Lesson # 48 : The Company Men

Officially without any further debate I can state that The Company Men is the saddest, most depressing and bland film that I have watched in recent times. The reason and I don't blame the script writer or the director is that the entire film revolves around the Recession.

And perhaps the film is an actual portrayal of the trials and tribulations that an individual did need to go through when companies believed that the only key to survival was downsizing and job cuts.There's a lot that the film ends up teaching by the end of it. And though you are a lot sadder and depressed perhaps the lessons will serve a greater purpose in the scheme of things to come.

Without ruining the plot of the film some of the learnings are as follows:

1. So you worked at the corporation for 19 years. Good job. Now get lost.
2. It doesn't matter if you co-found a company or built it unless you run it.
3. All that really matters in the end are stock options and overvalued share pricing.
4. It's good to diversify specially if your core business makes losses one quarter after the other.
5. Even in a recession the best company is that which has the fanciest office. So fire employees if you can manage to get a new building out of it.
6. Sleeping with the head of HR doesn't guarantee that you will not be fired.
7. All said and done the Porsche or the Fancy Club membership ain't worth a dime if you can't pay your mortgage.
8. Losing your job will not cause the world to end.In short, we live, we die and the wheels on the bus go round and round.
9. There's always going to be neck to neck competition and it always pays if you don't have extra baggage along with you such as mortgages, credit card debt and heart disease.
10. Family is important. So treat them with respect. They are the only people who will stand by you when you land yourself in a pool of shit.

With that it would be a nice idea to go watch the film.

-On behalf of Doodle inc
(Udit Sabharwal)

Lesson # 47: Thinking Small Infinitely Small

There's a reason why most startups fail and it doesn't have to do with the economic crisis or over priced IPO's more often than not it's a bad idea and the traditional thought of thinking BIG.

So why is thinking BIG so bad for an individual, or a startup or a company?

Let's first understand the fundamental difference between thinking big and thinking long term.

Quite clearly thinking big is going to be different for every individual or company as it's completely relative. So for a 20 year old it's probably thinking about making a million dollars and retiring at the earliest whereas for a tech startup the idea is going to be about going on to launch their IPO and probably become the next Apple or Microsoft.

In contrast, thinking long term for the same individual is going to be about saving money every single day for the next few years so that ten years down the line he/she has those million dollars to retire. Similarly, for a startup it's going to be about developing sustainable products that will ensure that it will not run out of steam in roughly six to eight months and that probably in a few years time it is able to achieve that target of establishing itself as a successful company in comparison to both apple and microsoft.


The following having been defined perhaps it should be understood now that it is essential to think small and think Long.


There's a reason why an Apple product is perfect in every single sense. Right from the edges to the smooth transition between applications to the flawless touch sensitivity it offers. Similarly, there's a reason why each and every Lindt bar tastes the same, looks the same and is packed the same throughout the world. The beauty lies in each of these brands being able to think small.

Imagine a scenario where you say "I wanna be a millionaire". Brilliant, Perfect, What a thought. Now imagine leaving lose change in your pocket here and there. Or Imagine leaving about five rupees a day for say sixty years that amounts to 1,09,500. That's a whole lot of change and a whole lot of money you might never see. Or imagine buying full priced books when you can get them on heavy discounts on the internet. Do you still feel that it makes sense? What if on your death bed you realize you made exactly 98,90,500 and that you could have made a Crore had you not let go of all that loose change. The basic idea is to think small.

What if you buy an insurance policy and not read the fine print and suddenly when you need that money you curse yourself for not reading the finer print or as in this case thinking of the smaller things.

They say (And they are a bunch of idiots) that take care of the small things and the big things will fall into place. Perhaps it's the other way around.

