Gouthaman is a blogger at PCGeekBlog where he writes about technology. You can connect with him on twitter at @Gmanka. He is one of my very good friends in the blogosphere. 

Ramkarthik (RK): Hi Gouthaman. Tell us about yourself.

Gouthaman Karunakaran (GK): I’m currently spending most of my time online writing tech blog(s). I’m known as a student of English literature and also, I spend a lot of time watching TV shows while petting my cat till it can’t take anymore.

RK: In a country where almost everyone takes up Engineering, Medicine or Commerce, you have taken English Literature as major. Was it passion that made you select the course or any other reason?

GK: I would say passion. I was a total disaster when it came to math and science and the only subject in school that I enjoyed reading was English literature and I thought it made sense to major the same in college. I love writing and I’ve always been fascinated by computers and other gadgets so I’m writing about tech on my blog.

RK: You own a blog called PC Geek. What is it about?

GK: PC Geek is a tech blog. I primarily write about the internet and little tips that makes your experience in front of the computer (a little) better.

RK: How do you get ideas to blog about? How do you brainstorm?

GK: I usually Google when I need a solution and when there’s nothing relevant I do some investigation to find an answer. This answer is something I’d like to note down and that’s what my blog is all about. Occasionally, I write list posts showcasing browser extensions and similar stuff. I usually read other blogs for inspiration and apply the idea on something else. Google Reader is the best way to keep yourself updated at all times, but you need to make sure that you are subscribed to the right blogs (tech, in my case).

RK: You also write for popular blogs like Easy Tweaks and A Virtual Exit. When you write for many blogs, you might get struck at times and have writer's block. How do you overcome the block?

GK: I have gotten stuck many times and getting back to work isn’t difficult when you enjoy what you do. I’m a total introvert and sitting in front of the PC is my favorite activity.

I’ve had writer’s block before and I silently go through the phase consuming different types of content (TV shows, blog posts and books) instead of creating/writing on my own.

RK: Do you have any morning rituals that get your creative juices flowing?

GK: Yes. A morning run is all I need to stay energized and inspired all through the day. You can see me at the Marina every morning.

I also love cycling and I haven’t gone for more than 2-3 days without a drive.

RK: You are also interested in copywriting. According to a research, Focused attention of people can be as low as 8 seconds. Does being a copywriter help keeping the attention of readers? Should bloggers learn copywriting?

GK: Honestly, I haven’t done a lot of copywriting except for the occasional posters and campaigns my friends ask me to write for, but I fancy doing it sometime in the future.

One thing about copywriting everyone needs to realize is that what we’re writing is for the readers and we need to look at our work like an ordinary consumer would do; no matter how great the product is.

When I blog, I usually let the words flow and don’t take minor aspects into details. I think copywriting will help bloggers unless they get too carried away by it.

If you’d like to get the attention of readers, make sure that the stuff you write isn’t in huge chunks of many paragraphs. Break it down and make it consumable at a glance or two.

RK: Another thing you are good at is social media. You were social media intern at Amity Ministry. How can bloggers use social media, especially Twitter and Facebook? People who are new to twitter always say that they don't get the use of twitter.

GK: While I was at Amity Ministry, I made ample use of Facebook and in that way, we were able to get quite a few donations. In my opinion, Social Media is all about making sure that your organization has an online presence that responds well and is effective.

Bloggers need to leave their obsession with SEO (not completely, though) and concentrate on Facebook and Twitter. Instead of just using Twitterfeed and other automation services to publish to your blog’s social media accounts, respond to users. Use the Twitter search to find out people who may benefit from a blog post of yours and tell them about it. All of this has helped PC Geek a lot. Building an audience is difficult and I’m still working on it but once you’ve achieved that, you’ll realize that good content never gets penalized on social media, unlike Google.

Like you have pointed out, many users find Twitter unattractive at first mainly because most of their friends are on Facebook and Twitter isn’t interesting unless you follow the right people. My advice would be to get an account on Twitter and use the ‘Who to Follow’ feature to get started. Eventually, things will fall into place. You are also required to be verbose (yeah, just 140 but it’s a lot compared to what most Facebook users type). You can’t just get away with tagging pictures and that aspect could repel some users. ;)

RK: Talking about your internship at Amity Ministry, it is an organization to help orphan kids. Tell us more about the organization and how our readers can help.

