How much investment have you raised for your Startup ??"

 It is a matter of vexation that the word Startup these days is associated solely with raising money and not what that concern is trying to do and which problem statement it is trying to solve. It was during a recent expo where I participated, that I had an otherwise well-meaning young chap with his own budding enterprise, constantly asking me the same question in one way or another "Heh, heh, so how much investment have you been able to raise??"

Finally fed up, I made him sit down and told him," Zero"! But I have had over 20 outright rejections to my pitches( I stopped counting after 20) as my work of building safe, sustainable and affordable riverboats and nautical equipment is seen as very limited in size and scalability. I was also told that I was too old to start a Startup, was mocked for not having a formal technical education, that my designs were pinched from the internet, that I lacked a team, traction and that it is a matter of doubt whether my perennially flood-prone State of Assam in NE India which is also crisscrossed by the Brahmaputra and other large rivers has any requirements of boats at all.

That the tiny grants I clawed out from here and there, the modest amount I managed to scrounge as a soft loan along with all my savings were poured into work, prototyping technology trials and development. That I worked 7 days a week, no longer have a family or personal life, live on a hand to mouth budget, got grievously injured with power tools multiple times, suffered from nerve damage and occasional temporary partial blindness from overworking with computer screens and everything that he saw on the display table was either designed, drafted, 3-printed, cast machined and welded either by me or in my presence. That I researched designed, drafted, and drew the CAD diagrams and 3d renderings by myself, sit with propeller design and NavCad software and the same with all the patents I filled. I interact with experts worldwide and do approach professionals like Naval architects and mechanical engineers at times for verifying my work, but honestly, find them unsure, ignorant or incompetent most of the time.

And yes, I stopped participating in most of the pitch fests or interacting with the so-called incubators as I found them to be manned by people with very poor understanding of technology irrespective of their fancy degrees, pompous and often ignorant of ground realities. Moreover, the entire Startup investment scenario in India is not about creating a new product or service but only about increasing the firm's valuation and snaring the bigger fool as an investor; hence for me a colossal waste of time. I am actually trying to solve problems in a completely neglected sector both in India and elsewhere and hopefully, my products and technologies will save a few lives and provide the boat owners and private ferry operators a cleaner, safer greener and more affordable alternative.

#Startup #India #investors #pitches #valuation #sustainbility

Innovating in India

 Rajiv Bajaj, the Big Boss of Bajaj Auto once remarked that innovating in India is equivalent to "MAD IN INDIA." He couldn’t have been more right. 

In the last few months of building the prototypes of our shallow water boat motors, we are stumbling against every single obstacle possible; both those envisaged and others we couldn’t even imagine. 

The 3d scans all came with skewed geometry, necessitating manual remeasurement and rectification. Every bearing housing was either too tight or loose, the same with the shafts. Most aluminium casting shops refused right away to make sample pieces and the one that finally took the job neither sieved the sand nor removed the dross, resulting in pockmarked casts with black spots, but blamed our 3d-printed patterns for their bad quality casts. 

While trying to get the gears made, one irritated Sardarji remarked that they don't have time to make one-off pieces (that's just normal spur gears), besides he couldn't guarantee the required precision.  So I asked him what kind of gears do they make to which he gruffly replied "for Lathe machines". Which partially explained why all our machined parts were slightly off. Another gear cutting workshop owner after promising to build us two samples, did a complete about-turn after I gave him a sample to replicate, claiming that he needs a minimum order of 50 units at a cost 4 times higher than if imported from China. 

Virtually everyone had to be cajoled into doing their jobs because they all claimed that they are only interested in large production orders. Thus, the clutch is yet to arrive after two months of ordering and making full payment and the same is with several other parts. And the most insulting part is being universally regarded as a rich nut-case with money to burn on a frivolous project or alternately a  poor time-waster. So much for  #atmanirbharta #india #innovations

India is Filthy - Live with it!!

India has some of the filthiest cities in the world,  no thanks to a dysfunctional socialistic and corruption ridden municipal service, lack of civic amenities and an almost universal lack of civic sense among her citizens. Indian cities occupy  22 positions among the top 30 dirties cities in terms of air pollution in the world with Delhi being the most polluted capital. Yet, what surpasses both our filthy air and toxic waterways in the amount of venom my fellow Indians are capable of spreading online the moment they feel the country's image or prestige is undermined.

 Well, to be honest no one really gives a flying-F about the country, otherwise she wouldn't have been in the state she is in, but for most of my fellow Indians whether the domicile variety of the economic migrants (sorry ex-pat is strictly a white-privilege term) the equation for nationalism and self-respect is per the following formula:

My ancestors were great = My Country is great = So I should be respected!

Post Modi and the rabid but short-lived nationalism his regime brought about (rabies is in-fact short-lived) it changed to : 

My ancestors were great + My Leader is Strong and Assertive(Great)= My Country is great =So I should be respected!!

Hence, the online rage and venom because Trump spoke the ugly truth about India's filth. Though it beats me how the topic even came up in US presidential debates, especially when considering that US cities and the poverty of a large section of the  people is that country rivals that of 3rd world countries. 

