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Looking Back at Where It All Began – A Decade of Life & Adventure in Dharamshala

I remember that day in the winter of 2011 when a truck carrying our belongings reached Dharamshala. It was the end of January, that time of the year when days are short. It’s a long way from Shimla to Dharamshala, and it was dark by the time we started unloading the truck. Thankfully, it was not raining – quite unlikely for a place like Dharamshala where it rains almost every other day.  

For me, a long journey had come to an end – a journey which had started thirteen years back and had taken me to various parts of India for education and work. Along this journey, I have made many friends, acquaintances and gathered wonderful experiences. However, there was always this thought in the back of my mind that one day, the circle will be complete and I will be back in my hometown. 

While my old journey was now complete, here I was – embarking on a brand new one. Unlike the previous one, where the path was clearly laid out, this one was full of uncertainties. It required me to chart my own course from scratch. Thankfully, I had a partner with me – my wife Shilpa. Even though she had lived all her life in a city, she supported the idea of following an entrepreneurial path in the mountains. 

View of Dhauladhar mountains from NIFT Kangra campus.

GreenKrafts – Experiment with a Bamboo Handicrafts Venture 

The first idea that we dabbled in was a bamboo handicraft venture. The Kangra region in Himachal Pradesh has an abundant supply of high-quality bamboo, cane and natural fibers. However, creating items that earned an attractive premium required highly skilled workers. To bridge the skill gap, we set up workshops for local artisans and hired design professionals and trainers. 

But mobilizing the local workforce turned out to be a challenge. Even after several months, our workshops were largely empty. We also realized that to succeed in this market, we would need to have a deep pocket to invest generously in marketing and branding – clearly not something we could afford at that stage.

This way, the first year of our stay in Dharamshala went by, without much financial success coming our way. However, we refused to give up. We truly believed that better days were ahead of us, and as they say – where there’s a will, there’s a way.

  • Master artisans at Greenkrafts workshop.
  • Origami workshop with Jagori team.
  • Tea light holders with a motif of Kangra paintings.

Collaboration with Srijan 

Around the beginning of the 2012, I reconnected with an old friend, Rahul Dewan. Rahul is a technology enthusiast and a passionate entrepreneur spearheading Srijan Technologies, a thriving IT firm in New Delhi.

Though I didn’t have a background in tech, Rahul and I seemed to connect  and began to toy with the idea of setting up a software development centre in Dharamshala. The idea of delivering IT from the mountains (where even basic internet connectivity was a challenge) seemed like an exciting prospect, especially since this was happening way back in 2012.

Simultaneously, we also began to look for a senior IT Lead who would spearhead the tech side of things. As luck would have it, I chanced upon Krishnan, an IT veteran with over two decades of experience. An avid mountaineer, he had moved here from Bangalore to live in the mountains. All three of us felt the synergy brewing between us. One thing led to another, and we soon set up a partnership.  

In the initial days, Srijan Technologies provided us with clients as well as 4 Engineers from their team in New Delhi. Within three years, we grew the business and employed a team of 20+ Engineers. Most of them were local hires, who were brought in as interns and groomed them to become world class engineers. While we didn’t clock the kind of exponential growth that is typically sought-after in IT, we fared well considering the lack of talent and resources in a Tier III hill-town like Dharamshala. 

Meanwhile, like me, Shilpa too made a small breakthrough in her career. Her newfound job as a faculty member at a local institute was somewhat engaging, if not financially rewarding. She soon became the institute’s administrator. It helped her to cope with loneliness as well, since friends and socializing were still largely absent from our lives.

In hindsight, those years were a crucial stepping stone for us. By dabbling in these initiatives, we were building a community of like-minded professionals along the way. We were also getting a pulse of the place and the people, which came in handy later on. 

  • First office space in Dharamshala.
  • Evangelising technology in the community. One of the many such camps we have been organising.
  • Student outreach – Introducing them to the careers of the the future.

Startup 3.0  – Development Logics

Having tasted success with Srijan, I was eager to channelize myself in more avenues by joining hands with local organizations and initiatives. Somehow I was not able to find that space in Srijan. After several conversations with the firm’s leadership, I decided to step back from the engagement in mid of 2014. This time, Shilpa and I decided to come together as co-founders instead.

Earlier, Shilpa and I had not considered becoming partners in any professional initiative. This was largely because we didn’t want to bring work to our home. But here in Dharamshala, senior workforce with leadership qualities are hard to come by. Bridging this capability gap required us to join hands.

Our first business opportunity came when Vishal Sood, a close friend of mine, offered us business to setup a chat support team. Slowly over the years, we have built expertise in field of web development and digital marketing. We now offer product development and staffing services in IT.

Currently, we are offering IT services to clients in the U.S., Ireland, Australia, and India. In 2018, we setup a firm in the US to offer IT services. The firm was started with a Scott Allen, an American friend who lives in Dharamshala. The US firm started acquiring customers in early 2018. We have been successful in rolling out an enterprise-grade product in the VOIP domain over the last 3 years.  Couple of months back we started a dealership with a large US telecom company, which took almost a year and half to formalise.

The second business we took forward was Vayudoot, an internet service. With this our vision was to bring high-speed, low-cost, and uninterrupted Internet connectivity to remote areas. In Dec 2015 we got a license to run Internet Services from Department of Telecom. Initially, we procured Internet bandwidth from upstream telecom operators and distributed it to the last mile network. In 2019, we partnered with BSNL, a government run utility to provide high speed internet over fiber.

Today, from powering schools and financial institutions in remote areas to facilitating e-governance in villages, Vayudoot has grown steadily despite the challenges in the Telecom industry. Our fiber network is spread over a radius of 40 KM. My furthest customer is a bank branch which has no other ways of communication. An hydel power project depends on our network to send real time data about power generation to its HQ.

In these Covid times, while employees of many businesses are working remotely, the Internet services team has always been on the ground. Many colleagues contracted COVID, yet nobody left the post. Everybody realises that the Internet is an essential service today – especially so when we are extending coverage to hospitals and vaccination centres. Supporting people working from home or students taking classes.

  • How internet works? The science and physics behind it. Exposure visit for school kids.
  • Search for internet. A colleague from Vayudoot team, locating signal on roof top at a distant village.

The pandemic turned out to be a major stumbling block for the surge in growth that we were aiming at. Acquiring B2B clients in the tech space requires spending significant face-time. Many of the networking events that I had attended in India and abroad in the past had translated into a real business. But this option got closed after the onset of the pandemic in 2020. 

By God’s grace, the technology-services sector is not among the worst affected by COVID-19. We are immensely grateful to have retained all our clients through these tough times, along with a few new projects coming to us along the way. Some of our clients have been working with us for the past 7 years.

  • YoastCon 2019 in Netherlands.
  • Entrepreneur of the year award from Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh.
  • Baby’s day out.
  • Team dinner. Missing all this amidst the Covid pandemic.
  • Movie night. Uri it was.
  • Speaking at the Global Investors Summit held in Dharamshala.

Beyond Work and Business – Co-developing the Community

With all the ups and downs at the work front, our hearts have always been set on being enablers and change agents for the community around us. We are fortunate to have been able to manifest this in various ways. 

Kangra Arts Promotion Society

One of the earliest community initiatives that we worked on was the Kangra Arts Promotion Society (KAPS). The society was setup by Mr B K Agarwal, a senior IAS officer and Dr Akshai Runchal.

KAPS is a not-for-profit organization that promotes the local artwork of the greater Kangra region in Himachal Pradesh. This is achieved through galleries and exhibitions as well as commissioned work. Over the last few years, we have worked with the KAPS team to improve the model by introducing high-quality training workshops for next generation of artists. 

Our focus has been to ensure that the paintings retain the unique local flavour but are also of top-notch quality that gains acceptance in domestic and export markets. We have further pushed for a change in the compensation model for artists so that along with earning a fixed income, they are able to charge a higher premium as well on their art pieces. 

