This is a thought that came to my mind during the talks at BarCamp Bangalore-4 which were focussed on “Business Plans”.But is it always about Business Plans?…let’s find the answer.Most of us have ideas in mind but where most of us lack is the understanding of the market penetration of the idea.Take the example of blogging, when people started blogging, no one would have thought that there was so much money in blogging.Now since we know that many bloggers are earning a handful of money , some bloggers[who get a decent traffic] may feel that “We can also go into full-time blogging” but this may not be the case.Blogging is not an easy job and it is always a tough decision “Do you go full time or work(on an idea) part time“?

Similar is the case with ideas.Each one of us have ideas but it is very important to understand the penetration of the idea in reality.Along with the penetration,there are lots of other environmental factors that you should consider:

If you consider India , such factors are very important.I just happened to speak to one of the founders of a startup[in Bangalore] regarding a job opportunity for my friend and his first question was “Are you married?” and I understood the importance of that question.A girl may prefer a person having some average work profile(in an MNC) over a budding entrepreneur who is working on an idea that would change the world !!! When you talk about a startup , it is always in terms of stake rather in salary hence, many times you may have to settle down with a much lesser salary

The bottom line is “In India, though there are many startups taking shape day after day, (full time) entrepreneurship is still at a nascent stage”.Hence, along with the idea & it’s estimated growth , it is also important to understand “Why you want to take a plunge?” and “Are you ready to go full time [since, your idea would be better only if it is taken part-time , which means it may not be worth making it as a business]“.

The message is there are two sides of the coin “Business Plan” and “Life Plan“. “Life Plan” is your present and targetted future in a short plan.This is very important for any aspiring entrepreneur since, it would help him/her understand whether “(S)HE IS READY FOR A FULL TIME PLUNGE”

There is a 8 point life plan from Startup Nation comprising the following:

You can find a detailed explanation to points(1-5) here , points(6-8) here and a sample life-plan here. Time to review your life and than your idea; since, you have to decide whether you are ready for full time Entrepreneurship or Patro-preneurship [my terminology for part time entrepreneurship] !!!

Image Courtesy:
SG Entrepreneurs Group

Has been almost close to one week after the collective edition of BCB4 and almost most of the bloggers have already blogged about the event.For me,I was thinking about what to blog about this unconference?This unconference, I was juggling between the Startups Collective and the blogger’s collective.Apart from networking,some of the things which were interesting(and worth mentioning) are given below:

a. Startup story of Sloka Telecom:
This is the first time,I heard Sujai Karampuri,CEO of Sloka Telecom speaking about his startup and believe me, it was the attraction of BCB4.Everyone(including me) was glued on the seat.He narrated his journey from US(where he stayed for 9 years) to India(where he started Sloka Telecom) through self-funding.The moments of his talk to cherish were:

1. His faith on the Indian Entrepreneurial ecosystem.Sloka is very confident about building a product ecosystem in India.
2. He spoke about how he had spent a huge amount of money for his honeymoon and the hardships that he(and his family) has faced during his Entrepreneurial jouney.One statement I remember(word to word) is “Two years back,when I(refers to Sujai) used to leave my house,I felt today is the last day of Sloka but I stood by the company(and gave faith to my people) that we would survive and do well…and now we are generating revenues !!!” He received a big applause when he told this(very openly and with all the emotions) in front of the crowd
3. He touched upon the most common topic i.e Services and Product companies in India about which he has already blogged here…The example was a quite evident one,Infosys,established way before Google‘s existence generates less revenues than its latter counterpart.So,if you want to move at a faster pace,than build a product which makes a meaning else investors are very happy to fund you,if you have a services company
4. Someone in the crowd asked “How do you recruit people for a startup?” and “How to you inject passion in them?” and his answer was universal “Passion cannot be injected !!!” …I also added a point saying “Only if the person is passionate than he would contact you to work in your company and these are the guys who are needed in a startup“
5. The talk ended with the future of Sloka where he clearly sent out the message “We want to be the leaders in WiMax” and Sloka has a long way to go(by taking small steps)!!! So,is Sloka growing to get acquired? No not all !!!

Since,I had spoken to Sujai in Proto,I knew he is doing a fantastic job but after this talk,my respect for him reached newer heights and as he ended his talk,he was given a huge round of applause!!!

b. Real Power of Blogs:
For me,blog is second part of me and I really love my blog…Being a shy person,it was difficult to talk to people but with blogging,that shyness has vanished and I dream big as well as sometimes,be a motivator for some people!!!This barCamp,I met many people(which I would mention in the networking part of this article),whose blogs I read and some who read my blog…But few things surprised me:
1. Blogging is really powerful:
Honestly,I have asked few bloggers for a direct link exchange and one of them is Alok Srivastava,the ex-alumini from ISB and the winner of the Startups.in contest(where I also won the book).Being from Delhi,I never imagined I would talk to him,that too face to face…But he recognized me in the BCB4 crowd and it was nice talking to him about business.If that was not enough,he disclosed about him joining a startup(name deliberately kept confidential) and I was the very first blogger to write about that startup on my blog
2. Blogging as a recruitment tool:
I personally like to maintain a nice bonding with my readers and it was a great feeling when I got to know that Piyush Gupta- an Entrepreneur(in the making) has joined a startup.Sometimes blogs can be more useful than mass media .Nowadays, bloggers having excellent blogs are considered as ideal people for a startup and Piyush was one of the bloggers in this space…This news made me feel that “Blogging can be an excellent recruitment platform” !!!

c. Demo of BabaLife:
Interesting website and should not be termed as a social networking site…Check it out here.

d. My Interview with Mutiny:
Jerry from Mutiny found my introduction at Blogger’s meet very interesting and decied to take a small interview where the focus was blogging.The interview lasted for around 2 minutes and some people felt that I had mugged up everything You can check the interview here For me,the speed with which I spoke I felt as if I am making an Elevator Pitch to get more visitors to my blog

e. Networking,Networking and more Networking:
Apart from my old blogger friends Ashwin,Sridhar Rao, Vibhash, Anbu Sivam, Rajan, Rajiv ; BCB4 was an excellent Networking event and some of the interesting people with whom I interacted with are:

1. Alok Srivatsava
2. Ashish Sinha
3. Suresh Bhagavatula
4. Lavanya Vishwanath
5. Entire Mutiny team (you guys rock !!!)
6. Thejesh GN
7. Hrish Thota
8. Jayanth
9. Ramjee Ganti
10. The Entire Chennai crew Kiruba,Vijay Anad,Ganesh App …..

What other bloggers have blogged about the event: