An Entrepreneur's start up tale!!!

Admin Posts : 259 Join date : 2009-01-11

No boss to deal with but there’s constant
fear of survival, no Monday morning blues but no definite work hours
either, a dream of becoming a millionaire someday but right now it is a
‘budget life’ –Ankur Gattani, a Mumbai-based entrepreneur delves deeper
into the highs and lows of the startup world…

“Come to
think of it, the best part of my ‘job’ is that there is no fear of
getting the pink slip tomorrow,” quips Ankur Gattani, a 24-year-old CEO
of the site www.lifeinlines.com, which is a platform that lets users record little moments of their lives, as and when it happens, using any media.

“Come to think of it, the best part of my ‘job’ is that there is no fear of getting the pink slip tomorrow,” - Ankur Gattani

With a BTech degree from IIT, Bombay and then an MBA from IIM-C, he
decided to start his own venture and give all the placement offers on
campus a miss. “I always had the inclination to do something of my own.
The freedom one has in his/her own business is worth taking a chance
for. Moreover, I probably cannot work under anyone,” explains Ankur.

So here’s what a typical work-day for this Mumbai-based entrepreneur who controls his business from his home-office is like:

I begin my day…

“Ideally with some exercise thanks to the New
Year resolution. After which I spend considerable time on the net
catching up on what’s happening around the world,” reveals Ankur.

When the online entrepreneur is done scanning the
web for news, interesting blogs and tracking competitors, he logs onto
his site to check user posts, comments and posts his own thoughts on
the same. “Information is the key to success in any business,” admits
the avid networker.

After breakfast…

It is time to fix the agenda for the day with the
tech team in Kolkata. “I started working on this project during my
IIM-Calcutta days and hence my tech team is based there. So every
morning we have a tele-con and decide what will be the deliverables for
that particular day, keep a track on progress made in past projects,
and so on,” states Ankur.

Later in the day…

It is
time for some serious work. “In the second half, I generally go for
meetings, which means a lot of presentations, proposals and
negotiations. This is interesting as well as challenging,” confides the
young businessman.

He adds that the more conviction power one has the better chances he has of grabbing a project.

After sunset…

Reviews and approvals take up his time. “I use
this time to generally reflect on the work done throughout the day and
analyse the business moves,” states Ankur. If he is not making plans
for the future he uses this time to go for a stroll at the IIT campus
or read books.

In the end…

“Well I prefer sleeping early, if there is no
serious issue for me to handle urgently,” confides Ankur. However, he
confesses that he is used to waking up in the middle of the night to
brainstorm or scrutinise the feasibility of ideas.

Admin Posts : 259 Join date : 2009-01-11

According
to Egon Zehnder International, only one in five international
executives believe that an MBA prepares people to deal with the
real-life challenges that a manager has to face.

“An MBA guarantees me instant success. Even five years of experience and
technical knowledge won’t make you a manager, but an MBA with just
three years of experience can, with double the perks and salary,” says
Amit Bakhru, quality engineer lead Sun Microsystems. If you find
yourself nodding in agreement, see what Anil S Rao, chairman and
managing director, Pest Control of India, has to say. “You hear of
unimaginable salaries being offered to IIM grads, but how many of them
actually end up becoming entrepreneurs? Nobody follows up on them. In
fact, a majority of Indian entrepreneurs are non-MBAs, even
non-graduates,” asserts Rao.
Egon Zehnder International surveyed 133 top executives at global firms in the US, UK, France and Germany.
According to the survey less than a quarter (24%) of US executives,
less than a third of Brits and 45% of Germans feel that an MBA provided
excellent and adequate preparation for a leadership position. “The
panel’s input reveals executives view an MBA as a good launch pad, but
really no more than that,” says George Davis, the firm’s co-managing
partner in North America. Underlining
this, three-quarters of the executives interviewed agreed with the
statement that “if all you know about is business, then you know
nothing about business either”.

“My initial plan was to join a B-school after graduation, but I wanted to
gain hands-on knowledge first. After being in business for a few years,
I was convinced that I did not need an MBA — but hard work and
practical knowledge to move up the corporate ladder,” says Vibhas Mehta.

A BE in Electronics and Telecommunication, Mehta started out as a sales
executive, moved to the marketing sector and went on to become business
head at Shaadi.com which has offices in the UK, US and UAE as well.

And for those professionals who fear being out of the hiring game if they
don’t have a business degree to prove it, Mehta says, “Though some
employers are swayed by a prestigious B-school on the resume, most
employers would rather let your work speak for itself.”

Mehta has been a guest faculty at various business schools in India
and suggests that before you join a B-school, ask yourself why you are
getting into one and what you will get out of it. “Specialise only in
an area you are interested in, not something that seems lucrative and
glamorous.”

“Why should we give preference to MBAs? Quality experience and a sense of
business contribute more to business than a management degree. I did
not pursue an MBA. For that matter, even business tycoon Lakshmi Mittal
does not have one,” says Vinay Phadnis, chief managing director, Sahil
Group, a hospitality, real estate and IT company.

Anil S Rao has nothing against B-schools. “But the employees I have fired the
fastest turned out to be MBAs,” he notes. He believes a majority of
B-school grads suffer from tunnel vision syndrome, because of the
restricted way in which they have been taught to think. Most give up
common sense for structure; gut feeling for graphs and pie charts. They
are given tools to analyse, but the moment they have to think out of
the box, they are at a loss of words; they don’t trust intuition. “I
know BSc graduates who understand client needs better,” adds Rao.

Rao is of the opinion that MBA programmes should extend their length from 2
years to 4 years so that students can gain practical work experience in
tandem with theory. “This will help them apply their knowledge
simultaneously and ask the right questions to professors, instead of
passing out with the wrong ideas about management and leadership,”
concludes Rao.

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