Focus on solutions and not on tools

Having a knife is no proof that you can make a curry.  A kitchen knife set, cutting boards, vegetables or meat in the fridge, spices and mixer-grinder may be the tools that we need to make a curry. If you ask me to come for dinner since you have all this in your house, I will think twice. Making a tasty curry is an art in itself. And one who knows how to make one may need some of these tools.

Why am I discussing about  curry now? Because having a Engineering or MBA Degree only means that at the most you have   learned how to use a set of tools. It does not means that you know how to create a profitable business.

I am not saying  that you should not have degrees. But it is important to see the difference between solutions and tools. If you are a startup then you need to train yourself in using the tools, if your education is giving you an opportunity to do that then it is good. Your academic projects are meant for improving your skills in using these tools. Please do that passionately. 

Your academic projects are meant for improving your skills in using these tools and not for finding solutions for the pain points in the society. The solution for the pain point may require that you use some of the lessons that you had learned in your college. It may or may not need those tools.  At the end of your academic years you have to change from somebody proficient in using tools to somebody who focus on solutions. This needs a bit of unlearning and a lot of thinking on out of the box solutions. 

The projects that I did not do, the products that I did not make

Did you see my yesterday's post about polyhouse farming?

"I am planning to do a project in Polyhouse farming. Yesterday I had  met a team who are equally excited about this as I am"

Wait a minute. You were talking about several other projects and products earlier. What happened to all of that?  Why should we trust you now?

The answer is simple. They are not done. Not because I was not excited about it. It is because I did not meet the right team.  Some of them had not even started. Some had started and then got stuck because the team members lost their interest in the project.

Well, you could have done it by yourself. Why are you blaming others?

May be or may be not. But why should I get stuck with one project or product?  There could be entrepreneurs who are determined to do one thing and they may proceed with that what ever may be the obstacles on their way. But my argument is this. If you cannot find few people who can work with you then either the idea is not good or  you are yet to meet the right team. Keep searching.

It is all about Money

When I was planning to resign my job after 12 years as a Scientist in ISRO to become and entrepreneur, I had a dilemma. I have an employee mindset and had no experience in entrepreneurship. Unless I align with some good entrepreneur I will fail. I spend a few months studying the different possibilities and finally decided to talk to a friend of mine, a born entrepreneur. After the first meeting with him I never had to look back on my decision to resign.

It took me a few years to overcome my employee mindset. What lesson did I learn? Quite a lot. Let us discuss one important point in this post, the way both handle  money. For an employe, especially a Govt employee, you almost know your future, It is a well written script from your date of joining until  your death. When you get an increment you know what to buy next. You are going to be short of money always though you get a fat salary. Have you ever heard any salaried employee getting rich?

An entrepreneur knows that his income is not predictable.  He may be making money but he does not know how much he will make next month. He has no control on his income, it could be more or less or even be zero. An entrepreneur can never live like an employee. To survive he has to control  his expenditure. If he can learn the art of financial planning then he can sure become a rich person.

I am not discussing about opportunities in investing in this post because theoretically at least both an employee and an entrepreneur do have equal opportunities to make money by doing this.

How can I become a successful entrepreneur?

During NRK Snagamam 2013, somebody asked this question to Gokulam Gopalan 

"Gopaletta, Can you give us some tips to become a successful entrepreneur? "

 He said he dos not have an answer to this question.

In a private talk just after the meeting he asked me " How can I tell anybody how to become successful?  I selected  my own path"

Stop searching for tips to become a successful entrepreneur. Stop reading books to find ways to become successful.  Stop asking this question.

You need to find your own path in your entrepreneurial journey. There are no shortcuts, there are no tips. You cannot copy it from others because you are you and not him.

The books, or the mentor can only tell you about the opportunities. It is only 1%, the 99% is you. You have to study yourself, see what you can and cannot.

Who is my enemy?

People do ask me this question. "What is my interest in working for the ecosystem for startups?". What am I looking for? What return am I expecting? I know this is a question that is being asked to everybody who promotes the ecosystem.

