Inverted Passion

Be passionate about the territory, not the map

All posts in Entrepreneurship

How I built a web app in six days for Rs. 350 ($8.75) only

Posted on Author Paras ChopraPosted in Entrepreneurship, Personal, Technology19 Replies

I just read this story where they talk about how they built a web app in 4 days for $10,000. Voila! It struck me that I have been equally competitive (if not better) in terms of building a web app. So, here I share my story of building a web app.

I recently built MyJugaad.in, which lets anybody create a slideshow from a set of webpages or RSS feeds. Following is the time line and the money involved during making this web app.

  • Day 1: Conceived the idea. Explored the idea space. Refined it. Drew user interface for the slideshow on a paper.
  • Day 2: Realized that Javascript is the way to go forward. Researched on Javascript Toolkits. Found JQuery to be the best. Learnt Jquery. Started programming Slideshow front-end using JQuery.
  • Day 3: Wasted a ton of time on sorting cross-browser incompatibilities. Done some more programming. Working prototype ready by evening.
  • Day 4: Wanted to make a system for user authentication and management, slideshow creation and management. Confused between Django, CodeIgniter or CakePhP. Chose CodeIgniter. Started Learning and programming the web app. (Used SimplePie for RSS feed fetching and parsing.)
  • Day 5: Finished Programming. Discovered that NYTimes.com was breaking the slideshow due to their iframe breaking script. Had a hell of a time trying fixing that.
  • Day 6: Looked for interesting free designs on the web. Chose this. Implemented and integrated the design with the web app. Wrote a basic ‘about’, ‘faq’, ‘contact’ page. Uploaded the web app on a shared hosting account free of cost (courtesy: my friend). Used a domain already purchased: myjugaad.in (cost Rs. 350). Seeded the app with a few initial users and data. Announced the web app on my homepage and status message on GTalk.

What’s missing?

  • Market Research: I should have done initial market research. Instead, I simply jumped into programming the web app. If I had done some market research, I would have discovered a product with almost the same feature set as mine’s. Nevertheless, I learnt a lot during my six day journay. So, I don’t regret making this app.
  • Testing: I just did some initial testing. But should have done a little bit more testing.
  • Users: I didn’t do any marketing for my web app. That’s bad and I am going to fix it soon.

Hope this post helps you write and launch your own web app in record time.
Any thoughts? ...  Read the entire post →

How To Find a Dream Job with Startups in India

Posted on Author Paras ChopraPosted in Entrepreneurship1 Reply

As they say: the next best thing to starting up a company is to work with a startup. Following are the resources which would help you find jobs with startups in India:

Are you aware of any more resources?

Are You Guilty of Not Solving World’s Problems?

Posted on Author Paras ChopraPosted in Entrepreneurship, Personal, Physics15 Replies

I am. Having read this article intensified my guilt. Aren’t there enough web mashups already? Do you really need to create yet another social network? Web entrepreneurs today are so hallucinated by their own culture that they have forgotten that there is a whole range of important problems to be solved for which the internet is not necessarily the panacea.

I am not suggesting that what they are doing is wrong. In fact, they are making best use of what they know. They are making cool virtual pets simulations, social networks for cats, amazing google maps mashups and a ton of amazing applications which really have potential to revolutionize the world. Imagine, how the world would be transformed if all the cats in the world could actually communicate over the internet. But – here comes the reality – apart from a (very) few cases (read Facebook, Youtube, etc.) the potential for these web apps never seems to be realized. Millions of such useless apps hopelessly float around the web, waiting for someone to discover and use them. ...  Read the entire post →

Introducing MyJugaad.in

Posted on Author Paras ChopraPosted in Entrepreneurship, Personal, Technology11 Replies

I am very proud to announce MyJugaad.in, a web app that I have developed.

What is MyJugaad.in?

MyJugaad.in is a slideshow for webpages, which are sourced either from popular websites such as del.icio.us, digg, google news, etc. or from a list provided by you or from a RSS feed(s).

For example, here is a guided tour of all I have done in my life.

How can it be used?
It can be used in a variety of ways:

  • For browsing the web lazily when you are too tired to do active browsing.
  • As an alternate way to access your RSS feeds.
  • To create a showcase of best posts of your blog.
  • To make a tour exposing best parts of your website.
  • Keeping track of best stories on the Internet.

So, people, have a look at MyJugaad.in and let me know your comments/feedback/criticism/bugs/rants/appreciation. Also, please note that the web app is still being tested, so if you come across any unexpected behavior, let me know ASAP. ...  Read the entire post →

Startup Lunch Delhi 2: How was the experience?

Posted on Author Paras ChopraPosted in Entrepreneurship, Personal3 Replies

I attended Startup Lunch Delhi 2 today as a candidate, not as a startup. The event is mainly about connecting startups and people who want to work for startups.

