Thursday, March 31, 2011

Why and How India will win the Cricket World Cup 2011!


Published on rediff.com: Why India will win the World Cup!
Yesterday’s match has convinced me that this world cup is ours or let’s say it’s meant for giving the most desired offering to the “God of Cricket” – Tendulkar, something I am sure he will agree matters more to him than getting even the Bharat Ratna.
The semi-final was amazing and had every hint that the two divine umpires “Bhagwan and Allah” mutually decided that India will win and it won’t be a one sided affair; that’s the reason, why Sehwag was stopped from making it a one sided match and they gave the strength and resolve to a rather inexperienced and new born Pakistani team to rise to the occasion and put up a great fight.
So here I am again following up my previous post on the semi-finals "Indo-Pak WC semi-final: the emotional graph" with this one describing why and how India will win this world cup.
Law of averages
The law prevailed and Yuvi went back on a duck on his home ground.  Indian team is already performing as per the law and almost all batsmen and bowlers had their good and bad days whereas the Srilankan team has predominantly won all their matches on the performance of their openers or rather the first 4 batsmen and hardly any win came under pressure. So now, in the finals the law will take over and they are not going to do as well, this is what India wants most.  On Indian side the not so good performers till now including Dhoni, Virat and Yusuf (he may play, as gautam gambhir got injured in semi-final and may not be fit enough) are going to rise to the occasion and put up a great show.
Peaking at the right time, gaps filled
India has consistently won all their matches under pressure and from a position where it seemed they may lose.  It was always due to overall team performance and someone or the other chipping in at the right time to make India win.  With the semi-final clash the last remaining gaps in terms of weak/inconsistent bowling, performing badly in batting power plays, and average fielding are all filled and now there is no doubt that this team’s biggest strength is that it plays as a team and knows how to handle pressure in big games and come out victorious from seemingly desperate situations.
Defying statistics
Statistics are there to change and Dhoni’s men have proved it that stats don’t matter, what matters is how you play on a given day. That’s why for the first time we are going to have an all Asian final, a final where both captains are wicketkeepers and no host team has ever won the world cup.  All of this is going to change with this final, as it is sure that a host team will win, but India’s chances are higher as they are the main hosts of the event.
Max support and wishes
With now Pakistan and Bangladesh both out of the tournament, naturally maximum fan support will be for India and almost all of them would love to see Tendulkar holding the cup, a sight they will remember forever. 
Luck
One thing that came out clearly from the indo-pak semi-final is that the master blaster is having all the luck on his side, the 5 lives he got is there to prove that even the almighty is leaving no stone unturned to make sure India wins it. 
Srilanka has played all their games at home (except one, Vs NZ @ Mumbai), so now playing at Mumbai and that also the finals may make things difficult for them.  Moreover, Indians will be determined to take revenge of the 1996 semi-final loss to them at Calcutta.
Moreover, despite the odds faced by Dhoni and team during the various previous matches due to wrong decisions, selecting wrong player in the team at times, applying wrong strategies etc. luck favoured and they came out victorious.  Having said that, it didn’t favour them just like that, they showed an awesome fighting spirit as a team and we all know “Luck favours the brave”, so it will do so in the finals too and will make India win.
Punters
Punters have pronounced India as the winners already and it seems it will be so as this team is totally clean and no one player can change the result by doing spot fixing, moreover no Indian player will dare their career by doing any sort of fixing in the finals. 
So punters cannot make more money if India wins, they can only make a fortune if Srilanka wins and you cannot fix a win, you can only buy players to intentionally lose.  So they have no incentive in spot fixing anything with Srilankans as it will only make India win, a result that is going to make them lose more money.
How India will win – “The divine plan”
Now the most interesting part, people just love predicting, so let me try out too.  I’ll share what my intuition says.  I think, it will be a perfect setting for Tendulkar to complete his 100 international centuries on his home ground and in a world cup final, but given the jinx that mostly when Tendulkar scores a century, India ends up losing, so the only way it can happen is…India will bat second and chase a target, the master blaster will be able to get the highest resolve to remove this jinx by not just scoring a hundred but a big one (with no extra lives), in which he bats till the end and ensures India wins.  So that’s how most likely it will be. 
If India bats first, then most likely Tendulkar will be out for a score of between 50-90 and the rest of the disciples of “God of Cricket” the likes of Yuvi, Dhoni and the rest will rise to the occasion and put up a fighting total for Srilanka to chase.  In the semi-final a perfect 2 wickets each by all key bowlers is an indication that bowling is no more an issue and our bowlers will be able to defend any total that the batsmen end up putting.
Let’s hope for a dream Saturday, the 2 April 2011, when the whole nation will be praying and waiting to watch the happiest ending ever like in a Bollywood movie (always predictable) of seeing their “God of Cricket” holding the World Cup with a Smile they have never seen before…a sight every cricket fan and especially Indians will take pride of watching live and for cherish for generations to come!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

