calculate your ethical quotient

The article down is from Mr David Cowan a VC from menlo park California....

This just in from my partner and Harvard Business School Professor Felda Hardymon...

This test only has one question, but it's a very important one. By giving an honest answer, you will discover where you stand morally. The test features an unlikely, completely fictional situation in which you will have to make a decision. Remember that your answer needs to be honest, yet spontaneous. Please scroll down slowly and give due consideration to each line...


You are in Florida, Miami to be specific. There is chaos all around you caused by a hurricane with severe flooding. This is a flood of biblical proportions. You are a photojournalist working for a major newspaper, and you're caught in the middle of this epic disaster, The situation is nearly hopeless. You're trying to shoot career-making photos. There are houses and people swirling around you, some disappearing under the water. Nature is unleashing all of its destructive fury. Suddenly you see a man floundering in the water. He is fighting for his life, trying not to be taken down with the debris. You move closer . . . somehow the man looks familiar. You suddenly realize who it is. It's George W. Bush! At the same time you notice that the raging waters are about to take him under...forever. You have two options--you can save the life of G.W. Bush or you can shoot a dramatic Pulitzer Prize winning photo, documenting the death of one of the world's most powerful men. So here's the question, and please give an honest answer: Would you select high contrast color film, or would you go with the classic simplicity of black and white?

Work Life Balance my experience

This link from Mr Brad Feld is really great.

Work life Balance Yeah a very very important thing to be considered. May be I can put in this way. I know that my father he works hard when he does. But I always prefer to call him as a lazy guy. Some times even I asks him how did u get all this time always go for nomadic trips across North India for 15 to 20 days and some foreign land trips once in a year and all.Thats ok I can understand but he always finds time for hanging out with friends attending marriages traveling 200 miles and taking days off.

This one incident was really eye opening for me. I asked him one day. " Abba why are you taking this many vacations in a month, How did you find all this time rather than working on your business" His answer was some thing like this. " Yes , I did take off . I am doing it for you and family. Its not always business I want to spend time with you and this is my satisfaction " There is always a balance "

I just couldn't understand any thing at that point but when I am here in this far and distant world.I appreciate every second he spends with me .I am more happy this is incidental than accidental. Nothing can be compensated for those moments ..

Private Equity - The Job of Choice?

The below article is from Mr Fred Wilson A VC blog. His blog is the most respected in its category ... Please feel free to go through his blog..

you can read similar articles in the link above....or summary below.


Private Equity - The Job of Choice?
It used to be that the ultimate career goal was the CEO job at a Fortune 100 company.
But these days, it seems that people are leaving those jobs aside and heading to private equity instead.

In the past week, I've read three stories that made this realization hit home

1 - Colin Powell, former Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Cheif of Staff of the US Military joins Kleiner Perkins as a special limited partner.

2 - Sandy Weill, former Chairman and CEO, of Citibank wants to leave Citi early to start a buyout firm.

3 - John Joyce, head of IBM's Services Group, which represents over half of IBM's revenues, gets off the CEO track to join Silver Lake Partners, a technology buyout firm.
It seems that private equity and venture capital is the career of choice these days.

I really agrrew with his artcile. My own icon Mr Vivek paul.. The CEO and CTO of Wipro the richest software company in India my Azim Premji ( Worlds no 7 Rich guy)..

He resigned form the job to join some venture Capitalist job...

Harry Potter ... What is it man

It’s time for me to write about something that has been bothering me for a long time and I have yet to address. I get sick and tired about hearing about any one subject over and over again without end. Moreover I get sick and tired of people obsessing over that subject and assuming because I do not there is something wrong with me. I don’t think people who aren’t Met fans are crazy, or that people who don’t vote Republican are somehow evil (yet almost defiantly misguided).

Yet every time I tell someone I haven’t read one word of Harry Potter I get a look like I was the second gunman on the grassy null. I am a fan of science fiction and of fantasy in general, but yet cannot find myself the slightest bit interested in this new cult known as Harry Potter. It may be that I am use to going against the grain of society, and therefore I cannot see myself follow the pack and reading something that the entire world is fixated on. But more importantly I see it as an act of not follow the pack of lemmings off the cliff...

Mr Vivek Paul Great lesson to learn from him

Vivek Paul. The great lesson from leader...

This is awesome. I really like it the way he said. He stepped in to venture capitalism in a boston firm after being the CEO of wipro..

When asked why he said these words

"But it was his encounter with an elephant outside of Bangalore more than a dozen years ago that crystallized this philosophy.

Paul was curious why an elephant tied to a small stake in the ground did not yank it up and be on its way. The animal's handler explained that baby elephants tied to similar stakes learn they can't break free. As elephants grow older and stronger, they don't test the stake again--thereby remaining trapped by what should be an obsolete restraint.

"I said, 'By gosh! That's probably relevant to people as well "...

Hope u understand what he said

6 soft skills for every hard-nosed professional

6 soft skills for every hard-nosed professional

Behavioural training experts say there are several soft skills are required in these circumstances. Some of them include:

i. Interpersonal skills

ii. Team spirit

iii. Social grace

iv. Business etiquette

v. Negotiation skills

vi. Behavioural traits such as attitude, motivation and time management

VC Cliche of the Week

VC Cliche of the Week
By Fred on Venture Capital and Technology

Most entrepreneurs are smart, many are very smart.

But one of the things that entrepreneurs need to watch out for is being too smart for their own good.

We call that "too clever by half".

It's a cliche I've used and heard used for as long as I've been investing, but I honestly have no idea where it comes from.

I did a little work on the web, and the best I could come up with was this. I suspect the origin of this cliche is british, but beyond that, I have no clue where it comes from.

Whatever the origin, its a good phrase.

I remember one of my earliest investments. The entrepreneur was really smart but whenever he had a deal to work on, he'd always try to optimize it way beyond what was necessary. He'd get too cute and in the end all the complexity worked against getting the deal done.

I recall another deal early in my career where the entrepreneur had a company interested in buying his business. It was a good deal. But he tried to carve out a part of the busines that he thought the buyer wasn't interested in. The buyer didn't really want that part of the business but they thought the entrepreneur was trying to pull a fast one on them and the mistrust that developed killed the deal in the end.

The phrase "keep it simple stupid" is really great advice for anyone who is really smart and prone to overcomplicate and overanalyze things.

The tendency to overcomplicate things often shows up in business plans, business models, product plans, and the products themselves. And things that seem really interesting and attractive on paper often don't end up being very attractive in real life.

I have come to believe that the act of reducing something to its essential elements and focusing laserlike on them is the best thing an entrepreneur can do.

Because being "too clever by half" is often the kiss of death for a business