1. No % Split of the company is set in the beginning.
2. Each person identifies the responsibility he can take care of, and set targets against them, which are mutually agreed.
3. Based on the contribution impact to organization, a % is allocated to those targets (plus an upside incase the objectives are over achieved).
4. Similar to vesting – those folks who meet their targets get their target % of equity, or even more depending on the agreed upside.
5. People who do not meet their targets take a beating on their equity.
6. I think inherently the model reinforces the necessity of each party to do more to get the company going forward.

Updated FIRA flyer with venue details. Good luck to competing teams, and happy travel-planning for delegates !

Download now or listen on posterous

Janesh.m4a (694 KB)

Testing what happens when you upload a music file to posterous to render on Twitter and wordpress. This incidentally was my first ever attempt at composing music using Garageband.

I look at the 80-year-old sitting at the underpass selling tissue paper and wonder – would he have had a good life? This guy was at the prime of his life when my country was still run by the British, a time when Gandhi (ji) was making news. Now at this age – would he be smiling when he goes to sleep everyday, or feeling bad and alone when he wakes up and goes to work?

Why do we do the things that we do – every day? What is the end purpose of what we do?

Is it money and everything money can buy? Is it grinding 20 years of your life now, so you can afford to live the next 20 in money-bought-comforts? Is it financial freedom, i.e. no-dues-to-the-world or now-i-can-easily-access-comforts, or equally implied state of I-don’t-need-comforts?

Is it for respect and recognition- to be recognized by your friends and family, and be respected by your peers and strangers? What is interesting is that this is in many ways similar to a school boy carving his name on the desk at which he sits, so others will read it and wonder who the man is. A fresh coat of paint, and the name is nowhere to be seen. So social image , or, “others will respect me” as a purpose of life is a very short-lived goal. In any case, I don’t think that was the “purpose” for many BIG people whom we now know and respect – but a recognition that we give them for other things that they had made as their purpose in life.

Is it to experience the feeling of love, to know what it feels to be loved and cared for by another mortal and probably have kids together? The feeling that there is someone who cares about you more than you yourself do – also brings a feeling of existential satisfaction, that your life matters – to someone who thinks well and high about you, and when you are with this person, the world is so much nicer.

Or is it for the next generation? For bringing up your own kids in better circumstances than you yourself were in – as you grew up, so they might do something great? Which is understandable and is exactly what many people do, but the “purpose of your life” as a mere bridge to the next generation is like postponing your life’s purpose to infinity- since then, the expectation from the next generation cannot be any more than being the bridge to the next-next generation.

Is it for happiness? In my understanding, happiness is a state of balance between what-we-desire and what-we-have. However, we know there is no limit to what-we-desire, and there clearly is a definite limit to what-we-can-have, therefore, happiness is a myth for all, but for people without desires.

Majority, i.e. people who are neck deep in their busy social life would agree, that happiness is a combination of financial, physical and social well-being (the social well-being very often dependent on financial well-being). However then, Happiness being the purpose of life sounds shallow and meaningless as it is merely means to drag you through life without much discomfort.

There are some exceptions I feel – people who have worked and are working to make this world a better place have done very meaningful things, making medical, technological, social and political breakthroughs that save lives and make many of the things possible today and are all very meaningful.

Thinking very objectively – Do you know your great-grandfather? Do you think anyone will remember you when your great-grandchild goes to college?

Are we living life for the sake of living? Or is our goal to live as long as we can? Is the life on this planet a luxury that we should make the best of? Or a chance given to us to make a difference to the way life on this planet will evolve? Should we try at all? Or just focus on our bank accounts and social image?

Monk Says: You earn, you spend, you worry, you strain, you fight, you borrow, you try to buy happiness, you fail, you’re sick by the time you’re done earning. Me? I dont earn, I dont spend. I’m just calm and happy.

The journey started when I was in my second year of NUS Mechanical Engineering and had developed a humanoid that could do crazy stuff. We landed the First Prize at the FIRA Robot world cup in Austria 2003. And we found a customer. It was illegal to sell something like this for 25 grant without registering a company – so we did. We won all FIRA Robot World Cups in subsequent years. And we sold many more. And we got funded.

We generated tons of press, locally and internationally, we won awards, we made 6 digit revenues, interacted with the who’s-who of the industry. And we learnt, and applied the knowledge to our little start-up and we grew.

We spent a lot of money on research. The future prospects were too brilliant to stop doing what we were doing – even when our finances were running really really low. But we stuck to our goal. Some of us dropped out. Some new ones came in. Sometimes things happened in no time and sometimes it dragged endlessly.

What we did do along the way – was to learn an awesome lot of stuff. Amazing amounts of information, key things that differentiated just-an-idea from a potentially great start-up. And a whole lot about balancing optimism and realism.

And now – we’re passing it on – to the aspiring entrepreneur who has something that holds a lot of promise. Contact us at info@start-upfactory.com to get us to go through your business plan and help you get funded.

Quick Note: Start-up factory is a pre-investment ViC that invests intellectual capital(iC) into budding new start-ups. The aim is to align business plans so that they become more attractive for external VC funding. Start-Up factory offers hands-on experience, links start-ups to VCs in our network and provides extensive mentoring to budding entrepreneurs.

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground in a large field. While it was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on it.

As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung,t began to realize how warm it was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon to sing for joy.

A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug it out and ate it.

Management Lesson?
1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.
2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
3) And when you’re in deep shit, it’s best to keep your mouth shut!!!!!