The emotional graph up to and after the 30th March Indo-Pak Cricket World Cup semi-final


Also published on Rediff.com : "Indo-Pak WC semi-final: the emotional graph"
and pluggd.in
God is great! For doing the most unexpected in the most unexpected way.  No one ever imagined that there could be an Indo-Pak semi-final in the cricket world cup 2011, but it’s needless to say that everyone wished for such an event.  So the divine intervened and gave its disciples what they can cherish most, an event that can cheer and raise the emotions of the two nations (brothers) to the utmost peak that are divided by history yet united by cricket!
30th March 2011 is a historic day, I think it calls for declaring the day as a national day-off (at least I have decided to give a day off to all my employees on 30th and we may all watch it together), so that at least for a day the combined population of the two countries does nothing else but enjoys a great game of cricket that is the only thing that unites them in today’s time.
A historical event in the great game of cricket where people are only driven by their hearts and emotions are at the utmost peak, an event for which no insurance company in the world will insure even the strong hearted!, an event that I am sure the terrorists also long for and for a change are glued to their TV sets and not to their suicide jackets!
Let’s see what sort of an emotional graph the people of the two nations will go through due to this event and till the finals on 2nd April.
The Pre Match Scenario
Everything else can wait as everyone is just waiting for 30th March 2011, the only talk in the house, in get togethers, at the pan shop, at the borders etc. etc. etc. is who may, should or will win the semi-final.  The only prayers received by Bhagawan/Allah is that our respective team must win, making God’s job easier as well as difficult as only one team can win, I am sure the divine umpires(Bhagawan and Allah) must be consulting each other hard before hitting the keys “Select All + Tathastu/Amen”
It is such an enthusiasm that even the politicians of the two countries have forgotten all diplomatic differences and the on-going cold war by given in to the event and decided to meet up in advance and at the event.  After all the Prime Ministers are normal cricket fans like any of their citizens!
The teams and captains are not able to hide their mixed and confused emotions of patriotism, anxiety and fear.  Their press talks and mind games have started and they are very skilfully exuding confidence of winning while ensuring it is not perceived as over confidence by giving utmost respect to the other team’s chances, capabilities and form.
India will go all out and try to win it not just for the country but for the God of cricket “Tendulkar” and Pakistan team will go all out and try to win it to restore the faith in cricket of their entire countrymen.
The security guys are worried as to how will they stay at the peak of alertness when their hearts & minds are inside the stadium and eyes & ears looking out for the nearest TV or radio/mobile.
The terrorists will be making merry, as I am sure they will be planning to take a day-off and enjoy the match rather than planning an attack because such an event is the only stress buster for them also! Moreover attacking on such an event may give them highest visibility (all negative) but they may even loose whatever little sympathisers they have even within their own organizations ;)
During the Match Scenario
The pressure will be at its peak both for the teams as well as the spectators.  It will get doubled for the teams due to the presence of their Prime Ministers.
Every member of the team and every citizen will follow every superstition they know or follow.  Given the amount of Visas issued there will be ample support in the stadium for the Pak team and that will help them feel better, though the Indian team must be thinking “it would have been good if we played this match at a neutral venue”.  Every member of the team must surely be deprived of sleep but their bodies will automatically compensate by pumping up the adrenaline and all other hormones required for making them extra fit for the match.
People will be at their innovative best to create and try every “Totaka” possible, including switching channels or not watching the match at all, to ensure a wicket falls or the batsmen hits a boundary. 
The security guys will face the most difficult situation as all the while their minds are going to be wondering about what’s happening inside the stadium and they wanting to check the score; those inside the stadium will be confused about whether to watch the match or to lookout for suspicious people and objects.
The two prime ministers for a while may forget who they are and what are they supposed to do diplomatically and will be more worried about how to control their emotions while going through the roller coaster of the match.  They may give strict instructions and exact timings when the cameras must focus on them, they may even check with their intelligence agencies if they have any technology that can jam or deceive a TV camera.

The Post Match Scenario
Thank God, everyone knows and understands that eventually only one team will win and it will be the one that plays the best on that given day.  Whether their team wins or loses, no one is going to be annoyed with Bhagawan/Allah and they will pray the same way for the very next encounter.

The winning team people will have the biggest party as if they won the Finals and the losing team people will look out for reasons to blame the defeat on something like weather, planetary positions, pressure, bad form, Toss, using the wrong “totaka” etc. etc. etc.  In the end everyone will find some reason to convince themselves and take solace in the fact that it was a tight game and we could have won if this ….that….or that….or that would have happened!

