Kiran Bulusu’s Blog

Many many moons ago , I did  market research on internet start ups (excluding HW/Embedded domains is here) from India.. I did this as I was hearing about web2.0 quite a bit these days and how many in India are jumping on the entrepreneurship wagon . Some interesting things I found out are :

1. Its imp to keep in mind that entrepreneurship is growing in India. While this is all good, I see that the main problem here is there aren’t many successful enterpreneurs in India and so there is very limited mentor ship going on there. One can definitely benefit to some extent from organizations like TIE (www.tiesv.org) , I wonder how many are really taking advantage of these ?
2. Most operate in vertical domains
3. Core development comp or disruptive tech only handful..
4. I hardly came across any companies which deals with energy and infrastructure..such a serious pb in India..
5.  I see way too many “me too” companies with no differentiation at all…
6. 99% are web2.0 or service oriented and are commn driven..

India Web2.0 Startups : Market Segments and Analysis

Click here for the list: web2_companies_india . It might be outdated , poorly categorized and by no means its a complete list..but represents the trend.

Any comments? feel free to add any companies you know of by posting in comments section.

Q1. Why are you creating the new product?
a) Is it because you see a gap in the current industry offerings and trying to fill in.
b) Or if there is a similar product, you see that your product changes the quality of service or life of your customers. For SW companes, comparing and improving run times is not compelling enough to face competetion. Other tools might catch up. Similarly for HW companies, high clock freq (faster speed) etc cannot be the sole distinguishing feature . Unfortunately, this is not at all a viable business plan/strategy .
c) You are creating a hybrid product or creating a entirely new market space and market is ready for this.

It is very important to realize that your product definition needs to be accomadating in a sense, that customer requirements change over time or a competitor has released a product .

Q2. What is your market segment and who are your customers .
Targeting a wrong customer base is very costly . Did you talk to your customers already ? Do you have any beta customers? Choosing a right beta customer is very important and can affect your product sucess/quality.

Q3. Can you clearly justify why the customer has to pay for the “must have” features ? If not, you need to re-consider your product definetion and features.

Q4. Can you clearly distinguish between “should and must have” features? Many make mistakes here as they dont clearly distinguish between “should” and “must” and so the sales cant focus on the value offering.

Q5. Do you have the roadmap ? Having it helps when a customer would like to see what additional (nice to have) features will be coming in future. When you bootstrap, you already have a customer who pays for your development and so they might have already defined to some degree what will be present in the roadmap.

Q6. How are customers doing without your product? How are they surviving? How is your product going to address their issues?

In general, It is not advisable to proceed unless you have answers for all the above questions.

It is a long post (you are warned !!
I have been recently asked by someone as what it takes to be sucessful application engineer . So, I thought why not blog about ..Though much of it is written from EDA industry perspective, it applies for appln engineers in other industries as well. So, here it goes ….
1. Technical expertise : You have to be atleast good if not proficient in the domain..for example, lets say, if you are application engineer for a formal verification product, you need to have expertise in the FV techniques and good understanding as what logic/physical synthesis tools do in terms of optimization. Just mere tool knowledge will not suffice..

2. You should be a like a double edged sword ..You need to be able to understand the hardware design…be it RTL , Scan insertion , P&R or CTS and at the same time , you should be able to understand how the algorithm (tool) behaves (from software perspective..)..If you dont understand both, you will not be able to understand what the HW designer is trying to accomplish and at the same time, you will not be able to find out if the tool is missing any feature or is it a limitation of the technology and finally if it is a bug …one more important reason is , you might need to translate the designers intention into a feature speficiation and direct your R&D.

3. Business Sense : I think this is very important component for an Appln engineer. You need to be in constant touch with the customer and get feedback on the product. You should be able to sense the impact derived from that feedback. Whenever there is a oppurtunity to promote a new product, you should do so immediately and let your marketing/sales team know about it immediately. Just being technical is not enough.
Application engineer without good business sense can negatively impact the company he represents.

4. Pre-Sales : Ability to benchmark against the competitor and convince him about your products technical merits. Depending upon the competetion and product and domain in which you operate, this can be very intensive and grilling. Failure is not an option . A true winning aptitude and to do whatever it takes is absolute must. No compromises.
I’m not exagaretting , but it might involve some sacrifices like working during xmas or thanksgiving . Pre-Sales campaigns can very stressful and can burn a person. So, if you cant work under pressurized environment and have strict rules about your work timings, then you might not like this role. Believe me there are some customers who keep  evaluating for very long time or they evaluate now and then re-evaluate after couple of months and there are reasons why they do like this ( first and foremost reason is to check the quality of the tool ) . So it is tiresome and it requires willingness to walk that extra mile to win the benchmark is a must.
5. Post-Sales/Deployment : A succesful tech campaign and business(pre-saleS) win is the starting step. The 20/80 rule applies here ( 80% of the business comes from 20% of your customers). So, sucessful deployment of the product across the depth and breadth of the company is key . It will also gives Sales folks a chance to push other products
into the company. Dedicated and fast support is one of the strategies. Providing support for their first tapeout with your company’s product is another key. A sucessfull deployment also means to work with the design methodology groups,designers ( front end and backend ), understanding their design goals and issues ; resolving their issues . It might be necessary to come up a design methodlogy /flow either on a project basis or company wide . A constant interaction with the design team is a must . This also helps the appln engineer to see what is lacking and fill in the gaps either through scripting or getting R&D implement the missing features and enhance the product.

6. Evangelism : Not many folks know about this. Some people mix this with the marketing. This is virually non-existent in EDA/semiconductor industry. Marketing is more about the product , evangelism is creating a community around the product. Who else can be a better person other than the appln engineer to do this?