  • Exhibition hosted by KAPS, inaugurated by Ms Poornina Chauhan, Secretary, LAC Himachal Govt and Ms Ritu Sarin, Director at Dharamashala International Film Festival.
  • Speaking at an event about Kangra paintings at Rakh resort.
  • Monu, our master artist at the gallery in Mcleodgunj.
  • Kangra paintings gallery in Mcleodgunj, Dharamshala.
  • Kangra paintings exhibition inaugurated by the then governor Smt Urmila Singh.
  • Kangra Paintings exhibition inaugurated by Mr Sudhir Sharma, then minister for Urban Development, Himachal Pradesh.
  • Workshop of Geographical Indicators. KAPS was successful in registering Kangra Paintings with GI registry.

Dharamshala International Film Festival

Another initiative that I have been volunteering for since long, is the Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF). Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam – who are filmmakers and longtime residents of Dharamshala – had come to our office back in 2012 with the idea of giving the Himachali community a taste of alternative world cinema. Their idea instantly resonated with us and since then, there has been no looking back. 

Today, DIFF is one of India’s leading independent film festivals that draw in celebrities from the film ecosystem in India and beyond. Our association has grown from strength to strength over the years. My team and I contribute voluntarily during the festival.

  • A makeshift movie theatre at DIFF 2019. This is at TCV ground in Naddi.
  • Opening ceremony of DIFF.
  • Huge fan moment. With Manoj Vajpayee, chief guest at DIFF 2019.

Global Shapers Community

When the World Economic Forum reached out to me to help set up the Dharamshala Chapter of their Global Shapers initiative, it was like a dream come true. The Global Shapers Community is a network of young people driving dialogue, action and change. For me, this was an excellent opportunity to enable and empower the change-makers of today and tomorrow. 

I have been helping Global Shapers to identify local youth and foster leadership skills to prepare them for contributing to public good and welfare services. It has been a great experience through and through. It helped me to connect with the younger generation and form lasting friendships with like-minded people.

  • Cyber Security workshop with senior citizens.
  • Distributing warm clothing to students as part of Warm Up campaign.
  • Cleaning drive near Indrunag with Dhauladhar Cleaners
  • Warm campaign at Surya Uday foundation running a school for Specially Abled children.
  • Global Shapers – Annual Curators Meetings at Geneva.

Catalyst – IIT Mandi Tech Incubator

As a technology business incubator started in 2016, Catalyst has emerged as one of the leading incubators in Himachal Pradesh and in the Himalayan region within merely 5 years of its existence. It is also among the more active incubators in the country. Through the visionary leadership provided by IIT Mandi, Catalyst has created a startup-friendly support system to ensure that the ideas of tomorrow don’t die. I have been associated with it as a member of the Board of Governors. Meeting budding entrepreneurs and listening to their stories, helps me to remain motivated and to keep moving on this journey. 

  • Workshop on system driven approach to new startups being incubated at Catalyst.
  • Moderating a panel discussion.

NIFT – Kangra

Sometime in 2018, I got a call from NIFT Kangra to take up a course in Personality Development. Someone close had recommended my name. Initially, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to take up a teaching position. However, I was keen on getting this experience as well. Somehow I felt this was an opportunity to not just teach but to learn. 

  • First batch of students at NIFT Kangra

Overcoming Challenges: The Best View Comes After the Hardest Climb

All of this is not to say that life here has been a bed of roses. If anything, it has been the opposite. 

At a time when people were flocking to the cities where opportunities, technology, and networking thrive, we had decided to go backwards. A missing entrepreneurial ecosystem, a sub-par workforce, and the sheer lack of opportunities in Dharamshala made our journey particularly difficult. We had to pave the way for things to happen and take shape – often one brick at a time. 

In the early years, for example, we invested significantly in training the local youth only to be disappointed time and again. Dharamshala is not perceived to be an IT hub, and fades in comparison to Bangalore or New Delhi. We had to compensate for it by doubling down on our marketing efforts and keeping our operations lean. We consciously avoided taking the typical startup route of securing funding. Instead, we bootstrapped our way through the journey. This slowed our growth to some extent. But then again, not having investors breathing down on our neck has been a blessing during the pandemic year. In addition, we don’t have any business debt so that’s an added bonus as well. 

Our biggest challenge continues to be sales. The second biggest challenge is finding the right people. While we are able to hire people at junior levels. We haven’t been able to find senior talent, especially for the consulting business. If you or someone in your network is looking for IT services, please do connect with me.

The ISP business has seen huge changes. The big telecom companies are fighting a price war, therefore the margins have squeezed a lot. 

Despite this, what makes me proud still is that we have managed to create employment in this area and beyond in the tech domain. We have survived this journey with support from our friends and well-wishers. The road ahead is not easy. However, we will continue to move forward. After all, the best view comes after the hardest climb, and we have miles to go before we sleep.

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6 Questions on Caring for the Elderly That We Need to Ask Ourselves

In India, until just a few decades back, a large family living together under the same roof and sharing food from a common kitchen was a common sight. Today, joint families are on the verge of becoming an endangered species. Among the many implications of this trend, one aspect that stands out to me at a personal level is what it means for the ageing and the elderly.

Taking care of each other has always been a given at our home. My late grandmother, who recently passed away, lived with us till she was 99 years old. Over the last few years, our lives had sort of come to revolve around her. We also have similar fond and cherished memories of being with my grandfather till his last breath. 

But that does not mean that the many reasons why people choose to live in nuclear setups are lost on me. Nor does it imply that I am some kind of an expert on senior care. My simple realization is this – the experience of looking after the ones who once looked after us is largely a matter of following our heart.

You cannot fake it, and if done with selfless intent and without any expectations, it can be truly gratifying. On the other hand, the process of watching them age, wither, and one day, leave behind nothing but memories and photographs, is a humbling experience. It puts into perspective our own changing bodies and minds, our inevitable ageing process, and the physical and emotional dependencies that sooner or later come with it. 

Earlier, I had considered turning this blog into a series of tips and suggestions on caring for the elderly. But, then I changed my mind. For those interested to become better caretakers and companions for senior citizens in their family, community, and beyond, there are plenty of such articles on the internet.

Instead, I would like to raise a series of questions that have often occurred to me along my journey with my grandparents. I believe that whether you are in a position to help your elderly family members or not, these are questions that you will relate to at a human level. 

1. If ageing is natural, why is it so hard to see it happen to your loved ones?

On the face of it, the passing of time seems like such a natural phenomenon.

Since the day we are born, we start ageing. The process is usually enjoyable as we progress to youth and then reach the mid-mark. After that, as we age further,  it tends to become a bit scary and unpleasant. We all know the tell-tale signs – greying hair, shrivelling skin, loss of senses, cognitive failures, disabilities, various health conditions, and so on. These are more or less known to us. Yet, watching it from close-up, while someone in your family starts to degenerate and weaken right before your eyes, is one of the hardest things to do. 

My grandmother was active and healthy until a little over a year ago. We were so used to seeing her happy and fully functional that when the change suddenly came in the form of illness, getting bed-ridden, experiencing hearing-loss, and later, the loss of her vocabulary, it was too painful to watch.

One part of it was the feeling of helplessness – the sheer pain of not being able to help her in any way. The other aspect was realizing that she was fully aware of her own degeneration and that it was unknowingly eating away at her sense of feeling alive, confident, and happy. 

My learning is this – even if you know it all, you cannot prepare yourself for this moment before it arrives. You will probably have to just wing it, and whatever pain comes along the way, you will have to live with it with grace and acceptance, reminding yourself every moment that their pain is probably much, much bigger than yours.

2. Is physical care enough for the ageing?

This is another question that often tugs at my heart. 

Is it enough to ensure that they are well-fed, rested, clean and hygienic, and under high-quality medical care? Or is there more to it?

Some of the aspects that we often tend to overlook are things like companionship and adding meaning and value to their lives. It is one thing to have a nice cup of tea, for example, but it is another thing to share it with your grandson. It is one thing to undergo routine blood tests – it is another thing to have your granddaughter hold your hand while the needle pierces your skin.

A key cause of depression among the elderly is the feeling that they have nothing more to offer to the world or to the people around them. Up until 2018, my grandmother took care of our kids while my wife and I could focus on work. It was extremely beneficial for us, but more importantly, it gave her a feeling of belongingness, meaning, and contribution.

3. Can good and holistic care guarantee anything?

The simple answer is this – no, it cannot. But knowing it doesn’t stop us from letting our hopes run high.

