Satya Murthy

Top 7 reasons why you should work for a start-up

// June 24th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Featured, Jobs, Me, Technology

I have worked with small and big companies alike in my career in the creative Industry. Although, bigger established companies give you a sense of security, I firmly believe that they never utilize full and most often hidden (which the person himself does not know) potential of their employees, thereby seriously affecting their growth. Also, in a big company, you feel like a cog in a large machine — easily replaceable.

In contrast, working for a start-up is a roller coaster ride that if given a chance, one should never miss! I bet you will remember the days working with a start-up as most thrilling and fulfilling days of your professional career.

Here are 7 reasons why one should work with a start-up.

Everything matters:

Start-ups often start on a shoestring budget. Everyone has to do everything, from founders to developers to office boy and most importantly, everything matters !

Scope for creativity:

Start-ups give you complete freedom to think creatively. They are always receptive to new ideas that will help improve the product / service. This, over a period of time becomes an habit, and often allow you to think out of the box.

Sense of Belonging:

In start-ups, employees are often more like a family than merely a group of co-workers. When you’re as friendly with the founders as you are with the person sitting next to you, you feel a strong sense of togetherness and purpose that larger companies often lack.

Exciting Challenges:

One of the biggest thrills of working in a start-up is overcoming frequent challenges that are thrown at you and accompanying sense of accomplishment once you overcome those challenges.

Skill building Opportunities:

Like I mentioned earlier, in a start-up, everyone has to do everything, even the task that are outside your comfort zone. One day you play a role of a UI designer, the next day of a developer and following day you may be closing a deal. This allows you to develop host of new skills that help you through-out your professional career.

Big risks, bigger rewards:

Working is a start-up is risky. There are chances that start-up may not take-off. However, if the start-up is successful and is acquired or goes public you surely stand to make good moolah in form of equity or incentives. Even if the start-up fails, you still walk away with wealth of professional experience and varied skills.

Sense of Pride:

Once the start-up is launched, you can take pride in it’s success and the role that you played. If the start-up fails, you can still take pride in having had the guts to take the chance and walk on less travelled path !

What Are The Rewards Of ‘Free-To-Play’ MMOs?

// June 20th, 2009 // No Comments » // Games

A great article by Paul Hyman on GamaSutra

Yes, good money can actually be made in the rapidly-growing world of free-to-play massive multiplayer online games (MMOs), but just how much can micro-transactions actually generate? Unfortunately, average revenue per user information is often concealed behind the fog of competition by privately held game makers reluctant to report either very high or very low results.

To add to the confusion, some developers choose to report their "average revenue per paying user" (ARPPU) which, by definition, is always more impressive than their "average revenue per user" (ARPU). (Both of these statistics relate to monthly logged-in users, and the amount of monthly logged-in users cited in ARPU is often a fraction of total registered users — a common metric used in press releases.)

The inability to get at the real "metrics-to-success" can make it extremely difficult for a developer mulling whether or not to enter the free-to-play MMO sector.

According to Daniel James, this "reluctance to clearly report revenues is a deliberate attempt to obfuscate the numbers." James is CEO of San Francisco-based Three Rings Design. "There seems to be a perception," he explains, "that there is a business advantage to not being transparent. But I disagree."

As James blogged recently: "People often ask me, with a wary look such as you’d give a lunatic, ‘Why do you dish out your numbers like this?’ It’s a good question. There are possible downsides, but they are limited; if a competitor looks at my numbers and then goes on to execute better than us, I don’t think that has much to do with our numbers. They executed better, that’s the hard bit. Well done to them.

"The upside," he continued, "is that the more information that circulates the start-up and games community, the more people will share their data. This rising tide will raise all boats. If I can shame my fellows into parting with their data, we’ll all benefit."

Indeed, James reveals that Three Rings’ MMO Puzzle Pirates takes in approximately $50 each month from each paying user (ARPPU) for a total of $230,000 a month, all resulting from micro transactions.

In February, 2005, James chose to launch a free-to-play version of Puzzle Pirates alongside the original subscription model (which contributes an additional $70,000 each month from subscription fees).

Three Rings’ Puzzle Pirates

He admits he really didn’t know what to anticipate in terms of revenue; there was nowhere to go to research how well micro transaction-based MMOs did elsewhere.

"We just jumped in," he recalls. "There were no data points and, frankly, every game is different, every play population is different, and extrapolating from one developer’s data to your own is, well, an interesting intellectual exercise but it doesn’t necessarily tell you what to expect."

Four and a half years later, James has learned a lot — that the average revenue per user (ARPU) is between one and two dollars a month, but only about 10% of his player base has ever paid him anything. As a result, he says, approximately 5,000 gamers are generating the $230,000 in revenue he sees each month.