7. Customer Facing Skills : Only few people have this skill and like to be infront of customers. You need to have some thick skin and take all the yelling ..Imagine when you are presenting or giving a demo to a customer and your tool crashes everytime you invoke it , scary is’nt it? okk..lets ease up a bit, it crashes only few times, how can you face the customer now? You should be able to ease and control the situtation …I can list hundreds of scenarios like this . It also takes a great deal of energy to say NO to a customer. Believe me its not an easy situtation. You need to be diplomatic when saying so sothat relationships are’nt hurt . It all comes by experience and ability to dynamically change the situtation on the fly

8. Issue Management : Very important skill . Should be in constant touch with the customer , track down the issues and have a proper resolution to all their issues with a fix schedule . It is important that the customer acknowledges and is actually OK with the fix schedule.If the schedule is missed for any issue, customer should be informed immediately.

9. Time management : Ability to multi-task is a must.

10. Debugging Skills: If you are not good in debugging or cant debug fast enough, you dont fit to be an Appln engineer.

11. Attitude : Having a proper attitude and ability to learn things fast is necessary to suceed in the job. You might need to learn different technologies, products/tools to perform your job better.
12. Peer-Peer Commn : Try to maintain peer-peer communication. There is no book which teaches on how to debug faster or perform each of the above skills I mentioned sofar. It is only through peer-peer communication you can learn . You might have an experienced AE in your organization, who can give you pointers ; its not that you cant solve it , Its that the other AE has done it 100 times and so knows the common pitfalls . You can avoid doing the same mistakes and save your valuable time.

13. Product Strategy : This requires knowledge in competitors products and its features , different technologies , business sense. Only then you will be able to place the product strategically infront of the customer.

14. Licensing Model : It is not essential , but very good skill to posses and understand how the licensing works like what features can be licensed ( to understand this, you need to justify why the customer will pay for this in the first place ) . If you know of any other venues through which you can generate a revenue for your software, it surely helps the Sales organization. Remember sales fix everything

In short, appln engineer is best evangelist an EDA company can have. He is the face of the company , best knowledgeable (technical) person who can deliver solutions out of the box, best person who has access to people who use the tool and therefore can promote the product to real decision influentiers , best person to give feedback to the marketing and sales organization, drive the product usability in the field, enhance and validate the product ( and its features) ;

So sounds like fun job right!! Atleast I love it and I’m being constantly challenged with newer technologies , products, sales and marketing campaigns:)

I would appreciate any feedback or comments.

I was just thinking why cant the Marketing folks in EDA companies have a agreement with the Semiconductor companies that when a chip goes to production , their logo is displayed as well. Something like Designed using Magma Design Automation etc., I cant think of reason why Semiconductor companies wont  allow that. I think it will create much more buzz than a press release. It will also expose the EDA industry and the company to outside world . The role played by the EDA industry right from RTL-GDSII and post silicon debug is very important and cant be downplayed .

For example, when we look at the IPOD and scrolldown to a section (something like about us ), you can typically see that the chip is designed by Portal Player etc. So, if Apple allows Portal Players logo to be on IPOD, why cant they allow  EDA company name to be there. Yes, I understand that it is not as simple as it sounds as many chips deisgned by one company gets integrated into another company’s SOC , but still, it can be done through
mutual/joint agreements.

It helps EDA companies to get the recognition they deserve and also it helps EDA companies to attain a brand similar to what product based companies have.

I received a forward mail from one of my friends . It was very good . couldnt resist from posting it.

