The next chapter of my life

March 7, 2012 / How I do things, Interesting experiences / 79 Comments

I’m writing this post on a one-way flight from London back to India. I’ve moved on from Infosys Consulting, and am starting up on my own.

I’ve wanted to do this for a long time. There’s always more freedom in your own company than someone else’s. There’s often more money in it too, if you’re lucky enough. But my upbringing is a bit too conservative to make that bold step. However, given that my father runs his own firm, I figured it was just a question of time for me to do the same.

Two years ago, in Jan 2010, I picked up Rashmi Bansal’s Stay Hungry Stay Foolish at an airport. That book killed the last bit of resistance I had. If the people in that book could succeed, I felt I could too. And if what they did (building small companies, not huge ones) could be called a success, I could be successful too.

After the flight, it was clear in my mind. I would be an entrepreneur. I would create a small company that would probably fold. Then I’d do it again. And again, 10 times, because 1 in 10 companies survive. And finally, I’d be running a small business that’d be called successful by virtue of having survived. A modest, achievable ambition that I had the courage for.

I usually make big decisions without analysis, by just sleeping over them. I slept over it and announced it to my family the next day. I’m not sure they believed me.

Two months later, along with a friend, I built a dynamic digital image resizing product. We had our wives start a company in the UK, and tried selling it to retailers. There clearly was a demand. The problem was, we didn’t know how to sell. After a year and having spent £500 with no sales, it was clear to us that venture #1 had failed. We eventually shut it down.

In the middle of this, my ex- boss from IBM told me that he was looking to start a venture, focusing on mobile, rural BPO and energy management. This later on changed to data analytics and visualisation. They all sounded like fun, so I said I’ll help out in my spare time.

A few months later, a classmate told me he’d started a business digitising school report cards. That sounded like fun too, so I said I’d help out in my spare time.

Now, if that sounds like I had a lot of spare time on my hands — you’re right, I did. And it’s time to talk about the jobs in my life. My first 3 years at IBM were fun. I was coding, learning, and leading a bachelor’s life with friends, money, and no responsibilities. My 4 years at BCG were strenuous with 80-hour weeks, but it was interesting and challenging. I was newly married, and between work and home responsibilities, I had no time for fun.

I moved to Infosys Consulting in the UK with the specific aim of rectifying that (and for health reasons as well). In the last 7 years, the work has (except on occasion) been a bit boring, but very relaxing. On most days, I would spend 4 hours working, and 4 hours learning new stuff. The things I learnt only helped me be more efficient. So I ended up getting even more work done in less time.

Many things came out of this. Firstly, I recovered my health. We had a daughter, and I spent more time with her. I started coding in earnest again. By 2007, I was writing code as part of my projects — stuff that others whose job it was were unable to. By 2009, I had a few websites running, like an Indian music search engine, an IMDb Top 250 tracker, a few transliterators, and so on.

So when I said I’d help out with these startups, it wasn’t an empty promise. For the last 18 months, I’ve had a day job and three night jobs. I never did justice to any of them in my opinion, but I had more fun than ever in my life, I learnt more than ever in my life, and I produced more tangible output than ever in my life. Sometimes, quantity beats quality or reliability.

Both these startups are doing well today. Gramener.com offers data visualisation and IT services. I will be joining them as Chief Data Scientist. Reportbee.com offers a hosted report card solution. I will continue helping them out. And I will continue working with a few NGOs.

You’ll see me a lot more active online now. I can publicly write about my work — something I’ve been unable to do the last 11 years.

I am relocating to Bangalore. From a professional front, it’s an obvious choice. That’s where the geeks are. In my last visit to India, I was at Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. In the latter two, it’s tough to meet geeks. And when you do, it’s no easier to find the next. Bangalore has many more geeks, and they’re fairly well networked.

From a personal front, too, Bangalore works well. It’s close enough to Chennai without actually being in Chennai.

It’s 10am on Thu 12th Jan. Our flight is descending into Delhi airport. It’s the start of a new chapter in my life. Scary, but exciting. Wish me luck!

