krish mentioned time is a very highly constrained resource for an entrepreneur or a startup employee. In such a case, sustaining with this method of creating the training system doesn’t seem to be a very possible prospect, unless there are high monetary returns to it, which I shall write about in detail not sooner than the end of this bullet list.
A very complex problem pointed out by Deepak is the internal disharmony that will exist even if the community-based solution is pulled off. This internal harmony will be born due to a competition among the startups to hire the best. Which is something that indicates short lifespan for such a community. We don’t want to build a community which we know is not going to sustain cohesively.

In Alok’s above mentioned comment, he has pointed out the possibility of doing this with a business model. Taking this up as a business model is not a bad option actually, and if well improvised, its a highly untapped opportunity. But, I feel the business would only thrive and grow if it strikes chord with the community and invokes healthy community engagement. One problem the business might face is the unwillingness of college students that fall in the said 20% (i.e. the majority of the trainees which the business or rather, the whole concept is going to target) to get trained by this new unknown organisation. The business primarily needs to focus on breaking this barrier while in its early stages.

The Gulf

Vijay has very rightly said in one of his comments the need to create a gulf between startups and the workforce. I am completely game with this concept because this, very importantly, ensures that only the enthusiastic go-getters would be able to get to you. So creating the gulf may even be looked at as an elimination process. The best thing about creating the gulf is it would increase the value of the jobs created in the startup ecosystem and also ensure that they are taken up by people who have had the sustainability to cross the gulf. The only thing that needs to be ensured is that this gulf doesn’t become too large or doesn’t contain too many obstacles. There has to exist a perfect blend of layoffs which should only shoo away the incritical mass and attracts the critical mass.

An Alternate Solution(my 2 dimes)

The communities existing in various forms in India to complement Startups & Entrepreneurship are well-scattered and unevenly concentrated. Some of the communities that exist are highly engaging and valued and some of the others are shaping up pretty well while the others have just taken their babysteps. This may be termed as the beginning of formation of very nascent & decentralised Startup Ecosystems across the country. In my observation, some of the places where we can say dependable ecosystems have started forming (in lowering order) are Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi, Ahmedabad, apart from others which like I said are taking babysteps. If we want something to really happen, it should be the introduction of solubility of the communities among each other. They need to be gelled up, so that they can grow together. According to me, the training solution is supposed to be a subset of the larger problem of effectively connecting the community over the country.

What I propose is that instead of setting up a training community offline, grow a budding community online. Mind it, by growing the community online I don’t mean setting up just another Google/Yahoo group & asking everyone to join it. This approach will give you just another discussion group where people will thrive to ask questions that would land in the inboxes of people. And unless you have a gmail account, it will get flooded. What I am talking about is a custom web application that we can create for the community in India, which can streamline processes by implementing known and tested solutions like Q&A and Professional Networking, and develop a very simplicised job application that can help connect employers to prospective employees. I know on the surface of it, it looks like ‘just-another’ type of an idea. But I have a lot in mind, which could actually be a step towards improvising an amazing network in India. I am not asking for another job site to be created. It is rather an online ecosystem I have in mind for the country, which I expect to not only take care of workforce, but other aspects like connecting other relevant dots, letting people know of events happening all over India, etc. I know there are sites that exist to do some of this, but I want to make something different. Something that eases out stuff for all members of the ecosystem. Puts things on platter and serves it to them.

The crux of the whole thing doesn’t lie in making the online solution. That should just act as a support system to what the actual solution is. What is more important, is the necessity to grow the various communities in India, to do which I have lots of ideas cluttered in mind, which I want to refine myself. And not only grow them, but connect relevant dots and create a larger community that is more reliable and reflects a high level of cohesiveness from within. This refinement of ideas can happen only with your participation and discussion. I expect some of the experienced guys around to participate and maybe we can pull off a step that can create an amazing platform.

I expect comments about the whole lot of words I have posted above and about what you think can be done on an online community building website for the startup ecosystem.

Notes:

Due to my impatience to post this and the growing length of the post, the post might have missed out on some quality and proper conveying of ideas. I urge the experienced guys and the veteran players to evolve over my idea. Let us discuss this over, refine it and streamline it.
I am game towards building this application, but before that I shall wait for the various inputs. People interested in helping with development, UI, process refinement, ideas are welcome to contact me.