By God’s grace, and with support from everyone around us, we were able to take excellent care of my grandmother for several decades. It was mostly a joyful experience. But over time, it sort of made us forget that no amount of care, companionship, or love could stop age-related degeneration in her and eventually – death

When the inevitable happened, we initially struggled a lot to accept the new reality. Then, as she began to deteriorate and her health and wellness began to slip through our fingers, we realized that we no longer had any control over it. It was then that we began to pray for her suffering to end instead. 

It’s not a journey that you can possibly imagine without going through it yourself, but in the end, it made me realize how little is truly in our control.

4. Do we, as a nation, have adequate infrastructure to make life comfortable for the elderly?

I can’t stress this enough. There is only so much that you can do as a son, daughter, grandson, or granddaughter. Beyond the capabilities of an individual or even that of an entire family, we need to have the right kind of technology and infrastructure to make life easier for the ageing and the debilitating.

India is still too far behind when it comes to having innovative and effective solutions for her elderly population.

Challenges like reduced mobility, impaired cognitive functionality, and loss of senses are still largely unaddressed – i.e. there is not enough technical support for the elderly to live a relatively full life despite these conditions. There are hardly any community-building initiatives for senior citizens. Geriatric care is still limited to the economically privileged and/or the socially privileged. 

It makes me wonder – if the process of growing old and nearing death is so terrifying and scary for those blessed with money and family support, how much harder is it for those who are stripped of these things?

One can only hazard a guess.

5. Is the tradeoff worth it?

Fair warning – this is a very subjective question.

Deciding to be there for your ageing parents and grandparents is a life-changing decision. You will probably stop having your own space, your freedom gets somewhat curtailed, your career choices become limited, and your finances can easily go for a toss if you are not careful. 

But is the tradeoff worth it? For me, it is. It gives me a sense of alignment with the full circle of life and more importantly, it lets me sleep with a clean conscience. But for those who are still sitting on the fence, here’s my humble suggestion – give it a try before you reject it outright. You may be pleasantly surprised.

6. Do we really understand old age?

I don’t know the answer to this question. But I think that that’s what makes it so enigmatic.

No matter how much we love, respect, or care for the elderly, old age will always remain a puzzle, or at the very least, a black-box to me.

Sometimes I think I have cracked it, but now I know better. 

And when my time comes, I hope that I can face it with the kind of grace, strength, and compassion that I often saw in my grandparents. It’s a lofty goal, but it’s also one that’s incredibly empowering. Perhaps one of that many advantages of being next to your loved ones as they age is to feel somewhat reassured that if they could do it, so can you.

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Rising up to the challenge – How we launched 3 applications within a few days for Himachal Pradesh’s rapid pandemic response

As India geared up to fight COVID-19 and the country-wide lockdown came into effect in March 2020, it was a sudden jolt to individuals and businesses. Adapting to remote working and virtual collaboration was (and is) no cake-walk. But for us at Development Logics, being in the grips of the pandemic was much more than just adjusting to the new normal. It was almost like a battle-call.

The State of Himachal Pradesh, where we are headquartered, announced full-fledged curfew on the end of March 2020. But essential service providers and people in emergency situations still needed to travel. This essentially meant that a portal to request, approve, and download Curfew Passes was required on an immediate basis. In close collaboration with the IT Department of the State Government of Himachal Pradesh, we built the Curfew Pass application that went live in just 24 hours. It facilitated the generation of e-pass as a valid permit to move within the State.

When the application was first launched, we were receiving around 7 applications per minute. Towards the end of the lockdown, we were receiving over 100 applications per minute. Thus, this was not just another app that we built – we had to attain high scalability and a stable back-end that could cater to millions of requests and app sessions under extreme timeline crunch.

There was no time to plan a project of this scale and magnitude. But, we weathered the storm by rising up to the crisis and with the aid of dedicated officials from the Government. We would like to acknowledge the contribution by Mr. Rohan Thakur, then Director IT, Mr. Rajeev Sharma, Additional Director IT, Mr. Anil Semwal, Joint Director IT, from the government of Himachal Pradesh for their relentless support, inputs, and encouragement. They were available to us with full commitment whenever we needed them to make critical decisions as product owners, and this made the journey an easy sail. The impact of this project was incredible and that made our team work harder than ever to make life easier for the people of our state.

The applicants needed to fill a form stating the reason for travel, details like timeline and information about anyone accompanying them, identification details, and so on. The applications were automatically sent for approval to the district officials, and on approval, an SMS alert was sent to the applicant. On one hand, it was a moment of pride for us to have been able to contribute in making lives easier for our people. On the other hand, making this feat possible in remote working mode was no easy task. But then, we were just getting started.

Tracking the quarantined population and contact tracing for those affected by COVID-19 was next on the cards for the State Government. Within merely 5 days, we launched the COVID Quarantine App in collaboration with the IT & Health departments of the Government of Himachal Pradesh. The project was the brainchild of Mr. Nipun Jindal, Special Secretary Health Dept, Govt of Himachal Pradesh who deserves a special mention here. The app was loaded with powerful features to track and trace the location of those in quarantine, assign a healthcare worker to each quarantined patient, send automated notifications to healthcare workers in case of quarantine violations and emergencies, and enable administrative staff to easily update data from the back-end. It has successfully tracked nearly 65,000 people and 6,200+ health workers till date. With this we also setup a dedicated help desk, for responding to queries of health workers and people being quarantined.

Given the critical nature of the situation, it was of utmost importance to create an information hub for COVID-19 where people at large could easily access the quarantine app, curfew pass, COVID-related dashboards, updates on new orders by the Government of Himachal Pradesh, and more. This was also essential to have in place as quickly as possible to counter the spread of fake news and de-stress the public. We showcased all pandemic-related information by building a single Government e-portal for COVID-19. This, too, went live in a matter of 4-5 days.

Each of these projects further evolved rapidly during the lockdown. Daily meetings on feature updates & logic changes were held to keep up with the changing requirements of the people and the State. We also took stock of the limitations we faced along the way. The apps were primarily built for Android phones, which means that non-android users lost out on some of the benefits. People without smartphones could not be served with these solutions either. The quality of sensors and inaccuracies in geolocation data were other stumbling blocks we had to workaround. It was not the best solution we could build, but then we were working under tight deadlines. Thankfully between the Department of IT and us, we found another team at Tagbin, which built version 2 of the quarantine app, helping us improve the location tracking features. Would like to thank Saurabh and Ankit from Tagbin for taking up this challenge.

Each member of our team came forward to ensure that the projects are implemented in time. We also collaborated with external teams like the state data center teams and government bodies at a whole new scale due to the sense of urgency involved. Would like to compliment Hitesh and his team at the state data centre for their relentless support in keeping the infra cranked up to achieve the scale we were staring at.

And yes, timely intervention from Rupika, who helped optimize resources for these applications, making the whole experience breezy for the end users. Over 1,00,000 curfew passes were issued in just over a month from the total of 4,00,000+ applications that were received. Accurate movement of live data and high scalability were a few of the aspects that we had to keep up with on the go. It has been an exciting phase for us to juggle these high-priority projects steered forward by the IT department of the State that is progressive and willing to adopt new ways. It was encouraging to see our story being covered by The Tribune India and The Times of India, and we look forward to going onwards and upwards from here in the service of people, communities and organizations.

I would like to thank Rohan Thakur, the then Director IT for reposing trust in our team. There are few bureaucrats who walk the talk. We connected during the Global Investors meet with regards to the IT policy of the state. He actually took that discussion to another level by giving a small upstart in Himachal an opportunity to work on such critical projects. Learnings from here will be of immense value to us and hopefully pave the way for more IT companies to set up base and collaborate with the state government.

In the end I would like to mention the effort put in by my colleagues at Development Logics. Anirban, Vijith, Ramya, Deepti, Pankaj, Mukesh and Yogesh for spending countless hours building these applications and then supporting them since the last couple of months.

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What Will It Take to Make Himachal’s IT Policy a Real Win for the State?

Background

Several states in the country have stepped up their IT game over the last decade by coming up with progressive, forward-looking and incentivising policies, including Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh.