On behalf of Doodle inc
(Udit Sabharwal)

Lesson # 46 : Why Puma can't make wallets and one business can't produce everything

I was gifted a Puma Wallet a few months ago and I stacked it away in my cupboard for about three months till my old wallet finally gave away and I had absolutely no choice but to actually go ahead and start making use of it. Upon searching online stores I realized that for a 550 rupee wallet it was an extremely shitty product.

The fundamental flaw with a Puma wallet is that you cannot store notes horizontally.You need to fold them and then role them up and stack them. Apart from this the wallet is so huge that it bulges right out of your pocket and for a frequent metro traveller like myself there's all the more reason to keep a lookout for pickpockets.

All this aside assuming I had bought the wallet which luckily I did not I would have probably discarded it within a span of one week which as it happens I am looking to do right about now.

So what does this little incident teach us?

Well firstly Puma cannot and should not manufacture wallets for one.Apart from this it is important to note that it is essential for businesses to look at a product and not simply go about producing it simply because it seems like a profitable venture but whether the product will have a significant impact on the market, whether the consumers will be willing to accept it and whether it will fit in with the brand image that has been generated over the course of time that the business has been in existence.

Considering all these factors lets take an example that goes in the opposite direction and then analyse the situation.

Amazon as an e-commerce store decides out of the blue that they want to get into the production of technological devices called ebook readers. That's a fantastic idea. And then they go all out and produce a flawless piece of hardware which sells out as fast as the iphone when it releases. That in itself is absolutely brilliant and in stark contrast to what Puma did.

But if tomorrow Amazon decides to produce everything electronics and let go of their fundamental business of e-commerce that is going to turn out to be absolutely unpleasant for them. So if you were relying on looking at Amazon televisions, mobile phones, music players, home theatre systems it is not an impossibility but the success of these ventures shall develop on the factors that I have stated above.

Finally, the entire purpose of writing this article was to point out that it is virtually impossible for a business to get into the production of anything and everything. No matter how big it is.

On behalf of Doodle
(Udit Sabharwal)

Lesson # 45 : Alma Mater ~ A Tale of Destiny?

I saw it in bookstores, painted across the web, on my facebook feed and even on other people's bookshelves. Personally there's a reason why you don't do something. In this case it was just procrastination.  So after roughly six months of contemplating whether I should spend 83 bucks on buying a book about an Indian Entrepreneur(Key words Indian and Entrepreneur used one after the other) I finally chose to go ahead and instead of buying two Twix bars and taking a rickshaw home I bought the book and walked down.

Now right on the first page Varun Aggarwal is pretty clear at stating that he ain't no author. And believe me when I say this he can't write for shit but the story that he tells is inspiring, witty and insightful. (He did not pay me to write this)

Any ways the whole idea is that when you read his story there's three things that the book delves into - Anu Aunty, Porn and well somewhere through mid way Alma mater.

Around the same time I also watched Matt Damon's we bought a Zoo and through the course of the entire movie there's one line I take back "Twenty Seconds of Courage"

I think that perhaps each one of us need to have those twenty seconds of courage. I am yet to have mine but I think Varun Aggarwal had his share of twenty seconds and co-founded a million dollar company. Was it destiny? I don't think so. If he would have been trying to wait for destiny come knocking on his door he would have been a part of the hundreds of engineers who work for an Infosys or a TCS.

So that's that every entrepreneur has a choice either to face up and gather his courage for those twenty seconds when he/she are faced with a choice. On one side is a cliff in which all of us eventually do fall the rat race which all of us try so hard to avoid and yet we end up right at the place which we choose to avoid and on the other end is a choice to run into a unforseen jungle one which hasn't been heard of or seen one which is meant for the brave hearted. If in those twenty seconds one can make that choice then perhaps life in itself can be completely different as it was Varun Aggarwal.

So was the book worth a read? (Considering I finished it in 2 hours.Yes)

Finally, gather your twenty seconds of courage and leap into the jungle of the unknown atleast that's what our Indian Entrepreneur thinks.

On behalf of Doodle 

(Udit Sabharwal)