Category Archives: Intrapreneurship

How insights happen?

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Insights happen at the intersection of different cultures, fields and industries is what Frans Johannson says in his book The Medici Effect.

What does this mean?

From childhood we have been told that if you study hard, you will get a good job and settle down in life (You will mostly hear this in the Indian and Chinese cultures). Because education will give you insights into various things in life. Math, Science, Economics, Language etc. every subject provides a deep insight into that particular stream. Starting from the basics to advancements in that stream. You learn the subject from school to a masters degree or probably a Doctorate and even Post Doc. When you learn a subject with understanding into how other subjects operate, you will gain insights into specialising in that subject matter. For example, a combination of Math and Computer science can help you understand programming better. Economics and Math will give you the required insights into how economy works and how you can solve economic problems with various mathematical models.

This is with respect to education and subject matter expertise. But, how do you apply to solving bigger problems? By understanding cultures.

I very commonly hear from my family and friends in the US that their education system is the best in the world and hence people don’t want to come back to India. It definitely might be true, but here is my argument; why are people from Indian education background in the top positions? (You might argue saying we are better at management and leadership, which is also correct). Many scientific discoveries happened in the US, so people there are better at going deeper into the subject. This is a never ending debate. Why I bought up this topic is not to compare education systems, but wanted to share my perspectives on insightful things get when you grow up, work or life in various cultures.

Cultures provide a deeper understanding of subject matter. They are the sources of innovation.

Let me give you an example of my experience. US has always been driven in being a super-power since a long time. People there are constantly working towards to inventing something new or creating something which enhances the quality of life. Hence, there are more people thinking of new things. This culture might be there for various reasons, but yes, it does exist. After world war II, Germany wanted to ensure they come back to life quickly and strongly, and hence they adopted to longer working hours and focused on outcomes. Japan, a land of constant natural calamities always has to comeback to normalcy post a natural calamity. This is the reason, even after the only nuclear bombing in the world took place in their country, they bounced back and are a strong economy. India, post Independence struggled for a bit in transformations. The transformations have been solw because inherantly we are little lethargic in nature. Post the economic reforms, everything changed overnight, like the whole nation was on a constant dose of Redbull.

In summary, Education, Culture and Economy will help you with an insightful eco-system.

Kill ideas liberally

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Usually, when you get an idea, we get emotionally connected to them. What happens when we get emotionally connected is that we loose the ability to see through all aspects of the idea.

How to address this?

Here is a simple exercise to look at the idea objectively.

Document the idea completely and as much detail as possible. Once you are confident that the idea is documented in detail, we start the exercise.

For one complete week, keep thinking on the idea and only look at positives of the idea. Only positives. Be as optimistic and positive about the idea. Keep documenting all the points you can think of. If possible share the idea with your friends or closed ones and ask them to also share their optimistic thoughts. Document them.

The following week, only identify all the challenges and pessimistic thoughts about your idea. Now, find another set of close friends and family (who have not been part of the previous week). Ask them to critic your idea and document all of them.

Now, objectively look at all the optimistic and pessimistic comments and club them to the respective components of the idea.

Look at the results and by now you will understand if you wish to take the idea forward or not.

In short, if you have to kill the idea, do it liberally, but not for any other reason.

Progress begets progress

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Many a times, we don’t celebrate as much. Yes, thats true. When was the last time you celebrated an achievement?

In the corporate world, when a release goes through or when a certain milestone is reached, there is a team lunch, a pep talk from manager or a round of drinks in the evening. That’s it. The next day, we are back to the grid. Accomplishments are forgotten and the next release or update is being worked on.

Instead, one day a week, celebrate past achievements. Look at what you have accomplished the previous week or any past milestone. Write a few of them on your board to keep seeing them regularly or jot down on post-it’s and put them around your table or desk. Keep looking at them.

Trust me, this reminds you of your passion, persistence and strengths. This is what drives you to the next success.

In essence, celebrate more often and this will help you achieve more.

Focus on Method, NOT Outcome

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After you have finalised your idea, and decided to jump into execution, it is very important to do the bigger planning.

You can use the Business Model Canvas to fine tune your plan. However, you should also focus on the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).

Many entrepreneurs (including me) get fixated on the bigger goal of what we want to achieve and forget to look at how we want to get there. This is quite frequent. But, the key to achieving what you need is to ensure you focus on the method to get there.

I want to get to becoming a successful entrepreneur and the go-to Ideator in the world. How do I get there? Sub-consciously i started writing about 13 years ago. Was not regular, but was writing something or the other. When YouTube came into existence, I created a Channel to start sharing video stories. I did few videos and after that stopped. After seeing many YouTubers, I thought I should have a pretty good setup to do, but on the other hand, when you see how these YouTuber’s started, every one had a humble beginning and over the years they migrated to better tech.