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The Shanghai Taxi Driver’s MBA Lecture: I needed to go from Xujiahui to the airport, so I hurriedly concluded a meeting and I was looking for a taxi in front of the Meiluo building. A taxi driver saw me and very professionally came in a straight line and stopped right in front of me. Thus followed the story that astonished me greatly as if I had attended a lively MBA course. In order to faithfully preserve the intent of the taxi driver, I have tried to reproduce his original words according to my memory. “Where do you want to go? Good, the airport. At Xujiahui, I loved to get business in front of the Meiluo building. Over here, I only work two places: Meiluo building and Junyao building. Did you know? Before I picked you up, I circled around Meiluo building twice before I saw you! People who come out of office building are definitely not going to some place nearby …” “Oh? You have a method!” I agreed. “A taxi driver must also have scientific methods,” he said. I was surprised and I got curious: “What scientific methods?” “I have to know statistics. I have made detailed calculations. Let me tell you. I operate the car 17 hours a day, and my hourly cost is 34.5 RMB …” “How did you arrive at that?” I asked “You calculate. I have to pay 380 RMB to the company each day for the car. The gas is about 210 RMB. I work 17 hours per day. On an hourly basis, the fixed cost is the 22 RMB that I give to the taxi company and an average of 12.5 RMB per hour in gasoline expenses. Isn’t that 34.5 RMB?” I was a bit surprised. I have taken taxis for ten years, but this is the first time that a taxi driver has calculated the costs this way. Previously, the taxi drivers all tell me that the cost per kilometer was 0.3 RMB in addition to the total company fee. “Costs should not be calculated on a per-kilometer basis. It should be calculated on an hourly basis. You see, each meter has a ‘review’ function through which you can see the details of the day. I have done a data analysis. The averarge time gap between customers is seven minutes. If I started counting the costs when someone gets in, it is 10 RMB for about 10 minutes. That means each 10 RMB customer takes 17 minutes of time, which costs 9.8 RMB (4.5 x 17 / 60). This is not making money! If we say that customers who want to go to Pudong, Hangzhou or Qingpu are like meals, then a 10 RMB customer is not even a bite of food. You can only say that this is just a sprinkle of MSG.” Great! This driver did not sound like a taxi driver. He seemed more like an accountant. “So what you do then?” I was even more interested and I continued my questioning. It looked like I was going to learn something new on the way to the airport. “You must not let the customer lead you all over the place. You decide what you want to do based upon the location, time and customer.” I was very surprised, but this sounded significant. “Someone said that the taxi driving is a profession that depends on luck. I don’t think so. You have to stand in the position of the customer and consider things from the customer’s perspective. ” This sounded very professional, and very much like many business management teachers who say “put yourself in others’ shoes.” “Let me give you an example. You are at the entrance to a hospital. There is someone holding some medicine and there is someone else holding a wash basin. Which person will you pick up?” I thought about it and I said that I didn’t know. “You take the one with the wash basin. If you have a minor complaint that you want to be examined and to get some medicine, you don’t usually go to a faraway hospital. Anyone who is carrying a wash basin has just been discharged from the hospital. When people enter the hospital, some of them die. Today, someone on the second floor dies. Tomorrow, someone on the third floor dies. Those who make it out of the hospital usually have a feeling of having been given a second life and they recognize the meaning of life again — health is the most important thing. So on that day, that person told me, “Go … go to Qingpu.” He did not even blink. Would you say that he wanted to take a taxi to People’s Plaza to transfer to the Qingpu line subway? Absolutely not!” I began to admire him. “Let me give you another example. That day at People’s Plaza, three people were waving at me. One was a young woman who had just finished shopping and was holding some small bags. Another was a young couple who were out for a stroll. The third one was a man who wore a silk shirt and a down jacket and holding a notebook computer bag. I spent three seconds looking at each person and I stopped in front of the man without hesitation. When the man got in, he said: ‘Yannan Elevated Highway. South North Elevated Highway …’ Before even finishing, he could not help but ask, ‘Why did you stop in front of me without hesitating? There were two people in front. They wanted to get on as well. I was too embarrassed to fight with them.’ I replied, ‘It is around noon and just a dozen or so minutes before one o’clock. That young woman must have slipped out at noon to buy something and I guess that her company must be nearby. That couple are tourists because they are not holding anything and they are not going to travel far. You are going out on business. You are holding a notebook computer bag, so I can tell that this is business. If you are going out at this time, I guess that it would not be too close.’ The man said, ‘You are right. I’m going to Baoshan.’” “Are those people wearing pajamas in front of supermarkets or subway stations going to travel far? Are they going to the airport? The airport is not going to let them enter.” That makes sense! I was liking this more and more. “Many drivers complain that business is tough and the price of gas has gone up. They are trying to pin the cause down on other people. If you keep pinning the cause on other people, you will never get any better. You must look at yourself to see where the problem is.” This sounds very familiar. It seems like “If you cannot change the world, then you should change yourself” or perhaps a pirated copy of Steven Corey’s “Circles of Influence and Concern.” “One time, on Nandan Road, someone flagged me down and wanted to go to Tianlin. Later on, someone else flagged me down on Nandan Road and he also wanted to go to Tianlin. So I asked, ‘How come all you people who come out on Nandan Road want to go to Tianlin?’ He said, ‘There is a public bus depot at Nandan Road. We all take the public bus from Pudong to there, and then we take the taxi to Tianlin. So I understood. For example, you look at the road that we just passed. There are no offices, no hotels, nothing. Just a public bus station. Those people who flag down taxis there are mostly people who just got off the public bus, and they look for the shortest road for a taxi. People who flag down taxis here will usually ride not more than 15 RMB.” “Therefore, I say that the attitude determines everything!” I have heard dozens of company CEO’s say that, but this was the first time that I heard a taxi driver say that. “We need to use scientific methods and statistics to conduct business. Those people who wait at the subway exits every day for business will never make money. How are you going to provide for your wife and kids at 500 RMB a month? This is murder? This is slowly murdering your whole family. You must arm yourself with knowledge. You have to learn knowledge to become a smart person. A smart person learns knowledge in order to become a very smart person. A very smart person learns knowledge in order to become a genius.” “One time, a person wanted a taxi in order to get to the train station. I asked him how he wanted to go. He told me how to get there. I said that was slow. I said to get on the elevated highway and go this other way. He said that it was a longer way. I said, ‘No problem. You have experience because you go that way frequently. It costs you 50 RMB. If you go my way, I will turn off the meter when it reaches 50 RMB. You can just pay me 50 RMB. Anything more is mine. If you go your way, it will take 50 minutes. If I go my way, it will take 25 minutes.’ So in the end, we went my way. We traveled an additional four kilometers but 25 minutes quicker. I accepted only 50 RMB. The customer was very delighted for saving about 10 RMB. This extra four kilometers cost me just over 1 RMB in gas. So I have swapped 1 RMB for 25 extra minutes of my time. As I just said, my hourly cost is 34.5 RMB. It was quite worthwhile for me!” “In a public taxi company, an ordinary driver takes three to four thousand RMB home per month. The good driver can get around five thousand. The top driver can get seven thousand RMB. Out of the 20,000 drivers, there are about two to three who can make more than 8,000 RMB a month. I am one of those two or three. Furthermore, it is very stable without too much fluctuation. ” Great! By this point, I admired this taxi driver more and more. “I often say that I am a happy driver. Some people say, ‘That’s because you earn a lot of money. Of course, you must be happy.’ I tell them, ‘You are wrong. This is because I have a happy and active mind, and that is why I make a lot of money.’” What a wonderful way to put it! “You have to appreciate the beauty that your work brings. Stuck in a traffic jam at People’s Plaza, many drivers complain, ‘Oh, there’s a traffic jam again! What rotten luck!’ You must not be like that. You should try to experience the beauty of the city. There are many pretty girls passing by. There are many tall modern buildings; although you cannot afford them, you can still enjoy them with an appreciative look. While driving to the airport, you can look at the greenery on both sides. In the winter, it is white. How beautiful! Look at the meter — it is more than 100 RMB. That is even more beautiful! Each job has its own beauty. We need to learn how to experience that beauty in our work.” “Ten years ago, I was a general instructor at Johnson’s. Eight years ago, I had been the department manager for three different departments. I quit because there was no point in making three or five thousand a month. I decided to become a taxi driver. I want to be a happy driver. Ha ha ha …” When we arrived at the airport, I gave him my business card and said, “Are you interested in coming this Friday to my office and explain to the Microsoft workers about how you operate your taxi? You can treat it as if your meter is running at 60 kilometers per hour. I will pay you for the time that you talk to us. Give me a call.” Then I began to write down his lively MBA lecture on the airplaneThe Shanghai Taxi Driver’s MBA Lecture: I needed to go from Xujiahui to the airport, so I hurriedly concluded a meeting and I was looking for a taxi in front of the Meiluo building. A taxi driver saw me and very professionally came in a straight line and stopped right in front of me. Thus followed the story that astonished me greatly as if I had attended a lively MBA course. In order to faithfully preserve the intent of the taxi driver, I have tried to reproduce his original words according to my memory. “Where do you want to go? Good, the airport. At Xujiahui, I loved to get business in front of the Meiluo building. Over here, I only work two places: Meiluo building and Junyao building. Did you know? Before I picked you up, I circled around Meiluo building twice before I saw you! People who come out of office building are definitely not going to some place nearby …” “Oh? You have a method!” I agreed. “A taxi driver must also have scientific methods,” he said. I was surprised and I got curious: “What scientific methods?” “I have to know statistics. I have made detailed calculations. Let me tell you. I operate the car 17 hours a day, and my hourly cost is 34.5 RMB …” “How did you arrive at that?” I asked “You calculate. I have to pay 380 RMB to the company each day for the car. The gas is about 210 RMB. I work 17 hours per day. On an hourly basis, the fixed cost is the 22 RMB that I give to the taxi company and an average of 12.5 RMB per hour in gasoline expenses. Isn’t that 34.5 RMB?” I was a bit surprised. I have taken taxis for ten years, but this is the first time that a taxi driver has calculated the costs this way. Previously, the taxi drivers all tell me that the cost per kilometer was 0.3 RMB in addition to the total company fee. “Costs should not be calculated on a per-kilometer basis. It should be calculated on an hourly basis. You see, each meter has a ‘review’ function through which you can see the details of the day. I have done a data analysis. The averarge time gap between customers is seven minutes. If I started counting the costs when someone gets in, it is 10 RMB for about 10 minutes. That means each 10 RMB customer takes 17 minutes of time, which costs 9.8 RMB (4.5 x 17 / 60). This is not making money! If we say that customers who want to go to Pudong, Hangzhou or Qingpu are like meals, then a 10 RMB customer is not even a bite of food. You can only say that this is just a sprinkle of MSG.” Great! This driver did not sound like a taxi driver. He seemed more like an accountant. “So what you do then?” I was even more interested and I continued my questioning. It looked like I was going to learn something new on the way to the airport. “You must not let the customer lead you all over the place. You decide what you want to do based upon the location, time and customer.” I was very surprised, but this sounded significant. “Someone said that the taxi driving is a profession that depends on luck. I don’t think so. You have to stand in the position of the customer and consider things from the customer’s perspective. ” This sounded very professional, and very much like many business management teachers who say “put yourself in others’ shoes.” “Let me give you an example. You are at the entrance to a hospital. There is someone holding some medicine and there is someone else holding a wash basin. Which person will you pick up?” I thought about it and I said that I didn’t know. “You take the one with the wash basin. If you have a minor complaint that you want to be examined and to get some medicine, you don’t usually go to a faraway hospital. Anyone who is carrying a wash basin has just been discharged from the hospital. When people enter the hospital, some of them die. Today, someone on the second floor dies. Tomorrow, someone on the third floor dies. Those who make it out of the hospital usually have a feeling of having been given a second life and they recognize the meaning of life again — health is the most important thing. So on that day, that person told me, “Go … go to Qingpu.” He did not even blink. Would you say that he wanted to take a taxi to People’s Plaza to transfer to the Qingpu line subway? Absolutely not!” I began to admire him. “Let me give you another example. That day at People’s Plaza, three people were waving at me. One was a young woman who had just finished shopping and was holding some small bags. Another was a young couple who were out for a stroll. The third one was a man who wore a silk shirt and a down jacket and holding a notebook computer bag. I spent three seconds looking at each person and I stopped in front of the man without hesitation. When the man got in, he said: ‘Yannan Elevated Highway. South North Elevated Highway …’ Before even finishing, he could not help but ask, ‘Why did you stop in front of me without hesitating? There were two people in front. They wanted to get on as well. I was too embarrassed to fight with them.’ I replied, ‘It is around noon and just a dozen or so minutes before one o’clock. That young woman must have slipped out at noon to buy something and I guess that her company must be nearby. That couple are tourists because they are not holding anything and they are not going to travel far. You are going out on business. You are holding a notebook computer bag, so I can tell that this is business. If you are going out at this time, I guess that it would not be too close.’ The man said, ‘You are right. I’m going to Baoshan.’” “Are those people wearing pajamas in front of supermarkets or subway stations going to travel far? Are they going to the airport? The airport is not going to let them enter.” That makes sense! I was liking this more and more. “Many drivers complain that business is tough and the price of gas has gone up. They are trying to pin the cause down on other people. If you keep pinning the cause on other people, you will never get any better. You must look at yourself to see where the problem is.” This sounds very familiar. It seems like “If you cannot change the world, then you should change yourself” or perhaps a pirated copy of Steven Corey’s “Circles of Influence and Concern.” “One time, on Nandan Road, someone flagged me down and wanted to go to Tianlin. Later on, someone else flagged me down on Nandan Road and he also wanted to go to Tianlin. So I asked, ‘How come all you people who come out on Nandan Road want to go to Tianlin?’ He said, ‘There is a public bus depot at Nandan Road. We all take the public bus from Pudong to there, and then we take the taxi to Tianlin. So I understood. For example, you look at the road that we just passed. There are no offices, no hotels, nothing. Just a public bus station. Those people who flag down taxis there are mostly people who just got off the public bus, and they look for the shortest road for a taxi. People who flag down taxis here will usually ride not more than 15 RMB.” “Therefore, I say that the attitude determines everything!” I have heard dozens of company CEO’s say that, but this was the first time that I heard a taxi driver say that. “We need to use scientific methods and statistics to conduct business. Those people who wait at the subway exits every day for business will never make money. How are you going to provide for your wife and kids at 500 RMB a month? This is murder? This is slowly murdering your whole family. You must arm yourself with knowledge. You have to learn knowledge to become a smart person. A smart person learns knowledge in order to become a very smart person. A very smart person learns knowledge in order to become a genius.” “One time, a person wanted a taxi in order to get to the train station. I asked him how he wanted to go. He told me how to get there. I said that was slow. I said to get on the elevated highway and go this other way. He said that it was a longer way. I said, ‘No problem. You have experience because you go that way frequently. It costs you 50 RMB. If you go my way, I will turn off the meter when it reaches 50 RMB. You can just pay me 50 RMB. Anything more is mine. If you go your way, it will take 50 minutes. If I go my way, it will take 25 minutes.’ So in the end, we went my way. We traveled an additional four kilometers but 25 minutes quicker. I accepted only 50 RMB. The customer was very delighted for saving about 10 RMB. This extra four kilometers cost me just over 1 RMB in gas. So I have swapped 1 RMB for 25 extra minutes of my time. As I just said, my hourly cost is 34.5 RMB. It was quite worthwhile for me!” “In a public taxi company, an ordinary driver takes three to four thousand RMB home per month. The good driver can get around five thousand. The top driver can get seven thousand RMB. Out of the 20,000 drivers, there are about two to three who can make more than 8,000 RMB a month. I am one of those two or three. Furthermore, it is very stable without too much fluctuation. ” Great! By this point, I admired this taxi driver more and more. “I often say that I am a happy driver. Some people say, ‘That’s because you earn a lot of money. Of course, you must be happy.’ I tell them, ‘You are wrong. This is because I have a happy and active mind, and that is why I make a lot of money.’” What a wonderful way to put it! “You have to appreciate the beauty that your work brings. Stuck in a traffic jam at People’s Plaza, many drivers complain, ‘Oh, there’s a traffic jam again! What rotten luck!’ You must not be like that. You should try to experience the beauty of the city. There are many pretty girls passing by. There are many tall modern buildings; although you cannot afford them, you can still enjoy them with an appreciative look. While driving to the airport, you can look at the greenery on both sides. In the winter, it is white. How beautiful! Look at the meter — it is more than 100 RMB. That is even more beautiful! Each job has its own beauty. We need to learn how to experience that beauty in our work.” “Ten years ago, I was a general instructor at Johnson’s. Eight years ago, I had been the department manager for three different departments. I quit because there was no point in making three or five thousand a month. I decided to become a taxi driver. I want to be a happy driver. Ha ha ha …” When we arrived at the airport, I gave him my business card and said, “Are you interested in coming this Friday to my office and explain to the Microsoft workers about how you operate your taxi? You can treat it as if your meter is running at 60 kilometers per hour. I will pay you for the time that you talk to us. Give me a call.” Then I began to write down his lively MBA lecture on the airplane