An ecosystem is an open system unlike a company where you can reap the benefits directly. Working for an ecosystem do not offer any returns directly. The benefits are indirect. That is why you do not have to consider anybody as a competitor here. All who work in one way or other way are supporting the ecosystem. You have an opportunity to meet many people. You may meet people with same or complementing goals. It gives a good chance to meet your future team mates with whom you may associate to form a company.

There are no "us" or " others" here. The only "others" are people who are trying to destroy the ecosystem. It is a simple rule, if you " do" something to promote it then you are friends of the ecosystem. If you do not "do" anything and then try to block people who are trying to do something then you are the "others". For me it does not matter who you are or how much you hate me, as I would like to work with you and build the ecosystem.

Who are the enemies of the system? Let us have an analogy with our natural forests and hills. It does not matter who are trying help the forest ecosystem. But if you are going there to destroy it, litter the place with plastics and other things, or you do not want others to enjoy it as the way you had, then you are the number one enemy of any nature lovers. Let us try to love the nature and let us feel happy that others come there and enjoy it too. It is the same philosophy that we need follow when we are building startup ecosystem.

We have to spend money to build It. Why should I spend my money unless I have some direct benefits? I want to bring another analogy here. To buy a quality product or service one has to spend a little bit more money.  Are you a loser in this case? By spending the extra money you are making sure that the business that provides you the quality product or service can survive. You are making sure that you will get a chance to enjoy it in future. Yes, others who had not promoted it also may enjoy it, but let us feel happy that it was our effort that made it survive at the first place. e.

So why are you here? Are you happy that your enemy is also here? Are you happy that you may not get any benefit at all? 

Creating a startup eco system inside the College campus - Part 2

How can we create entrepreneurs in colleges who can solve real world problems and create value. 

Is it by creating an incubation center inside the campus? Let us drill down more into this question. 

What is an incubation center?

An incubation center is a physical location that provides a defined set of services to teams or small companies. This may include specific types of office space, flexible lease terms, access to technology, financing, and technical assistance (such as marketing, legal, finance, HR, and other business development services). By locating similar or complementary entities in proximity to each other, the incubator may also play a critical role in promoting knowledge transfer, both formally and informally.


But this needs a lot of investment. Again an ideal incubation center is not only about physical space, it is also about networking, mentoring etc. this cannot be done in a day or two. Is there step by step approach?

First step: Establish an entrepreneurship cell. Select a mentor who is ready to have interactive sessions with the students. Somebody with atleast 5 years of industry experience  is preferred. Use the existing lab as an incubator. Let students do a lot of idea pitching. In case a few are ready to move ahead introduce them to  an existing incubator.

Second step: Identify a physical space and see whether you can bring-in some matured companies to the space. If you can get them then try to jointly develop the incubation space. 

Creating a startup eco system inside the College campus

Our colleges are designed to create employees. There are several questions that will come to our mind when we start exploring this further. I have selected two of the most important questions from them and I will discuss those in detail.

1.) Are they producing enough employable students?
2.) How can they produce more employers? 

On the employability aspect there were several surveys that were done in the past. These surveys had found that 50% to 90% are not employable. My own personal experience is that  almost 99% are not directly employable.  Look at the training campuses set by companies like TCS , Infosys , etc.  Why do they require such huge campuses if the college-recruited students were employable? The problem is that our education system focus more on theories than practical knowledge. Skill development is almost zero. Industry exposure is absolutely zero.  We have deigned our degrees that stretches to 2 to 4 years with a static syllabus and this can noway cope up with the fast changing world. And imagine that these students are to be trained for future world while they are not even get exposed to the present industrial reality. 

Does the system produce entrepreneurs? Entrepreneurship cannot be taught, if somebody wants to learn it then they have to try  it out by themselves. It is a journey one has to take, a journey to discover oneself as well as seek opportunities in the world one lives.   Many are born entrepreneurs and some are self made.The only way to develop this skill is to allow and encourage students to become entrepreneurs.  Entrepreneurship is all about creating value. Entrepreneurship is also about solving real world problems. 

