A Brief Encounter with the VC kind

Life takes a course of its own. You never know where it leads you to. While aimlessly walking down the path called life, I happened to stumble upon the "VC" community. My brief encounter with VCs left me astounded at the simplicity with which they decided where to invest. "Spray and you pray" is how they call it. Here are some bits and pieces of advise that I recollect.


"Do not come to me with a PPT. I believe Microsoft has created PPT's to reduce people's IQ"

"Business Plans and Sausages are alike! If you know how they are made, then you would not eat it"

"Come to me and convince me that you know what you are doing and I shall give you the money"

"Spray and I pray. If any one of the 20 investments I make works out, then I am happy"


Something that I learnt that day was that VC's are interested in our ideas ( and so is Google). All that they want us to do is to demonstrate our belief in our ideas. If we can convince them that we have thought the entire process through, that we have done the ground work and that we have the right team to take things forward- that's half the battle won. They know that luck favours the brave.

Some other sound advice which I garnered from the VC community are:

Get a prototype ready - you can get seed funding to start prototyping; but then you lose heavily on equity. Finish your prototype , get some traction and then approach investors. Thats the best and easiest way to get first round of funding.

Most successful ventures start with ideas. The next step is to take these "ideas to market" [Ian Angell, Ashutosh Khanna 2008 :D]. Only then do you understand if there is any "dumm" (hindi for something that transaltes to traction, belief etc) in your idea. First and foremost this requires you to have complete faith in your project and your abilities. This has to be supported with the right team. As Guy Kawasaki puts it -

"Find soulmates"!!! "Every young visionary needs adult supervision," he jokes. Behind every Bill Gates is a Steve Ballmer. Behind Steve Jobs is a Steve Wozniak. Build a management team that shares your vision and your enthusiasm, but complements your weaknesses with their strengths.

If you are interested in starting something of your own I would recommend Fred Destin's blog and Guy Kawasaki's blog as a must read ! and just before you decide to present your business plan it would be ideal to have a look at Guy's video on "Art of the start"

This further conditions my belief that the world runs on 2 things - as Ash puts it trust and sentiment.

And in this idealistic world, I too have dared to dream - to start something of my own. And with me is Prashant (with wholehearted encouragement and blessings from Ian and Ash). We are a great team and we are gonna kick ass !

All in the name of studying !

Its funny, exams are a week away. Yet I am not tensed. This worries me! Considering that I should either be studying hard or atlest sleeping at this time of the night; instead, I am having a jolly good time making oreo and strawberry milkshakes with the rest of the Crazzy 4 ...

This was followed by long conversations on the politics in Pak and India ! the usual !

Get back to studying Govind !

P.S the oreo milkshake and strawberry milkshake turned out to be awesome, my preparation for the exams ...ahem ...not so much...

How I learned to stop worrying and love the market

In other words .... my strategy towards applying for jobs during the credit crunch.
(It worked for me many times over, but you should think this through - remember you are not me and I played to my strengths, you should do the same!)

Well here goes !

Step 1. Apply!
Well unless you apply, you are never going to get anywhere near landing an interview - forget a job. There, did I hear you say duh!

It doesn't matter how simple and straightforward this sounds and how you feel that this is the only possible thing to do. Some students (read as me) did not end up filling their applications till the last date ( Thankfully I learnt pretty quickly that deadlines are DEADLINES! )

Stop thinking and go about completing your your applications. Many a times, most of us dilly dally and spend a lot of time contemplating and discussing or end up being just plain lazy and we don't apply ! Weird ! but true.

Step 2. Apply prudently !
Don't go about applying indiscriminately. Think the whole process through. I would say apply to 10-20 companies by end of October and there is a very good chance of you landing a job before you submit your IS470 literature review. (or at least before Christmas). Each application has to be tailor made for that company / profile so put some effort into it. Don't just create a template and send it to 100 companies. Might work , but I would suggest against it.

Make sure you have a smart looking , sensible and well structured CV (refer LSE Career Office) . Each application has to be well thought out as well. Read the questions carefully. Remember not to lie (manipulation of the truth is alright I guess), because you are going to be interviewed based on your application and they will find out any discrepancies. Answers should be well structured, with sufficient examples to validate your claims - meaning don't write something like " I am a great leader, I have great analytical skills, people skills etc etc" without substantiating it with evidence. The LSE career service office would help you with your applications. VISIT THEM , its free !!!

Step 3. Be aware !
I would suggest reading the FT and watching the BBC news. Invariably a question that would pop up during your interviews would be something that tests your awareness of the market situation. Stop worrying, start reading and have a good (or at least reasonable understanding) of the market.

Step 4. Prepare !
Assuming that you have got an interview call, you should be well prepared to tackle it. I never went for an interview with an attitude that it would be a good learning experience. I went with the attitude that the job was mine! Perhaps it sound pretty confident / egoistic / naive ...whatever.... I don't care ! The attitude did the trick every single time!

