Yes, its been exactly a year since I joined this wonderful organization . Let me put it alagu‘s style . learnt java, junit, jsp, tomcat, perl, mason, CGI, S3,CSS/HTML. met a lot of geeks, nerds, dudes. clashes with cab services . lot of code, tt, night-outs, sodexho coupons. database classes by our DBA.

started tweeting/facebooking/blogging. stopped [unintentionally] topcoder,spoj, acm, usaco . ironically, started topcoder-chennai discussion community here . understood a developer’s lifestyle and opportunities available.

shook hands with jeffb, shot a question on one of core principles of amazon to which he gave a stud reply . wonderful team and product to work on. team-outings, mayajaal, yercaud, lunch at hi-fi places, movies with team. worked hard, had fun and should make history .

Altogether a place which gives you a lot of freedom to do the stuff you really like. If anyone is interested to apply, let me know .

Welcome to yet another episode . This is probably the critical step that might change your life – are you ready to take the plunge? There is no fixed formula to this and depends largely on each entrepreneur’s vision. But from what I have observed, I could see 3 different types:

1. High Risk

You just have an idea (a brilliant one, obviously ) , done some market research, found it’s feasibility and confident of implementing it. You have not built a prototype and not a single line of code written. You just trust your gut and take the plunge! A neat example in this category – Mr. Jeff Bezos (CEO, Amazon.com). The moment he found the internet usage rose to 2500 percent, he knew there was a market! He quit a coveted job (Senior VP of D.E.Shaw!) and started off Amazon.com. You trust your inner voice and proceed.

2. Medium Risk

You have a working prototype ready, showcased it to a few potential angel investors (who express interest). You quickly realize, its grabbing people’s attention but it requires a lot more time and commitment from your side to make the product a big success. The progress of your product seems to dampen and it gets increasingly difficult to balance both your day job and your startup. Quit!

3. Low Risk

You build a prototype, rather almost the full product. Release it to the public, let people try out your service. You notice the graph of the number of users rises in a pretty steep manner. You see the revenue stream growing, along with the advertisements making their way onto your website. You realize the graph can be made more steep and a potential for an exponential growth. Quit! A typical example – Mr. Allwin (CEO, Paagalguy.com). He started this website and let it run for 4 years during which content gradually accumulated. He quit after that and its been a really successful journey till date. I am happy to have got an opportunity to talk to him – inspiring!

One really can’t rank/order which would be the best/ideal way. It greatly depends on the type of startup and the entrepreneur’s vision.

When you quit, quit gracefully!

However, one common thread that should unite all these cases is when you quit, quit gracefully!

• Never leave a bad impression on your manager before you quit – he might be ready to hire you later, if you fail (or) might even be interested to join/help your startup during the initial run
• Keep an eye on your productivity graph. The decrease should be very thin and almost invisible.
• More than the work you have done, your morality, commitment is what will stay in people’s minds. When you are at work, do justice to it, when you are not, obvious
• Don’t try to use your company’s resources for your startup. They might not sue you (even though it’s legally possible), but leaves a bad taste!
• Don’t Ctrl+C

All the best! Get going now! Have you told your manager yet ?

Ok, now that you have built a good team and done enough of market research, can you approach the venture-capitalist? Ideally, my answer would be a big NO! I did this mistake back in college, when I used to meet a lot of VC’s with bare presentations explaining them what exactly my product is, my target customers, etc.. Like how A picture is worth a thousand words, A demo is worth a thousand dollars!

A demo is worth a thousand dollars

Build the product

You need to have a working demo of your product.The ppt’s and flashy animations alone will not impress them. Your product needn’t implement all your features (obviously), but at least a bare framework showcasing your service. You need to instill a belief in the VC that you guys can build the product. A coveted degree (like a Phd, Masters,etc.) might give you an edge only if you are able to build the product, not before!

KISS – Keep it short and simple

Your demo/presentation should NOT last for more than 5-6 minutes. It should be slick and to the point – no boring graphs and long text! The VC must be raring to know more about your product after you are done.

Numbers and vision

More than the technology, a VC would be interested to know how much (and how?) you are going to make money. Here is where you can afford to be a little verbose, explaining your surveys, your initial sample set, how you intend to grow, your projected revenue, etc.

Most importantly, you need to have a vision for your startup – what do you want to ultimately be? and what’s the roadmap.

Well, whatever I have blogged is from my past experience and mistakes that I made. Hope it helps and get started!