TiEcon 2008 ... Day 1

TiEcon 2008, the world's largest conference for the entrepreneurs, of the entrepreneurs and by the entrepreneurs started on 16th May. TiEcon 2008 is full two day action packed knowledge machine. The author of this blog was fortunate to contribute his bit in the Marketing team of TiEcon as a volunteer and attend the full conference which is organized every year in silicon valley. Visit http://tiecon2008.blogspot.com/ for detailed info about all events. Here is TiEcon 2008 official website

Happy Mother's Day

The Hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world

P.S.:- Image coursey The Times of India online edition

TiE Chapters on the planet

Winners

Now this is amazing !!
I am watching this movie National Treasure Book of secrets and as the streaming video stopped, I happened to visit my friend Sandeep Baldawa's orkut profile where he has uploaded this excellent video. This little kid speaks more than 5 international languages to sell peacock feathers in Mumbai, India. Really industrious kid, something rare for a person of his age. He surely is a big man into making.



People are not born with greatness. Being great, standing out, leading a revolution, changing society for good, such qualities can be cultivated and most of it is formed as part of growing up. All great people showed these traits during their life time.


Abraham Lincoln, born 12th Feb, 1809, who did not give up in spite of failing in business at 21, being defeated in legislative race at 22, failing again in business at 24, overcoming the death of his sweetheart at 26, surviving a nervous breakdown at 27, losing congressional race at 34, losing a senatorial race at 45, failing to become vice president at 47 and again losing senatorial race again at 49. He is the greatest President of the United States of America. Abraham Lincoln never gave up.


Sir Richard Branson, born 18th July, 1950, had dyslexia which resulted in his poor academic performance as a student. Inspite of that he started businees of growing Christmas trees and raising budgerigars at age of 15, which unfortunately failed. Then he moved to London and began his first successful business venture and published a magazine Student. Today the world knows Sir Richard Branson by the brand name Virgin which has over 360 companies from Airlines to drinks to lingerie. A self made person, Sir Richard Branson expanded his business by his flamboyant style and unique brand image. To top it all, Virgin launched Virgin Galactic, a company providing space travel to people and it has already started taking reservations for galactic tour on its Space Ship two. Sir Richard Branson believes in being unique.
P.S.:- Selling peacock feathers is illegal and the author of this blog does not support it

Win $1000 or Apple iPhone ..and much more !!

Want to make some quick bucks with little efforts !!!
sounds like those evil mind ideas ... isn't it..No kidding. You can be proud winner of $1000 or go away smiling with cool Apple iPhone.
All you need to do is participate in the TiECon 2008 contest here. Please pass on the word about this contest to all your friends and foes. The contest is open to all the living creatures on planet earth !!

The Fairer Sex Entrepreneurs

Watching old Indian advertisements on Youtube is my favorite past time. Pepsi, Nirma, Rasna, Liril and many more. After watching ad for Lijjat Papad, I decided to write about contribution of women in entrepreneurial domain.



The Poppadum Queen
Jaswantiben Popat, the woman behind the enterprise that makes Lijjat Papad is no mediocre woman. Inspite of spearheading a mass movement for upliftment of uneducated, lower-middle class Indian woman, બા (pronounced as BAA , meaning - "MOTHER" in Gujarati language) as she is called still lives in her one bedroom apartment in chawls of mumbai. BAA started her papad rolling bussiness with a meagre loan of $2 in 1959. Today Lijjat Papad boasts a turnover of $65m. Although BAA hardly looks like a woman attending boardroom meetings, conference calls and leading cruical projects.



Lijjat Papad provides employment to more than 40000 Indian women coming mostly from impoverished and humble background. The cooperative business named Shri Mahila Gruha Udyog started by 7 women including Mrs Jashwantiben Popat is a symbol of strength and empowerment for women. Jashwantiben Popat was awarded the coveted Economic Times award for Corporate Excellence in September 2002. Popat was honored again by being named as the recipient of the Whirlpool Gr8! Women Awards 2004 in the "Social Services" category.