"The pivot number — the number to focus on — is not the $50 ARPPU but the $1-2 ARPU," he says. "That’s the number that a new paying customer is worth to you. If that number were, say, 20 cents, you’d probably have a difficult time building a business."

"But if that number were, say, $3 then you have a good business that enables you to go to a flash distribution site and say, ‘Hey, put my game up on your site and I’ll give you a dollar for every new user you send me.’ They’d surely be interested in that."

(Regarding registered users, a late 2008 press release from Three Rings noted that, over the lifetime of Puzzle Pirates, the game has seen seven million accounts created — showing that the ‘registered user’ metric is not particularly helpful in extrapolating revenue-based success stats.)

Read mode here…

My current body spray!

// June 7th, 2009 // No Comments » // I Like, Me

My current fav video!

// June 7th, 2009 // No Comments » // I Like, Video of the day

Closer To Love from Mat Kearney on Vimeo.

Indian babus are Asia’s worst

// June 4th, 2009 // No Comments » // I Like, India

An article in today’s Times of India

Citizens who find the thought of dealing with India’s babudom a nightmarish prospect have reason to feel vindicated. The “country’s suffocating bureaucracy” has been ranked the least efficient by a business survey of 12 Asian economies, which said working with India’s civil servants was a “slow and painful” process.
The survey said Singapore’s civil servants are the most efficient among their Asian peers but tend to clam up when things go wrong. For India’s babus, the survey said: “They are a power centre in their own right at both national and state levels, and extremely resistant to reform that affects them or the way they go about their duties.” Singapore was ranked first for a third time in a poll of 1,274 expatriates working in 12 North and South Asian nations on the efficiency of bureaucrats in those countries. The poll was last held in 2007.
    “During normal times, when the system is not stress-tested, it operates very well,” Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy said in a 12-page report of Singapore’s bureaucracy.
    “However, during difficult times — or when mistakes are made that reflect badly on the system — there is a tendency among bureaucrats to circle the wagons in ways that lack transparency and make accountability difficult,” the report said. The survey ranked Hong Kong second. Thailand, despite four years of street protests and a year of dysfunctional government, was ranked third. China, which has been campaigning to fight corruption and improve efficiency in the civil service, was ranked 9th in 2009, two places down from 2007.
    The 12 economies, in order of ranking were: Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, S Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, China, Philippines, Indonesia and India. AGENCIES

How to Become a Better Entrepreneur in the Next 30 Minutes

// June 2nd, 2009 // No Comments » // I Like, Internet

An extract from Neil Patel’s website! - http://www.quicksprout.com/2009/05/25/how-to-be-a-better-entrepreneur-in-the-next-30-minutes/

Do you want to be a better entrepreneur?

Do you want to make more money?

Here’s how you can do it in 6 steps.

1. Take a break

Just for a moment, sit back and relax. Before you dive back into your work you need to figure out where you are financially in life. One of the main reasons you are going into business is because you want to make more money. So the main question that should come to your mind is:

How much money do you want to make?

You don’t need a billion dollars and the odds of you making anywhere near that are slim to none. So what’s your number?

Chances are the amount you want to make is far more than you’ll actually need. Sit down and take a moment to write down everything you want to buy and how much money you’ll need to make to buy it all. Maybe a fancy house, some exotic cars, and enough cash where you don’t have to worry about working. If you add up the total of everything you want, it shouldn’t run you more than a few million dollars and if you break it down into yearly income it probably won’t be more than a few hundred thousand dollars.

If this isn’t the case, then you are smoking crack. You don’t need tons of toys to be happy. If you think you do, you will have a tough time making all of that money because it is really unlikely that you will make a few million dollars a year or sell your company for a hundred million dollars if you haven’t even made a few hundred grand first.

So stop swinging for the fences, especially if you haven’t hit a single yet!

2. Stop innovating and start copying

Now that you know that you don’t have to make millions of dollars a year, you have to come up with a business that will help you make a decent amount of money. It doesn’t have to be an innovative business that solves a pain in the market place; it just has to be a business that can turn a healthy profit every year.

A good way to find one of these businesses is by talking to friends and family. You’ll be amazed on how many basic businesses like plumbing (I am not saying you should be a plumber) make a decent amount of money. Find something that you’ll enjoy and start the business. Just don’t pick something that requires millions of dollars to start.

If you already have a business analyze how you are currently doing and see what tweaks you can make to it, so that it fits your financial objectives.

3. Time isn’t on your side

Nothing has to be perfect. What you may see as faulty might look perfect to your customers. It doesn’t matter what you want, it matters what your customers want.

