Entrepreneurial Feel to company...

... is a DAMN LIE!!Ever notice how companies put that in their company description: "XYZ company has a very entrepreneurial feel to it" and then goes on to say " we seek employees who have an entrepreneurial spirit"

Yes, its all lies.

Allow me to elaborate. My resume clearly points out my entrepreneurial nature. After working for 2 solid years as a software engineer, i quit to work a start-up. That dream ended after 9months and I moved into a Product Manager position at another start-up. I worked there for 9months before moving to pursue a Masters degree in Marketing.

I agree that it looks like i switched jobs rather quickly but is that really so? Start-ups are always 50-50 and I was young enough to be able to take the risk. Naturally, I went to work another start-up. If you've ever worked for start-ups as a youngster, you might remember how painful the scenario of going to work for a corporate might have sounded like. Yes, i should have stuck around longer as Product Manager, but that was my only mistake.

Yet, every time I get interviewed ( a miracle in itself) I am constantly asked about the job-switching. They don't see it as entrepreneurial venture gone wrong but rather as s0meone who'll be fickle. I've been at IBM for nearly 9months now, almost as long as my PM job, and my manager only has good things to say about me.

So then, why is it so hard to get taken seriously by "Entrepreneurial-feel-to-" companies???

Done and Dusted! :)

Those are the exact words a close friend commented when I graduated. I now have a Masters degree in Marketing and Technological Innovation with a 3.41 GPA. Ideally, I would have liked for the GPA to be higher(honestly, it could have been a lot higher) but it's done now. Time to look forward to the future :)

Time to find a job first :D

Daedalus Finalist!

WooHoo!!

Sunday night, I was informed that I was one of  Six Finalists for the Daedalus Innovation competition here at WPI. I have to make a presentation on the 30th and first-prize is $1000. Over the past few days, i've also been seeking funding for the same idea and received some from 2 unlikely sources! Unlikely because these 2 are people my own age, with their own commitments yet they've committed no small sum. Guess i'm just lucky to have them :)

Afraid of Success??

As an entrepreneur (and one who's been burned quite a bit; sometimes in retrospect ) i always wonder if my initial hesitation on taking on something new is an unconscious fear of success? Strange as it may sound, there have been a couple of projects where I have dragged my feet. Sometimes, because I drag, they didn't work out and I wonder if that only feeds into my fear, thus creating that vicious cycle we know so well. And am I affecting all my other involvements (at this point-- job-hunt only) because of my fear of failure??

On the other hand, new ideas and projects excite me and I can get quite obsessive about them. But if they aren't bearing much fruit, I have to wonder why-- Is it because I executed badly? Or is it because there was no market for it, i just thought there was? The latter makes me a bad business person, not necessarily a bad entrepreneur. The former is worrisome-- If I were on the Apprentice, would I fail as Project Manager?

Questions and Self-Doubts. Not something most successful entrepreneurs would identify with, would they?

Test Prep and a Tablet

Farbood(of Grockit fame) believes the iPad will revolutionize learning. HP says they could've released the Slate 2years ago at a price of $1500. Today, it's about $500. How much will it be tomorrow?? And how much will it change e-learning??

A LOT!! I totally expect tablet prices to fall to the level of cell-phones, even if its with a 1yr contract. The Dell Mini is a great example of the tablet of the future. part-tablet part-phone, it's going to change a lot of things. Sure, it appears cumbersome now, but give it time. Old habits are always a little hard to change.

What about when multi-tasking comes? Imagine sitting in your car/train/bus on your way home or to work, with head-phones and a _G connection.  Chat with your friends as you'll do a "social-prep" or as we called it in India-- "Group Study", attend the same class together, give the same test (play Grockit :D ), white-board with friends,....

The possibilities are endless. And i'm very excited about the future!

Job Hunt in the GMAT-Prep Sector

I'm a little shocked as to how hard it is to find a job in this segment in America. Kaplan, PrincetonReview, Knewton, MGMAT, VeritasPrep, Grockit.. i've applied to them all with nary a response. I have an extremely strong background in e-learning(founded/co-founded 2 different companies), GMAT/GMATPrep (moderated 2 different MBA forums, still moderating 1, built a reasonably decent Fb app, taught math for a while) , am pursuing a Masters degree in Marketing and am seeking a position in marketing and product development. One would think I would make a good fit and yet, my Inbox is strangely bereft of Invitations-to-Interview(mere-formality-we-WANT-YOU-on-board!!)

