sahil parikh’s work+life stream

The other day I was introduced to a guy who was just out of college. He should have been around 22 yrs. We were generally talking about technology and web apps then he mentioned that he was leaving his current position in a cool web startup. FYI, he had just started a couple of months back. Concerned, I probed a bit and found out that he was not happy with what he was doing. He wanted to work on the "cool" and "good" stuff. The high level stuff. The stuff that he could boast to his college friends. He detested the grunt work that was given to him occasionally. To me, thats' the stuff that sometimes goes into building a great business. He then told me that in a few months he was looking to start his own business.

What!!!!

Wait a second. This is not happening. I was speechless.

How does that work? Starting a business and being entrepreneurial is awesome but if you can't get past Level 1, then how are you going to reach Level 4? Aren't all businesses built on the stuff that we don't like doing sometimes? Isn't pain the part of the process that helps us reach the top?

I hope this is not the attitude of our young generation - 'get rich quick and I don't want to work' kind of attitude. Wanting everything on a silver platter but not wanting to go through the pain. 

I wanted to wish him good luck. We parted ways in different directions.

These experiences helps me with hiring people for DeskAway. I look for one thing -  a good attitude. It's worked almost all the time. Attitude will tell you a lot about the person, where he has been and where he will be a few years down the road.

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Besides having a good idea mixed with some passion, these are a few things an entrepreneur needs to keep in mind while growing his business...

Think large-scale - can you handle more than just a few clients with the same process? You should be able to replicate your process with many clients without too much customization. Think the concept of 'assembly lines'.

Your business should work with a few people. That's why I am not a big fan of outsourcing shops. They always need more headcount when a new project comes in. If you look closely, they are more of a HR company trying to keep people on-board. Instead, try to run a small ship with big engines.

Know when to pass - when you say 'no' you really know what you are working towards. When we were a design agency, at one point we started taking up all kinds of projects - web, development, print, logo etc. We had forgotten what we stood for and running the business was not fun.

Make your customers say "wow". At DeskAway we are focusing our efforts on the 'wow' factor this year. It's simple - if people are happy, they buy from you and tell others to buy from you. Try to get people to say "wow" - about your product, website, service, support...

These are the things that I keep in mind while running this small ship...Have a great weekend!

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One of the things that I have learnt being an entrepreneur is becoming a better teacher. Yes, I try to teach stuff when required.

Firstly, I always ensure that I hire good and reliable people who want to be a part of our vision and mission and have a burning desire to make things happen. It's ok if they don't have all the necessary skills today but as long as they have the fire in the belly they will start to unlearn and relearn the stuff that matters.

Secondly, through my readings and knowledge gathering I push stuff that matters to them. If I come across an article on 'writing better code', I will send it to the team. We watch and discuss startup videos together. If there is a new way to test code, we will make sure that we try out the tool and understand what it does. If someone gets stuck in evaluating a design, I will jump in. Or, if someone needs help in composing an email (yes this has happened) I am there if required.

My goal is to help people learn and become better at whatever they are doing. The worst thing an entrepreneur can do is to disconnect from the team and expect things to happen automatically.

NOTE - Teaching does not equate to  'spoon-feeding'. If you catch yourself spoon-feeding then you probably have got the wrong person on the team.

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While sending my answers to yourstory.in today, I came across a question:

"Do you have any tips to share with budding entrepreneurs?"

I thought this might be helpful to you. These are 3 important things (out of like a dozen) I have learnt being an entrepreneur:

a. Focus on The Core - In early 2005/06 we were doing a bit of everything like most web design/development firms. What I learned was that you should focus on one thing and do it well. That's when we phased out the service side and concentrated completely on building, growing and scaling DeskAway, even if it meant taking a risk and plugging our immediate source of income.

b. Talk to yourself - Ask yourself as to why you want to start a new venture? Is it only money or is there a higher purpose attached to it? Are you solving a need or just following a fad? Its important to answer these questions before you jump full time into starting out.

c. Do not Hire Experts - I have had better luck hiring people who want to learn than people who already come with "expert" skills. Its a joy in helping a developer learn new things - to create a win-win situation. Things change so quickly that you require people who are willing to learn, unlearn and re-learn.

In a nutshell - build a small, motivated team, keep things simple, stay focused, use less capital-intensive methods, outsource what is not core, and monitor and measure everything on a daily basis.

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I am coming across more and more people who are just working for the sake of working - whether the work is paying them well or keeping them busy. It's the same blah blah routine day in and day out. Mechanical, if you might call that. And then all of a sudden they seem to be burnt out and come a whole circle finding something else to do - wasted time that they could have put to better use.

The solution actually is very simple - just find something that excites you and that you love doing and do that everyday! If you have something you want to accomplish start working towards it today - there is no point in delaying something that you love doing. That's illogical and doesn't make sense!

Here is an interesting article (The Most Powerful Ways to Get Unstuck) on finding meaning in your work and getting the most out of your day. Pesonally, my worst nightmare is looking back and finding out that I wasted my time doing things that I really didn't care about!

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The one word that popped in my head after I watched Star Trek yesterday was 'Teamwork'. Each and every one on USS Enterprise worked towards a common goal of destroying the enemy, surviving and saving planet Earth. It was a story of "us" rather than I. It was "you" before "me". It was about looking at the bigger picture (of saving humanity) rather than what will happen to me? I found these insights and hidden meaning crucial and important to all of us working with teams. Many times we don't work as a team, go our different paths and fail to understand the purpose of our project; which ultimately leads to failure. This movie clearly demonstrates that working in a coherent team is the only way to survival or in our terms, completion of a successful project. If you haven't watched the movie then go watch it. It's super!

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