Change, Progress and Development

If we continue to do things the way we did before, follow the same model that we follow everywhere, then things will be in the same state as we see it now. Do we need to move forward? Do we need to see progress? Do we need development to happen? Then we have to start doing things in a different way.  It is easier said than done.  How do we start doing things in a different way? We have been doing things this way and that is all what we know. What model should we follow?

Why are we not seeing a lot of opportunities for new products? You are talking about "Pain points", what pain points? All most all we want today is already invented by West, there is nothing more to do? What innovation can we do? For every issue I see there is already a solution.

Are we missing something?
Yes, as I said earlier we continue to do things the way we did before. We continue to think the way we did before. Neither thinking nor doing has changed. We are stuck. Unless we change ourselves it is not easy to see the opportunities. The moment you get out of that jail which we have created for ourselves, we will be able to see hundreds of opportunities around.


This is the idea that lead me to create the Kerala startups group. I want to support all people who wants to do things differently.   Most of the investors I met share my thoughts in this. There is no point in saying that you are not getting investment until you show the investors something unique.

If we have no model to follow, how do we know what changes are required?
Market is our leader. Market will sets the rules. Do not look on anything else. Neither technology or education can give you this model. Technology is just a tool. You should know when to use it when not? We are looking for solutions that market loves.

What is this market? How do I know what market wants?
Market is like God, it is present everywhere but you will not know. Unlike God there are proven methods to test market. What is that?
Make a small change, put forward a small effort and then take that to the market. See how the market reacts. Does the market ignore your product?  Then probably you are not doing it correctly.  Yes, that is a failure, but without that failure you will never have an idea about the market. So try to do things differently. Let it fail, but you will gain by learning. You will change yourself, you will start seeing a lot more opportunities.

But a journey of an entrepreneur is costly, we may end up in points of no return. There are a lot of pitfalls through this journey.   How do we guarantee minimum safety? I agree that we have to take risks, go where nobody has gone before. But unless we can retrace our steps how can we use the lessons that we learned from it for our next venture.
This is where a mentor can help you. A mentor can show you the pitfalls. Mentor can tell you how far you should go, how much you should spent. He can tell you when not to spend money.

Who are these mentors? Where can we find them?
The Mentors are those people who had walked the path that you are trying to cover. They had tried to do things that you are trying to do now.   They might have failed, or failed miserably, but they are very valuable resources. Meet them and discuss about your venture periodically. You can have several mentors at the same time. Try to avoid those people who have only theoretical knowledge.  What we need is people having practical knowledge, let them be zero in theory.

Then there are mentor + Angel investors. They are those people who are ready to travel in the same boat and take the same risks with you. If you can get one of them then you are lucky.

We are the basics of change, progress or development. Unless we change nothing can change. If we change that is all what is required. You do not have to look at any external things like Govt. or political parties. Nothing except us.

How can I protect my product idea?

Are you afraid that somebody will stole your million dollar idea? How can You protect it?  You have two choices.

Choice one : Do you have the capability to develop it yourself? Then you need not tell anybody. 

Choice two : Do you need the help from other people to develop it  then you need to tell them so that to convince them to join you. Do you need funding then you need to convince the investor. 

Now developing a product is one thing and selling it is another. 

Choice one : You can protect your idea by not selling your product to anybody. 

Choice two : Do you want  others to use or pay for it then you have to convince them. 

In the choice two there are no ways of keeping your idea to yourself. At one point or other the idea will become a public property. We are enjoying many things in our modern world that was first conceived by an individual.   If all people had chosen option one,  our life would have been very different.  

Hartal and Work Culture of Kerala

"How can somebody invest in Kerala? We have a Hartal once in a week".

"Malayalees work culture is very bad, they do not work when they are here, but they are ready to do any menial job when they reach Gulf".

