A founder of ideas. A founder of a company. A founder of a movement.
What will you create today?
Author: Nirmal Thapa
the culture setters
There is always a culture-company culture. It’s there from day 1. As entrepreneurs build their businesses, their personalities shape the culture of the company. Founder(s) are the initial catalysts of the company. As the company becomes bigger, the culture is carried on by the employees who joined the company in its early stages and the new ones follow suit.
Who are the culture setters in your company? Are they promoting the right culture within the company? What values do your employees embrace?
Shoe Dog
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of NIKE by Phil Knight was a book on my Book bucket list for 2019.
I wrote then “When I went to college, I wanted to work for one company after graduation and it was Nike. This was one of the reasons why I studied abroad in Amsterdam, The Netherlands which was very close to Hilversum where Nike’s European headquarters was located. At that point, I had planned to either get an internship or a field visit to it’s Hilversum office. Neither happened but Nike has always fascinated me. When I heard about this book, I was overjoyed and wanted to read it ever since. “
I really enjoyed reading Shoe Dog. One of the best memoir’s I’ve read. I loved reading about Phil’s journey of starting Blue Ribbon which later became Nike. There are so many gems inside the book-the high’s/low’s of starting a company, sacrifices made, cultural challenges, among others. I could go on and on about the book but I rather you read it for yourself. Enjoy the read.
Mentors in our lives
I strongly believe in mentorship. Mentors can play a crucial role in our personal and professional lives. No matter what stage we are in our lives, a mentor can have a tremendous impact.
Just read a nice article on ideas.ted.com The 5 types of mentors you need in your life.
–Mentor #1: The master of craft
–Mentor #2: The champion of your cause
–Mentor #3: The copilot
–Mentor #4: The anchor
–Mentor #5: The reverse mentor
The same dream
“God, how I wish I could relive the whole thing. Short of that, I’d like to share the experience, the ups and downs, so that some young man or woman, somewhere, going through the same trials and ordeals, might be inspired or comforted. Or warned. Some young entrepreneur, maybe, some athlete or painter or novelist, might press on.
It’s all the same drive. The same dream.”
Shoe Dog Phil Knight A memoir by the creator of NIKE
Startup Summit 2019
“Startup Summit aims to build startup ecosystem in Nepal where every stakeholders would play the expected role in incubating ideas and translate these ideas into venture. With multi stakeholders presence, this summit is supposed to be a milestone in Nepal’s Startup Ecosystem building process. ” Taken from Startup Summit 2019 website: http://startupsummit.businesstvnepal.com/
I’m excited to attend Startup Summit 2019.
Visit Nepal 2020
Why do tourists come to Nepal?
What is our country’s value proposition?
How can we offer them an experience that they won’t forget in their lifetime?
Are the messages across multiple channels consistent?
What are the numbers that we are targeting? (total number of tourists/daily spend/length of stay)
Perspectives
Getting various perspectives on topics, moments, and events in life will help us see them from a different angle. I strongly believe that seeking out different perspectives and points of view will not only benefit us personally but also professionally. There can’t be just one way to do things such as one way to make money, one way to live or one way to be happy. So, why not hear the perspectives out and consider the possibilities and outcomes?
We can gain perspective from various channels. The most widely available and accessible is books. Books provide us a channel to venture into a different world and see things from the characters’ lens. Another channel is through conversations with people from different backgrounds-careers/race/culture/gender etc. I enjoy this channel a lot as talking face to face with people will help us not only know about the other person’s views but also about ours. Then there are educational platforms-seminars, conferences, workshops etc that help us gain new perspectives and immerse ourselves in group learning. There are other ways as well.
Crowded market
This morning I read about a new food delivery startup in Kathmandu. I pondered do we really need another food delivery startup catering to the capital. There are already a few established names in the space and one who has been doing this since 2012.
Questions I had regarding the new food delivery startup:
-How big is your market size? How many people order food from office/home?
-How many other similar delivery startups are out there? What are their strengths/weaknesses?
-What is your Unique Selling Point (USP)?
-What’s your revenue model? Do the margins make sense?
-What is your burn rate? When is the expected plan to break-even/generate a profit?
Asking questions
Asking questions is an important skill that we all need. It takes confidence, preparation, and a curious mind to ask questions.
Reflecting on the college and work environments in Kathmandu that I have been part of, most individuals do not ask questions. It could be the same scenario for most of Nepal. I pondered what could be the reasons for this. Some reasons could be:
-An educational system that does not facilitate or encourage asking questions
-Workplaces that does not facilitate or encourage asking questions
-Nepalese culture of respect and obedience to teachers/elders/seniors
-Not enough time given or information provided beforehand to students/professionals to prepare questions
-Sometimes a “negative” perception of those who do ask a lot of questions
There could be other reasons as well. I would love to hear your thoughts on why students and professionals in Nepal do not ask a lot of questions. Do share.
Beginner’s Mind
In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few. – Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind
The Sixth Man: A Memoir
Just found out that Andre Iguodala, the sixth man of the NBA champions Golden State Warriors has a book “The Sixth Man” coming out on June 25, 2019.