In a word, the experience there was simply wow. I met numerous startups and their founders who shared information about what their company is really about and what kind of candidates they were looking for. Following are some of the points I noted:

  • 95% if the startups were technology startups, with exceptions being Zice and iDiscovery. Is it because of a bias that only technology companies are aware of this event or is it because there aren’t really many non-tech startups in the first place?
  • More than 5 startups talked about changing the world, which of course is good.
  • Interacting with so many startups, a candidate can really get spoilt for choice. Any thumb rule on what to do when one gets so many options to choose from?
  • One more thing I noticed is that interacting with startups increases the fire in your belly. I really began to think: if they can, why can’t I. Next time, I promise that I will be there as a startup, not as a candidate.
  • There is such a thing as free lunch after all!

An idea of an event struck me there. If startups can meet potential candidates in an event, why can’t people find co-founders for their startups in a similar event. In this event, people would exhibit their ideas and find the right people and mentors to kick-start their startup. Avinash expressed his concern that people might not be willing to reveal their ideas at the concept stage. But I think such an event would be a tremendous opportunity to get feedback, find co-founders, mentors and heck (who knows) even customers. How do you find the idea of this event? Any takers? ...  Read the entire post →

For Startups: How to Find Problems to Solve?

Posted on Author Paras ChopraPosted in Entrepreneurship, Technology4 Replies

For a startup, the most important thing is to find a pain-point. This pain-point refers to the real problems which people encounter in their daily life. Many a times, entrepreneurs mistake cool product or service for a serious startup. A startup can only be serious and successful when it solves a real problem.

But, isn’t finding a problem hard? The answer is no. I have compiled a list of resources and tips below to help you find real problems:

  • Real-time Conversations.
    • Twistori: A twitter mashup which shows in real-time what people hate, wish and love. This can be an interesting way to listen to people and get ideas about their pains.
    • Summize: It lets you search twitter conversations in real-time and within a geographically defined area.
    Surveys.
    • Google Alerts: Setup an alert for the term ‘survey’ or its variations. You may also want to setup alerts for combinations such as ‘india survey’, ‘hr survey’, etc. Surveys usually reveal people’s pains. So, make sure you get updated about them.
    • Search Google for terms such as ‘survey results‘ or variations of it.
    Reports. Questions and Answers.
    • Yahoo Answers: If properly used, it can reveal a lot of problems people are facing. What more, looking at people’s answers, you can mostly

    Any more ideas on how to find problems which startups could solve? How do you do your research on this topic? ...  Read the entire post →

10 Blogs Indian Entrepreneurs Must Regularly Visit

Posted on Author Paras ChopraPosted in Entrepreneurship, Technology, Uncategorized16 Replies

In this post I give pointers to 10 (now 13) blogs which an Indian entrepreneur or anyone interested in setting up a startup in India must visit:

  • Pluggd.in: Among other content, this blog has comprehensive posts on how to setup a business in India, legal issues surrounding this process and other considerations.
  • VentureWoods: A community blog by the best of the best in Indian startup and venture capital circle.
  • DesiStartups.in: A blog by my friend Prabhu.
  • Startups.in: A (relatively) old and big blog.
  • StartupDunia: Another good blog focusing on featuring Indian startups and startup related news
  • IndianWeb2: As its name says, a blog on Indian Web2.0 startups.
  • Proto.in Blog: The official blog of Proto.in.
  • AlooTechie: Everything about technology and startups.
  • WatBlog: This blog, written by my friend Rajiv, is mainly on news about startups and use of media by startups.
  • Trak.in: Tracks Indian business and startup scene.

Have I missed any blogs? Please let me know.

By the way, if you want to avoid the hassle of individually visiting all the above mentioned blogs, have a look at StartupLogic India. It aggregates posts from all these blogs plus startup jobs, events, news, etc.

Update:
1. Vijay pointed to WebYantra (so called TechCrunch of India), Rajesh Jain’s Emergic (not updated as often but is extremely insightful).
2. Mahesh pointed out Wireless India blog which is more about Indian startups than wireless technology. ...  Read the entire post →

Quick Statistics On Indian Entrepreneurs and Indian Startups

Posted on Author Paras ChopraPosted in Entrepreneurship2 Replies

Recently, a Business Today article featured India’s Hottest Startups. The article lists startups from many different industries, from organic food to technology. Below are the following points I observed/calculated from the article:

  • Average age of a founder is 37.
  • Standard deviation in the age of founders is 8.
  • Youngest entrepreneur is 26 and the oldest one is 58. Wow, what a difference!
  • Average amount of funding: Rs. 25 crore. (USD 6.25 million)
  • Range of funding: Rs 0 – Rs 72 crore. (USD 18 million)
  • Average amount of revenues: 25.2 crore (USD 6.25 million). Surprise! Notice how much the average funding and average revenues match.
  • Range of revenues: Rs 0 – Rs 110 crore. (USD 27.5 million)

    •  ...  Read the entire post →