Sometimes I wonder if i wouldn't be better off returning to India and opening my own prep center. Could probably wipe-out the local competition.

Update: Grockit just responded to an e-mail I sent them, and in all fairness, Knewton did respond even though that didn't end all that well.

Anon writes

Ok, so a couple of things -

1. The MBA is only an end to a goal, not an end in itself. I don't know if this is right, but it seems to me like you're basing (have based?) your whole life around the MBA. That's insane!

2. A 5-year plan to get an MBA seems ludicrous to me. Sure it's a great degree, but there's plenty of other things that you can do with your life.

I do not mean this in a derogatory or offensive manner, and I hope you take it as such. All the best.

Anon, No offence taken :)

I agree it does seem like my entire life is based around it. You are right when you say that the MBA is the means to an end-- in this case the end being Entrepreneurial dreams. I see the MBA as a quicker stepping stone to those dreams.

As for the 5year plan, its working out pretty well so far-- I have another sem before I finish a Masters degree in the US which has been an awesome learning experience and one I highly recommend to everybody. I hope to land a job soon and the financial freedom of a job in the US will afford me chances to do many things that would perhaps not be as possible in India, some purely because opportunities for those do not exist in India.

In short, I am doing the many other things that I could do with my life, yet all the while keeping in mind that at the end of the day, I still want an MBA :)

p.s. I really should stop replying to comments as a separate blog-post no?? :D

KTDP...

or the Kaplan Teacher Development Program is tougher than I thought it would be. Atleast, I am struggling a bit with it. Which is strange, considering I have a fair bit of teaching experience in India. It now looks like that very experience is both my biggest strength and a source of inconvenience for me. In the 2 sessions i've attended, i've repeatedly been told that I appear confident and knowledgeable in the area I am going to teach for-- the GMAT. I am, however, still struggling to up my levels of class participation. I have 10days before the next class, and my biggest concern is that if i dont fix this within the next 2sessions, I won't be asked to return for the 5th session, which will quite clearly mean the end of my teaching for Kaplan. And I haven't even started yet!

As mentioned earlier, one of the many reasons i am currently enjoying my program is because of the way the class is taught. The professor initiates a discussion and lets the class do the rest, gently nudging us along the way. Kaplan has a similar concept-- teachers speak for close to 50% of the time in the class, and the rest is for students' involvement. In India, however, there was no such requirement. Indeed, my CAT students preferred to let me do all the talking since for most it was their first shot at the exam and they didn't know much. The paper-based test was all about strategy--maximumn number of problems in the minimum amount of time. For my LST students, I preferred not to let them speak much because twenty 17yr olds speaking was chaotic, not to mention most of the time they only seemed to be gossiping about their school. Ironically, my classes had become the very thing i disliked about the Indian education system-- the instructor speaking most of the time and the students listening.

Really need to figure this out. And Soon!

mbaMission Essay Seminar

i'm attending the mbaMission's Essay seminar on the 20th @ Boston. If you don't know about it, read more here http://www.manhattangmat.com/EventShow.cfm?EID=3&eventID=4151

Hopefully, will meet some of you :)

Users!

A week ago, i celebrated hitting 900 installs. A little too prematurely. When i released the Phase1 Update, sent a notice out a day in advance to "Fans" and posted it on the app well, the number fell to 899.

A fall of 21 users.

I reasoned that fall thus-- the app is a year old, and those who've removed it, have either moved into a b-school or dropped the MBA plan completely. Or maybe the app doesn't help them any.

Today, i am glad to report that the number is back-up to 925. I am currently experimenting with a content delivery system and hopefully it should work out well.

Fingers crossed :)

Latest Pics from the App!!

Save your Scores

View Your Overall Progress(sorted by Date)

View By Individual Source(Sorted by Date)

For e.g. My Scores for OG12 were graphed as below

While the app does ask for more information at the time of entering the scores, I haven't figured out a way yet to display that into the charts. Rest assured i am working on it and will have it sorted out soon. In the meantime, for those who relentlessly track their errors, this could be interesting :)

Also note that the order of the graphs is PS, DS, SC, CR and RC i.e. you'll see all 5 sections mapped separately but on the same page.

Phase 1 is now LIVE!!!

:D

It works well!! Loads a little slowly.i'm guessing that's more a facebook problem than anything else. Will attach pics and a "How-To" later but its pretty self-explanatory.

Go on, give it a try :)

900 users!!

