by Paul Joseph
January 30, 2012
Featured
Rajiv Jayaraman ( right ) with his trainer Startup leaders are primarily in the business of cheerleading: energizing people inside and outside the organization. In order to be an effective cheerleader, a start-up leader needs to exude positive energy, be in great spirits and above all, be in great physical shape to sustain the energy. This year, I decided to hit the gym with the help of a trainer to become a better “cheer leader”. I signed up for a 1-year membership, promptly evoking a stifled laugh from my friends and colleagues, hinting that I am being overly optimistic. I told myself that I would be just fine since I have the propensity of putting myself in challenging situations and enduring pain (why else would I become an entrepreneur?). As I started my gym sessions early this year, I realized that a gym is a perfect training ground to learn great startup leadership lessons and very soon, my trainer became my management guru, unbeknownst to him. The following are some key lessons from the gym that a startup leader can use while managing the team. Lesson 1: Know your purpose The very first question that my trainer asked me was ‘What do you want to achieve by joining the gym?’. Your motivation to join the gym drives your exercise routine and helps the trainer help you reach your goals. In the startup context, it is important for the leader to ask the all-important question to a prospective team mate, ‘What do you want to achieve by joining us?’. Similarly, it is important for the leader to talk about the raison-d’etre of the startup so that the employee is clear on what the company wants to achieve. Lesson 2: Start from the heart The first thing my trainer focused on was my cardio vascular health. He put me through a battery of cardio exercises that tested and pushed the envelope on the efficiency of my heart. He explained to me that only when the heart performs efficiently, blood flows through all the veins of the body and consequently, the body and the mind get warmed up for the uphill journey. In a startup as well, it is important for the leader to start from the hearts of the team mates, appeal to their passion, get them to see the big picture and prepare them for the uphill journey. A teammate with his heart in the business tends to be relentless and strives for excellence even during hard times (which tend to crop up much too often in a startup) Lesson 3: The importance of discipline Very early on, the trainer instilled in me the importance of being disciplined about managing time and maintaining a routine that works. He also emphasized the value of meticulously following the agreed plan. Needless to say, in a startup as well, where timelines are extremely short and the team members don multiple hats, it is imperative that the startup leader reinforces the importance of time management and sticking to the plan. Without financial and operational discipline, the startup can very quickly burn its resources and find itself in a tight spot. Lesson 4: Set Stretch Goals On my first day when I was huffing and puffing on the treadmill, my trainer calmly walked up to the machine and bumped up the speed, much to my chagrin. He constantly pushed the limits and tested my mettle. By setting stretch goals, he made me go out of my comfort zone and stretch my capabilities. As Mark Cuban would put it, employees in a startup have to learn to punch above their weight class. This is possible only when the leaders set stretch goals for the team and constantly challenge and motivate the team. Lesson 5: Know your limits, Stick to the thread When the trainer saw me getting carried away with early successes in my routine and trying much harder exercises that were not part of the plan, he was quick to advise caution. This situation is akin to startup leaders getting carried away with initial successes and squandering away precious resources in activities that make them lose focus. I am reminded of an advice that Sanjay Anandram of JumpStart had given me –“For startups, focus is spelled as ‘NO’”. Lesson 6: Persist by Dealing with Negativity One fine morning, the trainer walked up to me and said, “Today you will do 600 calories”. The maximum I had done in my life before this was 250 calories. The first thought that came to my mind was, “This is impossible”, and when the trainer bumped up the intensity when I was struggling, I thought “Boy, can this person be any more cruel?”. As I toiled hard, I started experiencing an intense tussle between the mind and the matter. The mind comes up with amazing reasons for quitting the drill. What worked for me eventually is the age old saying, “What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger”. I told myself, what could possibly happen if I actually pushed myself all the way? The thought was truly liberating. I am sure a lot of startup leaders have dealt with this emotion at some point in the life of their startups. Startups operate in highly uncertain and often daunting situations but what carries a team forward is the ability to reframe the situation, look at things in a positive light and keep pushing ahead. There are plenty of real life situations that offer valuable startup leadership lessons. What are your sources of startup leadership lessons from real life?