Himachal Pradesh is the latest State to join their ranks come out with an IT, ITes(IT-enabled services) and Electronic System Design Manufacturing(ESDM) policy. This article is an attempt to assess the policy in a holistic manner and explore how it can be a real win for the State and its growing IT entrepreneurial community. 

To begin with, it is heartening to note that the Department has envisioned a 360o view of enabling IT development in the State by mapping the policy objectives towards fuelling IT investments, infrastructure, manpower, startups and entrepreneurs, e-governance and ease of doing business in the State.

Progressive Outlook and Generous Incentives

Let us now delve deeper into the incentives and stimuli offered by the policy. It is reassuring to note that the policy of Himachal Pradesh fares at par or better than similar policies adopted by other states and neighbouring countries of India.

For instance, affordable power/subsidy, skilled manpower incentives, subsidy on quality certification, land banks, promoting data centres, and e-governance are some of the areas where the policy offers comparable incentives in line with the offerings by the policies of the aforementioned states and neighbouring countries.

Lease Rental Subsidy, which is proposed to be 75% (up to Rs 15 lacs) for the first year and 85% (up to Rs 20 lacs) for the first year for Green Data Centres compares well with that of Uttarakhand and Gujarat.

With regard to tax benefits, Himachal Pradesh has put forward 100% reimbursement of Net SGST for 7 years, unlike Gujarat where there is a limiting upper cap on SGST reimbursement, the flat 5 years exemption in Uttarakhand, or the minimum floor rate charged in Maharashtra. 

Along with attractive Interest Subsidy and Capital Subsidy, in view of the transportation challenges arising in Himachal’s hilly roads, the draft has further offered 50% Assistance for Transportation of Plant and Machinery (up to Rs 7 lacs).

Environment Protection support to entrepreneurs through funding 25% of ETP/ETF expenditure (up to Rs 3 lacs) and 50% of power tariff for running the ETP (up to Rs 1 lac per year for 4 years) puts the policy’s environmental lens in good perspective, as opposed to Gujarat where such support is glaringly absent. In comparison, Uttarakhand offers a significant one-time capital subsidy of Rs 50 lacs, but only for ETF. 

Another boost to IT innovation in the State has been the provision for assistance for patent filing/IPR which is reimbursed up to Rs 5 lakhs or 75% of actual expenditure for domestic patents up to Rs 10 lakhs or 100% of actual expenditure for international ones. Overall, it seems like a great first step towards supporting Himachal entrepreneurs and innovators in protecting and capitalizing on their innovation.

Painting The Big Picture – What’s Missing?

Thus, prima facie, the policy pans out well in comparison to comparable policies already in place and doles out substantial benefits, generous incentives and attractive stimuli which could be perceived as a major step in the direction of meeting its objectives over the next five years. 

However, it is impossible to overlook the deeper realities of Himachal Pradesh that threaten to compromise the efficacy of the policy significantly, especially in the long-run. A case in point is the series of assumptions underlying the policy, one of which is the abundance of skilled manpower in the State. 

Skilled Manpower in Himachal Pradesh – Reality or Myth?

While it is true that the State is home to several prestigious institutes such as IIT Mandi, NIT Hamirpur and IIM Sirmaur these are hardly entirely consisting of Himachalis. On the whole, the availability of a skilled workforce in the State is rather dire, especially when considered in the context of employability in the IT sector. 

Aside from academic and professional eligibility, the sheer lack of awareness on appropriate work ethics, acceptable workplace behaviour, the lacklustre attitude on professional commitment and delivering responsibilities on time, and even the basic ability to have a dialogue and negotiate is starkly missing among the State’s youth. 

Bridging the Manpower Gap

Upgrading the Education Curriculum to Meet Industry Needs

The IT sector is one domain that hinges on exports to be profitable and scalable – but unfortunately, the majority of the workforce in the State is neither IT-ready nor groomed appropriately to interact with foreign clients. Those who do attain higher education, professional training and soft-skills up-gradation are drained out of the State through out-migration spurred by the lack of opportunities in the State to climb the ladder or innovate profitably at scale.

Unless the State Government gives due attention to the upliftment of the curriculum and bringing it in sync with the industry requirements, and unless it takes the responsibility of training teachers who will deliver such curriculum, Himachal’s IT dreams are bound to crumble. 

The questions one needs to ask are – Which are the jobs of the future? What skills do these jobs necessitate? How can these skills be imparted? Once skilled and trained, how can our workforce be adequately incentivised to remain in the State and boost our GDP? IT is a sector that is heavily reliant on quality manpower to become successful, and if we ignore this simple truth, it will have to be at our own peril.

Empowering & Incentivising IT Entrepreneurs to Carry Out On-the-job Training & Up-skilling

Until the necessary changes in curriculum and industrial training are ushered in, the State Government can also be proactive in bridging the current gap in manpower by stimulating enterprises who are ready to train the youth on-the-job and make them industry-ready. Given that even the workers churned out by the skill development centres in the State require substantial training and grooming by the entrepreneurs before they start adding any value to the enterprises.

Apart from running skill development centres, the state can look at providing incentives to IT businesses in the state towards hiring and training of interns by such business. Upon successful completion of their internship, such candidates can be offered jobs within such enterprises.

The government can share the burden of conducting such on-the-job training for 6 months to 1 year with the entrepreneur. Sharing the burden on a 50:50 or 60:40 basis by the State Government will incentivise entrepreneurs to take such calculated risks while still remaining accountable for such risks.

Small Entrepreneurs Need State Support to Boost Himachal Pradesh’s Growth Story

It is critical to take cognisance of the fact that Himachal Pradesh’s IT landscape cannot be perceived as identical to that of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat or the likes, where large IT corporations can mushroom and thrive overnight.

The State is ridden with a manpower shortage, infrastructure woes and the situation is further aggravated by its precarious hilly terrains, making it more realistic to promote IT entrepreneurship through clusters of many small to medium businesses, instead of a handful of large corporations. Given this reality check, what does the policy have to offer to the small entrepreneur ecosystem? Unfortunately, not much as yet.

The first step in this direction would be to take stock of the challenges faced by small and medium entrepreneurs in the State. Suboptimal condition of manpower aside, the State is severely constricted in terms of availability of such basic amenities such as affordable co-working spaces across the main cities of the State and a general lack of robust IT infrastructure such as universal availability of reliable telecom and internet networks.

Provisions to complement IT parks with plug-and-play co-working arrangements along with omnipresent and reliable network & connectivity would go a long way towards enabling the burgeoning community of small entrepreneurs. 

Making Market Access a Reality at the Grassroots Level

Secondly, while the draft does bring up the issue of market access and earmarks incentives for the same, small entrepreneurs in Himachal Pradesh cannot gain real access to market unless there are opportunities created by the State to help entrepreneurs pitch in various national and international events and gain the attention of the world.

The State and its entrepreneurship talent need to be showcased to the world in order to invite investments, partnerships and projects. The State can also take the initiative in launching its own set of networking and showcasing events for its entrepreneurs, especially in the IT domain.

Procurement Preference to Local Entrepreneurs

Lastly, the policy needs to be clearer and sharper in its provision to confer local preference to Himachali entrepreneurs. 

One way to ensure local preference would be to give procurement preference to entrepreneurs in the state. Various Government projects, IT infrastructure initiatives, eGovernance solutions, and so on, should award preference of procurement to local IT entrepreneurs who have the capability and can offer competitive or near-competitive pricing. In case of a mega-scale project, multiple small entrepreneurs can be awarded projects in clusters or groups.

Even when a project is awarded to a non-local entity, the State can mandate that such non-local corporations should necessarily onboard Himachali entrepreneurs as local partners with adequate in-project incentivisation. This will be a great opportunity for fledgeling entrepreneurs to learn from the experience and imbibe expertise, cross-cultural training and export orientation while getting a significant boost on the cash flows. 

Fostering Local Innovation

The mechanism of such preference becomes particularly critical where the Government is the sole buyer of the product or service such as need for creating some social impact. The preference process can commence right at the inception of the pipeline where innovative ideas are being generated through startup incubators and entrepreneurship cells of leading institutes of pedigree in the State.