Talk to others who have been through the interview. If you are the first person, don't worry, its not (yet) the end of the world. Prepare well. There are 7-8 competencies that you would be tested on. Be aware of the possible questions. They usually are around initiatives, Team work, Leadership, Conflict management, market analysis, why this role / job , Organisation, Analytical skills etc. Have a structure for your answers, introduce the example, get into details and make sure you talk to them in their language (meaning use the right keywords - e.g if its marketing use up sell , cross sell etc, else things like contingency planning, terms of reference for conflict management etc). This conveys a positive message to your interviewers in that they feel convinced that they would be comfortable working with you. As Ian puts it. Convincing is merely convincing, its not the truth ( but then that's the way the world works :D)

HELP OTHERS! ! ! I don't understand the logic where you don't help out your classmates. If you feel that helping another would mean that you would end up not getting the job - I say you are stupid. Remember its not just your friend, there are 100000 others who are applying for the same job ! Get real.
Work with your classmates / friends/ seniors and prepare the best application. Again this is the ideal situation in my mind. I don't impose this view on others. But then again .. be practical .. don't encourage free loaders! Put some effort into your application, do your homework and then go around asking for advice / help or review - rather than blatantly copying someone else's application.

Step 5. Relax !

On the day of the interview, relax , be confident, and pull your weight. Smile, dress smart greet the interviewers and give them a good strong handshake. By this time, more or less the decision would have been made. Now its up to you not to screw up ! So don't. A suggested read would be the book "How Would You Move Mount Fuji? Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle - How the World's Smartest Company Selects the Most Creative Thinkers"

Recession and MSc admission trends

Today, I had a very interesting conversation with Prof.Angell. He brought to my attention, the admission trends in universties. Universities in general offer admission to a surplus number of students becuase not all of them end up joining - a very straightforward scenario. For eg out of every 50 student given an offer only about 40-45 turn up. However during the last recession, this did not work out. 185 students joined the course instead of 145 as none of them turned down the offer.

What is interesting is the recession gives students all the more a reason to take a year off, take up a higher degree and wait till the market gets back on track. This is the way the world works!

Given this , LSE has another advantage. Its essential to understand that the important thing is the LSE name, not just the course content. Then it's up to you to leverage it. If you go to some Mickey Mouse university, then the course content matters a lot more.

I am sure all the courses at LSE are first class. However, I reserve my judgements
to ADMIS alone as I have (nearly) completed this course and find myself in a position to comment on its quality. The course has been thought provoking and inspiring to say the least. I started this course with one perspective - a hard functionalist , engineering perspective of the world - and today, I leave with a very enlightend social outlook on matters. I am able to judge situations better and understand implications of various scenarios. To top it all, the number of contacts, opportunities and learning that I take back with me is immense. Not bad at all for an MSc degree !

Conversations with Steve and Ash about ADMIS

Well, there have been a lot of questions about ADMIS as a course, the job scenario in London, and what-not being posted up in public formus. Let me try and make an attempt to give you an unbiased and honest reply. Unbiased in the sense, the answer is well thought out, researched and understood and hence not biased due to ignorance. Additionally, these are the thoughts that I bounced of Ash and Steve, and the wholeheartedly agreed with me. I shall try putting pen to paper and discuss the course and the job markets in London.

Last night, I ran up all the way to tower bridge to bid farewell to Ash. Met Steve (Prof Smithson) and Richard( ran cus Tooley street was closed: the cuase attributed to a burst pipe and hence flooding: Folks you gotta check out Brahmaputra floods: now that what I call flooding). Slap! of I needed that for digressing from the topic!

Getting back to the questions, let me take it bit by bit.

First, about the course. The course gives you a very socio-political view of Information Systems. There are 3 courses -IS 470,471 and 472. 471 is more about system design and hence is a lot more about OOPS and Methodology and Software Design practices, a cake walk ( not entirely ) for all those budding software engineers.

But then there is IS470 and 472. These are two course that would blow you apart. I would request Prof. Angell to put up bits and pieces of his opinion of the "nightmare on the net" which would be his first class. This should give you a perspective of what you would expect in 472. Trust me, the first class would leave everyone in shambles. You would leave the class thinking, O Why Why why? did I take up IT. I should have been a bloody cobbler or a blacksmith or something. Never will I use a computer again. But then, when you reflect back, you get to see the light at the end if the tyunnel. There is hope, and it is this hope that would take us all a long way.

IS470 - Social Study of IS. This is a theory paper. But it seriously lets you analyse any situation and gives you the theoretical basis to justify yourself. Let me give you an example. I was working with a particular company for a bit of my research work / business plan. Lets call this company xyz. The CEO of xyz came over to LSE to have a meeting with Ian, Ash and me. I was able to comprehend his problem scenario and was able to give my justifications for possible course of action that they could take thanks to 470. Now these included advice on Organisational change to operations to outsourcing to people management to politics to user acceptance of technology to diffusion to infinity. I made a mistake early on, in that I did not take 470 seriously - thanks to my engineering background I ended up scoffing at anything to do with theory. But it was this lightbulb moment in Ian office that made me understand the value of that course. Moreover, in my honest opinion, I know I will have a better understanding of the course only once I start work. The only thing that is required is to REFLECT and THINK.

In summary, ADMIS is excellent ! Why? Beacause it teaches you, at the very least to THINK, and at the same time leaves you with a million new perspectives that you would never come accross in any other course or university.

Now, the next is regarding the job market scenario!
First, are you coming here with the ultimate aim of getting a job in one of the top companies? Fair enough, thats what most ( if not all of us Indians) aim for. But believe me, after this course, a consultancy post at one of the top 4 is going to be the first offer you would turn down, amongst the many that you would get. Now, I am not claiming that it is easy to get a job here. No on the other hand it is difficult. But then, if you have a good strategy, then I can assure you that its not impossible, and afer a bit, it becomes all too straigtforward (not simple).

This is infact, the best time to be in the financial capital of the world. Perhaps, if you are looking for a job as in investment banker, you might find it difficult to come accross openings here. Rememeber thers is a slowdown - London has not come to a standstill. But then look at the broader picture, there are so many other jobs out there. Starting from consultancy, technology, Strategy, regulation ,security, risk, audit and lots more. More than anything, if you read the newpapers you would understand that the industry here is re-structuring. I feel the Accounting and Finance folks would find it hard to get a job here, but ADMIS folks would find themselves overwhelmed with opportunities. What the market is looking for is fresh new perspectives - and where else can they find that -@ ADMIS

But then, its not all that simple. You need to cosntantly think, reflect, be confident and be aware. If so, then the course would load you with the right perspectives (and you would be able to use it as well )to be able to find your way through any interview. Have a strategy, APPLY IT, and start early - as early as September / october. The ideal time frame is if you finish all applications by October ( at the latest). Have a look at some of the applications - decide on what kind of jobs you want , Ibanks, consultancies, technology compnaies, audit etc - then write a few sample applications and covering letter - prepare an impressive CV (which has the right keywords) and you will be fine. Learn to think long term and be confident. Confidence comes with preparation and hard work.

My serious doubt is, after IS490 atleast 10 of you would even think of starting your own company. In that case, all these worries about job markets, interviews and applications dont matter does it ? ;)

That has been a whole lot of positive feedback from me. And if it comes from me, then it would be better than the picture that I have painted

In case there are still more queries / unanswered questions doubts / leave a comment ! Will ( try ) and get back at the earliest.

Bits and pieces of ADMIS and LSE and London !

Its indeed been a long time since I have bothered putting up a post. Well at this time of the year, I should be studying for my exams. But I find myself absolutely incapable of studying any further for the next few hours. So well why not.. lets update my long forgotten blog.

ADMIS. Short for Analysis Design and Management of Information Sytems. In other words, the programme which gave my a different persepctive of life. My experiences with ADMIS were many and not all of them were good. But then, such is life.

I came to London with a fair idea (or rather what i thought was fair ;) ) of what to expect, as in I knew that this course was not the usual "technical" course. It would provide me with different social perspectives of technology and systems. I had done my fair bit of homework on this, or so i thought. However little did I realise that with the systemic way in which I have been educated in India, I would never be able to comprehend social reasoning the way it is taught at the LSE- and that was before I joined ADMIS. Today I am glad to announce that I have been converted and today boads to being an Angellist ( followers of Prof Ian Angell, http://ianangell.blogspot.com).

A few days before the course officially kicked off,I had the good fortune to meetsome of the ex-ADMISseniors (Jalaj , Prashant, Vinnie, Gagan and Vineeth). They introduced me to Dr. Ashutosh Khanna - my friend, philosopher and guide and my journey starts from that moment.

Its been an inspiring year and my understanding has been broadend to say the least. I do understand that I am hopeless in the literary front. But then I realise that I have a few other capabilities that I wouldnt have known otherwise. All thanks to ADMIS and in particular Prof Ian and Dr. Ashutosh (Ash to me)

This year is claimed to be a year of turmoil. The credit crisis has led to a slowdown (depression would be a politically incorrect term ). But to me, this has been a year of learning and comprehension.

To begin with, the first few months were spent understanding the decaying job market. I was (many say lucky) to have got a interview calls from 6 companies before December. It started with Deutsche Bank in december followed by Merrill Lynch, Deloitte, Lehman Brothers, E&Y and Barclays to name those companies whose interviews that I attended. I would attribute this to 2 reasons - well written applications , good and well structured resume with relevant achievements and experiences.

Good fortune or good preparation, I got an offer from all the companies that called me for an interview. Lesson learnt: Good preparation leads to good fortune. It seldom is the other way around. My understanding of the strategy towards cracking the interviews - good analytical skills, good set of experiences ( i wouldnt qualify experience as purely work experience category alone, by experience I mean your understanding of how you would deal with situtaions and how have you dealt with situations in your life), and tonnes of confidence . What you need to have is a good perspective of who and what you are capable of. I applied for a graduate role in the technology dept for Lehman Brothers. After my final interview, I had a brief chat with my interviewrs regarding my perspective of what the industry needs - a new lease of life. It needs to be bled dry of the old blood and be pumped up with fresh new perspectives. It was then that they asked me if I would be interested to join the Corporate Geenralist programme as they felt that I had a good vision and was better off in strategy than just pure technology. Lesson learnt: Speak your mind. Be confident ! You never know where that would take you. I would have ended up as a technologist, but just beause I was able to speak my mind (intelligently) I got an opportunity to work with the corporate strat team for Lehman Brothers.

My good friends. Again this is something that has helped me get through difficult times. Priyanka, Seena, Rupali, Gautam, Nurit, Martin, my good doctor friends at Birmingham, my aunt and uncle, Vineetha chechi and Dav, Ashutosh , Prof Ian, Prashant, Richard , Aditi , Riddhi Sonal to name a few. Some stray thoughts that come to my mind are -
1) the long walks with Ash discussing everything from capitalism , monetisation , philosophy , markets and everything else under the sun.
2) Seena, my darling friend with whom I have spent a lot of time talking about all the nuances of my life
3) Priyanka - my good luck charm. You are truly one of the nicest people I have met
4) Nurit - my brother. A gem of a person, the optimist that kept a hopeless pessimist like me going...
5) The long arguements with Prashant ! Hard core techie vs hard core bullshit (me)
6) Richard - the way you break my arguement - into a million pieces.
7) Friends and family at B'ham: the wonderful food and love kept me going !
8) Aditi and Riddhi - Bhain Club ... and now with Waqas - Crazzy 4 ... lol... thanks to you I study !
9) Sonal ! the only person who finds me funny :D
10) Vineetha chechi - who taught me the art of conversation ! and much more !


I was pretty miserable at first. Not knowing what to do with the sudden credit crisis and news of job cuts puts one off (understandably ,at this point in time, all i was bothered about was getting a job) . My friends have really inspired me every single day. I owe you guys a lot!


My Passion: Cooking and Travelling and Photography :D
I guess these are the only 2 things that I can claim I am not too bad at ! I have enjoyed every moment in UK taking photographs of all my lovely friends. I have fond memories of all the wonderful trips that we have gone for. I guess my flickr album justifies all the fun that I claim.
Cooking has been wonderful. The wonderful meal with Priyanka and Seena ! those cookouts with Sonal, Aditi and Riddhi ! yummmmmm

My learning !
The power of Networks!!! Hang on to every word I say. This is what Prof Ian and Ash taught me. "The wealth of networks" . I started out as a "node" connecting through Ash and Ian to many others in the industry. Ian and Ash are my "bridges" to the wealth of their network. Thanks to them ,I have been able to meet several people from various industries - Financial Services to consultancies, lawyers to vendors.

This network helped me tremendously understand the market and look at the world through various perspectives; I learnt to ask intelligent questions and make interesting conversations. Slowly, I learnt to become a bridge adding to the network, people from the Financial serivce industries, strategists from Indian consultancies and Angel Investors and VC's from London. (I would recommend LinkedIn to one and all). Ash's words keep reverberating in my head "Stop being a node.. take over as a bridge"

Lesson Learnt: Invest in your network. It will reap huge rewards sooner (than) later.

My Dream! From the day I left Chennai, I always used to nurture the dream to start my own company. Someday, became someday soon. And now it looks more or less like a reality. Thanks to the Business Innovation class, I have been able to write up a business plan that has got a few big investors interested. The experience has been exhillarating. Hopefully after my exam, I would be able to take this forward.
Lesson Learnt: As Dr. Kalam says: Dream Dream... Dreams transform into thoughts and thoughts into action. And as Ayn Rand puts it ... capitalism is the way forward ;)

My perspectives of London: I guess my perspective of the situation in London is very different from that of many. I see a lot of hope and lots more excitement in the coming days. News of jobcuts and slowdown does make the situation look pretty bleak. But then if you are prepared to see this through, I honestly believe that life would be very exciting.

The entire financial service industry in restructuring itself. London is an amazing city with a will to survive. Nothing would bring this city to its knees. This is not something that any other city can boast of !
Lesson learnt: Keep your eyes and ears open. Look out for opportunities, have your own perspectives and be well read.