If India wins, it won’t be a big surprise as they are among the favourites and the entire country and team will be one step away from realizing a dream of giving the God of cricket “Tendulkar” the best parting gift before he finally retires before the next world cup.  And I am sure that every Pakistani citizen will overcome the grief thinking, it is destined to be “God of cricket’s” world cup this time, and at least this world cup revived our team and our faith in cricket in Pakistan.

If Pakistan wins; it will be like getting a second life and will rejoice the entire nation and restore their faith in a sport they love more than anything else.  For India it will be a grief beyond repair not for the loss to Pakistan but for the fact that “Tendulkar” for whom cricket is the biggest faith or religion and who gave his everything to this sport could not get back something he longed for before he finally says good bye to it forever.

Whoever wins; let’s cheer for the winner together in the finals, so that the cup comes to the sub-continent. 

Monday, March 7, 2011

The Startup Journey – Give Me a Lever (Pole) Long Enough


Published on pluggd.in

“Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” - Archimedes
I started my journey as an entrepreneur around 3 years back. Coincidentally, the whole startup ecosystem in Bangalore was taking shape during that period, thus I got the opportunity to closely interact with the various ecosystem entities like OCC, Pluggd.in, headstart, TiE, NeN, media etc. and of course the various types of investors. I got a lot of help from all and it benefited me in my journey.
Fortunately, I realized it early that making investment a priority is certainly the wrong way to plan your execution. While all this was happening the recession struck and we had to make some tough choices and then we changed our business model and boot strapped our way forward.
Today, I am happy that I took some right decisions and we not just survived the toughest period but are now growing at a decent pace. We knew given the type of technology we have and the general awareness and openness for such a concept (enterprise 2.0 and Collective Intelligence), it is not going to be a cake walk and investors may only enter once we overcome the technology, market and business risk successfully. We were lucky to get early adopters in enterprise though who helped us survive as well as refine our value proposition.
I am sure almost all of us have similar stories to share and there tends to be a generic pattern among entrepreneur’s journeys. Idea of this post is to try and portray the path to success for entrepreneurs by knitting together the most common scenarios and help aspiring entrepreneurs not repeat common mistakes.
The comic (edutainment) video below provides the whole picture from start to success; I am sure most of you will be able to relate to it, do share your comments and anecdotes too.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Minnows can beat the giants [Lessons From Ireland-England Match]


Yesterday, I was delighted to watch probably the most exciting and historic match of Cricket World Cup 2011. It was great watching minnows Ireland beat relatively mighty England through bravery powered by skills that were applied intelligently.
There is a lot for startups to learn from it; I thought it will be worth sharing with you all what I think was my key takeaway from this match and get to know your thoughts as well.
After the match when I reflected upon this incredible win of Ireland, what I realized was the significance of the timing and application of a power play. We all as startups plan a power play to become big in our growth journey as a startup, what matters is when we go for the power play and with what sort of attitude and skills.
Situation
Ireland was 111/5 in 25th over and was chasing 328 and it was only possible to achieve it in a dream. Choice was between continuing at the same pace and end up losing (with dignity) or attempt to play unconventionally and try for a historic win (Glory) without worrying about the level of dignity of loss. They choose glory! (The attitude)
The Strategy
What was required for the dream to become a reality was to score at an amazing rate for a few overs while they have wickets in hand and get closer to target without losing further wickets. Probability was bleak!. O’Brien’s only hope was the power play, which they took in 32nd over with immense confidence on his and his captain’s (on the other end) abilities (Risk taking and self-confidence) .
Achievement: Input Vs. Outcome
It took Kevin O’Brien to smash the fastest century in World Cup history to register the highest run chase ever in a World Cup.
Relevance to Startups
As startups, especially bootstrapped ones, we keep putting hard work and grow our ventures slowly and steadily, whatever may come. We all wish for glory and wanna win the game against the biggest of competition despite resource constraints. We all have a plan wherein we will enter a phase where we will need to take “Power Play” – in terms of scaling business through aggressive marketing efforts but we mostly avoid taking it early as we are waiting for more funds, more resources, and more customers to have in place before we unleash ourselves.
Is this the right approach? I think not, especially because more resources/funds is something only a few can manage (VCs have a 99.79% rejection rate), so one must not delay their plans beyond a pointelse you will end up losing, only solace will be, it may be a dignified defeat (some sort of low value exit).
What Ireland taught us is that you might not have the best skills (experience and record) and resources (5 wickets in hand) but, if you are playing for glory (WIN) then have the self-confidence and go for the kill, apply your mind to come out with a plan that might be risky but is feasible, only then you can get glory despite being a minnow.
So think and identify when to take your power play (when business demands) and how to go about it despite the constraints. You definitely need lots of luck but luck also favours the brave only!