The State can have in place a policy on accelerating IT, ITes and ESDM innovation by absorbing them into the State machinery such that a suitable price is preempted between the State and the innovator. To keep the process fair, the State can open applications for bidding on tenders once the proof-of-concept is attained while giving the innovator a chance to match the lowest bid and guaranteeing a reasonable amount as compensation in case the innovator is unable to do the same.

This way, the State Government can prevent the IT ecosystem and innovation economy in Himachal from suffocating and stifling, and instead generate a multiplier effect by empowering competent entrepreneurs and innovators. 

Concluding Note

In conclusion, while the draft policy looks promising & progressive, to ensure a level playing field for IT entrepreneurs of Himachal Pradesh it has to account for the lack of skilled manpower in the State, initiate partnerships to help showcase Himachal’s IT talent at national & international events, address the needs of small entrepreneurs through innovative solutions like co-working arrangements, establish a clear mechanism to award local preference by giving priority to local entrepreneurs and IT solution providers as well as taking the lead in boosting local IT innovation by minimizing the risks of local innovators.

The road to success lies through mitigation of these overarching problems and ignoring them will drastically reduce the chances of the policy attaining its stated and implied objectives over the next five years.

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Why Attending Pause Fest 2020 was a Great Decision at the Last Minute

I was thinking of writing this note for a while, but then got engaged in some COVID response projects with our state government. Finally got down to writing this one. 

Pause Fest is called the ‘Woodstock for digital natives’ and with good reason. Attending events is anyway a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to get a pulse of the industry while making invaluable connections along the way. But Pause Fest was not just another event – my experience of it turned out to be one-of-its-kind. No wonder it has been a roaring success for the 10th year in a row!

One of the reasons behind its consistent success is that it is not focused exclusively on technology, instead, the organizers balance it out with equal measures of business, technology, entrepreneurship, innovation and leadership. I always look forward to events that are not solely technology-centric, thus allowing me to interact with numerous fellow entrepreneurs as well. In this context, Pause Fest emerged as a clear winner right from the start.

Besides, from the event messaging it was clear that Pause Fest 2020 focused on great themes like Authenticity, Purpose, the Importance of Community and its Role in Entrepreneurial Success. It was a fresh change of pace from cold, hard statistics that other business conferences focus on.

When I decided to attend Pause Fest, I had only 30 days to plan, pack, make reservations and get there. 30 days may seem like a good amount of time on the face of it, but arranging a visa within such a short time frame is often an uphill task. So, I was in two minds about going ahead with the plan. Eventually, I got in touch with the Pause Fest organizing team to discuss my options and was pleasantly surprised when the founder of the event, George Hedon, personally responded to me. He assured me that if my visa were to be an issue, they would let me attend the event next year instead. Luckily, Australian visa authorities came through and I received my visa just in time. 

I reached Melbourne a day before the event as I wanted to avoid being jet-lagged during the fest. Melbourne’s warmer weather was a welcome break from the freezing temperatures of my hometown Dharamshala in India. Pause Fest 2020 was held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition center this year and the first thing I noticed upon arriving was the stunning architecture of the venue.

The organizing team made meticulous efforts to manage the fest down to the smallest of details. One of the key highlights of the event was their Dealroom app. This application was a wonderfully thought-out tool which helped people seamlessly connect during the fest virtually as well as physically. It helped us see what the attendees were seeking from the event and what they could offer.

As the event picked up momentum, each workshop I attended left me with out-of-the-box ideas as food-for-thought. I especially enjoyed Christina Canters and Aaron Heath’s workshop on “The Next Big Thing: What Drives a Good Podcast?” The session was inspiring and made me think about starting a podcast soon. Kathryn Williams conducted a knowledge workshop called the ‘Money Wheel’ which detailed the various modes revenue generation and pricing models.

Christina Canters and Aaron Heath’s workshop on “The Next Big Thing: What Drives a Good Podcast?”

In a creative business, we often overlook how best we can charge for our services and this workshop offered several pieces of actionable advice in that regard. On the networking front, I could not have expected better value for my money. I must have easily met over 70 people during these 3 days and even though it was a tad hectic, I was thankful beyond words for all of it by the end of the event. 

Pause Fest took up most of my time in Melbourne, so I couldn’t explore Melbourne as much as I would have liked to, but I still managed to visit the Melbourne CBD area. I also got the chance to interact with a fellow Global Shaper – Matthew Edward Taylor – who works with the Victorian Government. In the little time that we had with each other, he shared with me several trivia about Melbourne’s culture and the various ongoing efforts and initiatives to boost the startup ecosystem.

While Pause Fest was an unforgettable experience and easily the highlight of my Australia trip, but I also squeezed in a visit to another day-long event in Sydney towards the end of tour. Unfortunately, the day I landed in Sydney, the city was flooded with heavy rains and thunderstorms. Even though the weather was less than ideal, I had a chance to attend a couple of digital marketing workshops at the event and reconnect with a few old acquaintances. 

Pause Fest 2020 after party

Overall, Australia delighted with everything that it could offer in less than a week and I came back with a tons of learning and experiences to fuel my plans for the year. In fact, my school and college in both the cities hosted me and I hope to reciprocate their hospitality soon.

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5 Things You Need to Know to Start Your Career the Right Way

Rohan, a young graduate of 23 years, completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology in 2016. About 6 months later, he landed his first job with an IT company. It was a reason for celebration because, after a long wait, he had cleared the interviews of a company, and had finally got an offer letter in hand. He joined the office and was enjoying the work, and was just beginning to gain a few new skills, but within six months, he switched to another job. The reason? The new job offered a slight hike in his salary. 

3 years later, coming back to 2019, Rohan has already switched 5 jobs with a marginal increase in his pay each time. But, he is not getting any more offers because companies don’t trust him to continue with commitment and dedication for long enough to deliver. Rohan wants to apply for better jobs or switch careers completely, and is even considering the idea of starting something on his own. But, with no real skills added to his profile and no capabilities that he can successfully apply, he feels unsure and lost. Where did Rohan go wrong? What should he do now?

Thousands of young job-aspirants like Rohan are waiting for the dream job – the perfect combination of a great salary, easy-going office culture, and a quick climb to the top. A recent study by YouGov Mint Millennial Survey, 2018 shows that freshers out of colleges and universities expect a salary of Rs. 30, 000 per month[1]. 

Desiring a great salary to get a jumpstart in life is not wrong. But, how many freshers evaluate their skills objectively and justify the number they are asking for? How many of them realize their strengths and weaknesses, including their real value to a job or a company? Many youths are falling victim to this false expectation-setting. As a result, young people like Rohan get easily demotivated and switch jobs in rapid succession, until they reach a dead-end in their careers. 

Virat Tandon, the CEO of Mullen Lintas, a leading Indian company in advertising & marketing communications, says, “From my experience, you don’t gain anything by changing jobs so frequently. You get some money, but there is no scope of learning. You don’t get a chance to prove anything and eventually, it hurts your career as stability and learning to work in culture is important for better teamwork, and these things do not happen overnight.” 

We entrepreneurs are constantly at the receiving end when it comes to bad investments made on candidates who were simply not serious, expected too much from day one, and refused to stay the course long enough to demonstrate any contribution or pick up any valuable skills. However, I also empathize with our youth – perhaps they are misguided, perhaps they bow down to family and peer pressure, or maybe, they just need to see the big picture to make the right choices early in their career. 

Here are 5 tips that I would like to share with young aspirants that I hope will help them make wise choices early in their career and lay the foundation for sustainable professional success. 

1. Develop & demonstrate a professional attitude – Nothing is more disappointing than a new, inexperienced recruit who refuses to pick-up skills on-the-go and doesn’t commit to walking the extra mile when needed. My first advice is this – don’t give your employer a reason to pin these red-flags on yourself – lack of focus on work, lack of understanding of work culture and protocols, rigidity and stubbornness, lack of punctuality, poor communication skills, and lack of commitment. 

Understand the culture  of the workplace and understand what is expected of you in terms of both conduct and performance. Meet these expectations, if not exceed them. Talk to your colleagues and seniors if you have any doubts, or simply ask for their views on the industry, the company, the trending skills, and the opportunities around. You will be surprised how much you will learn and educate yourself within a few months. 