GK: Amity Ministry is a wonderful group that’s committed to helping kids who are already affected by HIV+. It is headed my friend Arockia Suthan and a bunch of energetic college students who are always ready to help.

The best thing about Amity is that they have a very different agenda. These kids suffering from HIV are not going to be around for a long time and we just focus on having fun events at orphanages and make sure that they have the “greatest day of their life”. They are also deeply involved with these kids and even go to the extent of hiring a tailor and talking to every kid individually about their clothing preferences. If you’d like to help you can contact me on Twitter (@gmanka).

RK: Here's a quick question. Twitter or Facebook?

GK:  Twitter.

Now for the top 3 series

RK: Your top 3 tips as a copywriter

GK: I’m not the best person to answer this question, but here goes:

• Never be deceptive. Honesty is the best marketing tool there is.
• Read what you’ve written from the perspective of the target audience. Even better, get a member from the target audience and see how your stuff works out.
• Know your subject. There’s no point in writing about something you aren’t familiar with.

RK: Your top 3 networking tips

GK:

• If you admire a person, get in touch with them voluntarily. I’ve found that regularly responding to their tweets in a helpful/interesting way works wonders.
• Show off your expertise or make sure that you let them know what you are good at.  This helps you be the go-to person for something and you become visible to everyone. Win-Win!
• Offer help when they need it even before they ask you.

RK: Your top 3 favorite blogs

GK: The Next Web, Lifehacker and Killer Tech Tips and that’s only tech.

RK: Top 3 lessons you have learned from blogging

GK:

• People notice you more than what you feel they do.
• Before you write something, ask yourself – Is this useful? If it’s not, start again with something different. If you are writing a personal blog for fun, this tip doesn’t apply.

•  Make friends online. If not for guys like Shankar Ganesh and Ashutosh Mishra my blog wouldn’t be where it is now.

I’d like to include one more if you don’t mind.

·         Don’t fret about SEO. It is important, but definitely overrated. Remember that you write stuff for human beings and not for search engines.

RK: 3 not-so-popular Indians who are doing remarkable work

GK: I would like to say just two, if you don’t mind.  

Vijayalayan - He is a professor of mine and the reason why I still think that a college degree makes sense. Being a visually challenged person (especially losing sight in the midst of your life) is very difficult, but he’s hands-down the awesome(est) person I’ve ever met. He keeps himself updated and puts-in a lot of effort into every single lecture he gives us. In a college where mediocrity thrives successfully he’s a very different guy and if you are majoring in English literature, you should be gifted to attend his classes.

Shankar Ganesh – This dude has inspired me a lot. Make sure you read the Be Remarkable interview that features him.

In my opinion, we’d all be doing remarkable work if we stop following the herd. People need to start doing things that they find meaningful instead of shaping up in terms of others expectations.

I’ll have to thank you for the remarkable questions and for giving me the opportunity to open up to do an interview (which I’ve never really done before).

RK: Thanks for the interview Gouthaman.

Nithya Dayal is one of the co-founders of Muziboo and SupportBee. You can find her on twitter at @BeingNithya. She's one of my inspirations and you'll clearly see why in this interview.

Ramkarthik (RK): Hi Nithya.  Tell us about yourself.

Nithya Dayal (ND):Tricky question, but I will try my best.  I am one of the founders of Muziboo - an online community for music and now SupportBee - a hosted help-desk solution. To explain the non-entrepreneurial side, I am pretty friendly; always a sport for a coffee or beer. Somebody recently made a pass that I probably am a feminist, but changed his opinion after some interaction. So, may be I am not. I am for sure opinionated when it comes to a lot of things; aren’t we all entitled to?! Another confession: I love emoticons and exclamation marks!!

RK: What is your take on the startup community and being a woman entrepreneur?

ND: The start-up community in India is definitely expanding. It is much bigger and more buzzing than what it was a few years back. Take on being a woman entrepreneur? I wish there were more women in the ecosystem. Females can definitely make the community much livelier!

RK: You cofounded Muziboo with your husband, Prateek Dayal. Tell about Muziboo and its USP.

ND: Muziboo is an online platform where musicians & budding talents upload their performances to showcase, invite reviews, discuss and collaborate. The interactive community is what makes Muziboo unique. Muziboo is a strongly knit global community that wickedly indulges day after day in commenting and discussing the music (posted here) and music related topics. The community here is eclectic that consumes every genre of music – anything from Rock 'n' Roll to Trance and Classical.

