TheRodinhoods

Compilation of RodinStar Posts of 2015!

 

And hence, we are now slowly crossing 9000 Awesome Rodinhooders and approaching the 10K Mark and beyond.

 

While most of us read all the posts and comments and also participate at times on topics of common interests or to suggest, advice, help and connect too.

There are a few who do it a lot Better!

You would see this on all these posts and they earned it!!!

Awarded the “RodinStar” Post of the week!!

 

 

Starting where we left off in 2014 with, continuing further maybe a few more episodes in the year 2015

 

The Birth of A New Musical Revolution – Bombay Cab Sessions (Episode 1)

What if upcoming musicians got a unique, one-of-its-kind, revolutionary space for showcasing their talent in a moving cab? 

Sounds crazy? 

Cut to the current scenario in the music space of our times, musicians today come in hoards and bite the dust in packs. With the aid of modern studio equipment and requisite funding, creating music today has become anybody’s game. 

Bombay Cab Sessions is a series of one-song acts by musicians/poets in the back of a moving cab, filmed for an internet audience. This platform aims to feature and promote the best of young and upcoming music talent in a live webisode format, inside a moving cab with no controlled environment, auto-tune or modern studio equipment to aid them. This unique set up not only changes the status quo of the performer with their space, what we end up getting from such an Endeavour is a fresh, dynamic, on-the-spot music act, bringing out the best in a performing musician.   (Continue reading)

Music gives a Soul to the Universe, Wings to the Mind, Flight to the Imagination and Life to Everything. – Plato

 

90 days at a Startup Accelerator

 

Things that never get told, things probably every startup at an accelerator will relate to, this is my journey through an accelerator for my startup Neuron.

So you are starting up and for the initial exposure, Mentoring & nurturing you decided to join an startup accelerator program that will give all of this and thus you applied to many and got selected in one. Now this is a way many startups choose to get a rapid growth for their startup, but what happens when you are selected to join the accelerator is completely different scenario. Let’s go through my journey in a startup accelerator.

Question yourself, if your startup will make it big enough to generate returns and create value. (Continue reading)

“Fall seven times and stand up eight.” Japanese proverb

 

The Startup Hiring Moneyball

 

The good and the bad going on in your startup right now is, in a way, the effect of the hiring efforts you put in, whether it be for co-founders or employees. It is people who build great products, billion dollar companies and make work fun. So, hiring should be your number one priority.

Hiring the best of the best in technology, is not easy. Especially for a tiny startup like yours which is tight on cash, and has to compete for talent with the other tech-giants and the so called “best companies to work for”. So, how do you do it?

Enter …… The Startup Hiring Moneyball (Continue reading)

“I’m not paying you for the player you used to be, I’m paying you for the player you are right now.” – Billy Beane (Moneyball)

 

My Dream Store raises funding – an idea first pitched at TRHS ChaiMeet in Hyderabad!

 

It’s exactly a year ago, that I came across this post. I had not attended any such meetups for almost a span of 2 years before that. I have built a small world around me and was not able to come out of my comfort zone.

Just to give a small backdrop, I started my stint of entrepreneurship in 2010 providing bulk merchandise to colleges and corporate events via eSparSha. You can call us as Myntra 1.0. We bootstrapped from zero revenues to generating revenues of INR 2 Cr annually. But scaling from there had become really tough. With lot of companies in the similar domain mushrooming, there was a huge competition. As many predicted, we had issues about scaling, managing operations become tough, profits became wafer thin. It became a little difficult to operate and moreover we found the job not challenging due to lack of IP. We started developing typical businessmen mentality. We stopped trying to find science behind everything. We were continuously in the race of running behind revenues/ profits but really forgot to introspect if we are really solving any problem? Does our existence even matter to someone?

That’s it. We took a break for almost a week and kept brainstorming, keeping the perspective of our existing customer problems. That’s how we came up with a simple idea of My Dream Store. (Continue reading)

You can Kill the Dreamer, but you can’t Kill the Dream! Martin Luther King Jr.~

 

Join Me In A Journey To Fitness And Wealth

I want to be fit. I want to be wealthy.

Can you identify with these statements? Are these your personal goals too? Maybe not both, but at least one of them?

If your answer is YES to any of the above statements, let’s move ahead and chart our path to both, to fitness and wealth.

The journey isn’t easy. Trust me, I’ve tried. And so I want you to join me in my journey, in our journey toward fitness and wealth. I’m positive we can do much more together than we could have done on our own.

And just how? Before I get on with it, a quick background about where I’m coming from, what are my reasons? (Continue reading)

People don’t Care how much you Know, until they Know how much you Care.
Walk the Talk, Not Talk the Walk – It is Healthy and also not Tiring!!

What is it like to be the only non-tech hire in a technology startup?

