K Srikrishna

The Entrepreneur Life

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The gender wage gap is not misleading

November 4, 2015 / / 0 Comments

For example, it’s true that not as many women choose to become mathematicians versus, say, high school math teachers. But is this really an independently made choice that young women take? Or is it socialized choice?

As the father of two girls, I’m always interested in what we as society and the communities we are part of signal to our children – especially when they are growing up. As the Cathy O’Neill, aka mathbabe looks at the gender wage gap (in the US) it presents a glass half full picture. Read the full article here  The gender wage gap is not misleading

October 18, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Often Om Malik shares interesting reads – this was one he shared y’day. I found it interesting for two reasons – good stories can be about things (in this instance containers) and not just people and many more engineering stories, like this, that impact nearly everyone of us needs to told more often. I’d love it if you share other stories you’ve read.

It took a pugnacious North Carolinian named Malcom McLean to launch the container revolution. An ambitious truck-company owner with little experience when it came to shipping, McLean—who had made a fortune in trucking in the boom years after WWII—was looking for a way to move goods up and down the East Coast’s traffic-choked highways faster and more cheaply.

via How Shipping Container Changed the World.

Brandery Demo Day Insights

October 8, 2015 / / 0 Comments

The Seed Accelerator Rankings Project reports over 150 accelerator programs in the United States. In India too we’ve seen a large number of accelerators pop up over the last two years. Yet this last week, Dave McClure of 500Hats was quoted saying “If you think that running a startup is a bad idea, then running an accelerator is an even worse idea” at StartupIstanbul.

Tweet from StartupInstanbul

Yesterday I attended the Demo Day at Brandery, (ranked #12 accelerator program) based out of Cincinnati, thanks to an invite by Tony Alexander, ex-entrepreneur and GM of the Brandery.  The day was eventful for many reasons – all of which I’m hoping to write about. But the thing that struck me most was how the Brandery has followed much of the advice we give entrepreneurs to set itself on the path to success. Not just accelerators but regional ecosystems everywhere can take a leaf or two out of the Brandery’s playbook.

By playing to their strengths and clearly articulating what those are, the Brandery have set themselves up for success. The short version:

  • Focus strong & narrow focus on branding, marketing and design, playing to their strengths
  • Partnerships Strong local ties with consumer goods & retail firms – both as investors and partners
  • Geographic Mix Attracting startups from around the country (& the coasts) to magnify networks
  • Metrics Measuring and reporting key outcomes – exits, startup equity raised, jobs created
  • Long game focusing on their entire ecosystem and the long run gets community commitment

Of course they offer the table stakes that all accelerators & incubators need to bring – strong mentors, equity, good cohorts and co-working space. I’ll get a longer version of the insights garnered hopefully soon.

Anger & Knowing One Self

July 31, 2015 / / 0 Comments

ConflictLike nearly every family WhatsApp group, mine if often filled with all kinds of forwards – that I tend to largely ignore or quickly glance and not dwell too long on. This morning my sister shared this piece on WhatsApp and it made me stop & think. It’s always sobering to see oneself in the mirror.

As entrepreneurs, there are a million things that frustrate us, tick us off and many times we want to scream at someone – some of us do, others keep it inside and the rest try to drink it off I assume. But this little story or parable brings home the message of “responding and not reacting” – to recognize our reactions stem from what’s inside us and not things that happen outside of us. Enjoy.

A monk decides to meditate alone, away from his monastery. He takes his boat out to the middle of the lake, moors it there, closes his eyes and begins his meditation. After a few hours of undisturbed silence, he suddenly feels the bump of another boat colliding with his own. With his eyes still closed, he senses his anger rising, and by the time he opens his eyes, he is ready to scream at the boatman who dared disturb his meditation. But when he opens his eyes, he sees it’s an empty boat that had probably got untethered and floated to the middle of the lake. At that moment, the monk achieves self-realization, and understands that the anger is within him; it merely needs the bump of an external object to provoke it out of him. From then on, when he comes across someone who irritates him or provokes him to anger, he reminds himself, “The other person is merely an empty boat. The anger is within me.

Is Success Even the Right Metric?