This year (2023), I finally started to focus on writing, didn’t want to see the number of views I am getting or the comments, but just write for 100 days, everyday. I opened my notion and started planning. I planned for 20 days posts and started to write. Over the last 80 days, there were days i could not (Could not write for 3 days since there was a death in the family), but remaning 77 days, I never missed a day. This post is also part of the 100 day writing project.

What this gave me is the amazing idea of turning these posts into a book. My book on Ideation now has a framework and my goal is to get this done by end of Jan and hand it over to the publisher.

What changed in the last 80 days?

My inhibitions of not bothering about what people think, how many views am getting or the number of comments. I am sure one day, this will be a huge source of knowledge and reference for many visitors and my writings will come on the top. It’s just a matter of time.

So, don’t get fixated on the destination, focus on the method and what you want to accomplish each day, am sure you will get there with your product too.

I can also give reference to HAPLO, my first startup completely self-funded. What started as a SaaS platform for Co-working spaces, now is a SaaS for Commercial Real Estate. At times, I feel a small $150,000 funding would really help push the sales, but unfortunately no one wants to invest in PropTech. Biggest question is the returns in the domain. But, I strongly believe this sill definitely be a million dollar idea (it will be way more, but using the word). But this will take time and there were many days when I felt that I should just close the company. Still need to pay loads of loans back to people, but either will blessings or my commitment, they are just being patient with me. I am sure I will give back everything.

Will share the story of HAPLO in a later post in-detail****.****

So, keep going. Focus on how you are getting things done.

The 37% Rule

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Have you encountered the renowned Secretary Problem? If you hold a decision-making role, it’s crucial to familiarize yourself with this problem and understand how to consistently make optimal choices.

In essence, the Secretary Problem illustrates that the optimal decision is typically made when you select the 1/3rd option or the 37th percentile among the available choices.

For example, suppose you’re hiring for a job opening with 5 applicants. The rule dictates that once you choose a candidate, the others must exit. If, after interviewing the first candidate, you are satisfied, you face a dilemma. Should you let the other 4 leave and select the first one, or should you let the first one go and take your chances with the remaining candidates?

This decision is challenging, and there’s no definitive right or wrong answer. However, a mathematical approach exists for such situations:

  • Let n be the number of options for making one selection (refer to the Odds Algorithm).
  • e represents the natural logarithm, where the base e is the mathematical constant approximately equal to 2.718.

Applying the Look-Then-Leap rule to our problem, you designate a predetermined time for “looking” without making any choices. After this set time, you take a “leap of faith” and choose the option that feels the best.

With two candidates, it’s a 50-50 chance of selecting the best candidate. However, as the number of candidates increases, the dynamics change. For 4 candidates, start leaping after the second candidate; for 5, start leaping at the third. As the number of applicants grows, the looking and leaping statistically remains around 37%, hence the 37% rule.

Apply this principle to your ideas and potential solutions. With two solutions, it’s a 50-50 chance; with three, consider the second one. As the number of solutions increases, the likelihood of finding the right solution converges toward the 37% mark.

Before applying this rule, ensure all relevant data is collected for designing the solution. Without data and subsequent analysis, this method proves ineffective.

Look-Then-Leap

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While in the phase of generating ideas, you explore numerous possibilities. But when should you halt this exploration? How do you discern which idea merits pursuit?

Optimal stopping isn’t limited to ideation; it applies broadly across life’s decisions. Knowing when to conclude a sales pursuit, when to wrap up candidate interviews, or when to continue or end a relationship—all hinge on this principle.

The famed Secretary Problem offers a mathematical solution regarding the timing of achieving success in a scenario. I’m keen on applying this concept to ideation.

When brainstorming ideas, jot them down. Alternatively, if the problem to solve is crystal clear, outline various approaches to tackling it.

Let’s focus on the Look-Then-Leap principle. It involves setting a timeframe to gather ample information for an idea. No matter how enticing it seems, after this phase, move on to the next idea, continuing this cycle if there are multiple concepts. Finally, assess the data collected for each idea and its alignment with your execution capabilities.

Using available data, determine which idea holds merit for progression. Moreover, integrating prototyping and MVP during this phase increases the likelihood of realizing a successful idea by testing it with actual clients.

Although the Look-Then-Leap phase might be lengthy, granting ideas a substantial incubation period significantly boosts the chances of crafting a successful one.

I’d love to hear about your experiences applying this approach!

Breaking idea into components

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Any idea you have, be it personal, official project or a better algorithm for your code, the easiest way to achieve efficiency is to break it down into as many smaller components as possible.