OCC KAdda 2.0 is here

Mitesh Ashar — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 05:39:51 +0000

Keeping in mind Kolkata’s “Addas“, Amitabh Choudhury & 100rabh Minni devised a new term for OCC Kolkata. The OCC KAdda. And since it is the second OCC in Kolkata, it can be called OCC KAdda 2.0. Sounds cool, ain’t it?

The first OCC was an awesome experience and I met really amazing people. It’s now time for us Kolkatans to gear up for the second one in town.

It is happening again at Oxford Bookstore, Park Street. Here is the venue on maps: http://linkbun.ch/m53

If you are an entrepreneur or any other startup-related professional or even a student who is keen to do something on your own in future, make sure that you are there at 12 PM this Sunday, 10th August, 2008.

See you there!!

Open Coffee Club kicks off in Kolkata

Mitesh Ashar — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:40:47 +0000

It’s been long since I posted anything out here, thanks to all the OCC preparations.

OCC stands for Open Coffee Club, which was founded by a London-based entrepreneur, Saul Klein. To know more about what is the original philosophy behind Open Coffee Club, you should check out the following posts on Saul’s blog:

We pulled up the first OCC meet out here in Kolkata at Oxford Bookstore this Sunday. For a first OCC meet, it had an exceptionally amazing amount of energy, interactions, networking and bonding among the seven of us present out there. Two veteran entrepreneurs, two about-to-startup entrepreneurs & 3 wannabe entrepreneurs.

The discussions ranged from introductory to fact-identifying to debative ones. We went on for four & a half hours with a lot of useful chitter-chatter, and most importantly, we did not follow the so-called agenda that was set. That is what is an OCC meet is supposed to be. The meeting is supposed to take its own course.

I would rather call it an OCC mashup. A meeting sounds highly formal. Isn’t OCC supposed to be synonymous with informal..

Ohk. So the next OCC mashup is expected to take place on the upcoming Sunday, supposedly at the same place. We will keep you updated.

Also, folks in Mumbai are now enthusiastic to start off with OCC once again, and hopefully the OCC scenario can really rekindle again.

If you are an entrepreneur or OCC sounds interesting to you, you can catch up with us on our Google Groups. Visit the following links to join them:

Hope to see you at the next meet!!

WiCampKolkata was cool! Kolkata is now alive!!

Mitesh Ashar — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:26:19 +0000

The start wasn’t that very pleasant for me though. I was asked to submit my camera in the security counter. Have never seen that happen in a BarCamp. It could have been mentioned on the wiki that we cannot carry x,y & z and could save some time and hassles.

Anyways, there were better differences than that to be written about. Firstly, it did not follow the conventional method of dynamic barcamp scheduling(as I would call it ). Pavan Soni, the lead planner who has successfully conducted WiCamps in other cities earlier and is also conducting WiCampKochi in the week to come, was anchoring throughout the camp, discussing various facets of innovation and inviting the session-takers.

The attendance was much more than I had expected at the WiCampKolkata. When I had registered on its wiki, there were only 13 people on it and that was only 5 days before the camp. The day the camp was held, the wiki had 96 registrations, and almost 100-110 people turned up.

Like I said, there was no wiki on the spot to register sessions. The few sessions that were registered on the online wiki were the only ones that were taken apart from a session by Myshkin about his entrepreneurial venture Anaemedia, a pathbreaking product to curb the number of anaemia-triggered deaths in India. He had started in 2005 and the product is still under development.

A notable session was Ram NK’s, about his experience of leaving a really cushy-comfy position in the UK and starting up RangDe, a non-profit peer-to-peer MFI he started with his wife earlier this year.

Overall the camp was cool, the attendees were diverse and a good boost to open communities in Kolkata. I am looking forward to a lot of action out here.

BarCampAhmedabad is back!!!

Mitesh Ashar — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:02:54 +0000

It was an experience to be at BarCamp Ahmedabad in January this year.

After a long time the folks have got together to initiate the BarCampAhmedabad Monsoon Edition to be held on the 3rd of August, 2007 again in the IIM-A campus.

I’m very very eager to attend the BarCamp and catch on to some action after missing two Mumbai versions of Startup Saturday, but I’m most likely not to be able to attend it. I would definitely miss on some real action, but for now, I found a way to stay involved. I designed a logo for BCA.