RK: How did you get the idea for starting Muziboo? Was it a moment of inspiration (a “Eureka” moment) or was it well thought out?

ND: I wouldn’t say it was well thought out. Neither was it exactly a ‘Eureka’ moment. Eureka probably refers to the joy of discovery. In our case it was impulsive. It started out as a fun project - a Flickr for music which didn’t exist at that point. After seeing traction, we started taking it more seriously. Here’s one relevant blog post that talks about our journey in this context:
http://teamblog.supportbee.com/2011/02/02/what-we-have-learnt-running-a-bootstrapped-startup/

RK: You specialize in Community Building and Customer Support. How important is it to respond to customers these days, especially with the availability of social networks like Twitter and Facebook, where people can update their friends about anything in just few seconds?

ND: Ignoring your customers today is simply shooting yourself in the foot. Having good customer support instills trust in a user. Only telecom giants can afford to ignore customers in this age.

RK: Should brands actively engage on Twitter and Facebook with their customers like Zappos and Comcast to name a few? Are Indian brands doing it now?

ND: It is only natural for a company that obsesses about its customers’ welfare to engage itself in every medium where its customers are present. But that presence alone doesn’t make a company customer friendly. At the end of the day, it is the processes that they have within the system which decides how fast they can resolve a customer issue. Twitter / Facebook is just another channel for a customer to reach out. Here probably is another relevant post that I had written sometime back in this context: http://blog.supportbee.com/2011/05/31/are-you-faking-good-customer-support/

RK: Coming to your other expertise, Community building, we know community building is very important for pretty much everything, right from startups to blogging. What would be your advice for startups that want to build a community?

ND:  Community building is a very organic process. It takes time; can’t be achieved overnight. The only advice: Be patient; be consistent; keep at it.

RK: Seth Godin calls it “tribe”. Wired Magazine’s Kevin Kelly calls it “1000 true fans”. How can bloggers build a tribe or 1000 true fans?

ND: I sincerely feel that if you write about things that you truly believe in, a community around your thinking will emerge. Peldi from Balsamiq says it very well. Quoting him here
“Then, with time, as if by magic, a community started to emerge, organically, on its own. Someone would post a comment pointing me to a blog I should read, someone else would suggest a book.

All of a sudden blogging wasn't a lonely endeavor any more, I wasn't just speaking to the wind like a crazy person...I had...friends! People just like me, going through the same issues as I was! :)

Slowly but surely, a little community gathered around my blog, and I started hanging out at other blogs as well, starting to recognize the names of frequent commenters like me.”

Link to that: http://blogs.balsamiq.com/peldi/category/company-business/

RK: As an entrepreneur, you are always thinking of new ideas either to take your existing startups to the next stage or to start a new startup. How do come up with ideas? Do you have brainstorming sessions? Or rather, gamestorming sessions?

ND: Well, no game storming :) Probably a lot of brainstorming!

RK: Now to implement some of those ideas, you have to take action and be productive. What are your 3 productivity tips?

ND: I haven’t personally attained much Zen when it comes to being productive. As a team we use

Pivotal tracker which has served well. Also, personally I am trying the Pomodoro technique. So far so good!

RK: What would be the 3 most important things you have learned being an entrepreneur?

ND: I have learnt one thing for sure being an entrepreneur: I have learnt about myself. It has been self-exploratory. Nothing else comes to my mind!

RK: Could you tell us 3 Indian startups that you think will be successful in the near future, other than Muziboo and SupportBee?

ND:  Visual Website Optimizer is one start-up I think will be successful. I don’t have much understanding about the other domains to predict success or failure.

RK: Your word of advice for budding entrepreneurs

ND:  If you have the bug, go for it!

Arun Basil Lal is a blogger at MillionClues.Com and CEO of One C Media Private Limited. You can find him on twitter at @ArunBasilLal.

Ramkarthik (R): Hi Arun. Tell us about yourself.

Arun Basil Lal (A): Hi guys, I am Arun Basil Lal. I am an Engineer by degree, currently CEO of One C Media Private Limited, my start-up that specializes in making money online. Well, I am a blogger at MillionClues.com and I write bits of my life at Kuttappi.com.