800 to 900 was a fast journey :)

Though the app did get stuck in the nervous 90s :( 899 to be exact. For nearly 3days.

With the latest stat update, the app is now up to 907! I am also almost done with the coding :D Will be rolling out Phase1 by Monday. Super-excited, Super-Nervous. This is the first major upgrade to the app in a year and its been a bit of a biggie. I almost despaired of being able to complete it but its heartening to know that i am close to pushing it live.

Fun times ahead :)

800 users!

Sure, that's not an insanely large number, but i am targeting a very focussed and niche sector. Of course i'd like this to be higher, but i'll take what i've got-- 800+ users and 35Fans :)

What i would also like is to increase user-interaction with the app but not sure how to do that without adding yet-another-forum. There are a couple of ideas that I have in mind but i want to get my current project done quickly.

My work on the app has been slow but steady. Minor hitches in the way posed as seemingly unsurmountable problems, forcing me to spend time exploring other options before coming back and realising they were minor annoyances. As things stand now, i need a week more to roll out to the main app, if things go well.

PUYSCAR Awards!!

A PUYSCAR is a Pagalguy.com award handed out yearly and is voted upon by PG users. There are no pre-determined nominations, instead PG relies on users to vote for various awards based on their experience/interaction. Anybody can vote, and winners, as is being acknowledged on the thread are definitely the most deserving ones.

Amazingly, i've won 2 awards in the GMAT/International MBA section!! Ok, i tied for 1 but even in that category, i voted for the other, so there's atleast 1 other person who's voted for me.

Needless to say, mighty thrilled :)

p.s. Last year, I didn't get any :s

New Features in the Offing

New Feature being rolled out soon on the App. Keep your eyes open!

This is a feature i've been planning for a long time. Spent time coding over the weekend and i've moved one step closer to seeing it fulfilled. Now, i need to finish 1 BIG step and i can start a round of testing on it.

Throwing my hat over the fence by putting a notice of it on the app.

Keeping my hopes and spirits high :)

Rise in GPA!

WooHoo!!

My grades are out and pretty spectacular when compared to last sem. I took 3 courses and have 2As and a B giving me a sem average of 3.66 and an over-all average of 3.33!! That's waaaay better than the average when i finished my Engg degree so in that sense, this degree is certainly helping me cover that weak area of my app. i hope to graduate with a 3.5+ GPA and with another 700+ GMAT score, that effectively takes care of my Acads! w00t!!

Now,to work on my work-ex.

Hear ye, hear ye-- Experienced Product Manager seeks exciting product development and product management job :)

beatthegmat Scholarship deadline approaching!!

If you'll havent already gotten wind of this, then briefly

Scholarship offered by beatthegmat.com
First prize is

First Prize ($5490 total value)
$500 Cash
One full Manhattan GMAT course
1 School Comprehensive Package with Stacy Blackman Consulting

Four more prizes up for grabs. All you have to do is write 2 sweet and simple essays
500 word limit - REQUIRED: Why do you deserve this scholarship?
300 word limit - REQUIRED: Why do you want to go to business school?

Deadline - May 8th!!!
More details on the scholarship can be found here
http://www.beatthegmat.com/scholarship.html

Wanted: Entrepreneurial Partner

Looking for a partner off whom i can bounce some ideas and eventually/maybe/hopefully implement a project. At that point please be willing to share expenses($60 - $200 or so between you and me ) and time(1000+hrs/year).
Familiarity with any/all programming languages/packages(PHP/MYSQL/Joomla/phpbb/vBulletin/FBML/OpenSocial) a plus

You would be:
1.)Passionate/knowledgeable about the online education industry preferably the online GMAT and MBA app world.
2.)Applying to a B-school in the next few years

(Preferably) Leave a comment or e-mail me ryanp @ fbprepapps dot com

Job Hunt

When i first landed here, the recession hadn't blown up so everything was still rosy in terms of jobs prospects. Somewhere towards the end of Nov, i sent off a rather cheeky e-mail to a company that had a particular position open. Little idiot that i am, i was rather proud of it. Even more so when they mailed back to set up a time to talk. A time was fixed and the call did take place. That talk led me to believe that the company would not only offer me a summer internship but also a full-time job. Considering i can work full-time come May, this was a god-send! I was thrilled!! I celebrated!

A little too prematurely it seems.

As the weeks passed, things began to go wrong. As they now stand, i do not have a summer internship. Which means its back to the Career Development Center on campus and a job hunt all over again. In this recessional time, not something i am looking forward to.