e Magus

Pic credits: Getty & Inc.com Recently, a friend of mine asked me, what are the skill-sets required for becoming a successful entrepreneur? Having walked in the entrepreneur/start-up journey for few years, I gave him some top-of-mind thoughts on what makes an entrepreneur successful. However, the question stayed with me and I tried finding few common traits and reasons on what makes some folks successful. I got links to various articles where people wrote about   passion, resourcefulness, willingness to listen, team work, inspiring leaders, etc. But is there something more than these common actions that these (successful) people have? Something basic but more powerful in shaping their success. As they teach in many management strategy lessons that there are 2 powerful forces that impacts any outcome - Internal (Strength/Weakness) and External (Opportunities/Threats); with this premise, I started my search for answers to understand the intrinsic and extri...

My previous post was about how and where we get ideas for innovation. This post seems like a natural progression to it. Having run a startup from coffeehouse ( Cafe Coffee Day and Costa Coffee ), here are few tips, I’ve learnt along the way.. Find a coffeehouse that is spacious The coffeehouse should be close to place of prospective client(s) / home Choose a corner place.. It will provide for some privacy  Always place your order (Coffee or Food) early Tip the waiter/barista  Check the place you sit for phone signals and wireless (internet) strength See that the place you choose is in line of sight from the counter Be pleasant with the staff and also with people who occupy tables close to where you sit Check out if the cafe has a loyalty program and get a loyalty card Carry good quality headphones with mic (the ones that cancel the background noise) Know of any other hacks that a startup should consider when working from coffeehouse, do let me know ...

Having been an entrepreneur for over past 2 years and consulting for various startups on their business and marketing strategies, I had gained a lot of real experiences about the startup ecosystem.. from ideation to fruition  We all know that startups thrive in places where there is: economic growth access to capital young and educated work-force favourable government policies But, where do people get ideas for startups? Ask any startup founder and they would say - personal experience, market trends, existing problem or questioning the status quo, etc to be the top reasons which ignites the idea spark in them. A careful analysis of the top categories of startups (mostly technology startups) shows us that startup ideas thrive in the ‘border areas’.  Business is nothing but a form of structure that delivers value to stakeholders. The structures are formed basis specific activities. Every sphere of activity has a boundary and with each different boundaries...