June 19, 2015 / / 0 Comments

“How can I be as successful as ….?” This is a question, that not just my daughters ask, but many of the young people I meet. Of course, this gives rise to the question “What is success?” No two people define success the same way.

While I’ve read and heard a variety of definitions, I feel, VR Ferose, the former Managing Director of SAP India said it best. Success is personal and often about yourself. To the young man who is the first in his family to have attended or graduated from college, that is a success. To the security guard at his company who’s the first, from his village, to have landed a city job that’s success. To the young woman who became the CEO of a tech firm, success is attaining that post.

So doctors, engineers, lawyers, politicians all believe various things that they have achieved or seek to achieve as their success. But is success even the right metric for our lives?

I’d argue, as Feroze did that day, that impact, what impact are we having or will have on others lives is a far better metric. Unlike success, where the focus is on you and your accomplishments, impact is about other people. “She’s created over 200 jobs, as an entrepreneur” or “He’s helped 30 kids graduate from college.”

Does this mean we should quit our jobs or not pursue “selfish” goals such as running a startup? No, absolutely not. But we should revisit how we measure what we do, what we believe as success in ourselves and others. Entrepreneurs are among the greatest contributors to society, whether simply as inspiration to others or in creating real impact on the ground it terms of wealth or job creation,

Does a Babajob, create new economic opportunities for those in the disorganized service sectors? Hell yeah! Does Vaatsalya enhance the quality of health care and life for folks in Tier 2 & 3 towns? Certainly. I’m sure you can think of many more. Of course, their being financially viable as a business is important to deliver the impact that they do. However, measuring or celebrating entrepreneurs and their companies as a success merely because they raised a round or their founders are cool is both limiting and unimaginative.

So what is the impact you and your organization are going to have today?

8 Secrets of Success

June 12, 2015 / / 0 Comments

As the father of two teens, there are many moments when my children ask, even implore, me to “Just tell me what to do!”

As a parent, it’s hard not to TELL your kids what to do. Of course there are far more times when they don’t want to hear the things I’d like to share with them. Mentoring entrepreneurs in many ways not that different from raising teens – you’ve gotta resist the urge to tell them “the answer” even when they ask for it and you’d better get used to your advice not being adhered to or at times even heard.

That of course never stopped me as an entrepreneur, mentor or parent from sharing, lessons and insights that I never cease to learn. Even while urging kids or entrepreneurs to focus on impact and the journey, rather than “success” – the question of how does one get to be successful comes up all the time. Luckily better men than me have grappled with this issue and here’s a short (3.5 minute) video that answers this very question. For those that prefer to read over watching a video, however short, I have provided a short summary at the end.

The eight secrets are

  • Passion – be passionate about what you do (& the money will follow as Marsha Sinetar put it)
  • Work – work hard but have fun. As Richard St. John puts it, be a workafrolic and not a workaholic!
  • Focus – focus – on one thing is critical to being successful
  • Persist – persistence is an attribute that comes up consistently
  • Ideas – be creative and constantly come up with new ways to think & do
  • Good – practice, practice, practice – so that you get good at what you do
  • Push – you have to push yourself, past doubts & doubters, obstacles to be successful
  • Serve – be of service, whether with your business or product or in life
Kids salutin
Photo Credit: Alex E. Proimos via cc

Acting on what’s important

May 15, 2015 / / 1 Comment

Last weekend, two men, neither of whom I knew personally, died in separate accidents in North America. Yet this morning, as I sit down to write I find the deaths of Dave Goldberg, CEO of Survey Monkey and Parag Parikh, value investor have impacted me in ways I’d not have guessed. Yes we live in a world, whether the earthquake in Nepal (7500+ dead), war in Yemen (1250+ dead) or Syria (200,000+ dead) which in many way inures us to the news of death if not death itself. Yet the death of both these men, one admired in the startup community – known to many as the spouse of Sheryl Sandburg of Facebook (and Lean In fame) and the other in India’s value investment community, should make every one of us in the entrepreneurial community stop and take stock.

