An Eventful Year...

I saw the stock market crash, the investors unwilling to invest in new ventures, not many new ventures coming up and the ones that are there are on the verge on annihilation. People starting from my lawyer to my coworkers are facing the crisis. Even my venture on retail has taken a hit. People are not ready to invest in new things, they just want to play safe. 

I have faced a time, when I had to postpone salaries, bills and rent. The money in my account was to pay my employees for a month and with no money assured in the future. This is one equation I knew will come to me as well. I wont say this was easy, but it was my personal relations that came in handy. The last month, I have been busy with interns from JUIT. The guys are motivated to the core. They bring in so much energy to work that gives me motivation to move ahead. 

Since September I was busy with the Jaypee Education Institutes. We successfully completed the design of a JUIT website and the Notice Management System. Both were well appreciated. We got another contract based on our work. This was satisfying. The success of this project opened a lot of opportunities in this sector for the company. Thus we survived the disaster. The project promises regular income for sometime. But I guess it is time to pull up something foolish, something that will be the biggest risk of my career. Steve Jobs once said in his speech in Stanford... Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish! 

I don't have any idols, but yes now after a year and 2 months, I feel this line explains a lot about entrepreneurship. 

My First Big Deal...

People say it was brave on my part to venture out. Some say it was a premature decision. Frankly, I did not care at all. I was holding on to something, my spirit, my dream and my sister's words. I had no reason to stop!

It was in october when I first came to gurgaon, to make it BIG! :) I had no idea of what was going around me, no place to stay, nothing to start with! It took me two months to finally come to life. My dad was very kind to give me what he was saving for me for all these years and by december I had my first office. I had an idea in my mind, that was very immature and impractical, but it did raise a few eyebrows when it was talked about.

I used to attend conferences in New Delhi by TiE and ASSOCHAM. They were highly rich in content and a good place for networking and discussing ideas. I could polish my ideas in these conferences and then finally I decided to start a private limited firm. The name was decided 3 years back... INNOVATRIX. So I went ahead and started a hunt for a CA. I met a Chartered Accountant in Gurgaon... he talked to me for 10 min. and charged me 750/- bucks. A very close lawyer friend adviced me... that I should search for a lawyer. I found a lawyer close to my house and started the process of making a company.

A bit delayed but yet a grand inauguration happened on 19th Feb 2008. I could not believe my eyes, all of jaipur was there in my teeny-tiny office that very day. I could make out... happiness on their face was real! For a next few months I was working alone in the office. I needed a few people to start with, the idea was there... the launch pad had to be made. Anshul, Shashank and Archit pursuing MBA joined me and so did Shivam from the TECH CLUB. We started working on the website and formulating strategies to be implemented. We could decode one latest software in about 3 weeks (thanks to shivam) and in the next one month, everything fell into shape. The launching pad was ready. But just then... I met medury sir. He heard from me and looked at my projects and offered me a contract for all three websites!!

This came as a surprise for me. I sent the proposal... but no immediate response came. By this time I needed money for marketing and paying up salaries. I thought this would go in vain and I left it aside. But then one fine day I called him up and he said.. Come to JUIT... we'll strike a deal! I was ecstatic! I decided to accept the offer and prepare for the deal. Finally, I went to JUIT where it just felt like.. I was back home. I walked for 5 kms to the campus with a heavy bag on my shoulders. I wanted to enjoy every bit of it. Then came the question... how much should I quote. This was tough for me because the deal was with a University. I could not think of a price that would leave all of us satisfied.

I finally decided on something, which I thought would be negotiated. But I could not believe my eyes when Medury sir agreed on the amount and we had a deal!! And an assurance for the more in the next few months... I HAD MY FIRST BIG DEAL!