BAA is a Icon of woman empowerment. I personally believe that women are more powerful than men. Mrs. Jashwantiben Popat proves us that under circumstances where most men give in, women steps in and turns it around. More Info>>

The Media Queen
Oprah Gail Winfrey, (born January 29, 1954) is the American multiple-Emmy Award winning host of The Oprah Winfrey Show, the highest-rated talk show in the history of television. She is also an Academy Award-nominated actress, and a magazine publisher. She has been ranked the richest African American of the 20th century, the most philanthropic African American of all time, and the world's only black billionaire for three straight years. She is also, according to some assessments, the most influential woman in the world.



Oprah was born to unmarried parents in ghetto areas of Mississipi farm in USA. Oprah spent her first six years with her religious grand mother, in whose company she developed the love for literature and her routine of reciting Bible verses in front of public in a local church. This was the time when the seeds of her being a powerful talk show host was sown. Few years after that, when she lived with her not so supportive mother, were spent in great hardship where she was even repeatedly sexually abused and delivered a baby at age of fourteen who eventually died in infancy. Oprah eventually shifted with her father who was very strict and made her compulsorily study in school and college which turned out to be a real blessing for her. Oprah slowly started entering media industry, initially by working as news anchor for the local TV channel and then slowly entering talk shows where she became a co-host. Oprah soon became very popular and was hosting the best and highest rated Talk Show named "The Oprah Winfrey Show" . Oprah today owns a TV Studio, media magazine and online publication named HARPO (oprah wrote in reverse)

Oprah's story serves as a real inspiration where a woman oppressed with immense adversities fulfills her dream and not only reaches the pinnacle of success but also in turn gives back to society much more than what she actually received.

TiE has many woman members and volunteers. TiE encourages women to take an active part in entrepreneurial domain there by creating more jobs and contributing to the society. Readers wishing to know more about TiE please visit www.tie.org. TiE is hosting world's largest conference of entrepreneurs TiECon 2008 on 16th and 17th May. Please read more about TiECon 2008 at www.tiecon.org and register yourself

Entrepreneur who? ... me?

It has been a challenging day today. I started tinkering with my Linux laptop to enable WiFi support and ended up crashing all the 5 operating systems installed on it. Still unable to repair it, I am happily writing this blog by booting into the Ubuntu Linux CD and repairing my harddisk partitions in parallel. The state which I am in at present does frustrate me, but I am also at ease because my work does not seem to be completely stalled. It is so much reassuring to see what innovative software could do today. If there was no such CD from which I can boot Linux into RAM and work, it would have been a compulsory 2 day holiday for me with a big bill from the IT vendor to repair my laptop harddisk partition.

This makes me believe in the power of a powerful idea. An idea is powerful when it really helps people, when it increases their productivity. Productivity increases when people can do more work in less time and therefore reap more benefits. Put it simply, if you can offer some service to people by which they can earn more money in less time, that service is a hit. The more number of people you can target, the more your service is in demand. And if the service is really indispensable, people are ready to pay for it. When you can get people to pay for the services you render, at your own free will, then you are in that rare elite club code named ENTREPRENEUR's club. How simple it is.. isn't it. Still it remains mysterious to most as to how does a person become Entrepreneur and this very thought has eluded most of us. People like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Dhirubhai Ambani, Narayana Murthy, Akio Morita are glorified for what they are today. Ofcourse they deserve all the world attention, the standing ovation, but it is very important to understand that they are normal human beings as we are. The only difference is that they chose to capialize on their expertise in their own field by providing their expertise as a service for a fee.



Many people dream of being Entrepreneurs. Here are the possible reasons, I believe, that most of them don't even try to make their DREAMZ come true.
1) Fear of failure
2) No money to start with
3) Directionless
4) No mentor
5) Lacking confidence
6) Good and high paying job
7) Procrastination / laziness


I wanted to introduce you readers to something which will help you realize your DREAMZ of being an entrepreneur. Something that will help you get rid of all the obstacles I mentioned above. It is TiE. TiE (www.tie.org) is a not-for-profit organization founded by a group of successful entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and senior professionals with a sole mission of promoting entrepreneurial spirit among people. A member of TiE has access to vast set of resources and business contacts which goes a long way in establishing a successful business. I would like to categorically explain how TiE address the above seven obstacles.