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I often see some startup companies especially EDA companies ,which have big aspirations of going for IPO sometime down the lane ( ofcourse every CEO with help from CFO talks about taking the company to IPO)….but if we analyze how some companies are run in terms of their strategies, it wouldnt take much time to realize that their goals are not aligned with their vision….these startup companies forge a relationship with biggies in their field as partners/alliance . They dont (dont want to ) compete with the big companies in terms of their product offerings..they offer complimentary products which go along with the main stream products…essentially they are nice to have and not must have…so how can these companies grow and build a good revenue stream??

For example, take four companies companies , startup company A, a relatively young company B which is still pre-IPO , some tier II company C ( normally categorized based on revenue) and a tier I companies D and E . Company A has many products which all might be integrated and sold as suite of tools or maybe point tools which can be sold seperately depending on how the sales folks want to … all/most of the products they offer work along with the products of C,D and E. The current situtation in the EDA market is, company A is building relationships with B,C,D and E and is positioning itself strategically sothat it has no competitors and it doesnt get biten by the aggressive Tier I or Tier II companies….But what company A is not realizing is..this way of forging relationships doesnt help the company in long run as they wont have much space to grow and they cant increase their revenue stream by just refining their existing products or adding nice to have features…Company shouldnt get lost or spend all of its energy on how to survive…it should rather formulate a strategy which helps the company to survive and generate revenue ( by having a cashcow product) and then it should be able to quickly have products which can differentiate itself from the rest and compete either alone or with the help of alliance it has formed earlier…

In our example earlier, If companies C,D and E cancel their partnerships and they start to offer the features which company A has planned, it doesnt take much time for the company A to look for potential buyers… Companies can forge relationships and alliances, but when creating strategies, it has to do it in such a way that it has space to grow and the alliance helps it in creating even more powerful products and has created uncontested market space…. To create that you need :

1. World class R&D team : From my experience, I see that customers prefer products which which cuts costs ,time or both if you are in EDA…There are many EDA companies whose value proposition lies in simple economic fundaes like reducing time and money spent on other main implementation based tools…there are about 10-12 startup companies operating in EDA space
with this value proposition..

2.Marketing ppl who can brandize the product, a good example is that of XeroX…When they entered India, they marketed it so much..ppl often refer Photocopying as Xerox..you can see Xerox machines everywhere ( not photocopying machines!!) …whatever you do, the customer
should be able to feel it…it should revolutionalize the way your customers think about it…Apple IPOD is one decent example,

3. Sales folks who can sell ice to eskimos and

4. Appln engineers : who can help customers and make them realize the product value ..thereby bringing more business/revenue to the company..remeber the 80/20 rule…80% of the revenue comes from 20% of the customers…so make these exisiting customers happy and bring in more customers by delivering the product value…

and Ofcourse, you need to have good CEO who has vision thats executable and backed by good executives who can strategize the business and take it down the straight path …path which leads to IPO…..

A nice management strategy model by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne …I wonder if Apple is following this strategy model …There are lot of MP3 players in the market before Apple released the much hyped IPOD… It created a new market by releasing this nice and tiny gadget which can do lot of other stuff other than just playing Mp3 songs….till few months back it didnt have any competitors (uncontested market space !!)…its sales figure clearly show that it has dominated the market and made the competition irrelavant….by the time the other companies entered the space of harddisk based Mp3 players, Apple released IPOD Nano ( flash based) …Again Apple opened another new market..flash based …created a new demand with customers ….Apple IPOD has created so many applications like I-Trip, Voice Recorder etc..and new markets are emerging ..for example , Video IPOD….If my memory is right..Apple has teamed with NBCII to broadcast some of its shows and news in portable format …no wonder it will be subscription based ..but it has opened new streams of revenue…

Apple was sucessful in creating the market, open new streams of revenue, align it with companys goals..but its pricing model isnt still good..it has to slash down the prices even more….Intel for example, cuts back prices heavily when it releases new stream of processors……
Apple should do the same …..