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by Paul Joseph
January 30, 2012
Featured
Anjan’s decision to take up a career in art and creativity was probably in the 2nd or 3rd grade. Add to this, a passion for technology, be it electronics or automobiles, and he had a winning combination. From creating and distributing comics and flip books in primary school to assembling pocket transistor radios during cricket season in high school, he had an entrepreneurial streak in him. Branded as extremely creative by everyone he interacted with, he started his career in animation while still in college. His career growth was very quick and by the age of 26, he was heading a team of more than 2000 artists and animators and went on to direct two animated feature films that qualified for Oscar nominations. He also bagged many other prestigious awards during his career span. Reaching a pinnacle and not seeing the kind of growth that he desired, he decided to quit his job and started his company Muckati. Being an early adapter, he made good use of technology to create innovative and interactive content, the latest being a (patent pending) GPS system for off-roaders and a support website to display these recorded trails. Muckati Sentient Design and Devices was started with a vision to use creativity without boundaries. Currently their work spans across Interactive, Design and Screen. Muckati is an amalgamation of art and technology. They develop pioneering concepts and ideas that include intellectual property such as media content, design and inventions. They have contributed so far to media (original animation, game and other interactive content), automobiles (life-saving active safety systems and proprietary web enabled GPS systems), computers and packaging industries. In the three years of its existence, Muckati has seven patent pending products to its credit. As a business model, Muckati focuses on leveraging these IP through licensing. The biggest challenge that Anjan Cariappa faced on the interactive front is from mediocre work that comes out of some organizations that end up portraying all Indian work as sub-standard, he notes. “Add to this, organizations that fail to deliver client projects up to standard and in time and we have a grim scenario.” Muckati strives to change this perspective by trying to be an example of high standard and creativity. “Muckati targets niche markets in which we personally have a passion.” says Anjan “While I was climbing the ladder of success in animation, my passion for automobiles which was latent for long, surfaced. We developed an Active Safety System for automobiles called PACA-brake, which broadly is a driver to driver interactive system. Very simple and innovative, PACA-brake when implemented can save millions of lives on the road. The system was showcased at the prestigious “International Transport Forum” held last year at Leipzig, Germany, to an overwhelming response. We are currently in talks with safety organizations and automobile OE manufacturers around the world to bring this system into the mainstream.” Seeing the simple yet very effective concept of PACA, they were approached by the director of European Rail to design a customized safety system to monitor rail lines and level crossings. This led them to invent a revolutionary safety system dubbed “3rd i”, which currently is being prototyped. Being an ardent off-road enthusiast, Anjan founded the first and only Jeep and off-road club in India, “Jeep Thrills”. Driving his World War II Jeep to work, he noticed that there was immense interest in people to know more about Jeeps and Jeep owners themselves did not know the true potential of their vehicles. This made him start Jeep Thrills initially as an online group to give enthusiasts a common platform to interact. This in turn created a revolution in automobile sports in the country. The club which is six years old now has more than 800 members. Jeep Thrills now boasts of chapters all over the country and conducts off-road events on a regular basis. Seeing great potential in this niche market, Anjan developed a first in the world concept, Incline Data GPS or ID-GPS for short. Regular GPS devices display flat maps that don’t help off-roaders much. Their patent pending ID-GPS on the other hand records each and every climb, descend and banking that an off-road vehicle tackles and this data can be uploaded to a dedicated support portal for off-roaders. The trail is displayed on the world map. Currently, ID-GPS is offered as a free app for the iPhone and iPad as “Trail Ranger”. Trail Ranger crossed 1500 downloads in the first few weeks of its launch. Revenue generation would be through advertisements, in-game sales on the device and the web portal. They are also working on developing a dedicated device to be fitted on off-road vehicles. Other projects in the pipeline include games and applications targeted at specific user groups. “I have not restricted my creativity to any particular field and have 6 more patent pending products that range from active safety systems for automobiles to innovative packaging techniques.” Anjan Cariappa was the finalist of British Council’s Young Interactive Entrepreneur Awards, 2011. To know more about the Young Interactive Entrepreneur Awards, click here . Follow the Young Creative Entrepreneur Awards (YCE) on Facebook
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