R: How did you get started with blogging? Did anyone introduce you to it?

A: I read about Blogging and Amit Agarwal's Labnol (labnol.blogspot.com then) in an issue of “The Week” and got intrigued by the idea. I used to write when i was in school in school magazines and newsletters. I loved the idea of having a free website and the idea of making money out of it. I registered millionclues.blogspot.com the same day. It was on Oct 4^th, 2006.

We never subscribed “The Week” at home, my Dad just picked this issue from a store. Looking back I feel like, I was meant to Blog. You know, the dots connect so well.

R: Your blog, MillionClues.Com, what is it about? Also I know how you came up with the name for it. But do share that story here for our readers.

A:  MillionClues is about Blogging, WordPress and things that a techie would love to read. But mostly WordPress. The name wasn't much thought out. It was the time Million Dollar Homepage was in the news, so I kinda liked to have million in the name. I am a big fan of James Bond, so clues came by. Many have said they love the name, am glad they do!

R: The early blogging days must have been hard, just like for any other blogger, till you get over a couple hundred subscribers. How did you overcome those days?

A: Blogging was my escape. I didn't have anything else to do those days. It was all before I got the hang of college life. Even a single random comment would make my day those days. One thing every Blogger needs is persistance, short term goals and patience. I haven't seen anyone make it big without all of these.

R: To be a successful blogger, you have to write posts on a consistent basis. How do you get ideas for blog posts?

A: Ideas are all around. The more important thing is that you capture them. I get ideas even while bathing, so I carry around a notepad at all time, even in my bathroom. No matter how hard you try, you are gonna forget the idea after a while, so the moment you have it, write it down.

R: Sometimes, even when you have the idea for a super blog post, you might find it hard to sit down and write it. What do you do to overcome this resistance or writer’s block?

A: So true! I would go for something smaller. I would do some posts that are relatively easy to do, and takes less time. Having done a few would help me do the bigger one.

R: You recently cycled 38.7 KM from Perambavoor to Cochin on bicycle. It’s something fun to do. How was the feeling?

A: Yeah it was fun. I love cycling, I like to do things that are physical. And i love challenges. I feel that 38 wasn't hard enough, so am planning a 100 KM ride for this June end or July start.

R: Have you done anything similar before? You certainly seem to love adventures.

A:  I have gone on some bike rides. Well, there is another, I went on a 18 day train journey called Tata Jagriti Yatra last december. Living 18 days in a train bunk is a challenge in itself, then the cold and the heat. It was a normal sleeper coach, non A/C.

R: Do you think these types of adventurous trips help people to set their creative juices flowing?

A: Seriously yes. I go cycling in the evenings. One hour of work-out makes me feel real good. Feels fresh.

R: Now for quick questions. Windows or Mac?

A: Windows.

R: Google or Bing?

A: Google and Bing Video Search

R: If you can read only 3 blogs, which ones would they be?

A: Labnol, Mashable and ErinMilana.wordpress.com (she writes great poems!)

R: Your top 3 web apps

A: Gmail, Google Docs, Google Analytics (all Google stuff)

R: Your 3 lines of advice for people who want to do remarkable stuff and live a remarkable life

A: Find time to do what you Love.

Love someone with all you got. (If you haven't found someone yet, keep looking)

Be yourself. Stop worrying about what others say and do your thing.

Thanks for the interview Arun. Hope you continue to do remarkable stuff in your life.

A: Thanks for having me. It was a pleasure :)

Shankar Ganesh is a blogger who writes about technology at KillerTechTips.Com. He has been blogging for nearly 6 years. You can find him on twitter at @Shankargan.

Interestingly, he is my first friend in the blogosphere and is a great guy.

Ramkarthik(RK): Hi Shankar. Can you tell us about yourself?

Shankar Ganesh (SG): Hi! I’m Shankar. I love talking about things I know about and I happen to like writing. I think that’s the reason blogging comes naturally to me. I’ve been blogging since 2006. I’m a sophomore right now at SASTRA University.

RK: Could you tell us about what your blogs are about?

SG: I primarily write on software that helps people and makes them work efficiently. Some days, I write about why PDF readers are dead. On another, I might compile the list of best Android apps for college!

RK: I’m sure you remember the early days of your blogging. Tell us a little bit about that.