2. Up-skill yourself by building capabilities that are on-demand – Sadly, our education system is based on rote-learning and is not focused on developing industry-ready skills. This means that our youngsters are not equipped to meet the requirements of even entry-level jobs while aiming for the moon all along. There are two things you can do to address this challenge. Firstly, learn and upgrade yourself as much as you can. You can do this even while you are studying. Interact with seniors who are working in reputed and well-off firms in your domain. Learn about what skills they need to bring to the table at their jobs and get yourself ahead of the curve by mastering those skills as much as you can. 

Secondly, accept that no matter how much you up-skill yourself, you will still need to learn a great deal on-the-job. Walk the extra mile while you are employed and don’t give up until you have added a new portfolio of skills to your profile which can be your bargaining chip in the next job. The minimum time that you will need to stay in an organization to achieve this is 2-3 years, based on how quickly you can learn and apply. Remember, beyond specific job skills, you should also step up your soft skills like leadership, communication and personality development.

3. Start your career instead of waiting for your dream job – Unfortunately, fresh graduates often prefer to sit it out at home instead of taking up the best opportunity that comes to them. Some prepare for competitive exams to take a shot at government jobs while others stay idle, disappointed and frustrated. Instead of spending precious time waiting for your ideal job, start your career in a decent workplace. Prepare for government jobs on the side if you are  interested in it – but don’t sit back at home feeling demotivated just because you are offered a salary that’s lower than what you wanted. To tip the job market’s supply-demand dynamics in your favour, you will have to start somewhere and get things rolling. 

4. Get over social pressure – Family and peer pressure often sabotage the dreams of the young people who find it difficult to overcome it, especially when they see their friends or family members well-settled in a high paying job. Sometimes, parents might unknowingly set the wrong expectations about what to expect in one’s first job and advise youngsters to sit at home until they get a high paying job. 

Avoid a career gap – it’s a trap that will quickly demoralize and demotivate you while stealing precious years from your career. 

5.  Stick to a job for a few years and demonstrate a track record – Amanda Augustine, a career expert at Top Resume says, “…you should try to stay at each job for a minimum of two years.[3]” A recruiter will doubt your commitment if you have short stints with nothing substantial to demonstrate your performance continuum. Being in a continuous mode of job-hunting reflects poorly on your professionalism and career path. It shows that you are not dependable. While you need not become stagnant at one place, add something tangible to your employer and your resume before you move.

Here’s what I would like to leave you with – as a fresher, you will be at a clear advantage if you study the current trends in the job market and plan your steps accordingly. In 2019, for example, technology has seen a massive boost. With artificial intelligence and machine learning making inroads into our daily lives, the hiring trends will change. Focus on intellectual workers will increase. Be a patient learner and stay the course for a while to prove yourself before you take the next plunge – your persistence will not go unrewarded. And remember, it’s never too late to begin!

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6 Things to do before on-boarding a Technology Partner that can make or break your partnership

Building a business is a lot like building a house. You lay down the foundation, find the right people to design it, build it, paint it, and furnish it. It can’t be done all by yourself – whether it is building that new floor or adopting new technology. While finding the right technology partner can go a long way towards making your journey smoother, is it enough? How do you ensure that you approach them right? 

Too often great partnerships don’t work out simply because customers don’t invest enough time and energy in understanding and articulating their objectives, brainstorming on what to look for in a partner, and educating themselves on what to expect in terms of the process and the outcomes. Here is a simple process to go about it the right way. 

1. Define Your Objectives Clearly

Make sure you have a set of well-defined objectives before you approach a technology partner. Ask yourself questions like:

  • What is my big goal or the ultimate objective? How does this big goal fit into my overall organizational strategy?
  • What are the sub-goals or sub-objectives that constitute this big goal?
  • What are the tasks that need to be accomplished for each of my sub-goals? 
  • Which tasks can my in-house team take care of? Which tasks do I need to outsource to one or more technology partners?
  • Who are the various stakeholders who are going to be using your solution?

This extensive process will clarify your needs to not only your potential partners but it will also make it much easier for you to find the right fit. It is best to have a written document that details what you’re looking for, the timeline, the specifics of the project, the outcomes and the overall impact. If not a written document, rough sketches of how your interface will look will also do. Perhaps, you can even create flowchart on how you want the information to flow. 

By giving a brief in a written format, you will set a starting point for the conversation to follow which will ease communication with your potential technical partners. 

2. Educate Yourself on the Technology

While it’s true that you will be collaborating with someone who is expected to be well-versed with the technology, if you approach them without first having even a basic understanding of the technology yourself, it might end up being a recipe for disaster. To understand this, imagine collaborating with a partner from Japan, for example, without having the slightest understanding of the Japanese language! Crazy, right? 

Each technology, too, has a terminology of its own. And unlike learning a new language, you can easily familiarize yourself with the basic terms with a simple Google search or reading a few books, if you have some time to spare. Before you pick up that phone or send that email to a prospective partner, take out some time to do a little bit of research on the technology and how it works. 

This gives you an understanding of the feasibility too, so when the partner tells you that a certain function is not feasible on a certain technology, you already understand that. It will also drastically cut down on the back and forth you need to do during the process.

For example, if you are trying to onboard a technology partner for digital marketing, you would benefit by becoming familiar with terms like:

  • Keyword research and SEO
  • Email campaigns
  • Digital ads
  • Content marketing

3. Be Familiar with the Process

You may not know how a certain technology is developed, but it will help you immensely if you at least have an overview of the process involved in implementing it. Different technology companies have different versions of the core process involved, but the underlying framework is usually similar. 

You can do a bit of research at your end first and then request your potential partner to clarify the process to you before you start. This will give you a fair understanding of the timeline and you can then plan your schedule accordingly. For example, when developing a website for your company, some of the key steps involved in the process would be:

  • Creating sitemap and navigation
  • Developing wireframes
  • UI/UX design
  • Content creation and assembly
  • SEO Optimization
  • User testing and launch

4. Research the Pricing and Ballpark a Your Range

Nothing is more frustrating than going through the entire process of identifying and familiarizing yourself with a technology partner only to end it all on account of pricing. Research the prices floating in the market before negotiating with the potential partner. This way, you’re not fooled by exorbitant prices. 

You are also not caught off-guard due to wrong (or no) expectation-setting on your part about the industry benchmark for pricing of that product or service. You will also have a fair understanding of how to establish your budget. This way, you can weed out overly expensive technology providers without losing sight of the quality of your outcomes. The negotiation can conclude smoothly and in a short time.

Before you agree to a number, ask your technology partner the following:

  • What is the pricing structure? (Flat – fee-based, recurring – subscription-based, outcome-based, activity-based, hour/day-based, etc.)
  • Under what circumstances can the pricing change mid-way during the project? (change in project deliverable, a requirement of extra man-hours, delays, etc.)
  • What are the additional charges on the actual price? (taxes, late fees, fines, etc.) What are the terms and conditions underlying them?

5. Establish Smooth Communication 

What most people don’t realize, is that project communication needs to be ongoing and smooth between the partners involved. Most businesses communicate their requirements in the initial stage and then only check-in when the product is finished. At this stage, making any changes or updating any features takes a lot of time, effort and money. The best way to approach this challenge is to be in constant touch with your technology partner throughout the process.

It is also important that you assign a single point of contact in your organization to communicate with your partners so that multiple viewpoints and suggestions don’t create any confusion. This streamlines the process and allows the partners to deliver on time and within budget.

6. Understand the Changing Requirements of the Technology

Finally, when you are ready to take the leap and invest some real time and money into new technology, make sure you understand what the requirements of the technology itself are. Even if it is just a website you are looking for, it needs to be constantly updated and tweaked to remain relevant and adapt to the changing algorithms of Google and other search engines. The more complex a technology gets, the more up-gradation it requires frequently. Some technologies don’t function unless there are regular inputs provided. So make sure you know what you’re signing up for and it is feasible.

Getting into anything new is a bit of an uphill task at first. It can seem overwhelming in the beginning going by just how much there is to figure out and decide, but just a few simple steps at your end can make the process a lot smoother and help to hold your technology partner accountable for excellence at their end. 

