Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

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Sorry for the off-topic post, but what exactly does companies like Zomato do? I haven't tried their services yet. Are they just a food delivering company or what?

Zomato is just a restaurant searching and rating platform. You can search for restaurants, see their menu and read reviews about them. No food delivery or buying of any sort.

Zomato has recently ventured into online food ordering, much like FoodPanda.

Come on, Zomato does a lot more than just scan restaurant menus! It's the best app / website to find a restaurant, read reviews etc.

WhatsApp does charge $1 a year in the USA and other countries. In India, they're looking at market penetration first.

What worries me more is, most entrepreneurs these days seem to have one objective - FUNDING. And once they get funding, they shout it out from the rooftop. I spoke to someone who has a new website on cars. He told me 10 times that he's looking at $2 million in funding (the website probably has a mere 50 visitors per day right now).

Sign, whatever happened to building companies from the ground up with your own hard work & own money (or short-term loans).

Exactly, this just plain irritates me when such news of funding gets published in the press and media talking about the sudden rag-to-riches or overnight success story that defines the modern Indian business environment.

There is ZERO emphasis or planning on how the consumer gets benefitted, in fact in my view companies today are more consumer-unfriendly than ever thanks to indirect, faceless feedback systems such as over mail or the usual smartphone madness. While going modern is inevitable and I agree on most aspects, I simply disagree with how businesses are being run today. As long as the bottom-line (so called) is achieved, to heck with customers & employees. There is high chance that such companies would wrap up in a couple of hours as well.

The above case clearly shows the disconnect between the higher-ups and employees, there is no ethos that has been developed and people are seen as expendable because they cover such large ground with a simple "app". All inconveniences related to real-estate, personnel & customer base are solved by avoiding them. Hey as long as they show a reasonable success rate for a few years and can dump the firm to a group of venture capitalists or bigger "I.T" firm, anything goes.

I just spend a week in Paolo Alto on a course in entrepreneurship and innovation. Met with several of the Venture Capitalists as well. We spend a good amount of time on how they reach a decision on how to financially support a start up. It has nothing to do with the traditional way of market research and making a business plans. Also, they don't seem to be very impressed by formal qualifications at all. What they look at, for instance, in whether the founding members of a startup would have a good enough network from which they can recruit the right people. How well are they connected to the right people and institutions. Look at Tesla and the founding members including the VCs. Very different from any business I'm familiar with.

There isn't a single person in silicon valley that believes an MBA is of any use for people in a start up. However, what is extremely relevant for the start up is funding. Without it, most of these ideas just wont get of the ground.

So, at least in Silicon venture there is huge dependency between the VCs and the entrepreneurs to get anything done.


Jeroen

All right, I've been harsh on them. But even if you add all of the services they are providing, its quite shocking that they fired 300 people and still run the business. How many people do they have on their roles anyway?

T-BHP should contact some VC and get an valuation. lol:

T-Bhp is no longer a start up. Moreover, start-ups would go crazy advertising and accepting registrations/memberships any which way, quality be damned. For them, it is the number of members + the footfalls per day + advertisements that matter more.

This is one platform where I can be sure I will not see 90% crap & 10% material. And I am really thankful to that approach by the management here.:thumbs up

On the contrary, I believe its 8 years on (apprx, but I am not sure) & T-bhp can fund a few start ups if required.

PS: Had T-bhp been a start up right now and in need of VC funding, but with the condition of the strict principles laid down (on membership registrations, advertising, etc), chances are none of the VC's would have put in their money. Such is the change in the business environment. All VC's look for is an exit in a couple of years with a 100% mark up minimum, long term sustainability being out of the window.

Somebody is making lot of sense here...

Quote:
We're convincing very idealistic, talented, hardworking, capable men and women to spend time on things that are just trivial. It has a real impact on the long-term competitiveness of the United States, and the quality of life of humanity as we know it. There's just no room for brownie delivery service at 11 o’clock. We just think that’s stupid! If you can solve diabetes, that's much better.

I know quite a few people who are employed at well funded Startups and who mostly work in the area of Data Analytics. They are being paid big bucks compared to a traditional work place.
Though, most of these guys say, it wasn't the money that got them there but the freedom they enjoy with work and the clarity in decision making from the Management.

Honestly, Rewards follow Risks - implying to get someplace nice you need to take a few chances, else risk being content with an average life. Come to think of it, most of the bigger names today were mostly small companies with a zeal to grow.
Last Saturday, I met a highly impressive fellow who came down from US to start a company here, and he was hardly 28.

I am not saying that small companies don't make mistakes - they do like every other company. For all we know, Infy fired a lot of guys this year - so much for stability.

Hope he will do something other than a niche delivery service. Wait... Hot Coffee delivered at the door step 5 minutes after you hit snooze on your smartphone alarm app...! Free app and free coffee for the first 1000 subscribers.

I am giving this idea freely to the world, hoping somebody will make it come true.stupid:

All startups arent bad. As we have seen ones that have something niche only succeed. rest fade away after making quick bucks or may not even that.

in terms of job satisfaction.
Extremely techie guys enjoy solving complex problems and love the freedom to take decisions and move faster. Which isnt really possible in all the big giant firms. But they also need complex problems to solve. one you highlighted is data analytic. But most of the startups seen are busy doing some food delivery or ewallets.

smart guys will choose the right firms anyways. :D

Can bet on that not happening, atleast from this fellow.

Exactly correct. Most of these people have the notion that they can do something in a far better manner (as opposed to cost effective as is the norm in India)

Take for example, the Infy, TCS, Wipro of the world - they started of as whether we like it or not - simply cheap Indian skilled labors. Now they have grown to massive sizes but we still look to do things in a cost effective way. Where is the innovation? Yes, it happens but it is very few and far between. There is simply no scope of fresh thinking as most of the top management are simply scared s**t of taking decisions let alone taking risks.

Startups are a breath of fresh air. Smaller teams, far complex problems and far more flexibility. Yes, there are bad apples everywhere, but can we not say that about behemoths?

Having worked in a couple of start up companies, I can vouch for the fact that not all start up owners are looking at funding as the only objective (though nowadays it is more the norm than an exception).

I know some people heading start up companies who had a great idea and fortunately met with the right talent and funding. Along with funding and talented, dedicated employees, a start up needs to attempt to solve a problem which either has not been addressed earlier or if it has been solved, then present a better solution.

At one of the start up companies that I worked at, the first three months we all worked out of cafe (CCDs) locations or our own homes. We met once/twice a week to sync up at a specified location. Once the idea was a hit and funding started flowing in, then we got an office and other formalities were completed. It was a risk for sure but fortunately it paid off.

A start up surely offers much more flexibility in terms of work but on the downside it offers nothing in terms of facilities or employee benefits that larger companies can afford. So all in all, it is an individual choice considering the risks involved in the initial period.

And the saga continues in Silicon Valley. Now it is downright fraud.

http://fortune.com/silicon-valley-st...?xid=for_li_sh