If you are following the Olympics here’s some links to people I know that are blogging & on twitter.

The Lenovo bloggers – Olympic athletes who are blogging.
1. David Churbuck Twitter & Blog
2. Rohit Bhargava Twitter & Blog
3. Abhinav Bindra – he was the first Indian to win the Gold in an individual event.

Enough said.

The scale touched 158 pounds 3 years ago this May when I
decided I had to do something about it. I had 3 major excuses for my weight –
a) I had not time since we had our 2nd child since I had to either pick him up
early or drop him off late b) there was no incentive to lose weight any more
and c) I was eating healthy (vegetarian) anyway, so how is a little extra
weight going to matter?

Self motivation was not going to work, so I took a leaf from my CEO’s book
(Amnon Landan at Mercury) who, had lost close to 30 pounds in 3 months and
decided I had to set a goal – to weigh 145 pounds in 3 months. I started with a
15 min run and finally after 3 months ended up running 6 miles daily for about
38 min. My weight stood at 142 pounds after the 3 months. Having achieved that
felt awesome. I had heard enough from others about how much easier it was to
maintain that weight versus losing more weight so I let things slip. 6 months
later, back at 154 pounds. 

Its obvious that you can’t stop exercising if you want to be
fit. There’s no finish. No end to the “project”.  For people like me, who like to finish things
(get them done) and move on to the next thing, the very concept of ongoing
exercising “to be fit” is weird.

So how does this relate to building a business for revenue versus a company for
an exit?

I read Paul’s article a few days ago. I had to spend more
time to think about how I really felt about his point of view. Summary is that
he proposes you build companies to get a sale (of the company) than to build a
business (i.e. profitable, sustainable entity). 

Having built and sold companies before, it had not occurred
to me to consider one versus the other. I started out with most ideas and
companies with the motivation to build a business. That they got sold was a
combination of luck and time.

Here’s the thing – there’s no finish if you want to build a
business. You can’t go “do the next thing” or “be ready for the next
challenge”. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. For most “businessmen”
their company is their lifestyle, work, passion and source of distraction. Notice
I did not say money. I know enough people who have built a company and grown it
well but they know is a daily grind and they love it. 

At the same time I know entrepreneurs who have built
companies and sold them, changed their careers, their industry and are
delighted. 

My experience tells me build the company for revenue, profit
if you enjoy doing it. I.e. you like the industry, the people and the line of
work. If you are just looking to make money and go “do something else which is
your real passion” then build your company to be sold. I am very sympathetic to
people who are doing “one thing” but have their passion elsewhere, since I know
that not everyone can really do what they are passionate about. Real world
constraints and responsibilities are that – real.

There’s nothing wrong with either approach, but if you don’t
like to exercise everyday to keep fit, you won’t like to build a business.

I have a Google applications account for 2 domains I own. One that I use rarely and another that I use fairly frequently. This morning Chris broke a story of Nick Saber whose Gmail account was disabled. Possibly due to security reasons, quite possibly something else – either ways he was locked out.

This is not the first time Google’s been heavy handed about this.

Here’s a form that you can use to address hit issue, but you need to know a lot of details you probably dont remember. Good idea to keep this written down someplace.

Brings me to another question: If its free should you expect any customer support? Obviously you sign an end user license agreement (EULA) which prevents you from account misuse etc. when you sign up. So lets assume you have not willingly violated any agreements. Still, if its free what recourse should you expect?

I suspect most companies that provide services would say – nothing.

I also suspect most individuals using the free services would say – complete restoration and basic support (with basic varying from ridiculous to the bizarre). Or they would want an explanation of why – which any vendor will not / should not provide since it then opens that vendor’s system to gaming. E.g. if I know that Google locks my account if I send more than 10 emails a day (fictitious) then I will send 9 daily and use another hack to send more.

So what would I do/suggest? For the account I care about I plan to pay the $50 / year for Google domain applications. Its a small price to pay for something that I use daily and also I dont have the time and patience to look for customer support when there’s none to be expected.

When I was a kid my learning (in India) was mostly writing and repetition. I went to a fairly good school in Bangalore, but it was not exactly the world’s best when it came to creative or unusual thinking. I was taught that the best way to remember things you wanted to was to repeat it (several times), either to others or to yourself and write (as in a paper, or assignment).

As I have grown older I tend to think about how I impart to my kids the value of the writing and repetition, but mindful of the Internet and its ability to deliver something in a second. Even with Google, bookmarking, sharing, blogging and all the other tools available, I still find the writing and repetition to be most valuable to remember things that I have to. This is different from things I just want to keep at the back of the mind or things that are mildly (or temporally interesting). I categorized the 5 levels (not types, but levels) of reading. I think I ought to call it 5 levels of recollection, but lets go with reading for now. They are progressively more valuable for things that I would like to commit to memory.

1. Reading passively or actively (commenting): Just reading means I have forgotten it as soon as I read it in most cases. If I comment I tend to remember 20% since I would likely go back to the page to see counter opinions, etc.

2. Reading then telling someone: Mostly my wife bears the brunt of all my “knowledge I gained from blogs”. From the inane to the weird and from the innocuous to the bizarre, she gets to hear most everything. Sometimes its the kids also and other times my extended circle of friends and family. I think my retention in those items is about 40% since I after I tell them they usually either ask me a question or ask me to clarify.

3. Reading then bookmarking (tagging) or sharing (via email, delicious, etc.). I am not sure this is better than level 2 but I have found that if I tend to tag or email it to an extended set of people, I invariably get comments, notes or questions, which makes me go back and read the article or page and clarify.

4. Reading then linking on my blog. If I write about it on my blog, then I tend to remember it very well. My recollection of items from my blog tends to be higher than items I bookmarked.

