Working in a Start-up vs Big Organisation

After working for 3 years with well-established companies, I am now working with a one year old start-up. In initial 3 years of my career, in first year I worked with a mid-size company, having employee strength of around 200. After that, for next 2 years, I worked with a very old and large company, having over 2 lakh employees, though the environment and working culture there also was very relaxed, no-nonsense kind, courtesy to my manager and all teammates. Coming from that huge company to directly a start-up feels very different. Start-Up, the word seems to tell:  Start and work your way up, if you were sleeping till now. Though it has just been a week since I joined my new start-up company, so it may be a very early to compare both, I would still like to list few differences I have noticed.
I would start with very visible and common things. Here in start-up, there is no restriction on you should wear at work. You don’t have to be very formal with your attire. You can wear t-shirts, jeans daily. There is a guy in my office who comes in half pants daily. You do not need a pair of formal shoes. Your casual sports shoes or even sandals will do.  There are no specific timings. You can come late if you don’t like to get up early, and work till late. There is no specified number of hours that you have to spend in office. Although, that means that often you end up working long hours in office, as there is a lot of work and few people in small company. If you don’t feel like coming to office, you can work from home. So you can see, there is a lot of flexibility in a start-up.
There are other more important benefits of working in a start-up. There are less number of people, so everyone is important and your opinion counts.  You are noticed for almost everything you do, for every step you take, though it applies for your mistakes also, as much it does for your contributions. In starting years, there is generally only one office, and that also is small, so you end up sharing your space with the people who matter most: the founders and CEOs/CTOs of the company. You can see how they are running the organisation, how much effort they are putting, what new ideas they are thinking of, their decision process etc. You can even give them your suggestions, and thus directly become even more important part of the company. In big organisations, you sometimes have not even seen these people even after working for years. In those big companies, some big guys, sitting in some other part of the planet, will take decision for you, and you don’t even know that who has done what to you. There you are just another drop in the ocean; here you are like a river, which after meeting with other rivers will form the ocean someday. There you are just going with the flow; here you are actually deciding the direction of the flow.
In small companies, you can try new things, fail at them, then retry something new again. There are no monolithic hierarchies for decision making. Instead of deliberating on pros and cons of something in meeting rooms for hours without actually trying it, here you just try it, learn from failures, and move on. Whatever work you do, its effects, whether good or bad, are in front of you very soon. There is no waiting for months to see the result of your work. That is called failing fast approach.
But there are lot of things that I will miss from my previous companies. Here I cannot sit in canteen and chat with colleagues on latest news, cricket or movies. Nobody seems to have much time for long discussions on Sachin’s 100th hundred, or Dravid’s retirement, or the movie released last Friday, or share market, or the next scandal done by UPA government.  But as they say, nothing comes for free in life. Here you are important, your time is important, so you do only important thing.
Welcome to Start-Up !!!.


Edit: As one friend pointed out, I forgot to mention that there are some exceptions among big organisations, where still a start-up environment is maintained as Google,Facebook,Cisco etc.

Is Negativity more powerful than positivity?

Today a friend inquired about why I don’t drink, don’t smoke and don’t eat non veg. He wanted to know that why I am still missing the enjoyment he and other friends get from these things. His thoughts were that I might not have done these things early in my life because my parents had not allowed me. Now when I was living hundreds of kilometers away from them, independent, free to make any decision, why had I not started any of these enjoyments? I have been asked these types of questions often by friends. Most of the times, I am not able to satisfy them logically by my answer, because my answer includes some reference to my religion, Jainism, but they want is pure logic. It was no different this time. But after many incidents of this type, my mind was forced to find logic behind this choice of mine of not smoking, drinking or having pieces of meat and bones of a poor unlucky animal in my plate.

I had been a science student, and science says that there is logic behind everything in this world. So, logically, there has to be some logic behind this reasoning of mine. And after some logical thinking, I found that there is a reason for everything we do. We eat because we feel hungry, we earn because we can have something (veg or non-veg) to eat, and I am writing this because I want to share my thoughts with you. So perhaps there is a reason behind everything, and reason can be positive or negative. Positive reasons encourage us to do something, while negative ones make us frightened, skeptical of doing something, and sometimes force us to take a back seat. But the question here is that which one is more powerful? I find negative reasons to be more powerful in most cases. You may have lots of positive reasons for doing something, but most of the times, one negative reason is powerful enough to convince us to not to do that thing. For example, fear of failure stops us from trying something new in our life. A novice speaker has fear of crowd; students do not answer questions in class because they might get their answer wrong and others might laugh on them, juniors do not put their idea in team meetings because seniors might reject it. A batsman looses an opportunity of hitting a six because he is feared of getting caught if he plays his shot in air. And those don’t fear; end up making bowlers feared from them, like Sehwag or Chris Gayle. In Math, you multiply infinite number of positive numbers with one negative number, and the whole result is negative. In software, a program of thousands of lines of code gets spoiled by one wrong statement.

So negativity is much more powerful in most cases. That’s why great men tell us to think positive, to be optimistic.