Was reading a book on TQM (Total Quality Management) and here are some of the fundamental principles put forth by W. Edwards Deming: During late 1940’s, Japanese realized the principles put forth by Deming and all of us can clearly see quality of many Japanese Electronics products.

Deming’s TQM Principles:

1. Create constancy of purpose by investing in the future.
2. Quality must become a philosophy of total dedication.
3. Don’t inspect bad quality out; build quality in from the start.
4. Don’t award business on price alone.
5. Improve constantly on production and service.
6. Institute training.
7. Institute leadership.
8. Drive out fear.
9. Break down staff barriers.
10. Eschew slogans or targets.
11. Eliminate numerical quotas.
12. Encourage pride of workmanship.
13. Promote education and self-improvement.
14. Transform the company from the top down, involving everyone.

Working as Application Engineer made me realize the importance of each of the above. I don’t know have insight to Six Sigma process, but I believe , it must have been based on the above 14 guidelines .

I was once very crazy about all the gizmos available in the market and always want to own the latest available in the market.That was the time when I was a student still doing my masters . As time passed by, I’m no longer driven by the looks and the technology used to build a product. This doesnt mean I dont appreciate the technology that is being developed and used. The same cell phone/PDA which amazed me couple of yrs back doesnt amaze me anymore. I always endup questioning myself like why the heck did I spend so much money on these stuff in which I dont use even 50% of the features .

I realized that there are two kinds of people.One set of people just simply love them, they are not really bothered about the fact that that they are going to use only 50% of the features.These people buy the stuff just because they love them.Thats it.

The other set of people, are more usage driven. When they go for shopping, these people look at the fact how many features they are going to really use.They then look at the trade-off interms of price and features offered and their usage of them . They then decide whether it is really worth of buying.

Though they are lot of people who will be in between these two kinds, from my own experience , I would say they are in a transistion phase.At the end , they fall into either of these buckets. Companies can easily turn the first set of people into customers , but the fun part for Marketing & Sales folks comes when they target the second set of people.I dont have the statistics to analyze how the consumers are divided into each of these classes.But it will worth learning the strategies which these companies employ in getting increased sales.

Why Change?

1. Why do organizations change?

2. Does my organization need to change?

3. What happens if we don’t?

A company also need to be answer,

4. How important is IT to the success of our industry / organization?

5.What kind of change will it introduce into the organization?

Looking from the IT perspective, one should try to answer the following questions:

6. Are IT resources appropriately placed in the firm?

7. Are leaders capable and ready to deal with the change management challenges?

The reasons for change can be either through Internal Factors or External Factors. IT influence in large organization is pervasive, affecting the smallest department and decision-making processes to an extent not visualized few years ago.

Dynamics of Change:

The general market structure and industry dynamics and the way they work are listed below:
The old industry value chain is:

a) Sequential

b) Functionally organized and transitional in nature

c) Vertical organization structures within organization boundaries

The new industry value chain is:

a) Process based

b) Integrating the enterprise activities

c) Boundaries are becoming fluid

d) Partnership and the rise of virtually integrated industry

Strategic impacts of existing IT system are based on the strategic relevance and impact on the following 4 categories. The goals and who has to exercise them were also listed below for all the four categories.

1. Factory: IT is important but they are not fundamental to the firm’s ability to compete

Goal: Improve performance of core processes

Leadership: Business unit executives

2. Strategic: Totally depending on it

Goal: Transform the organization or industry

Leadership: Senior executives or board

3. Support: Strategic Impact of IT on operations and future strategy is low.

Goal: Improve local performance

Leadership: Local level oversight

4. Turn Around: Not absolutely depending on totally uninterrupted, fast response-time.

Goal: Identify and launch new ventures

Leadership: Venture incubation unit

The various questions that arise here are, Do the perspective and skill of the IT team, IT users, and general management team fit the firm’s changing strategy and organization and the IT application, operating environment, and management processes?

Is the firm organized to identify, evaluate, and assimilate new information technologies on a timely basis?

Are the strategic planning, the management control and the project management systems defined and appropriately implemented and managed?

Are appropriate organizational structures and coordinating mechanisms in place to ensure IT is appropriately aligned to the needs of the firm? What is the importance of change management in the organization?

The Two Perspectives of Change: Organizational and Individual.

Questions at Organizational Level:

What is the required investment?

How will this change impact our financial performance?

What is the return of the investment?

When can the change be completed?

How much improvement will be realized?

How will this change impact our customers?

Questions that arise at Individual Level:

What will this change mean to me?
Will I have a job?
Do I have the needed skills and knowledge to succeed in the new environment?

Incremental Vs Radical Change:

Type and size of change determine the level of change management levels

a) Order of magnitude of change

b) Incremental needs less

c) While Radical needs more

Tactics for Managing Radical Change: The pace of change depends on the process that is,

1) Tactics, or techniques used to encourage an organization’s member to accept change

2) Complies with current organizational values and norms, skills, structures and incentive is evolutionary

3) Change that challenges or undermines the status quo, creates a new vision, and accomplishes fundamental change is revolutionary

Change Process: Various stages at Organizational and Individual Level.

Change is a Process:

1. It Takes time

2. Stages Involved in this process: Individual Level, Organizational Level.

Ideally both are going their stages at similar speeds.

Various Organizational stages are:

a) Business Need,

b) Concept and Design,

c) Implementation,

d) Post-Implementation.

Various Individual stages are

a) Awareness: of need for change — reasons, and degree of comprehension

b) Design: to participate and support — motivating factors and consequences and level

c) Knowledgement: about how to change — skills and insights

d) Ability: to implement new skills and behaviors — evaluate level and determine shortcomings

e) Re-enforcement: to keep the change in place — incentives and constraints to make it stick

Organizational Change Management Phases

Phase 1: Preparing for change

Define your change management strategy based on scope, risk, readiness, resources, and sponsorship
Prepare your change management team (selected and trained)
Prepare your sponsorship model

Phase 2: Managing a change

Develop change management plans

Take action and implement plans, communication plans, coaching plans, training plans, sponsor roadmaps,

Resistance management plans

Phase 3: Collect and analyze feedback

Diagnose gaps and manage resistance

Implement corrective actions and celebrate successes

Integrating Change Management with Process Improvement.