Let me illustrate with a personal experience. My dad (who passed in 2017 at the age of 83) is a very planned man. How my dad operates is, when he aims to purchase something, he will look at the price, then divide it by the EMI he can afford and then, he starts saving that EMI money every month to reach his goal. Once he has the cash, he will go ahead and make the purchase (There were no CC and bank loans during his time).

Unlike us, there were not EMI concepts when he was constructing his house in 1983/84. So, he made a plan on paper of how much each component of the house construction costs and every month he used to put that EMI money aside. Also, he planed how much money he required at each stage of construction. Once he had the money he started constructing. It was a very well planned execution and he constructed our home (even today) without any EMI’s. When the home was finally done, he had no EMI’s. Can you believe it?

Why did I share this story? It’s because, this is how we need to manage our projects or product launch’s. We should break it down into as simple components as possible and achieve our goals. Today, we want to achieve everything overnight, but this is now how life is. It is a long process. When you are wanting to startup and when you are wanting to build something, we need to appropriately plan the execution. I am not saying I did it well, but, when I put my money in my startup, I planned as much as I could, but very unfortunately, missed calculating the deviations. However, I could still manage, and later things started to fall in place when i found an amazing co-founder who helped me in the most crucial of the times.

When you have an idea, break it down into as smaller components as possible. This will help you plan your idea to come to life without having a heart break. The better you plan, the better is the execution.

Start with baby steps

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I am sure you have heard this from every speaker or successful person you have met. EXECUTE on your thoughts and ideas. But, how do you take the first step? Start the journey slowly and step-by-step.

All through this year, I was wanting to start writing. I wanted to give it a good shot. In the mean time, I got distracted and thought I will be consistent on my YouTube channel. I designed the header image and was all excited. But, i wanted to have 50 topics ready before I started. As I continued to build my topics, I decided to keep writing them each day. Unexpectedly, joined a 100 Day project initiative by Kiruba and with that, started writing each day. The 100 Day Project was a very good start for me. Thats the first step and post that, my motivation and commitment have started to roll. Since September 22, 2023, I have been writing everyday on my blog and also on LinkedIn.

Now, I am hooked, how ever busy i am, I try to stick to my every day writing. Unfortunately, due to a death in near family, I missed 3 days, but will make up for it. These writing have paved way for my first book.

In summary, start with baby steps and am sure you will get to the finish line in due course. As a famous quote says “the journey is important”.

The Rare View Mirror

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The idea of exploring beyond the conventional binary choices of “Yes/No” is indeed powerful. The concept of the “rare mirror view” or the third option suggests a more nuanced approach to challenges, where creativity and adaptability play a crucial role.

In many situations, people tend to limit themselves by framing choices in a binary manner. Your experience as an entrepreneur highlights the importance of taking the time to explore alternative solutions and perspectives. This approach allows for a more comprehensive understanding of the situation and opens up new possibilities.

The iterative nature of this process, where new options emerge over time, reflects the dynamic and evolving nature of problem-solving. It’s interesting to note how each challenge becomes an opportunity for growth and learning, leading to an expanding repertoire of potential solutions.

This mindset aligns with principles of resilience, adaptability, and continuous improvement. By embracing the idea that there is often more than one way to approach a problem, individuals can navigate uncertainties more effectively and discover innovative solutions.

Your experience also underscores the importance of reflection and patience in decision-making. Taking the time to consider multiple perspectives and potential options can lead to more informed and robust choices.

As you evolve your entrepreneurial journey, you will develop valuable skills in recognizing and capitalizing on the third option. This mindset not only enhances problem-solving abilities but also contributes to personal and professional development. It’s a reminder that, in the face of challenges, there’s often more than meets the eye, and exploring beyond the obvious can lead to unexpected and rewarding outcomes.

Components of thinking

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You have an Idea and it is your Eureka! moment. You are going to change the world with your innovation and you are proud of it. The next steps you take lay the foundation to the future of your idea and changing the world.

You will need to have answers to:

– How to make your idea into reality?

– How to take it to market?

– How much money is required?

– What is the gestation time?

– When will you make money?

– If it does not work, what is the Exit?

Strategy involves Understanding, Thinking and Predicting.

Understand the present. First, look at who your competition is. If you do not have competition, Congratulations! you have taken the first step to changing the world. If you do have, identify as many competitors as you can along with their offerings and USP along with their market reach and penetration. Understanding your competition is the first step in creating a niche product offering.

Think of what your USP is going to be. For each of your competitors marketing message, have a USP of your own. This will help your consumer to easily identify you and it will give them clarity as to why they should come to you.

Predict the future, not of your idea, but your consumer. How will your consumer benefit by using your offering?

Strategy is the fundamental understanding of what your consumer needs, how are you going to provide it to him.