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IIT Mandi’s Catalyst is driving Technology Innovation and Leadership through the Himalayan Startup Trek – An overview of the 2019 edition

Himalayan Startup Trek 2019

The Himalayan Startup Trek is the annual flagship program of IIT Mandi’s Catalyst – the first technology-incubator in Himachal Pradesh. The incubator hosted the 3rd edition of the Himalayan Startup Trek on 14th and 15th September 2019, to pull in passionate entrepreneurs, mentors, and investors across India. 

The primary vision was for the entrepreneurial community to engage and interact on various technical and innovative ideas around themes like agriculture, waste management, climate change, renewable energy, road safety, and disaster management. I find this event to be of great value to entrepreneurs – both budding and seasoned ones alike – because it brings together the important stakeholders of the Indian startup ecosystem, and provides young entrepreneurs with a platform to pitch their innovative ideas for incubation and fundraising. I have participated in every edition of this program, and it has been a great experience each time. This time, I also had the opportunity to moderate a panel discussion.

Mandi is a small, almost pollution-free town in Himachal Pradesh. It is far away from the noise and hassles of big cities. However, it is also far away from the major cities of India, not to mention the hilly terrain that makes it difficult to access. Hence, it was heartening to see that eminent people had travelled long commutes from far-off places like South India to participate in this two-day event.

As a meeting ground for budding entrepreneurs and innovators belonging to a diverse array of fields, it was attended by several technology leaders who shared their experiences during the initial stage of their startups to inspire the young leaders. This time, I was a panelist along with 30 other speakers/mentors/investors and was incredibly excited to get this opportunity to connect with young minds and peers.

At the outset, the participants were warmly welcomed by Prof. Timothy A Gonsalves, the Director of IIT Mandi. He emphasized on understanding the key features of a startup and set the tone for the interactions and discussions to follow. The whole session was abuzz with keynote speakers and investors like: Anshu Gupta (Founder of Goonj), Samir Shah (Managing Principal, Sattva Capital), Amarjeet Singh (CTO, Zenatix), Saurabh Jain (Vice President, Paytm), Gitanjali JB, Founding (CEO of HIAL), Swapna Arora (CMO of OLX), Bhavesh Manglani (Co-founder and COO, Delhivery), and Anuj Sharma, (Founder and CEO,Alsisar).

Anshu Gupta’s keynote speech on the topic ‘Look Beyond and See the Invisible’ was a deeply inspiring one that focused on sharing several insights on finding solutions to problems of the startups. Samir Shah delivered an insightful talk on the ‘Opportunities in Water and Solar Sector’. To quote him, “We need more startups to work on problems related to core sectors including water, energy, and agriculture. I am happy to see many startups here at IIT Mandi which are focused on these sectors.” 

Dr. Amarjeet Singh’s highly informative session on ‘Emerging uses of IoT, Automation and Analytics’ greatly enriched my understanding of technology. He said, “After connecting people, the next wave is to connect things. Connecting physical infrastructure can generate a large volume of real-time data which can then be leveraged by businesses to improve their top line and bottom line.”

The two-day event was followed by panel discussions, speed dating sessions with the investors, and a one-on-one meeting was held between the entrepreneurs and the experts. I had the opportunity of moderating a panel discussion on ‘Technology led Innovation and Entrepreneurship,’ along with my co-panelists Prashant Warier, Co-founder and CEO of Qure.ai, Kumar Bagrodia, Founder, CEO of NueroLeap and Vivek Venugopal from Fantain.

Panel Discussion at HST 2019 Event
Panel Discussion at Himalayan Startup Trek 2019 event

After a quick round of introduction, I opened the floor by asking the question, “What does innovation mean to you?” Several insightful responses came in. Prashant Warier, for example, said that solving a problem in a new way is called innovation, while Vivek Venugopalan emphasized that solving any problem, big or small, requires innovation. Kumar Bagrodia leaned towards the use of technology to solve any type of problem. 

Next, I initiated a follow-up question around whether technology should always be a part of business innovation. To this, Kumar Bagrodia shared the thought-process that though there are various business models, the intervention of technology is essential. He went on to explain this by giving the example of the health sector, where every illness is detected by a digital device. For instance, fever is also measured by a thermometer, which is found in every home. Vivek Venugopalan put forth the idea that technology solves the problem, so being an entrepreneur, he is dependent on technology. Prashant Warier added to the discussion by saying that he uses technology to solve problems. Deep learning algorithms are necessary for recognition of radiological images, for example, which are further augmented by artificial intelligence.

The next question I asked was how they have scaled up their businesses. What are the problems they have faced in acquiring a team and setting up the technology? Vivek said that though he used the technology, he didn’t always get a 100% accurate result. So, sometimes he had to carry out some of the work manually to maintain the accuracy and the budget. Prashant shared that he just lacked enough data for AI to work accurately. Getting that data was a big challenge for him. Kumar said that a single black box solution should not fool anyone. No professional or company can claim to have all the parts. So, the best way is to partner with the best companies. He believed that the benefit of the customers should always be in mind before investing in any technology.

The next question was how they had timed their entry in the market. Kumar Bagdrodia opened the conversation here saying that there is no exact notion of time. The motive should be clear. Though technology is evolving every day, it depends upon the product. Vivek clarified his opinion by saying that a problem should be picked up, and then one should just go for it. Prashant said that if any new technology is solving the need of the end-user, then it should be approached. 

The next question was on funding – what challenges did they face in raising the necessary funds? While BookMyShow funded Fantain, Kumar self-funded Neuro leap. On the other hand, a company called Fractal Analytics had incubated Prashant Warier’s previous business. Now, he has been raising money for the past six months. He shared with the audience that raising money takes a huge toll. Finally, the discussion was handed over to the audience to ask questions. The house asked them various questions around their technology, their user experience and how innovative they were. 

Apart from the panel discussion, another interesting part of the program was the plantation session. Dr. Shyam Kumar Masakapalli, an eminent biologist from the School of Basic Science was guiding this plantation program with great enthusiasm. The most attractive part of the program was that a barcode was attached with each tree we plant to help us follow up. This was then followed by open networking and in-person discussions.

More than 270 teams had applied for Himalayan Startup Trek 2019, and out of them, 60 startups were shortlisted. The theme of the program was finding technical and innovative solutions for the contemporary problems and challenges faced by people every day. 25 best ideas were handpicked from the program and were given an on-spot offer to join the Catalyst incubation program. I was a part of the jury panel and we were all awake till 2 a.m. on the first night listening to the pitch sessions. Even though it was exhausting, we were all back up at 8 a.m. to continue with the pitches. 

The prosperity of a state depends upon the industrial growth in a state, which in turn is dependent upon the entrepreneurs of the state. However, in developing states like Himachal Pradesh this entrepreneurial culture among the youths is lacking. People focus solely on the tourism sector but there are other business and technology opportunities in horticulture, IT, agricultural domains, herbals, medicinal plants, etc. Sometimes the entrepreneurs are just ideating but they are unable to bring it about because they lack training. Or, they are unable to pitch their ideas and business plans.

Thus, events like these need to be organized to mentor the youngsters of Himachal Pradesh so that they can keep pace with the entrepreneurs from metropolitan cities. Even seasoned entrepreneurs could join hands together in organizing various startup accelerator and incubation programs to lend support to these youngsters of Himachal Pradesh.

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Knowledge, Insights and Networking: Why YoastCon 2019 was an Experience to Treasure

When it comes to pulling crowd across the globe to speak, interact and engage on SEO, few conferences have created the kind of goodwill in such a short time as YoastCon has. With just 3 editions to fall back on, the event has already gained the confidence of the SEO fraternity across the world in terms of value and return on investment. Niche conferences are of immense value to entrepreneurs like us, as they constitute one of the best ways to stay updated on the latest trends in one’s domain and engage with the movers and shakers of the industry – not to mention the networking value of interacting with our peer marketers and fellow entrepreneurs as well. 

Every year thousands of entrepreneurs and digital marketing professionals who cannot make it to the event follow its course online. While this post comes a little late, it’s better late than never! – Here’s a brief account of my experience at the YoastCon 2019 and the key takeaways I have brought home with me. 