But yes, it's true the air quality in Indian cities is filthy, in fact the worst in the whole world and that's a fact. I live here and I know it first hand. So  feigning rage and spreading venom on social media, hurling abuses on Trump or "H.E. Supreme Leader Modi" is not going to clear up the atmospheric toxicity here in anyway.

Vibrators stick to Thailand!

It is impossible to ignore the hottest topic of the Indian Automotive world which is the not-so-sudden exit of Harley Davidson from the Indian market. 

I wouldn't poke a hornet's nest discussing the bikes; if people spend their money on a 2-wheeled jackhammer or vibrator is purely their choice, but the company has had it share of gross failings in the country. 

From ignoring customer's grievances which led to a slew of lawsuits, to charging exorbitant price of spares and servicing to lacklustre overpriced entry models, it had been following a potholed path where brand image and fanboys weren't enough to make their Indian foray either stable or profitable. 

And yet, one undeniable fact staring us in the face is that neighbouring Thailand continues being their assembly and export hub for the entire ASEAN region. Though not privy to their internal doings and with any real contact left in the automotive sector, one thing that I can say for sure am confident it will be vouched by everyone who dealt with the Indian top management of premium or major MNC brands is that the all-pervading "Brand Arrogance + Personal Arrogance" is not a productive way of conducting affairs and is doomed to fail at some point, or at best just remain a commodity level player.

 #harleydavidson #India #MNC #thailand #asean

India's Jinxed Energy (Generating) Field

I was asked my opinion by a niche player in the renewable Energy sector about the viability of setting up a pilot unit with a Power Purchase Mode of operation in India. 

My reply was swift :"Don't touch the power generation sector In India with a barge pole unless you want to lose your investment, irrespective of what a hustler may have pitched or a government officer promised. But you may come in as equipment vendors, that to after ensuring that costs and profits are covered in the 80 % of the quoted price." 

Instead of wasting time on a long narrative describing the woes plaguing the sector from defaulting, corrupt DISCOMs( Power Distribution Companies) to how multi-million dollar investments are turning NPAs from the Mini and Micro Hydel Projects of the early 2000s to the Gas Turbine Thermal Stations from the Reliance Gas Bubble days, then the Wind Power generators who have lost their wind and now the solar industry on the threshold of folding like a house of cards: I just sent a few links of article from the recent years from the Indian pertaining to the current scenario in the power sector to help them make up their mind. Never heard from them again...talk about shooting your own foot...

No T-Shirt, No-Visiting Card

Been there, done that and got a T-Shirt!! 

Nepal's iconic backpacker's souvenir is the "NO-T Shirt" which started off as an optimistic but ineffectual attempt at keeping tourist touts and hustlers at bay during the "Dum maro Dum" Hippie Era. There is even a rip-off Varanasi version with the same words only with Hashish replaced with Ganja and an additional line "No Boat." As to why I remembered this piece of nostalgia from my long-past wandering days of my misspent youth, is the number of times I am forced to say NO!! Only not to touts and panhandlers, but loud-mouthed freeloaders hustling free service posing as potential clients or future partners.

In fact, I am seriously intending to print a similar message on the back of my Visiting Cards: NO-Free Consultancy, NO-Free Write-ups, NO-Free Concept Notes, NO-Free Market Overviews, NO-Free Service, NO-Free Visits, NO-Pun Intended!!

Not that I have any illusions it will shame them into offering to pay for my work, but it may at least inhibit them from making such demands outright. Hopefully, it will be a little more effective than the Nepali T-Shirt in getting the message across.

Got the pic via Whatapp so don't know whom to Credit!!

Ingoramus Geographicus - An NCO Nonetheless

 A favourite grouse of my fellow North-east Indians(many with an acute case of angry nigger syndrome) is that the rest of the countrymen know nothing about their area, confuse them with Nepalis or Chinese, think that tea grows in every backyard and so on and forth. That is, till they are reminded that they too know nothing about places like Kerala or Chhattisgarh and the people who live there. Because till about a decade or two back, the few times anyone ventured out was either to study, enrol their children in an educational institution or for health check-ups or cancer treatment in Vellore. 

Besides, ignorance about other states and the geography of the country is endemic everywhere. My favourite example being an NCO from Signals Corps of the Indian Army who travelled with me on a train to Goa for some advanced training at the Army Signal Training Center in Bambolim. 

An M.Sc. degree holder by his own admission, in his excitement of getting to see Goa and the sea, the first time in his life, he pestered me with numerous questions. One that particularly struck me was "After Goa it's the international border right?" 

I thought about it and said, "Well yes, if you consider the sea as a maritime border!!" His face fell and remained so till the end of the trip. I think I dashed his hopes of seeing a real border!

Or maybe he  thought the Goa was still a Portuguese enclave?? Or maybe even international Border between India and Portugal!!

But what astounded me the most about this ignorant Bumpkin is that he was from Signal Corps, the same people entrusted with communication in the Army !!