SG: Yeah. Looking back, the early days of blogging were pretty amazing. A bunch of us who were new to blogging joined hands pretty quickly. We all genuinely helped each other, with everyone rooting for everyone else’s success. A bunch of my friends who started out around the same time I got introduced to blogging have become full-time bloggers. They’ve all been inspirational.

RK: You also have a Chrome Extension out called “Text Only, Please”. What is it about? Why did you feel the need to create that extension?

SG: I found that a lot of sites were pretty much loaded with too many ads. I understand that publishers have to earn money via their sites but too many ads just sucked.

I came across ViewText.org by chance. The sitelets you paste in a URL and get a minimal version of the page minus the ads. I was using it for a few days and then the idea for the Chrome extension hit me. I just made an addon that had an option to open new links in text only mode.

I knew solutions like Readability existed, but I just wanted to give it a shot. The Chrome Extension Development docs were pretty helpful.

RK: You own 2 blogs, you have a chrome extension out and you have also done freelance writing for popular blogs like MakeUseOf.Com. To do all these, you have to be really productive. Do you have any morning rituals or a way of working?

SG: I don’t have a ritual. But when the idea of a post strikes me, I put it in Evernote/Wunderlist. When I feel like writing – that happens when I’m not distracted and when I’m listening to music – I launch Windows Live Writer and just write. The idea dumping part is very important to me because if I don’t do that, I’ll probably forget about it and that would mean one less post for the week.

The Pomodoro Technique has been pretty helpful to me these days. When I start working, I use Focus Booster to set a 25-minute countdown. I just do one task for those 25 minutes, relax for a while then come back to doing it again, if need be.

RK: Most people, if not all, in spite of their morning rituals, still face productivity block on certain days. In that case, what do you do?

SG: Just forget about your todo list and do something random. That’s what I do. Music, a walk or simply contemplating.

RK: We have Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites, which are really helpful to connect with people but at the same time, can also be a hindrance to work. How do you manage networking and work?

SG: My biggest distraction has been Facebook. I’m struggling to get focussed as well, but in the early days of blogging it was pretty easy. My creativity was on a high and I easily wrote about three or four posts every five days.

These days my attention is always split and it’s getting tougher. I’m trying hard though. The StayFocusd addon for Google Chrome has been pretty helpful – I use that to block social networking sites after I use them for a good amount of time. Honestly, I do break this rule occasionally.

RK: Talking about networking, to be successful online in any endeavour, we have to connect with peers and successful people. What are your tips for people who want to connect with others and spread the word about their remarkable work?

SG: I have just one thing to tell them: go out of your way to help new people. That’s it. They’ll instantly become fans, and certainly reciprocate later if you ask them for help.

If you’re a copywriter, you could help them by suggesting a better copy for their website. Just send out an email – anyone would welcome suggestions on improving their site. A new connection is just a good email away.

RK: Your advice for people who want to do remarkable work

SG; Just shut up, focus and ship. Ship. It’s very, very, very hard but that’s the one thing that will separate you from the rest.

RK: Being a successful blogger for the past 5 years, what is your advice for upcoming bloggers?

SG: You have to write remarkable content. Let’s admit it: the bar has been raised. Come up with something funny, witty, highly opinionated and people will enjoy it and share it with their friends. That’s what matters online these days.

Now for some general questions:

RK: If you could read only 3 blogs, what would they be?

SG: If I can pick just one, it’d be Techmeme. Not a blog, but you get all the top news there.

Then, it keeps varying based on the time you ask me. These days, I like Mixergy and Scobleizer.

Ask me after a month, I’ll tell you something else J Techmeme is constant though!

RK: If you didn’t know anything about blogging or if you were not introduced to it, what would you be doing, to be remarkable?

SG: I don’t know. I’m always interested in reading and learning new things, so I’ll probably be doing something that keeps me busy, and something that will be of use to others.

RK: What are your top 3 favourite online tools or apps?

SG: Web apps: Gmail, Google Reader, WordPress on my blog

Android apps: Toshl, InstaFetch, Seesmic

Desktop: Evernote (there’s a web version too), Windows Live Writer, Dropbox

RK: Your general advice to “Be Remarkable” blog readers

SG: Do whatever you want to. You’ve got one life. Live it the way you want to. Don’t forget to enjoy the moment.

