Jojo’s World

This is the way how I have answered the questionnaire. You can go through & if interested please give feedbacks.

Questionnaire

1.How has been your association with startup?

So far so good! It all began from association of friends with a common perspective. 2 or 3 years back, when broadband has begun to fledge in kerala we all got exposed to field of internet web publishing. Realising that our individual potentials in online money generation could be well utilized if we could join hands, we have decided to form Techseol – a young student cum professionals venture providing Internet marketing solutions & Internet web publishing solutions. We have floated it as Techseol websolutions India Pvt.Ltd on February 2008. We already have 3 major clients & business talks are going on with many national & international clients. As immediate step, we will move on IT Habitat Centre, Kaloor for future operation on this July. We have a vision to develop Techseol as a leading player in Indian Internet Business by 2010.

2. Why did you join a startup?

A startup is always challenging & it gives freedom of operations. We can experiment our new creative thoughts in a startup, moreover our thoughts has a value. Despite the huge risks involved, a startup like this will give a high reputation, chance to explore new fields, a platform to learn many new concepts & ideas. I will explain more about this on the answer to 5^th question.

3. How many people were there in your company?

We have 5 working directors & 5 part time employees at present. On moving to IT Habitat center, kaloor this July, we plan to expand the staff potential by 5 fulltime employees & 10 part time employees. Theres a strong backing from Prospects management consultants, Cochin headed by Mr.George Karunakkal & Prof.Tommy Cherian whom guides us in the way of business management. Finance consultant is M/s Shridhar & Co. Trivandram.

4. What are the major challenges you faced?

Ofcourse like any other startups we have also faced a lot of challenges & hurdles on our way to formation of Techseol. It involves a lot starting from registration procedures, capital raising, to the moral support from family. By gods grace & our strong will we were able to overcome all major hurdles we have faced up to date & we expect a lot more in our way to explore success.

5. What are the advantages of working in a startup?

Well, this is something that requires explanation. For a common man looking from outside, he will not find anything big in working on a startup. Instead he might consider it as foolishness while we have offers from biggies like Wipro, Infosys, UST, Cognizant etc. Now I should answer why? Let me say it in points.

1. Challenging & rewarding
2. Freedom of operations
3. Creative freedom
4. Opportunity to interact with many eminent business personals
5. Chance to experiment & explore
6. Being a part of economic development of my country India
7. Creation of wealth
8. Become an employer than becoming an employee
9. Create a new business culture based on values
10. An opportunity to take part in overall development of India.

I know the above question needs explanation, but I believe these 10 points are enough to convey some meaning.

6. How is the work life balance in a startup and how are the facilities.

In our case the association is of 5 friends. So what should I say? Work feels like enjoyable really. We are really loving what we are doing, that’s the case. Any professional saying like “I love my work” is enjoying a work-life balance. I am sure on that. Now about facilities, in old days (3 years before) major hurdle faced by all startups were space, unlimited connectivity, uninterruptable power source, computers etc etc. I must say Kerala govt. has done a wonderful job with the innovative concept called “Incubator” in Technopark & Infopark. Any human with a scalable business idea can meet Technopark official with a business plan (must be scalable) for incubation. If they are convinced on your business proposal, you will get plug & play furnished spaces in Technopark @ cheap rates. Also financial assistance is provided by govt. for startups. So I believe conditions at present in kerala are pretty supportive for startups now.

7. Did you ever feel you had to sacrifice your health because of long office timings? Or that the brand you were working on is not well known.

As we are young & have the mileage to run I have never felt like sacrificing on health. We function like normal offices from 9 am to 5 pm in a formal way, but @ many instances we work overtime because its our own & need to finish projects within time limit. About brand! I hope our startup venture has given us a high brand value than a young professional working @ some biggie like Infosys or Wipro. Its just because of the novelty we are having & of the heavy risk involved. What matters is the courage we have shown to face such a risk at this young age. Techseol is on its way on branding as a successful student venture.

8. Any other risks which are there when joining a startup.

Ofcouse! Risks are plenty. I just cant explain here because it differs from business to business, person to person. If you have a strong will & courage to overcome the hurdles you gonna face, then its ok. Major risk will be your own fear itself. At first you must be successful in eliminating your own fear of failure chances, then go on & face the rest boldly. I hope we were able to inspire many of youngsters in Kerala by showing them an example. We would like many other likely ventures from our “gods own country” which will add to economic development of Kerala.

Thank you

Jojo Joson