1) Fear of Failure:-
Fear of failure comes from the fact that a person is not well prepared. The main idea is to do your homework. TiE organizes panel discussions, mentoring sessions, mixers and meetings with people of different industry all year round. Participating in TiE events itself bring you in contact with relevant people which helps build business network. Members come to know and understand their own industry trends much better than others. This helps a novice entrepreneur prepare appropriately for his new venture. The more knowledge you have about your domain, the more confidence you gain. And the more confidence you gain, the less you fear about failure. To give you an example, I recently attended a TiE panel discussion on raising capital through London Stock Exchange's AIM international Market. Many of those who attended the event did not even knew that inspite of their company being so small, it could raise money twice its value in AIM through institutional investors. The best part of the panel discussion was the success story of one of the companies OCZ Technology that successfully raised capital in AIM as an alternative to VC funding and also IPO. Mr. Arthur Knapp, CFO of OCZ explained in detail, how they could raise huge capital twice in the AIM market. Such panel discussions are immensely helpful and serve as a guiding star to many.

2) No money to start with
TiE organizes what is claimed to be world's largest entrepreneur's fair in May in silicon valley. Come 16th and 17th May, best Venture Capitalist on this planet will meet and compete to fund the best innovative ideas. The event is named TiECon 2008 (www.tiecon.org) . TiECon 2008 in silicon valley will be held on 16th and 17th May at the Santa Clara convention Center. There are many events being organized during these two days. One of the most important and highly awaited is E-Bazaar. Prospective and novice entrepreneurs get and opportunity to talk to industry's top VCs and explain them their biz plan. If your biz plan is good and robust, then sky is the limit. There is no derth of people ready to pour in their money if they are convinced that your have what is going to be the next big thing !! . So if you have the idea, the zeal, the enthusiasm, the confidence then "no money" is no reason not to start. Register for TiECon 2008 on www.tiecon.org and get early bird discount. Start today !!

3) Directionless
This is one of the most common thought for an entrepreneur to be. There are people who want to do something, but are not sure what to do. The right approach is to know what appeals you the most. If you think you are a go-getter and like social meetings more, you may be a good person to work on social networking related solutions like host a portal for social networking, or start a social networking club, a pub, a cafe. If you think you are the best software architect ever born then come up with a software framework for UI on embedded devices. The possibilities are endless and sky is the limit. To help people take decision and get a direction, TiE organizes events the whole year around. This events range from meeting people from different industry to a specific agenda. There are events with as diverse agenda as future of electrified/hybrid vehicles to raising money through AIM stock market in london.

4) No Mentor
One of the important sessions TiE organizes is the formal mentoring session for people who have registered for E-Bazaar in TiECon. TiE mentors these prospective and novice entrepreneurs and teaches them how to pitch their idea effectively to VCs in a away that appeals to the VCs. Apart from that, the TiE charter members will be more than happy to mentor you. So weather you know what you want or not or even dont know how to get it, but if you know that you want.. then you are at the right place... TiE.

5) Lacking confidence
TiE gives everybody an opportunity to speak up. It gives everybody a level playing field in terms of expression of thought. This goes a long way in fueling that confidence which is utmost necessary for beginners. When a person realizes that he has the same chance to speak up in the event as the other member of the event who is a CEO of that multi-million dollar company, a sense of confidence definitely builds up. This makes a person realize his/her true potential. That hidden talent is unleashed. It feels so humble when some of the busiest persons in this galaxy comes to you and shares his/her views on a topic. It is rare. But it is common at TiE.

6) Good and high paying job
Now this is something that differentiates an entrepreneur from the rest. There are people who want to follow and there are few who want to lead. Leading is not easy. But when you have that dream, that confidence and over and above all if you believe in your own idea then you are sure that you have that entrepreneurial mettle. People are not born with it. It can be made if you will.

7) Procrastination / Laziness
I have read Alchemist many times. The Alchemist explains the protagonist in the book whose name is Santiago about how he will feel once he will miss his own goal of reaching the treasure of his dream. The fruits of achievement are much sweeter than the luxury of relaxing due laziness or procrastination. Do it today, now.. be a member of TiE at www.tie.org and register for TiECon 2008 at www.tiecon.org

TiECon 2008

Alrite... Its been long long time I wrote blog in public domain. I have a reason to start writing today. And I have decided I will write blog every day till atleast TiECon 2008.

Now what is TiECon ??

Let me tell you what is TiE first. A whole lot of what TiE does can be summarized in this Gujarati statement by Raj Jaswa "આપ્યુ તે રહ્યુ , રહ્યુ તે ગયુ" . Pronounced as "aapyu te rahyu, rahyu te gayu", translated in English as "What you give, you keep and what you keep, you lose" . Which means the philosophy of TiE is to give and share freely and help people network because it is by this giving only that you gain more. Ofcourse TiE is much more than that. Raj Jaswa voluntarily serves as President of TiE, and he has been serving since 4 years now.

What is TiE?
Ans:- TiE stands for "The Indus Entrepreneurs" . TiE is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1992 by successful entrepreneurs, corporate executives and senior professionals with roots in Indus region.

What does TiE do?
Ans:- TiE helps enthusiastic and prospective entrepreneurs gear up to what they feel they can achieve or even much more than that. TiE helps start new companies through a range of different activities that help a person build a successful startup. Apart from that being associated with TiE has many added benefits like meeting like-minded people, understanding industry trends, meeting people who actually want to do something in life and much more. In this process many people even get a good jump in their professional careers and some even have their personal life filled up with positive vibes.

How does TiE achieve its goal of helping people being real Entrepreneurs?
Ans:- TiE members and volnteers are themselves successful entrepreneurs and senior corporate executives with a zeal to help people realize their dream of becoming entrepreneurs. The culture of TiE is to freely share, network and help fellow members and volunteers. TiE organizes formal mentoring sessions, lectures from industry stalwarts, CEO of companies, and people who have actually made marks in their own fields inspite of starting from humble beginnings. The clout of TiE can be measured to the extent that Global Management Guru Dr.C.K.Prahlad considers it as a matter of pride to be associated with TiE (mms://209.220.161.72/SiliconValley/CKs_speech_edited.wmv).

Alrite, now what is TiECon?
Ans:- TiECon is once in a year big event organized by TiE. Remember, whatever TiE does is with a mission to foster conscious entrepreneurship globally by Educating, Mentoring and Networking . TiECon is a full two day event where

• prospective entrepreneurs get to meet top VCs of industry, present them their business plan and build further relation with them

• many entrepreneurs and top executives of different companies give lecture on what exactly it means being an entrepreneur

• people get to network with others in the industry.

• The two day TiE event leads to incubation of as many as 200 companies which in itself is testimony to what TiE actually can do.

TiECon is an event for which people wait every year to present their business plan, connect with different people and over and above all live a lively culture which you cannot find anywhere beneath the sun.

When is TiE2008 being organized?
Ans:- TiE2008 is being organized on May 16^th and 17^th at the Santa Clara Convention Center. More information on www.tiecon.org

Why I started blogging after long time?
Ans:- I have been waiting for an opportune time to write a blog. Last I wrote was when I left bangalore for good. I am writing this blog tonight after having attended TiE event in silicon valley. I was introduced to TiE by my friend Gaurav who himself is a successful entrepreneur and TiE member. I am convinced that for anybody who has a dream to be an entrepreneur, there cannot be any platform better than TiE. Join TiE now . Visit www.tie.org

Ok, after all this serious talks, is there something to have fun?
Ans:- Attending TiE events in not boring and serious at all. It all fun. That is the remarkable quality TiE inculcates among entrepreneurs and that is to have a culture where you can have fun. There is always fun in realizing your own DREAMZ ...isnt it. To start with, visit TiECon YouTube contest section in www.tiecon.org

Ok, I still need more information?
Ans:- Send me an email at mux4tie@gmail.com with your question. I will try to answer it or help you get in touch with somebody in TiE.

Do you (author of this blog) work for TiE?
Ans:- No. I am a TiE volunteer. And over and above all, I believe in TiE