In my case, I can think of many negative reasons, but not even a single positive reason to drink, smoke or eat non-veg, so I don’t do it. I am thinking highly negative here, but will continue to do so, irrespective of what wise men say.
Which one is more powerful in your case? What do you think?

What to write about?

After a lot of days, I happened to recall about my long forgotten hobby of blogging. I browsed through the old posts and thought of adding one more today. But cannot decide what to write. Should I write about my office and the work I do (or made to do) there? Nah! Today is Sunday and I will be at that place after few hours tomorrow, i.e. Monday morning. So let’s not bring the thoughts of it before tomorrow. Should I write about how I passed the whole day today? But there is nothing special to tell about it. Same routine, sleeping, eating, watching TV, then sleeping again. Then waking up and suddenly wanting to write a post here, then will go to sleep again and waking up on Monday morning to be in office. Nothing interesting to write about! Should I write about the current happenings? About the Mumbai blasts, then Delhi High Court blasts? Or about the unfolding of one after another scandals about our corrupt politicians, who seem to come at the helm only to make money? Leave it. You already have had a lot of it on news channels buzzing 24 hours. Oh! I remember about one thing that interests me a lot. Cricket! So I can write about it, but what? Let’s try. Indian team lost badly to England in all formats, returning with a tied match only. Not a single victory for a world champion team in the whole tour. And Rahul Dravid retired from ODIs. So here also nothing good to write about.

After so much thinking, I do not know what to write about. So let’s leave it for some other day. Let’s talk about what I am doing now. Hey, you already know it. I am writing this post, even if not knowing what to write, and my 4 years old computer, on my 8 years old speakers, is playing songs of latest movies. Great Na! That’s called new wine in old bottle. Let’s rest all of this for now, as I have to go to bed, to wake up on Monday Morning. Wish me Luck!

The great "Trio" of Indian Cricket

Sachin Tendulkar: This man does not need any introduction, at least in India. And if he does for you, then please tell which planet you are from? You may not belong to the earth, for sure. The greatest cricketer born in India till date, he has left very less to be done for others, so no one will have any chance to be greater than him in near future. He is adorned by many names as Master Blaster, Run Machine and ‘A 5’5’’ Giant’, as Ricky Ponting has called him. In our country, India, cricket is the only religion which does not distribute and make people fight, politicians can not make use of it to play with peoples’ sentiments and increase their vote banks. It does not cause any riots, no one gets killed on its name, and Sachin is the God of this religion, the greatest epitome of it. His name is now synonym of cricket. Most of the time, the players are identified by the game they play, but in India, Sachin identifies the game itself. If somebody does not know about cricket, he will still know Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, and would identify cricket as the game Sachin plays. He is a nightmare for bowlers; he even came in dreams of Shane Warne hitting him outside the ground. He holds virtually every record in batting. With his small height, he stands tall among all his counterparts. I just request him that he continues to frighten the bowlers, sitting on th e pile of records which grows higher and higher.

Sourav ‘Dada’ Ganguly: Don’t go on his boyish looks! He will knock you down if the time belongs to him. That’s what, the most successful captain of India, Sourav Chandidas Ganguly, had done throughout his career. He always had to fight, with the selectors, with the board, for his team, for young players and ironically, for himself also, and he did it all, with glory and elan. There were few people who did not cherish his flamboyance, were furious at him at moments, but he did not mind it. He did not fear with anyone, and always strived for the team. His aggression, with distinctive leadership, brought India to new heights. Now we were winning abroad, our players could retaliate with eye-in-eye to opponents. He made the Australian captain, Steve Waugh, to wait for toss. He waved his shirt in Lords, in reply to England’s Andrew Flintoff. He filled Indian team with new spark. The opponent captains were not able to digest his tactics; they did not like him, because they never expected the ‘polite’ Indians to be furious. In the process, Sourav had few enemies, inside and outside team, thanks too his distinct and never seen style. But inspite of all this, he was just a player in the team. Perhaps, there was nothing he could have done. So, at last, he had to go, leaving his aggression and flamboyance in the players, as his eternal footprints. The day ends, the evening comes, the furious and aggressive sun has to dim its light, and vanish completely in the night. Dada could not change the law of nature.

Rahul Dravid: ‘Mr. Cool’, ‘Mr. Dependable’, ‘The Wall’ these are some names this man has earned. ‘Earned’ because he did all the hard work through out his career. Many a times, the great master blaster blasted, Dada faltered, but The Wall stood upfront, strong and resilient ever, denying to fail, denying to fall. He is the man entire team looks upon in ordeal. You would often hear ‘out-of-form’ season of every batsman in the world, but this word comes very rarely against the name of Mr. Reliable. He took even the responsibility of wicket-keeping in ODIs for many years. Like Sachin, he enjoys a clean image and respect of opponents on and off field, but not that fame and stardom the first one has, but deserves for sure. He may not be the run – machine, he may not have that aggression, but he the most dependable and reliable batsman. He does not come in the dreams of bowlers hitting them out of ground, he does not hit those high and handsome offside sixes, but he is the one who makes the bowlers to sweat most for his wicket. There is one suggestion from my side for the bowlers: You better knock The Wall down, otherwise he will be there, frustrating you, testing your patience, and slowly and silently, taking the game away from you.