5. Reading, internalizing, reading again, then writing about it on my blog (paraphrasing) and relating to my experiences. This is the best retainer and recollection level in my opinion. If you read something, then write it in your own words relating it to your own experiences there’s a sense of internalization. Close to 80% recollection.

When it comes to books – i.e. not online reading I have found similar patterns, but I would replace the bookmarking with the garden variety pencil marks and sticky tape on the side.

I realize most of these things require multiple “readings” of the same content, which in itself might be the point of reinforced learning.

What about you?

There are over 1 Million people in the world who have a net worth more than US $5 Million. Here’s what’s common to them all:
1. First and foremost, they are almost always entrepreneurs — risk takers for whom wealth is a byproduct of pursuing their passion.

2. They’re friendly and fond of new experiences, traits that put them on a collision course with new opportunities.

3. They’re too pigheadedly optimistic to heed the long odds and call it quits.

4. And almost all of them made their fortune in a big lump sum after many years of effort.

5. Rich folks often make their fortunes after they make up their minds to
solve a problem or do something better than it’s been done before.

6. Getting rich also requires a certain amount of stubbornness and clarity of purpose.

7. The odds for solo founders were more like the oft-quoted one in 10, in
part because they often found themselves working at cross-purposes with
hired guns who see things differently.

8. Paradoxically, the road to riches often means acting as if you already have that freedom.

To Cori-centre—bringing all your mental
force and faculties to bear steadily on a given center with-out
deviation from that exact point—whipping into line all wandering
fancies—stray ideas or thoughts that go off on a tangent—to hold
steadily all your power on the central thing under consideration
without an instant of wavering—that is Concentration.

Hat tip.

Branding every PC with an Intel Inside was possibly one of the best quality initiatives that Intel taught their customers. Its probably a HBS case study in making a brand out of something most people dont visually “see”. I mean you see your PC, but its a DELL or Compaq/HP or Lenovo not an Intel machine.

Same for Made in China, but not sure the connotations are of “quality”. Usually Made in China means, inexpensive (or cheap, depending on your perspective), good enough quality (until recently) but it also means mass produced.

I am not sure we can categorize a “backlash” against the Made in China brand yet, but there are enough questions about the quality, environmental effects and type of labor pool used to build those products.

So, it begs the question, what about the “Developed in India” brand for software that has either a significant portion of its design, architecture and development or maintenance done in India. I wonder why NASSCOM or other organizations have not initiated this branding effort yet.  There is a strong need for this effort before the “Developed in India” brand does not stand for anything. Already there are signs that outsourcing is not bearing a lot of positive experiences with its customers. If the branding effort comes with some really good quality assurance of the provider, their background and assures the buyer of the authenticity of the transaction, it would go a long way in addressing cautionary tales such as the on above.

You gotta laugh at a lot of things in Bangalore these days. Take for example all the “extra security precautions” that are being implemented in the wake of the bomb blasts. Let me share 3 examples.

1. I was walking into Bangalore Central (a mall in downtown Bangalore – M. G. Road) with my wife over the weekend. The better half wanted to check out the “sales”. The place was packed and so were the entrances and exits. Imagine a crowd at the entrance and an airport-style metal / security detector at the front. And over 5 guards next to the metal detector. There’s a line 12-15 people deep. Every time a person went through the detector, it beeped (like really big time, loud beeps). The 3 security guards all smile, look at the next person and wave you forwards. Happened with EACH and every person who entered before us. Beeps every time and everyone was let go with a wide smile. What’s the point? I am not sure and I did not care to find out.

2. The security wand metal detector is another contraption that’s become in the vogue in most office entrances these days. I have really no clue what they’re supposed to do with those things. I am pretty sure neither do the security guards. Its not like they ask you to remove any metals, coins or other paraphernalia before they wand you. So what happens is the enthusiastic guard with the wand goes all over you from top to bottom and it beeps like crazy. He smiles and asks you to move on. My cousin’s also very confused about this. His question to me was “Is it supposed to beep? Does beeping mean its okay? Or is it not supposed to beep and that’s considered okay?”

The funniest part is when some employees come in packs of 3-4. So the guard mass wand-ed them. Really! No jokes. Imagine 4 people standing next to each other (not in a single file, beside each other), and a guard starting to wand them from left to right and top to bottom, front and back. Why? – Saves time.

3. Of course in places that are “extra sensitive” like government offices, they have to frisk you. Not the simple touch, but imagine someone soaping you (no dirty thoughts, since its same sex “frisking”) top to bottom. After 6 frisks, the guard gets tired (obviously since he’s frisking every person). He’s got a backup guard and another who then takes over. So they cant really do things in parallel because if there are more than 20 people, they will all get tired.

I do feel a lot more secure. Why? If someone has to go through all this fake security and still do something nefarious, they’re nuts.

Is “It depends“. This article & writer lost their credibility as soon as I read the first paragraph. When you are in sales of any kind and you cannot clearly explain your pricing strategy, its dependent components and give a ball park estimate, most customers self qualify themselves out of the sales cycle.

That’s not to say you ought to give them the exact price because in most cases you cannot. Not giving ballpark estimates though just seems like you are hiding something.

Pricing strategy overall especially in software is clearly not cost driven. Its value or the perception of value. If you are coming out a version 1 product in  most cases you will have a “sense” for what the value of your product is to its customer and be able to price lower (if you want huge adoption) or price higher (if you want a perception of quality).

Most enterprise sales people will tell you that the “It depends” is a consultant’s answer or probably an answer from someone who has not sold anything that requires you to close a deal.

<Getting off soapbox>