Last week I attended the Nasscom Product Conclave. Lots of take aways.
Bootstrapping
I am reading Goal now ( a dedicated post is needed for the book ) and it taught me a new life lesson. Constraints are not a bad thing – they are the best thing that can ever happen to you. A few sessions reflected this thought process and brought some clarity.
For a Bootstrapped Startup – Cashflow / Money is the constraint. It shapes the way we think and act. Every Rupee that is spent is well thought out. Wastage is out of question. No unwanted feature creeps into the product – keeping the product spiffy and on its toes. The code / server is optimized to extract every ounce of performance as infrastructure is expensive and eats into the bottomline.
I can keep adding lot other things – I appreciate the constraint bootstrapping provides – it is actually creating the character of the future company that has started shaping up.
VCs
This brings me to the other side of the coin. I felt bad for VCs – they got bashed up in this mela. Almost every session had something or the other against VCs. Yes, VCs are bad for early stage startups which are not capital intensive. Actually money works to the detriment.
There is a place for VCs when the Orbits have to be shifted – sadly none of the VC bashers spoke about it. This also reflects how nascent this industry still is. The startups are just starting to take off. Only a few are feeling the need for VC funding.
Also Dr.Wadhwa gave enough statistics to prove how the VC industry is imploding in Silicon Valley. This will definitely make it harder for our startups and VCs in the near future. Perhaps the model is not right – perhaps it was not done right – we will never know.