One Year of Corporate Life

Today is 1 July, 2010. The date marks the completion of one year of corporate life for me. Since I joined Rave Technologies as my first company last year, things have changed a lot, including me. That Ghaziabad college boy is now a software developer in Mumbai. I have become more distant to my family, hence more unreachable. Until last year, I was one phone call and 4 hours away. Now, still one phone call, but 20 hours.

There are lot more things that have changed. Friends have been replaced by colleagues, seniors by mentors, teachers by managers. In college, if you don’t go to classes, you will get more time with friends, hence more fun. But here, if I don’t go to office, I will be alone, no one to be with, no one to talk. Apart from that, you can’t choose not to go to office at your will, it depends on your manager’s will. He’ll choose whether you can take a day off or not. But the more difficult and strange thing comes now. In college, you call a guy one year senior to you Sir or Mam. It looks that you are giving respect to that person, but you are doing it because you are told to do so, and that person knows it. But here, you can turn it around. The person may have as many years of experience as your age, but still you call him/her by name. It looks that you are showing no respect to him, but you truly respect him for all his knowledge and experience.

There are few more things. A few bucks given by parents for monthly expenses have changed to a bigger amount of salary, but still you find it tough to meet your expenses. The list of changes may go on, but here I leave to discuss other things for the next time…

P.S. You may also put comments to share your views about this experience

A Battle For Top Spot

India and South Africa,both cricket teams are fighting for top spot in ICC test ranking in Eden Gardens ,Kolkata.The winner of this test match will earn the coveted spot Currently Indian team is proudly sitting there.But after the diamal performance in previous match, they will have to earn the spot again by winning this match,they can not be satisfied by a draw either.Since the starting of the ICC test Ranking in 2001, the Aussies had continued to be there at the top until their team was hammered by the retirement of some ace players as Hayden,Gilchrist,Warne and McGrath.The departure of all these players from cricket happened at almost no gap of time,leaving their team dangling to retain the prestige they continued to enjoy,and Ponting being the lone survivour from the past.Entire team had to be rejuvenated. Ponting had to put a lot of worries and effort, and he somewhere lost his enviable batting charm in the process.But again that team is showing that they are eager to come there where they were left earlier by the retired player.This is the bench strength of Australia and craving to perform of the young players that has paved the way again for Australia and now Ponting is leading them beautifully to progress to the desired place.

But what about India? First time in the cricket history, India is sitting at the top.But will they able to retain the spot for a long time as Australia did? We have seen in the previous match how our team is dependant on some of its key players, the old legs. Sachin,Dravid,Laxman all have crossed the dangerous 35 mark and we can see their retirements in coming 2-3 years.Sehwag is also of 31.Selectors are also paying no attention in preparing young players to fill the blanks in future.In Bangladesh tour,they could have given a chance to lokes of Raina and Kohli but they refrained form doing any experiment even against Bangladesh. Nad in last match, when 3 key batsmen were injured,they had choosen Wridhiman Saha, a wicketkeeper instead of pure batsman.What was that? A team so strong as South Africa, they are doing experiments with new players,where we needed some solid and promising players to fill the spot.Even Saha himself did not expect his selection at this time.

Well,having said all this,India is in a commanding position and well poised to win this match, and in turn, the No.1 place,thanks to the blistering performance of their "key old players", with no youngster having shown any guts and hope.I can just hope that ALL Izz WELL for India.

Some grand exits in Cricket

Hi,here is something very fascinating for cricket fans.I found this article very interesting, very exciting, citing wonderful information about some of the legends of the game. Really a gem to read. Go For It

A New Beginning, in a New City....

Hi,greetings to all! It has been more than a month since I wrote any post here.After finishing a vigorous,very happening and crucial college life of 4 years,last few days have been a bit static,lazy and sleepy, with a sense of relief,a feeling of being without friends after so many days and some apprehensions about future life.But after roaming on those joyful and colorful paths of college life, finally life has taken a new turn from today.Today was the first day in office of Rave Technology,Mumbai,where I put my first step in the corporate world with some excitement,some pinches in the heart.

And on all these things, this city itself says a lot about it.I have passed my last 4 years nearby a metro city,the capital of India,but this another metro city has got a tons of different things in terms of lifestyle,local languages and a lot other things.A city of filmstars,businessmen and other high profile people,the city has lot of stories of success,struggle,terror burried in it. So being here gives a different feeling.You pass through the ways where some greats lingered in the past searching their ways of life during their struggle times,the roads where some terrorists fired the bullets last year,in local trains reviving the memories of 1993 blasts,but inspite of all this fright and intrigue,there is something magnetic in this city, that keeps its people attached to it, inspite of all this uproar.And now,I am going to be a part of it.

So now,back to some work, catch you all later.....