The Blog of HARSH BATRA

An entrepreneur's thoughts on business & life

Tag Archives: Business

Is it worth attending Startup Weekends?

Launch a business in 54 hours by meeting a group of people with different skills – developers, designers, business dudes. That sounded like a good way for me to get out of my daily routine and see what others are doing in the city. So I attended the Startup Weekend Gurgaon which happened from the 11-13 of November 2011 (gurgaon.startupweekend.org).

Everyone who had an idea pitched. They did it in front of those attending and then the people attending voted on the top 15. Once the top 15 ideas were picked, teams were formed to build a prototype over the weekend. I pitched the idea of creating an app for cricketers. What problem would it solve? It would make tracking performances amongst all players and teams easy and fun. How would it make money? This is where I was not very clear! So despite getting the third highest votes (13; the first team got 22 and the second team got 15) I was unable to get interest from any developer or designer.

An idea without a clear path to profit is not a business, its a hobby.

And I was certainly trying to work on my hobby instead of creating a business. So I let go of my idea to support a team of developers who were very excited about what they wanted to create but did not have the votes to do so. This all happened on Friday night. Continue reading →

Keep Looking, Don’t Settle!

It is inspiring listening to Steve Jobs. If you feel lost at work, life, relationships,whatever… just listen to him for 15 minutes. His advice through the 3 stories he shares are priceless!

1. “You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in the future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma.. whatever, because believing the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well worn path and that will make all the difference.” Continue reading →

Why running a marathon is like running a business.

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Not everyone can run a 21kilometer half marathon or a 42 kilometer full marathon. To be able to run such a race you must be mentally and physically ready to take on such a challenge. Running a marathon can be very much like running a business; here’s why:

- Long Term Thinking: A marathon takes hours to finish. You need to pace yourself. The only way you will be able to make it across the finish line is by achieving milestones along the way. If you do not have an idea of how you will do it, chances are that you will struggle along the way and the majority of you will give up. In a marathon, like in business, you need to know your target and set milestones along the way to get there.

- Clear Focus: What are you trying to achieve? You will constantly see people ahead of you, behind you and by your side. During the race, a number of them will run past you and you will run past quite a few too. It is very easy to start running someone else’s race so don’t lose focus on what you are trying to achieve. Are you trying to beat your personal best? Are you just trying to finish the race? Are you trying to be the first across the finish line? Are you trying to see whether you enjoy the process? Each goal requires a different skill set.
Even though competition is an inherent part of the society we live in, don’t let that distract or discourage you. Stay focused. Keep reminding yourself why you are running the race or your own business. Continue reading →

How to find the best name for your business?

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Finding a name for your startup can be a frustrating process. With the growth of the internet, domain names and company names have become synonymous. When we think of a name today, we are usually trying to determine its availability online. The questions we ask ourselves are:

1) Is the domain name available?
2) Can we get the same name for our Facebook and Twitter pages?

Ideally the same name in all of these platforms would be an advantage. Continue reading →