As founders of startups and otherwise active members of the ecosystem, we get caught up with the chase – whether news of rounds raised or customers won or milestones made. Our startups are constantly faced with existential crises be they cash flow problems, key employee loss or co-founder shenanigans. Many of us make it a badge of honor that we don’t have time for personal lives or the long hours we put in or how we’ve spent days at the office with little or no sleep. What little time we have we spend poring over startup news, networking and hustling. Many of us who left the corporate “rat race” have only traded it for the startup roller coaster, without the perks and the sobering truth of what working for oneself really is. Almost every one of these things is what makes the start up life the exhilarating and infuriating ride that it is.

The sudden death of these two men in their prime only brought home the truth of what’s important in our lives – our families, our health and what we can contribute to our communities. All too easily our own time can be taken away – so don’t put away what’s important to another day – don’t wait for Mother’s Day or any other special day to call on a loved one, to read to your child, take a walk with your spouse or a long hike with friends.

Stop reading and go give someone a hug!

4 Hacks to Handling an Interview Panel Well

March 16, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Interview PanelOne of the joys of being around entrepreneurs and academicians is that you get pulled in to interview folks – in person, on the phone or Skype, and sometimes as part of a panel. This last weekend, I was part of one such interview panel – where nearly six senior candidates who’d been shortlisted were interviewed. Three things struck me about the experience

  • How vastly different approaches the various candidates brought to the interview process
  • Even the senior candidates made some of the same rookie mistakes that you expect only younger ones to make
  • How we, as the interview panel, could have done things better (that’s a whole another post)

Ask questions – In this particular panel, the thing that stood out the most for me, was how few questions the interviewees had for us as a panel. Sure they’d spoken to the hiring manager over the phone prior to the interview, but given the panel had veto power (did they know that?) it would have been better for them to ask more questions. While this is true even for 1:1 interviews, with a panel it’s important to understand what different people in the panel expect both of the role that you’re interviewing for and of the interview process itself. This will make sure you are neither blind-sided nor leave something unaddressed. Even more importantly your questions often will say a lot more about your than your answers.

Be specific A panel, with the very fact there are more than three people (ours had five), can easily get bogged down when it comes to decision-making. So it’s very important for you to be very specific with both your answers to their questions and even with your own questions. This allows you to stand out as a candidate. This requires you to avoid generalities – such as “I have strong networks in the community” and you’d be better of with specifics such as “I was able to recruit six mentors from the community in my first three months on the job. And these folks served with us on average for two years.” Balance the desire to be specific with the need to be concise – not always easy, but with practice can be done.

Be concise If you are like me (poor you!) the temptation is great to jump right in, when a question is posed. All too often, I get excited about the topic – which is usually why I’m there – and begin talking or responding.  Two tips to being concise – clarify what is being sought and validate whether you’ve answered their question. We make assumptions that may just not be correct – it is better to clarify before attempting to answer. In our specific job search, we wanted the candidate to make his organization, financially independent at some point. One candidate anxious that this was important to us focused on becoming self-sufficient within two years – which meant she recommended doing a lot of things, not central to the business, just to generate revenues. Clarifying the timeline over which the panel expected the organization to be self-sufficient could have easily avoided this.

Demonstrate Interest Many interview candidates assume that they are demonstrating interest by showing up. Why else would they be there? However, while showing up is necessary it is definitely not enough to show your interest in the job. The most attractive candidate – going by their resume and phone screen – turned out to be lowest ranked in our panel, due to the utter lack of energy and interest demonstrated by his body language and cadence during the panel interview. Most organizations are looking to hire people with energy and a good deal of motivation to make things happen. Sure they want to know and prefer you’ve done it before but are you willing and ready to do it and more, again? So it’s important to demonstrate interest – which of course asking questions, clarifying and engaging will all help you.

Not surprisingly most of these tips are useful for 1:1 interviews. However, it’s both easier to develop rapport in 1:1 interviews as well as recover from mistakes, with a little honesty and self-deprecation. Even the best of candidates can be undone with a panel, if there’s either non-alignment on the other side of the table or you don’t address the primary careabouts for the key decision makers on a panel. Share your own experiences interviewing with panels and what’s worked for you. Good luck!

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