Business Improvement Process Steps

1 = Problem or opportunity identification

2 = Project planning and team formation

3 = Data gathering and business solution design

4 = Process and system development

5 = Implementation and measurement

Change management component

Organizational and change assessments

Team readiness and sponsor preparation

Awareness building, communications and training

Coaching, feedback and employee involvement

Resistance management

Change Management strategies to Improve Strategy Execution: Change Capacity, Change Absorption Paradigm and Absorption Threshold.

Change Management to Improve Strategy Execution:

1. How will enterprises develop an understanding of their current capacity for change?

2. How will enterprises accurately assess the scope and impact of a change initiative?

3. How will enterprises increase their capacity for change?

4. How will enterprises ration, orchestrate and manage change to improve strategy execution?

Change capacity: is defined by Employee willingness and ability to change.

It is affected by Organizational history and culture, leadership credibility, attitudes and trust toward management, perceptions of urgency, employee skills, and a collective experience of change.

Steps Involved to increase the Change Capacity:

Understanding the enterprise’s current change capacity is the first step

Change Absorption Paradigm: change can be characterized by three variables such as volume, velocity and complexity. Where,

Volume in the above framework indicates the number of change initiatives underway within an organizational unit at given point of time. Velocity is the speed at which the change management initiatives are introduced into the organization. Complexity is the measure of the reach, range and duration of the change initiatives

The Absorption threshold of the change for a given organization can be increased by

Increasing the flexibility in the organization,

Lowering the levels of hierarchy,

Increasing accountability and responsibility

Methodologies to Improve Strategy Execution: Change is a process and as a process it can be managed using:

1. Frameworks,
2. Best-in-class,
3. CSF,
4. Best practices and methodologies

Dimensions of Change Stemming from Re-Engineering: Structural, Management and People’s Dimensions:

Dimension of Change Stemming from Reengineering:

Industrial Age Organization: Network Age Organization

Structural Dimension

Hierarchical org. based on Networked Org. based

Function / product. Cross-functional teams

Rigid Bureaucracy Flexible Adhocracy

Org. Integration through- Org. integrate through-

-Structure - information systems

Management Dimension

Management by- Management by internal-

-Internal objective -and external objectives

Functional Organizational

Structural empowerment Informational empowerment

People Dimension

Fragmented Tasks performed Holistic Process

By individuals accomplished by teams

Functional specialists Case management and process generalists

Expertise as functional- Knowledge as- -Specialist - organizational resource

Resistance: What is Resistance, Levels of Resistance: Examples

What is Resistance?

Resistance is any force that slows or stops movement. It is not a negative force nor are their “resistors” out there just waiting to ruin our otherwise perfect intervention. People resist in response to something. Something that we (or our clients) are doing evokes a reaction that we call resistance. The people resisting probably don’t see it as resistance; they see it as survival.

Resistance is a natural part of change. It protects people from harm. As a beginning downhill skier, it is resistance that keeps me from taking the chair lift to the top of Bodycast Mountain.

Three levels of resistance are identified. The better we are at identifying each of these Levels, the easier it will be to assist clients in creating strategies appropriate for the resistance they face.

Level 1 – Based on Information

This resistance is based on information. Facts, figures, ideas. It is the world of thinking and rational action. Level 1 is the world of presentations, diagrams, and logical arguments. Many make the mistake of treating all resistance as if it were Level 1. In other words, they give people more information–better arguments, detailed facts – when something completely different is called for.

Level 1 may come from . . .

* Lack of information

* Disagreement with the idea itself

* Lack of exposure

* Confusion

Level 2 – Physiological and Emotional Reaction: This Change Level 2 is an emotional and physiological reaction to the change. Blood pressure rises, adrenaline flows, pulse increases. It is based on fear: people fear they will lose face, friends, even their jobs. It is physiological and uncontrollable. Level 2 can be triggered without conscious awareness. They are what warns us of danger and allows us to take action instantly, before our conscious mind even knows what’s going on.

Imagine that you hear a loud crash as you read this sentence. You probably would cover your head and crouch instantly, and only then would you look up to see where the sound came from. You would have taken those actions without your conscious mind considering what to do. If the ceiling had been caving in, there would not have been time for a thoughtful reaction. Your rapid instinctive reaction could have saved your life.

Another practical example during the recession we saw during the yrs 2000-2002 will be, imagine a client talking to her staff about a proposed restructuring.

People ask Level 1 questions: How much will it cost? When will it begin? What’s the timeline? Then the executive happens to mention that there is slight possibility that this could result in downsizing. Suddenly, two-thirds of the room drops to Level 2. She may as well-quit going over slides that speak to the rational mind, these people are responding from a different part of the brain. The portion of the brain called the amygdala, has warned them that this is dangerous and they are literally preparing for fight or flight–even if they aren’t aware of it.

So, a meeting can continue as if everything was still Level 1. Polite questions are asked. Debates rage over budgets. But this all conceals the unspoken emotional reactions.

Level 2 may come from fear over a perceived . . .

* Loss of power or control

* Loss of status

* Loss of face or respect

* Feeling of incompetence

* Feeling of isolation or abandonment

* Sense that they can’t take on anything else (too much change)

Level 3 – Bigger Than the Current Change

This is deeply entrenched stuff and is bigger than the ideas at hand. People are not resisting the idea – in fact, they may love the idea itself – they are resisting the client or you. They may resist because of their relationship with you or the client. History tells them to be wary. Level 3 is also the domain of cultural, religious, and racial differences. In other words, people may resist whom you represent.