RK: With so many opportunities and the ease with which one can showcase their talents in today’s world, do you think more people have started to break the rules, live an unconventional life and follow their passion, especially in India? Do you see that trend?

SG: Yes, I think so. More people are getting frustrated because of the grunt work they have to do at their day job and the time it consume. So they’re certainly doing things on their own.

I know a number of acquaintances who’ve switched from well paying day job to new ventures. But, by and large, a lot of people still stick to the norm. They’re scared.

--

Hoping that more people will start to follow their passion and the trend continues, thanks for the interview Shankar. I’m sure all the readers found your interview very helpful. I, for one, did. We wish you success in everything you do.

Sitakanta is co-founder of MySmartPrice.Com, which lets you compare the price of mobiles, books, laptops and what not, at the top shopping websites. I have to say it is one of my favorite websites.

Ramkarthik(RK): Hi Sitakanta. Tell us a little about yourself.

Sitakanta Ray (SR): I am a mechanical engineer who fell in love with programming while working at Oracle. I realized how much I enjoy coding, only when I had to stay away from it for 5 years while doing MBA and then a job in finance.  Now I am back to being a programmer at MySmartPrice which I cofounded with Sulakshan, my friend of 13 years.

RK: Being a mechanical engineer, why did you start MySmartPrice? Is that all down to following your passion?

SR: Mechanical engineers can do anything J MySmartPrice is not about technology. It is about a conviction that e-commerce is going to take off in India and a belief that price comparison will help users get better value for money.

Most people think that I have lost my mind to do this silly price comparison thing after passing out of IIM. Financially speaking, life in the last 8 months has been as difficult as it can be. But I have never been happier. That is possible because I am doing something that I truly believe in.

As someone said “Entrepreneurship is about living a few years of your life like most won’t, so you can live the rest of your life like most can’t”. I just hope the second part is true.

RK: Tell us about MySmartPrice. What do you guys do? And what is its USP?

We want to make MySmartPrice the ‘Easiest Way to Get The Best Price’ for anything. We want to set us apart on the basis of the ease of use and speed. We want that whenever people think about finding (best) price of something they should think about MySmartPrice and come here to get that.

MySmartPrice can answer the following questions:

What to Buy? If you want to find Touch screen mobiles that have QWERTY and 3G available below 15,000 then you should use our Mobile Finder tool. BTW I am rather proud of the speed that we have managed to achieve with this tool and will request everyone to try it for once.

Where to Buy? Let us say you decide to buy Motorola Backflip. Next question is from which store you should buy it. If you go to our page for Motorola Backflip, you will realize that the mobile is available for 17.5k on Flipkart and for 14.5k on Buytheprice!!! That is the power of this tool we have created. A saving of 3,000 Rupees for a single click is a cool deal.

RK: You reply to questions from people on twitter and facebook. You have a blog that talks about latest mobiles, books and general things. In short, you are using social media and blogs the way it should be used – to help people/customers. How do you do these every day? Do you have any social media plan?

SR: One of the most important uses of twitter has been to connect with some really awesome people. Especially since I was coming from 3 years of banking, I did not know many people in the technology world. Twitter has helped me immensely to connect with some of the best guys out there.

We also use these discussions with our users to get product ideas. We started with a site that had a search box alone. But lots of people were asking about android phones in a price range so we put together this page about android phones in India and now it is one of the most viewed pages on the site.

Honestly we never understood Facebook since neither of us (me and my partner) have never been heavy users of it. But over the last few months we have been actively trying to make sense of the medium and are happy to note that results have been positive only.

RK: How important is social media for startups?

SR: If my target users spend majority of their time on social media, then it will be stupid to ignore it. The reason I am excited about social media is that it is so much better at rewarding quality. A smart SEO can get any page at #1 position on Google but if your product is not up to the mark no one is going to share it with his friends.

RK: Before you started MySmartPrice along with Sulakshan Kumar, you worked at Oracle, where you fell in love with coding. Did you learn anything (other than coding) at Oracle that helped you later when you started MySmartPrice?

SR: We were actually among few guys from our batch who worked in a product company. The mindset that is required while developing a product is something that has stayed with me forever and has been a great asset during my entrepreneurial journey.

RK: Would you recommend people who want to start startups to gain experience first by working for a company/startup?

SR: If you get to choose between working for a startup vs. a big company then I will suggest that you go ahead and join the startup as the skills that you pick up in a startup will be a lot more relevant.