"Think about the Nottakkooli and the strikes, do you really want to start an industry in Kerala?"

These are a few of explanations that we get when we talk about investment in Kerala. They are trying to discourage you from becoming an entrepreneur.

Should an entrepreneur first try to change these social realities and then work on his entrepreneurship?

Kerala Startups do not believe that one need to change  anything to become an entrepreneur. Do you have an innovative mind?  Are you ready to put up the hard work required to make your dreams  come true. Then you can create a product and get funding. It does not matter whether you are in Kerala,  Bangalore or Silicon Valley, USA.

Please stop the show

Kerala Startups should get back to fundamentals and keep it focus on getting results. Show come later when you need it. I have heard many complaining this. " Many people have promised that they will bring investors or investment. but so far nothing has happened.  We have done several seminars and fairs. We also got good news coverage, but nothing happened after that."

They make it look like  investors are the culprits and the blame is on them.  Investors do not have any particular preference for any geographical area. Their preference is in making money. If you show them how they can make money by investing in your firm then they will be interested. The best way to do that is to make a good product or idea and pitch that to investors.

Planning for a show is easy. You also get a lot of people around you because everybody is interested in the show. But working on fundamentals is not easy. Unfortunately that only brings prosperity.

Robbery attempt in my friend's house.

Ten years back my friend moved to his new house,one of the largest and beautiful buildings constructed at that time in this city.  It was on the side of a main road and hardly half a kilometers from the Police station. The house had all modern security arrangements that were  available ten years back. But within a year a burglar entered the house in broad daylight. 

Nobody was at home when the burglar entered the house. My friend and his wife was in his office which was situated just opposite side of the road.  Security system might have been activated and alarm might have been sounded. But nobody took notice of it. The burglar escaped with some valuable and was never caught. 

The next burglary attempt happened within few years. It was in the night and my friend's wife was alone at home. A gang of burglars entered the house in the night. The security alarm was off and the guards had taken a day off.   His wife was terrified but the burglars kept her quiet and her hands and legs were tied together. They escaped with some valuables in one of his cars. 

The burglary attempts in the city are on increase. Recently more attempts were made in the houses with modern security systems. Why is the security system not effective? Why are the security guarding the houses could not do anything?  How can a few guards stop an armed gang?  How can we alert the Police in time? How can we help the Police to nab them?  How can we make sure the evidence to burglary are not destroyed?  

These were some questions that pestered a few startup companies here and they decided to work together to bring a solution to it.  A solution with a price  that even a middle class family can afford. This solution will be rolled out in a few weeks time. Fingers crossed.  

Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are people who goes into the sea in a boat with number of holes. 
The mentors should be people who are ready to join them  and help them to pluck the holes. 
Who needs a mentor who stays in the shore and watch the fun?

Why do we need reverse pitching session in Kerala now?

Kerala is seeing a new activity. Youngsters are flocking to form startups.  Kerala has a huge middle class which has created a type of economic freedom for the youngsters.  The youngsters have started looking for more adventurous life than "go to college, get a job, get married and live happily there after" type life.  

The enthusiasm received by Kerala startup group and Startup village are proof of this change. Kerala startups was started 11 months back by me. Now we have more members than most of other similar groups. I do agree that the quantity does not mean quality. But with the type of reach we have we are making sure that we reach every nook and corner of Kerala.  


Enthusiasm do not mean that people know what direction to move.  Our goal should be to guide  the energy of this youngsters to  a proper channel where they can use it to create marketable products and scalable business. We have been working on meeting these groups of youngsters and I have been mentoring several such young entrepreneurs.  We need to remove the wrong ideas in their mind. We need to tell them to work on their fundamentals.

People have started working on very interesting concepts and products. This is the time to tell them where they should go from here. This is the time to tell them how to look for funding. This is the time to make sure that they talk to the right type of investors.  In this regard I believe it is the right time to have a reverse pitching session in Kerala by prominent Angel investors and VCs of India.