Nijmegen, The Netherlands, where the conference was scheduled to be held, welcomed me with a bitter chill. Coming from a tropical country, the sudden drop in the mercury took a little time to get used to, but the possibility of an amazing experience over the next 2 days kept me warm inside. Having enjoyed the Dutch hospitality and having refreshed myself, I headed to the event venue – De Vereeniging. 

On the way, the city was a delight to watch. I reached the location well in advance and could immediately feel the electrifying ambience. The place was abuzz with professionals and trailblazers like Rand Fishkin, Alberto Medina, Jono Alderson and Els Aerts. The giant owl (Yoastie) added a dash of humour to the thrilling atmosphere. The entire event was perfectly organized – down to the last minute. Within no time I was settled in and the roller-coaster ride had begun. 

Joost de Valk, CEO and online marketer and founder of Yoast, opened the conference with his spectacular keynote address. While he primarily focused on sharing several gems of insights on the technical aspect of SEO like Schema Markup and the latest updates to the Yoast Plugin, in many ways, he set the tone and pace for the interactions and discussions to follow. Over the next two days, a host of diverse topics around SEO were discussed from semantic search & link building to site migrations and SEO copywriting to artificial intelligence in search. 

It would be redundant to elaborate here each section in detail, but a few sessions that struck a chord with me and enhanced my understanding of SEO exponentially deserve a special mention here.

Rand Fishkin, the founder of SparkToro, for example, really nailed it about the critical importance of brand-building through powerful content and smart SEO. It gave me a good dose of food-for-thought regarding out-of-the-box brand-building for not just our brand, but also the brands of our partners and clients. Consistency in content and accuracy in SEO performance are deeply interlinked – his session ingrained this point in me while also offering tips on how this feat can be achieved. 

Jason Barnard, the leading search marketing consultant, speaker and author, made important observations on perceiving SEO through the lens of the Knowledge Graph. Key highlights from his speech were: “Make sure other sites confirm facts about you if you want to get a knowledge graph in Google and Bing. The more sites point out facts about you, the bigger the chance! And don’t forget to claim the knowledge graph!”

Links are the mainstay of Google’s ranking factor – naturally, this was one session I was eagerly looking forward to. WhiteHat SEO expert Kris Jones shared advanced link building techniques to build quality links in a scalable manner and offered several tips, tools and strategy to make those techniques work. 

Fili Wiese, a renowned technical SEO expert, ex-Google engineer and a senior technical lead in the Google Search Quality team, shared excellent speed optimization tips for SEO to accelerate site traffic growth. Rudger de Groot, the founder of Mintminds Digital Optimizers, shared multiple real-life accounts of his personal experiences with data-driven experimentation. The revelation that nearly half of the companies out there have no real policy for stopping an A/B test came as a shock, and simultaneously, a wake-up call!

There were also snippets of wisdom to be gained from the speeches and discussions that were not directly related to SEO. Jono Alderson (digital strategist, marketing technologist and full-stack developer at Yoast) shared his three rules – (Be healthy, Be Creative, and Be Popular) that struck a nerve with me – we have adopted it as our mantra for 2019!

I had been following the YoastCon since 2015 when it was first launched. Like most entrepreneurs in digital marketing and web technology space, I too had long aspired to be a part of the thrilling 2-day event and get my fair share of learning, excitement, insights, and unparalleled networking opportunity – which was exceptional due to the perfect scale of the event (somewhere between too large and too small). So when I finally made it to the most recent edition in February this year, it was every bit I wanted it to be – and more!

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Things which make us unique despite our diversity

Over the years, I have spent a fair amount of time in different parts of our country – for education, then work and ofcourse leisure travel. One such travel a few months ago, brought up some thoughts which I decided to pen down here.

It wouldn’t be wrong to say India is country of many nations. Even within each of our states, there is so much diversity that when we meet each other we will think of how “we” are different or what sets “us” apart from “them”. “Them” could be people living across the street (since ages), from a neighbouring city/state or someone from the opposite side of our Country.

There is no denying the magnitude of social and cultural differences in India. We like to identify ourselves in many ways. Tamils, Mallus, Punjabis, Jats, Marathas, Khasis, Dogras and so on. Then we have religious identities and of course the caste and the sub castes dynamics.

There is diversity and we revel in it. It doesn’t matter which region of the country we come from, or which caste, community or religion we affirm to, we have things in common which continue to unite us. Bollywood for one, cricket matches, disdain for our politicians, love for our country which especially peaks during Independence and Republic Days or when faced with military aggression, and so on.

However today on this Republic Day, I would like to highlight some nuances, which we tend to overlook, cause they are not bragworthy.  Yet these are common traits we have as Indians, notwithstanding the north-south, east-west divide. 

We love breaking the traffic rules: Not sure about the several archaic traditions or customs that we still follow doggedly, but traffic rules are something we love to break. As far as this aspect goes, there is no difference above or below the Vindhyas. Pune, Chennai, Shillong or Delhi, we are like that only. Then, what about CCTV cameras, challans, fines, etc ? Well those are for the faint hearted. Not for the most of us. And the famous trick with a Gandhi note works with most of the traffic cops in all parts of the country. 

We love our potholes: People who allege that our governments are elitist and pro-urban, I’d say you are wrong. Look at the state of our roads. Whether its a city or a town, it’s bad everywhere. In fact, bigger the city, bigger the potholes on the roads!

Piles of garbage on our streets is a way of life for us: Except for a few high streets, like roads around the Raj Bhavan and the Vidhan Sabhas and the like, most streets are littered with garbage. After all, we like to keep our street animals well fed, even if it is plastic or spoilt food. And we are now so used to garbage, just like advertisements, that garbage is no longer visible to our naked eyes.  

We don’t mind urinating in public: Whether it is a bus stopping at a wayside dhaba or a wall on a corner of a busy street. The stench of urine is all pervasive. We like our share of ammonia. The only difference maybe is that at some places men take off their pyjamas and the other they pull up their lungis. 

Shabby Government offices: A visit to a government office anywhere in the country and one can find walls and corridors smattered with paan stains, tables piled high with files, damp rooms with little or no ventilation.

However, somehow magically there is one room in the whole office, which is always spick and span. You guessed it right, that is the room of the officer in charge. By the way, it also has a clean toilet, a soap, cleaner and for some reasons, there is always a white towel on the officer’s chair. 

Officials demanding ‘their cut’ haq se: Any department you go, any part of the country there will be someone demanding a couple of notes to get the work done faster. It could be worse in some parts of the country, but unfortunately, this is something that unites us all. It is here our boundaries fade, we are no longer Bangla, Bihari or Telgu. 

We like taking selfies with wires dangling behind us: The jumble of tangled, messy electrical wires and cables hanging from electrical poles is common sight whether you live in an urban sprawl or a small town. Whether you are in Ludhiana or in Bangalore. And somehow we make sure there is a wire dangling on the spots, where one can admire or take pictures of  the beautiful valleys or beachfronts which abound in India . 

Cheating in exams: My friends across different states can vouch for examination centres, especially in border areas of the state, where students get to cheat. Somehow the invigilators on duty don’t seem to be aware of such things ever. The kind of social service we do is immense, after all, a kid barely able to pass in school can actually become a good doctor or engineer in the future. 

We are all civil engineers: Well all Indians, at least once in a lifetime, do become civil engineers, architects, structural engineers and sometimes even Masons. We fancy designing and building our own homes, our own way. We don’t care whether we have planned roads, utility ducts or garbage disposal systems. All those amenities come as an afterthought. 

We are a country of adventure-seeking backpackers:  Yes, you heard me right, we are a country seeking adventure. Every day, we see people, mounting their motorbikes, with a backpack, without helmets, of course, seeking a daily dose of the adrenaline rush of going to and coming back from the office.  And then if this was not enough, we like to cling to the buses and trains on the sides or on the rooftops. And this happens regardless of where we live in this country. 

Well, there are many more which can be enumerated here. However, I am hopeful, a day will soon come when these things will not be a common recurrence in our country. Till then let us continue to enjoy the unfettered freedom, which has been bestowed upon us. 

Wishing you the best for what the Republic of India can offer in its 71st year of existence. May we contribute our bit in stenghthening our country and continue to celebrate our unity in diversity.