An African-American minister was being investigated for possible misuse of campaign funds. The cabinet voted to expel him, a strong and unprecedented action. A less surprising response would have been to censure him. The votes in favor of expulsion came mostly from whites; his support came mostly from blacks. In situations like this, each group wonders why the other side can’t see the situation for what it truly is. Each side

believes that the other is wrong. Even when confronted with the fact that our opinion is exactly what one would expect from someone of our race, we still can’t see it. We think it is based on a sound dispassionate assessment of the facts.

When we are locked in a Level 3 difference, it is difficult to see how our race, culture, sexual orientation, or religion limits our ability to see other points of view. When we are operating in a Level 3 situation it is unlikely that we can put much value on the ideas and opinions of the other side. In these instances, believing is seeing.

Level 3 may come from . . .

* Personal history of mistrust

* Cultural, ethnic, racial, gender differences

* Significant disagreement over values

* Transference. The person being resisted represents someone else such as a mother or father.

Challenges of Resistance, Working with Resistance

The Challenge of Resistance

Even when managers want to take resistance seriously and deal with it responsibly, most strategies are Level

1. There are beliefs that if they give people just a little more information then they will certainly come around.

Newsletters, videos, and PowerPoint are all Level 1 approaches. There is nothing wrong with presentations if people are confused or need more facts, but Level 1 tactics seldom work at Level 2 and 3.

Working with Resistance
Level 1 lends itself to presentations and question and answer sessions. Level 2, however, requires conversation in addition to presentation. Listening and meaningful dialogue are essential. Level 3 demands that you begin to rebuild relationships before you try to present new ideas. Or, at the very least, your change management strategies must include strategies that build bridges while you plan and implement.

Creating Cultural Change
Success in planned organizational change means creating a vision of the future organization and its culture. The values, beliefs, and attitudes of the To-Be organization must be clearly defined. The To-Be culture must be clearly differentiated from the As-Is culture to effectively identify the cultural gap. The organizational change method chosen to bridge the gap must match the values of the desired culture, not the present one. For example, if a Legitimacy-based organization wants to become databased, it should choose either a Functional/Structural Redesign, Business Process Reengineering, the Action Research Model, or a Strategic Redesign. On the other hand, a Fault-Driven organization that wants to become more strategic would need to choose either a Functional/Structural Redesign, Managerial Development, an Organization/Cultural Transformation, or Strategic Redesign.

Which of the possible methodologies is chosen should depend upon the managerial effectiveness culture wanted in the To-Be organization. In this way, it can guarantee that the values, beliefs, and attitudes of the change approach match those of the future culture. The Legitimacy-based organization that wants to become databased could choose a Rational Goal, Internal Process, Open System, or High Performing System type of culture. If the management feels that the key to organizational improvement is in smooth internal processes and process rationalization, the Internal Process approach to organizational effectiveness must be the final outcome. Therefore, the appropriate change method would be Business Process Reengineering. If the organization wants to become goal-driven, with goals of productivity and efficiency being paramount, the Functional/Structural approach would be most appropriate. Structures would need to be redesigned or reconfigured to allow such processes as departmental goal setting, super ordinate goals, and Management By Objectives. These changes would likely require corresponding functional restructuring, as new departments are created and new responsibilities allocated.

A Fault-Driven organization that wants to be more strategic may also find that key stakeholders in their environment will only accept well-known approaches to management–which experimentation is frowned upon. If these stakeholders control the purse strings, the organization must adopt a Legitimacy approach to managerial effectiveness. To achieve this, a strong, dynamic, charismatic leader using the Organizational/Transformation approach to change would be required.

It becomes obvious that the cultural goal must be determined before any steps are taken in a planned organizational change. The values, beliefs, and attitudes wanted in the To-Be organization should be the criteria for deciding which organizational method is used. For planned organizational change to be effective, it must be viewed as a cultural revolution carried out through behavioral modeling. The change approach that matches the desired organizational effectiveness culture prepares the membership to accept the new culture. In implementation, organizational members begin to behave in the desired To-Be way. Decisions are made in the change process using a value and belief system similar to the desired culture. Success criteria are the same in both the change process and the desired culture.

Human resources personnel responsible for implementing planned organizational change must keep track of the organizational culture and where that culture is headed. The Field and House typology of Organizational Effectiveness can be used to assess the As-Is and To-Be cultural gap. Once the To-Be culture is identified, the appropriate change method can be identified. If the appropriate organizational change method is used, the organization will be prepared to accept the new culture, making change easier to institutionalize. This procedure may not guarantee successful implementation and institutionalization of the changes but it will certainly improve the chances of success. If the cultural gap and change method are not matched, implementation will surely fail. An apple pie cannot be created using oranges.

Seven Phases of Initiating Process Change and Various Strategies

The Seven Phases of initiating process change and various strategies involved are:

1. Strategy

a. Starting a Project

b. Commitment from Management

c. Discovering process based opportunities

d. Identify IT opportunities where they can be deployed for efficient usage

e. BPR

2. Planning for change

a. Inform stakeholders and organize re-generation team

b. Prepare project schedule and set performance goals

3. Process

a) Document existing process

b) Uncover process pathologies

4. Social Re-Design

5. Technical Re-Design

a. Explore alternative designs (Will re-iterate till it meets the requirement/satisfied as laid in the

Project objectives)

b. Design new process (creating a process change)

c. Design HR architecture (multi-discipline)

d. Selecting IT platform

6. Process Re-Generation

a. Implement HR changes

b. Develop & deploy IT support

c. Re-organizing: teams, jobs, and training

d. Top management communication and persuasion critical here

7. Continuous Improvement

a. Measure performance

Generic strategy paradigms

1. Engineering:

a. Reduced cycle time,

b. Order fulfillment (OF),

c. Operational problem with BPR as one part,

d. Cross-functional process aimed at operational optimization

2. Systems

a. Costs/cycle reduction,

b. Underwriting/claims,

c. BPR aim communication ties,

d. Cross-functional processes aimed at improving information flows

3. Bureaucratic

a. New product development,

b. R&Dàdevelopmentàlaunch,

c. Process capability/strategy/value chain,

d. Strategic Business Unit.

4. Ecological

a. Change mindset/mission,

b. Cultural orientation,

c. Establish new managerial mindset/strategic focus,

d. Entire organization.