 

My previous employer and a good friend Utkarsh, offered me a job in his new startup over a casual coffee meeting. I was overwhelmed and spooked at the same time. Overwhelmed with joy because he is the best employer that I have ever come across but spooked as I knew his startup is a core technology company. What role will a non-tech guy play in such a company? Thanks to the belief and support that the team had in me, I have survived (yes!) a month as ‘Growth Strategist’ of Augment.

Drawbacks:

1. Most of the discussion seems like rocket science  (Continue reading)

You Never know how Strong you are,
Until being Strong is the only Choice you have! Bob Marley~

 

Tips to get hired by start-ups

We at have been looking for passionate and talented people to join our start-up. We got some amazing profiles, some from premium institutes, some from not so premium, but that’s not we are looking for. We are looking for PASSION + TALENT, a very potent combination that I believe can help change our destiny. Then there are things that we learnt from the people who applied and thought of putting across what “I” think, start-ups are looking for and what you should do before you apply for a job with us.

Things to do before you apply to a start-up

You should remember that most start-ups have limited time. So spend time in understanding what they do. If the start-up is not in a stealth mode then they would have blogs/ media stories, go through them understand them and then apply. Don’t blindly apply to a start-up because you woke up one morning and wanted to work for a start-up (Yes, we did receive profiles from people who said they wanted to work for a start-up because it’s cool and they randomly applied to start-ups) (Continue reading)

A person who wants Something, will find a Way,
A person who Doesn’t, will find an Excuse.

How to get funded – When over 200 people asked in unison!

When over 200 people asked in unison – How to get funded?

It was a hectic evening at my Online-furniture-rental-startup Rentomojo.com when this trhs FB post popped up on my screen asking if someone wanted to attend & live-tweet the proceedings from@TiEmumbai workshop on #fundraising scheduled at One Indiabulls Center, Mumbai.

Perfect! With that kind of a panel boasting of India’s top VCs and investment Cos sharing their #fundingGyan on fund-raising; there was just one option – I quickly responded and upon confirmation, re-scheduled all my next-day engagements & next morning I found myself report-tending the event!! (Continue reading)

Life isnt about finding yourself, its about Creating Yourself, and Leaving a Trail for those Following!

What Minion Rush, The Incredibly Cute Game, Taught Me About Entrepreneurship

I have been a silent follower of this wonderful community, taking in advice from various entrepreneurs and learning heaps about the tough journey of entrepreneurship. At 24, I own a lean startup with a handful of freelance employees and being the introvert that I am, I find pleasure in solo activities: reading, writing, annoying my pets, and playing Minion Rush on the iPad as and when I manage to find time. Until recently I felt guilty about wasting my time playing a silly game (despite having overworked. Yeah, geeky much!) Reading and writing are always justified, especially in my case because they are my bread and butter. Minion Rush? Not so much. Or is it?

While playing the incredibly cute game over the weekend, I suddenly realized I was learning quite a few things from it and sub-consciously implementing them in my entrepreneurial life as well! I was astounded by my findings and proud because, finally, all the minutes I spent playing it were finally justified! 😀 Thus, formed the idea of sharing what I learnt and here I am with my first post.(Continue reading)

Life Is Like A Video Game . Helping People Will Increase Your Points ,
Ignoring People Will Decrease Your Points ,
And One Day Your Game Will Be Over – Its the Last one you Have!!!
LEVEL UP!!!

99 Questions every Investor will ask… Especially a VC

About me

I am a 35 year old first generation Tech & Internet entrepreneur. Co Founder & CEO of ideacts innovations. An Internet Media company funded by Sequoia Capital and Saama Capital. I am an Ex Mobile2win employee and possibly the first entrepreneur mentored by Alok. I am also the Author of ‘Breaking Out and Making Big’, a no-nonsense book on new age startups and entrepreneurship…. 

99 Questions

Investor Pitches and Discussions is one of the most difficult things a first time Entrepreneur has to prepare for. In the process of making a Presentation and Business Plan Excel, it is possible that an Entrepreneur might ignore the fact that, it is more important to Prepare oneself for the Discussions that will happen with the Investor. 

Based on my experience of raising 3 rounds with Venture Capitalists and 1 round with an Angel Investor, I have penned down 99 questions every investor will ask.Honestly, even if one is not looking for an investment, answering the below given relevant questions will just help the entrepreneur gather a lot of clarity on the business. (Continue reading)

Money can’t buy you Happiness; Love can’t buy you Breakfast
Money Keeps you Alive, Love makes you Feel Alive!!!

ADDED BY ASHA:

5 Hacks to create an awesome presentation

Why you should never give up on your dreams

Paratha Post and us – learnings from a food delivery startup

12 months of craziness… 1 year of Pratilipi

Moat? Yeh Moat kya hota hai?

Experiences while building My Dream Store

1825 days of a bootstrapped startup

Dear Food ordering apps, we need to talk…

How we lost Rs 15 lacs and shut down before our first anniversary.

How I built a “1 crore a year company” and led it to bankruptcy

Hiring for startups in India