A truly first class first class at SLP Hyderabad

If the first class is anything to go by, the maiden SLP program of Hyderabad promises to be a journey full of learning, fun and, of course, entrepreneurship. Once all of us pledged our allegiance to the SLP charter by signing the joint commitment, each of us took turns to take the rest on their respective entrepreneurial journeys. BITS Pilani was definitely conspicuous as the alma mater of many of the fellows. Curiously many of the fellows said that they were not academic toppers while in college and in fact, many of them rarely attended the classes. That says a lot about how much you can learn outside the classrooms.

The uniqueness in each story was refreshing. The Entrepreneurial Journeys exercise was a great one, not only for the class to know each other better but also for many of us to take a look at what makes us. The fellows are good mix of full-time entrepreneurs, part-time entrepreneurs and yet-to-be or just-to-be entrepreneurs.

In the next leg of the class, Vishal Vasishth of Song Investment Advisors talked to the fellows about the 5 Ps that make a successful organization and definitely a successful startup. He explained the 5 Ps - Product, Passion, People, Purpose, Profit -  with examples from his own experience including the companies he has worked with and invested in. There was a lot to learn and discuss with him.

Naeem Khan of The Lead took over from Vishal and drove home the point of branding (and the lack thereof) in startups. He advised fellows to think about the branding for their startups early and not wait for a later stage when they would have more time and money in their hands. In fact, he stressed that branding need not necessarily be a costly affair. It is more about giving mind share to it among other issues like financials and strategy.

The last part of the class was a practical take on The Lean Startup Movement. The 5 cohorts of formed from the fellows were given the case of Foody's - a startup founded by one of the Hyderabad fellows, Mili Srivastava. Mili briefed the class on her company's objectives and problems. She offered the cohorts a set of hypotheses which she wanted to validate (or invalidate). The cohorts brainstormed and generated data from quick in-person and phone surveys. The ideas and discussions that came up helped not only Mili but also the entire group by opening of new perspectives.

On that high note, the first class of the Hyderabad chapter ended. Stayed tuned for the next update.

Written by Aishwarya Mishra

Yet Another Day, Yet Another Blast

"There has been a blast", I told a collegue of mine. "Where", he asked. "Outside Delhi High Court". "Oh, how many dead?" "9", I replied. "Bas (in Hindi). Normally blast count in India goes into double digits", my colleague replied. Well, the blast has gone into the double digits. Now it stands at 11. I wonder what many of us felt when we heard of the bomb blast. I would like to know.

My dad called me up from Jaipur and said that there has been a blast in Delhi. Call up Mausaji's house and see if everything is ok. On a normal day, nobody from my Uncle's family would visit the Delhi High Court. However, I can clearly see a custom forming. Whenever there is a blast, we try to remember if there is anyone of importance (in our lives) who lives in the affected city. We call them with a 99.99% confidence that nothing has happened to them. In my opinion, most of the times, it is that customary call you make so that you are not branded the black sheep of the family. It is interesting - to put it mildly - how even the remotely affected people have formed customs around bomb blasts. But then, formation of such customs reaffirms the fact that most of us (including yours truly) do not get enraged by such acts. We feel like an audience in a war movie. The action is happening somewhere far away. So far away that only TV Channels and Newspapers can reach such places. Ironically that does not stop us from pointing out things like "Hey, I was there last month for shopping. What is happening in our country?"

Once in while when the modus operandi changes, we are truly taken by surprise - like the Mumbai serial blasts or the Mumbai Taj/Oberoi Attack. One aspect that has got highlighted in the past couple of years is the fact that terrorists need not be Muslims. But the prejudices remain. One example is our very own (sic) Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad. On the basis of suspicion Muslim men were rounded up and imprisoned for years. It took Swami Aseemanand - one of the main people behind the blast - to wipe the blot of terrorism off the lives of these men. But that alone cannot repair shattered lives. Because once in prison, your life comes to a standstill but the world keeps going (round and round).

My motive behind the above observation is not to highlight the mindset that we have developed (which definitely is important) but to the fact that we do not really hold the powers that be accoutable for their actions and mistakes. We are happy to lap up what is served to us in government press conferences. I am not sure if everyone has noticed it, but after every railway accident (worth its weight in human blood), there are slogans asking for the Railway Minister to resign. They seldom too. In case of terrorist blasts, I do not see any such demands. In fact the role of the Home Minister becomes more important.

As one tweet reminded me of how things have remained the same with the politicians after the Anna Hazare movement. The High Court went on with its business after the first half. The Parliament however took off in the second half to express solidarity with the victims.

It is time we remember that pledge we used to make in our assemblies. "India is my country and all Indians are my brothers and sisters". If you think of the people killed in the blasts today, if you think of the mass graves being dug in Kashmir, if you think of the Naxalites (some real ones some made up) who are killed in encounters, if you think of the CRPF personnel killed by the Naxalites, if you think of that person who lies on the road but no one cares to pick him up, if you think of that boy at the tea stall, if you think of the rag pickers - young and old - who look for things of value in the squalor of the garbage bin - if you think of these people and face the fact that you are living in a society that, while accepting these as facts of life, goes about their daily job - you will realize that your duty as a citizen of this country has just started. I do not ask us to leave your jobs and enter into the field of social work or social development- there are people who are already doing it. I expect us to think of the overarching purpose of our being. Can it be to just go to our jobs, do our work, come back home, watch a movie, go shopping, curse the traffic, stay inside the AC. It defintely has to be something more....What is that something more?