Catching up on reading

Have been catching up on reading. As the last few weeks have been hectic did not get the time to read much. So on a surprisingly free Saturday (Mumbai was off for Ganesh Chathurti) I went down to crossword - a bookstore here and bought three books -

The Dhando Investor - Mohnish Pabrai - an excellent book. It's very cocise and I've already finished reading the same

The Black Swan - The Impact of the Highly Improbable - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

The history of India after Gandhi - Ramachandra Guha

I like reading history usually and am looking forward to the last book. Any suggestions from people out there of other books that are must reads?

Officially engaged

Hi everyone,
this week has probably been the most significant one of my life till
date. Those of you who know me know that me and Hemisha have been
going steady for quite some time now. We've finally gotten engaged and
have set a date of 23rd december in mumbai for the wedding. Looking
forward to seeing all my friends there. p.s. Please avoid calling my
india mobile as i am overseas and roaming is very (ouch) expensive!!

India's wireless industry crosses another milestone

By Adding 8.06mn subscribers in July to take the total number of mobile phone subscribers to 193mn. It's amazing how much I personally underestimated the local market in India.

Finally satellite tv

Finally after a two year break i am getting satellite television.

Interesting meeting yesterday

Had an interesting meeting yesterday with a junior from IITB. He graduated in 2003 so that means his batch has spent probably around 3-4 years in industry. During the course of conversation, he mentioned something that shocked me. It seems there are about 20-25 startups that people in his batch are founding. Amazing stuff. Why is it that ideation happens in waves and most people tend to ideate at roughly the same time? any answers?

P.S. It brought back memories of 2000 when I think there were probably roughly the same number of start-ups in dorm rooms at IITBombay.

joining a startup??

Joining a start-up is a big decision for most people. A decision that involves not just what they want to do, but what the significant people around them want them to do, how it will impact their lives, plans, joint decisions etc. Somethings I would advise all people to consider before joining a start-up

1. the fundemental premise that the start-up needs to exist.
2. the other people in the company and how good they are as people to work with.
3. Funding - not just how much but from where is it coming?
4. incentives - does the company appreciate the risk you are taking and is it willing to compensate that risk realistically? Is the risk measured on similar lines on both sides of the table?

Of these I feel 1 is over rated. Most people tend to look at 1 which is not the primary reason startups fail. They usually fail because of bad organizational culture, an inability to recruit talent and faulty understanding of the funds it will take to achieve a goal.

Reading / just read

Just read
The real deal - sandy weills autobiography
barbarians at the gate - story of RJR Nabisco and KKR
Am now reading
the undercover economist - Tim Harford
i would strongly reccomend all three books. They are all excellent must reads.

Does a business have to be high margin to be attractive?

Had a very interesting discussion today over lunch with a friend about
what should the attractiveness of a business be based on. While low
margin businesses worry me, i think i am getting over that fear to
appreciate the importance of return on equity. Margin is an abstract
thought in my opinion, a quantity that is calculated post, as an
entrepreneur i feel whats more natural is to look at whats the best
business to enter given a certain finite amount of resources. I guess
thats why funds are measured on IRR and not on the average margin of
the companies they are invested into.

Sunday update

The sunday update. Pretty good relaxed day. Did do some work. .lunch with an old friend i am trying to get to join the team..very good talk with him about all facets of business.. Then a visit to our new office to check on progress of interior work.. Lots of sleep, some cycling... Attended the annual general meeting of my building co-op, some socializing with other residents..back to cycle.. bliss

Sunday interrupted

Why do people ring doorbells at 0715 hours on sundays? Why do doorbells not come with internet controls that you can use to configure when they ring and when they wont? Zzzzzz