There are hundreds of articles around the web from entreprenuers on the ‘gotchas’ of a starup and what to expect. One of the best visuals I saw anywhere is represented here. These folks are investors who work in the Indian market. I have personally known and worked with some on them in the past, and I mean it when I say that some of those folks running the show are the smartest I have ever worked with. This particular company, to the best of my knowledge ran a job placement website along with some social networking. So here is a lifecycle graph of their company, which began as a startup, crashed during 9-11 and the dot com bubble, refocussed their priorities, got bought by a big company and eventually stabilized. Besides the last part, I am sure many of us have seen this exact scenario in the Valley. The graph represents “team” optimism over a time scale (click for larger version) [reproduced after due permission from the author] I think this graph has a lot of touchpoints for anyone who has gone through the pains and joys of starting a business (or being an integral part of it) : (let’s

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As you keep growing in your career, there will be a point in time when all of a sudden, you will look back and say “We’re Not in Kansas Anymore” ! This revelation comes to you, not in Wonderland, but in the midst of a lonely and confusing battleground known as the “Corporate World”. Some thoughts on what it takes to continue to have a smooth ride in this battlefield: ­ Tame your Ego: Almost every good engineer has a tremendous ego. They think they are the best in the world, and often, they are surrounded by sycophants who keep reminding them of this ‘truth’. Get over it. As you go along in life, you will realize that there are many who are as good as you and even some who are better than you. If you have not met anyone yet, you have either not been exposed to a wider audience or your ego is writing cheques your body can’t cash (okay, I ripped that straight off Topgun). Taming your ego is the most critical requirement to keep moving ahead. Remember, unless you work on bleeding edge research, no one really needs a genius. Most companies need ‘smart’ people

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Being a good manager is not only about getting your job done, but more importantly, earning the respect of your team. Some thoughts, based on personal experience: Stop thinking of youself as a ‘Boss’ – whether you are the manager or not, you are first and foremost a part of the team. Don’t alienate yourself by sitting in a high chair. Nobody likes a windbag. Lead by example – I always think that to be a good manager, you need to understand what your team is doing. Even if you are not ‘hands-on’, you need to earn the respect of the team and make them believe that you have an overall guiding vision of what the team is working on. If not, you will end up, at best, being a resource manager. Learn to Delegate – one of the hardest things for new managers is to delegate to and trust other team members. Typically, when a good engineer steps into the shoes of a manager, he still wants to do everything on his own – don’t fall into this trap. If you do not delegate responsibility to your team, your team members will feel stifled and will not be able

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In the past, I worked for a company where we would supplement US customers with highly skilled domain experts in Telecom Software, based in Asia (thereby reducing costs and retaining high quality). This was not a case of ‘low skilled outsourcing’. Rather, each ‘domain expert’ was an established expert in their own technology space and demanded a lot of respect. However, I noticed that there were cultural and behavioural differences (expected) between the two countries and many engineers, however excellent technically, often missed these soft differences. So I wrote up a ‘Customer Etiquette’ guide that is based on my experience with customers (people say I do it well, what do I know !): Etiquette for Onsite Meetings Dress Smart – irrespective of whether you are an engineer or a salesman. Jeans are the prerogative of the customer, not yours, as a vendor. A tie is not needed – semi-formal clothing is the norm in the US – though the choice is yours Dress according to what makes the audience comfortable. If you are presenting to a C level executive team, a tie cannot harm. On the other hand, if it’s an engineering discussion with architects, lose the tie, engineers prefer

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