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79 thoughts on “The next chapter of my life”

  1. Amitesh Jasrotia

    Hey Anand, I was not really inspired by Rashmi Bansal’s book but I am mighty inspired by the piece you have written. Nothing else is more self-liberating than becoming the master of your own destiny. I have been following your blogs/site for quite some time now. Something tells me you will be successful. Still, Best of luck for your future endeavors!

  4. Girish

    Congratulations for new change Anand 🙂
    S-Anand.net is always at the back of my mind for the content it has.

  7. Venkatramanan

    Anand

    Surprising to see you very late to entrepreneurship! I thought you were managing your business! All the very best! As they say in school ‘you will definitely come with flying colours!’

    Regards
    Venkat

  11. Ayyappa

    Best of luck Anand!

    Btw -I am a daily user of your mixamail for twitter and never said thanks! Thanks a lot for that!

    Also, I hope you write your experiences in the startup life for “other conservatives who are afraid to jump” to learn how it feels to be in the wild outside.

  12. Veera

    Whoa! that explains the number the data visualization posts in your blog. 🙂

    Congratulations for starting up on your own!

    Me too in the same situation, going to work on my own start up from coming March onwards 🙂

  13. Ravi

    All the best Anand. I’ve loved your site and all the tools you’ve built around it. I’ve always wondered how you got so much time to do all that you do. Gramener seems to be a happening place now and I am sure you will make it a grand success.

  14. Krishna

    Nice to know this Anand. I’ve been following your exciting works in our intranet blogs. For sure, this is going to be the best decision you ever made 🙂 Wish you loads of luck!

  20. Pawan Bhargava

    Hi SAnand, good call. It does not matter how it works out (trading in handsight), but all that matters is enjoying what you do. I am sure it would be immensely satisfying. Good luck.

  21. Ravish

    People said “search” was too late for Google.. they also said “social networking” was too late for Facebook.. good that neither Larry Page nor Mark Zuckerberg listened to them..

    All the best Anand.. Good Luck !! Its never too late for new ideas!!

  22. Kalpesh

    Anand,

    I am sure, you have all things needed to do better things in life.
    Hopefully, we will meet & work together in future.

    Best Wishes
    Kalpesh

  23. Vanaja

    All the best Anand! I have always wondered why you were stuck with Infosys when you were so much more. This looks like the way to go. Good Luck and God Bless!

  24. Ashish

    Hey Anand!
    Good to hear that, best of luck for your ventures……happy Independance!! Do let me know if i can be of any help
    Ashish

  26. Madhur Singhal

    Anand, best wishes!! Well – I never had a doubt that you take only 4 hrs for 8 hrs of work anyway.

    I have been guilty of being lazy in calling but thankfully, I travel to Bangalore sometimes. I am at 9873901163 and if you tell me your #, I will call you.

    cheers!!

  27. Gaurav

    Way to go Anand! You will love being an entrepreneur – the freedom to try different things and the satisfaction you get when something works…

  30. Somnath

    Just goes to show the fan following you have. I am really late in checking your latest post. Welcome back to Bangalore and India. I see couple of batchmates have posted to.
    Wish I can join small organization / startup but am hesitant to take the risk.
    Then again what is my true skill set 😀
    Somnath

  32. Suresh

    Wish you success.
    “Real success comes not from being invited onto the yacht, but from being able to paddle one’s own canoe” – Hugh McLeod

  33. Sridhar

    All the very best Anand! I am sure you’ll have no problem adding tremendous value to whatever you produce and that will ensure your success.

  36. Sathish

    Didn’t actually get the technical part you are talking about… but looks like your are excited and I’m happy for you… ALL THE VERY BEST!!

  37. Madhu

    Good luck, many dream of doing it and few take the bold step. I am glad you did.

    Congratulations and wish you the best.

  38. Naveen

    Anand- Congratulations , the day I had been waiting for long time. You will make a big impact where ever you are. Good Luck to you and Gramener

  39. Rajesh bhura

    Finally! This is teriffic news. From our campus days I always thought that this was the way to go for u.
    Remember the digital signature idea which u had come up with as our e-commerce project? It’s a big industry now in 10 yrs. I don’t have any doubt whatever u do will be successful in it’s own way. All the best. Your fan for always – rajesh

  43. Jitendra

    Wish you luck Anand! I am sure with your attitude and energy you’d do well in whatever you try to do!