Irrespective of whether you join a startup or a big company resist the temptation to increase your expenses because cutting down on the life style may be quite difficult. At any cost avoid taking huge financial risks like a car or home loan if you plan to start a company.

RK: There is a varied opinion, especially on Hacker News community, about non-technical person starting a startup. What is your position on this? Do you think a non-technical or business person create a startup?

SR: I guess a balanced team is one of the most important assets in a startup and a non- technical  co-founder will go a long way in forming a balanced team. If you are a non-technical person and want to create a technology startup then go ahead but get a technical co-founder. More importantly try to stay updated with the broad changes in the technology domain so that you can have a meaningful discussion with your co-founder(s).

RK: How do you come up with new ideas to implement for MySmartPrice? Do you spend any particular time every day brainstorming or do you just carry a notepad with you and write down any idea that pops into your mind?

SR:  As a startup balancing between shipping products and working on new ideas is a challenge. Too much focus on new ideas hurt shipping of features already in the pipeline and there will be no growth without new ideas.

The entire week we work on the existing product only. The weekends are used for thinking of and discussing new ideas. This helps in ensuring that a) new ideas do not stop us from shipping and b) we get enough chance to figure out the next growth avenue.

RK: There is another problem with ideas. We get so many that it gets difficult to find the really good ones that will take the service/product to a new level. How do you differentiate the good ideas from the rest?

SR: We try to use user feedback to pick the ideas to pursue further. If the first cut of the idea is not going to take too much of time then we just code the feature and release it to our users. Depending upon the initial response from users we decide which features to take up in detail.

RK: What are the first few days of launching a startup like?

SR:  It is a roller coaster ride. One moment you are on top of the world thinking about all the things that your startup can achieve and the next moment you are shit scared about what will happen if things do not work out.

There are also a lot of reality checks during the first few months. Mundane things like power cuts, internet going down become some of the biggest challenges. Fortunately, we did not have to deal with rejection by investors since we did not plan to raise any money.

RK: Some people launch their service/product when it is 80% perfect and do the remaining work after the launch so as to avoid procrastination. Some people try to be perfectionist and get everything right before launching their product. How do you work?

SR: It is good to be perfectionist. But for us the question is what is perfect? Is it what the user feels comfortable with or is it what we think is awesome. We go by the definition that a good product is something that allows people to do what it is intended for. For example when we launched MySmartPrice, it was far from perfect (it still is not), but the core offering of price comparison was working up to the mark. It actually solved a problem and added value.

So our belief is that don’t wait for making a product perfect. Just launch it and keep improving it (based on the feedback that you receive). Small improvements everyday go a long way in making a great product.

RK: What are 3 things that you have learned from being an entrepreneur and starting MySmartPrice?

SR:  Following are the 3 key things that I have learned as an entrepreneur:

1.       You can do and achieve far more than you ever thought.

2.       Life is fun when you do what you love.

3.        There are lots of good people around, who will support you without any expectation of return for themselves.

RK: Your top 3 productivity tips

SR: Following are my 3 productivity tips:

1.       Discipline is the key to productivity. Sticking to a defined work hour has helped us improve our productivity tremendously.

2.       Have a specific hour of the day to check sites like Hackernews, Techcrunch, pluggdin etc. It is a good idea to check the email only 3-4 times a day. Twitter is the only site that remains open throughout the day.

3.       Plan for tasks for the week and make sure that you finish them. With our experience we can say that if you do not plan for work (tasks) in advance, you end up loosing lot of time.

RK: Could you tell us 3 Indian startups that you think will be successful in the near future (of course, other than MySmartPrice)?

SR: We are not experienced enough to evaluate other start-ups. I am considering start-ups which have started operations in the last 4-6 months only. I find the following to be really interesting:

ZaakPay: They are solving one of the biggest problems faced by e-commerce stores in India

Stalkninja: It connects students and start-ups. This is a problem that both parties want to be solved but there is no immediate solution. I am yet to meet another founder who is as passionate about his startup as @pocha.

TaxiGuide.in: This is again another problem that is faced by a large number of users but has not been solved properly yet.

Thanks for the taking the time to answer all the questions Sitakanta. I learned a lot and I’m very sure the readers also feel the same. Wish you, Sulakshan Kumar and MySmartPrice success.