2011 has been good so far for the company. I did accomplish much of what the surge towards the end of December was meant to accomplish, but it also saw the failure of a very promising alliance that could have taken it in a different direction. The sliver lining in the failure was that I did stick to processes that had been put in place to prevent us from chasing down rabbit holes, even though the fact that the scenario for its use did materialize is saddening. But we survived that phase, got over the disappointment and managed to chart out a future course that is stronger and steadier, even though it may take a bit longer.
We also managed to release MarketVision. The product still has many rough edges. It is a case of naked product development, where you are developing the product in full public view. For someone with nearly a decade's experience in building online products, the website we have is not probably the best advertisement of that fact. But it is just a first step in some major plans we have for the company and the platform. The degree of finesse and flourish the site deserves has to wait for a bit longer while we sort out some other critical parts of the business. We won't keep everyone waiting for too long for the presentation to match the fine quality of the content.
The first quarter of this for me has been all about realigning the company's revenue stream to the changed priorities. A consulting-based organization has a tougher time bringing in recurring revenue and in doing a great job every time you always walk that fine line that empowers clients to work on their own (reducing their dependency on you), while hoping that the transformation you bring about is worthy enough to attract other potential clients. The going has been good so far, but the targets are also stiff, for this is also the year (around June) when I want to reduce the complete dependency on me to keep the show going and bring more hands on deck.
Of course, it is not possible to do only consulting to realize that end. At times we do wind up doing things that I have sworn not to get into. The important thing, though, is to now accomplish the next threshold in escape velocity. By now I don't have any doubts about being able to sustain this, comfortably, as a one man operation. The next target, as mentioned earlier, is to scale it by introducing more bandwidth and remove the equivalence of the company to me. In all this, timing and choices are critical. If you don't have a clear enough picture, it is easy to lose sight of what you are trying to accomplish.
Lastly, I think I am slowly moving out fully into the 'build' part of the entire early stage ecosystem. When I started out, I wanted Frontiernxt to be a major enabler in it, now I really doubt that I have the stomach for it mainly due to two reasons: 1) I don't know and understand enough about a lot of the required things to be able to guide and help others effectively. 2) The ecosystem itself is quite murky and translucent at best. It is tough to get a handle on real value of anything here unless the hype and the cooked books are taken out of the way. One of the best things my father ever taught me was to never run your wheels into a pothole full of water, for you never know what depth it actually hides underneath the surface. And these waters are really murky.
Instead, I will try and do my part to ensure that in whatever we do and companies that we consult with, we will try and promote and suggest Indian start-ups if they have a product that is worth pushing. It may not be the most amazing of things to do, but I think that is the best value I can provide in that chain at the moment. And, most importantly, I am promoting a value proposition that is known to me.