  44. Anand S

    Anand

    Good luck. Our paths are similar (I am anand @ anands.net). After 12 years in silicon valley, I returned to Bangalore an year ago to run my own venture (started this 4 years ago). Let’s meet in Bangalore.

  47. Sumit Dhar

    Now that you have moved to Bangalore, we should exchange numbers and plan on catching up. Where, in Bangalore, are you based out of ?

    Cheers,
    D.

  49. S Anand

    @Sumit: definitely. Still haven’t move into Bangalore just yet, but my contact number is on the home page. Please feel free to call any time,

  50. Shankar V

    hey Anand

    All the very best and trust me…..I knew this was coming! 🙂

    Welcome back to India and welcome to Bangalore. Hope you continue to post interesting stuff.

    Please do stay in touch. I had your Infosys email id. Don’t think I have your personal id. Please pass it on.

  51. ranjit bawa

    hey Anand – great to hear!! good luck with the new chapter and look forward to seeing you soon. hope to follow suit, but till then, shall live vicariously…

  53. Rajesh B

    Great to know you are starting off on your own. Good luck. I took my one way ticket to India 3 years ago. Still burning through my first venture. Inspiring post. Am planning to start 9 other on the side just to be on the correct side of the odds.

    Jokes apart, can think of few others more equipped to start off on something. If ever you are interested in doing something on the education space, drop me an email. Will try to make that as my night job. Am good with creating content, abysmal poor in trying to sell it. So, ideal for a night-job.

    Best wishes.

    Cheers,
    Bee

  57. Ranganathan

    Hey Anand,
    I used to follow ur blogs for the past 2 years. I think i came to know about ur blog when i was searching about the tips in excel . Sometimes if I am bored i used to check ur site for the movie list..:-) ..
    I just want to say ‘All the very best ‘ for ur new journey.. I am sure definitely u will succeed…..this will be an inspiration for me some day for starting a new company….

  58. Sri

    Hi Anand
    I have followed your blog several years now. It’s great to hear about the new venture. Very inspirational post. Good luck and all the best.
    Vaalga Valamudan
    Sri

  61. MohaN

    As someone mentioned, I stumbled across on a pursuit…Life an Unwrapped GIFT……Tear it or Peal it or Break it…something underneath it…

  62. sadhasivam

    Good Luck Anand. Being associated with you as read for a decades i am thrilled to go through post. We wish a great journey ahead.

  63. Venkataragavan

    Hey Anand,

    wish you good luck and great success ahead. I got interested into data visualization after reading your blogs and now I am actively learning it. Hope to move on someday.

    Cheers

  68. Shobha

    Hi Anand,

    You do not know me. But I had read your posts in 2007 and I was inspired by your diverse interests in almost every area. Suddenly I remembered you today and read your recent post and gotta know you are starting your own firm in India. All the best and kudos to you.

    -Shobha-

  69. Karthik A

    All the best – have thought several times of making the leap but never got out of the comfort zone – Very happy you did. Maybe probability of this visualization thing becoming the next infy is 100%

    All the best

  70. Judy H

    I have no idea how I found your website today for the first time, but I’ve enjoyed reading it. I wish you all the best in your endeavors!

  72. Raja

    I try to visit you website since 2008 whenever I get a chance and look for what geeks are doing lately 🙂 and just noticed today that you moved to India starting out your own venture. Hard work pays off for sure. I am sure you will succeed. Good Luck!

  74. mohan

    all the best mr anand
    keep going
    your website is so informative with high entertainment value ,
    you will suceed

    god bless you

    mohan.
    you will definitely suceed in

  75. Ankur

    Hi Anand,

    I first heard of you courtesy Rahul Guha during my first year at BCG in Mumbai in 2006. He mentioned you as a Consultant he had a very high opinion of.

    I came across you next a couple of years later, as I was trying to index by IMDB 250 list – I used the app you’d created and recommended it to many friends too.

    Today, I reached your blog while browsing through some data on poverty in India (datastories.in).

    Just wanted to let you know. I wish you all the best in your venture(s).

    Ankur

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