This is why you don’t want to make any big decisions because if something goes wrong you’ll end up wasting a lot of time. Break that big decision into a few small decisions. Then survey your customers or potential customers to get their opinion; this should help you determine what route to take.

Even after you talk to your customers you are still going to make mistakes. Just make sure you are agile enough to adapt quickly. It is all about testing small things instead of taking months to roll out changes in your business.

4. Work hard, play hard

If you work 12-hour days, you are going to get burned out. It doesn’t matter if you love what you are doing you need to take breaks.

• Don’t work longer than a few hours without taking a break. Taking small breaks throughout your day will make you more efficient and cause you to accomplish more.
• Every week you should do something that is out of the ordinary. It doesn’t have to be expensive, it could be as simple as going to the park and having a picnic with your family. Just do something that will take your mind away from work and reduce your stress level.
• Create a work environment that you want to be in. Small things like having plants in your workspace, putting up motivational posters, and having a window to look out of can do wonders for you. If your work environment is dark and boring you’ll be forcing yourself to work everyday.

5. Stop deviating

New business opportunities are going to come your way and you will want to jump on them. But all of these things are going to be distractions. They’ll cause you to deviate from your path to success and it will take longer for you to reach your ultimate goal.

You to have to resist the temptation.

If you happen to take any of these opportunities you’ll soon find out that you will be increasing your risk intake. The more things you do, especially ones outside of your skill set, the higher the chance that something is going to fail.

Plus, the more things you do, the more spread out you will be. Once you spread yourself too thin you won’t be able to spend enough time on any of your businesses and you’ll notice that they will all suffer.

6. Never stop learning

The most important and last thing you should know is that you should never stop learning. No matter how successful you are, there is going to be someone out there who has accomplished more than you.

So instead of being arrogant, take every opportunity you get to learn new things. Whether it is from an experienced entrepreneur who has been around the block, or a 16-year-old kid, everyone can teach you something. You just have to learn what to take away from a conversation because there are going to be some things that are going to benefit you and others that won’t.

Conclusion

As an entrepreneur you have learned a few other things that I didn’t include in this blog post. Would you mind leaving a comment with some tips that would help others become a better entrepreneur in the next 30 minutes?

Microsoft at E3

// June 2nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Games

Facebook Coming to Xbox Live This Fall - Now You Can Share Xbox Games with Facebook Connect

// June 2nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Games, Internet

Facebook has just announced integration with Xbox Live at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles this morning. Now, users can can update their status, post photos, and play games with friends directly within Xbox Live.

In addition, Electronic Arts announced that Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010 would integrate Facebook Connect on Xbox when it is released this fall, marking the first Facebook Connect integration on a gaming console ever. Now, users can link their Xbox Live GamerTag to their Facebook profile and play Xbox games with Facebook friends through Facebook Connect, as well as easily post screenshots from the game directly to Facebook.

Here’s how it looks:

Ever since the Facebook Platform launched two years ago, Facebook has become an increasingly important platform for online game developers. Entirely new companies have been built on the back of the Facebook Platform, like Playfish, Zynga, and SGN, that are creating the next generation of social games.

However, today’s announcement shows Facebook’s potential as a content distribution channel that could actually lead to more viral growth for games on other platforms. Facebook’s Gareth Davis, hired to head up the company’s relationships with the gaming industry, is presumably talking with other platforms about similar integrations that could come soon.

[Photos courtesy Gizmodo]

Cool office interiors

// June 1st, 2009 // No Comments » // Featured, I Like

Knife in the Bag…there is a Knife in the Bag!!! #fb

// May 10th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Featured

I am very scared of cops, especially Indian cops at the airport. Normally, you can get away during the following:

• Traffic violation
• No license
• No registration
• Accident (even if its your fault)
• Hit and Run

I bought this really nice bag from VIP (hand baggage size) yesterday and wanted to use it during this trip. I normally have a habit of carrying a pouch with all my Toiletries in it. I have such a short term memory, I forgot to take out my swiss army knife.

I walk through the metal detector and put my bag through the x-ray machine. I am done getting frisked and they stop me when I goto collect my bag. “Sir, is this your bag?” said a firm voice, staring at me really seriously. “Yes”, said my feable sounding voice, shared shitless. “pls open the bag”… He was looking at me as if I was a terrorist!!!

When I did open, he pulled out my Toiletries bag and yelled at me, “what is this” pulling the knife out.

I started sweating, but kept my cool and told him it was mistake. He finally said, “you have 2 options, we destroy this or you go back and check your bag in. I had to agree to check my bag in.

In all this rush, I was so scared, that I left my iPod, Flip camera, PSP and passport in the front pocket (which didnt have lock. Now I am so worried abt somebody opening and stealing stuff - its very common in Indian airports. I hope and pray that my stuff in safe!!!