Andre Iguodala is one of my favorite NBA players and I have followed him over the years. I took a keen interest in his tech investments and The Players Technology Summit. Iguodala partnered with Bloomberg on the creation of The Players Technology Summit which convenes top executives and leaders in the technology, venture capital and sports communities to exchange ideas and share expertise in an educational and empowering forum. He was also instrumental in creating the National Basketball Players Association’s first NBPA Technology Summit held in 2016.
I’m really looking forward to reading “The Sixth Man.”
Do it
If you want to start a business, do it.
If you want to travel the world, do it.
If you want to make a difference in the world, do it.
Most of us spent a lot of time just talking and planning and not enough time on actually doing it. Start today. Make it happen.
The math of effective communication
80/20
I strongly believe a good manager or a good leader is a great listener. Listening skills are one of the most important skills someone can have. A manager or leader has to make decisions and they need to hear as many perspectives/the most important ones to guide their decisions. If their listening skills are poor or their team perceives the manager/leader as having poor listening skills then it can have a tremendous impact on the success of the leader/manager, the project, the company etc.
Managers or leaders should spend more time listening than talking. I believe for effective communication one should spend 80% time on listening and 20% time on talking. When you create an environment that encourages people to speak up, you empower them and they are likely to rise up to the opportunity/challenge etc. By listening, you hear new ideas and perspectives. Some ideas might support your own and others might differ from yours. Once the team has provided you their input/insights/suggestions, then the manager/leader has to make decisions accordingly.
Nepal’s First and Biggest AI EXPO
AI Expo Nepal 2019 is a joint initiation by Fusemachines and Artificial Intelligence for Development (AID) aimed to showcase the best AI projects/papers from academia and industry.
Prerequisites for participation:
1. Minimum team members: 3
2. Maximum team members: 5
3. Each team fills out only 1 form with all the team details.
4. Status of project/paper must be disclosed.
5. Application form must be filled within the deadline.
Application form deadline: June 14, 2019
Selection announcement: June 24, 2019
AI Expo Nepal 2019 Application for Exhibition
For more information on AI Expo Nepal 2019, visit https://aiexponepal.com/
Technology and jobs
If a new technology comes and replaces people, do we consider that a great leap forward or backward? Do entrepreneurs have a moral obligation to build products and services that makes the revenue pie larger for the stakeholders or build them to keep all the pie to themselves? What role would the government play if the technology replaces people completely and lose their livelihood to sustain a decent living?
Technology that makes people productive, efficient, and our lives better are great. We deeply cherish the benefits that technology brings to our personal and/or professional lives. However, some products or services replace the human component and the economic pie only benefits the entrepreneur or a few middlemen. If a tour guide earned his/her living by providing a personalized experience to tour groups, would he/she be okay if a new app comes to replace this work completely? How can we create an environment where new products and services grow but also do not replace humans completely? Is the impact of innovation in economically tight societies creating more harm than boon?
Sightseeing with a guide
For almost all of my travelling journey domestically and internationally, I did not consider using a travel guide. I overlooked the value that a travel guide can bring to my travelling experience. One time just for the sake of it, I decided to hire a travel guide on a visit to Bhaktapur Durbar square in Nepal. I did not know much about Bhaktapur and taking a chance on a guide was totally worth the investment.
The benefits that I found of having a travel guide are:
-better knowledge and information about the area
-time savings
-choice and flexibility of activities
-local access to places and people
-a richer travel experience
When I visit a new place now, I would at least explore getting a tour guide.
And if you are travelling to Bhaktapur in the near future, reach out to me. I will recommend the guide that showed us around Bhaktapur Durbar square.
Degrees and experiences
Nepal’s current job market is filled with college graduates. We have a lot of college graduates with degrees but with few or no work experience(s). The labor supply of college graduates is higher than the current demand.
We need college graduates with degrees and work experiences. Some solutions to this are encouraging students to start doing internships early, colleges playing a more active role in finding placements for students, and companies understanding the value of interns. At current, most students are doing an internship in their last semester and graduate with a work experience of less than 6 months. Students should actively search for opportunities and start doing internships as early in their college career as possible. This initiative will open more doors for students in the future. Colleges are currently doing just enough or a little bit to help their students get internships and jobs. They need to provide plenty of opportunities for their students to explore different career tracks, orient them about the job search process, and prepare them for job interviews. Companies should take interns and look to build their team if there is a right fit. It’s better to give the right intern a full time position than just hire someone out of the blue.
Neetesh J Kunwar- Maya Sasto
Long term asset
As information becomes omnipresent, it’s doesn’t matter whether you’re in Nepal, Rwanda, or America. What becomes more important for the long term success is your network. What are you building today? Do you have mentor(s) to keep you going? How involved are you in the community and ecosystem? If you are doing everything independently, time to build the right network.
The asset that will yield major returns in the short term and especially in the long term is your network. The network will help you achieve more in your personal and/or professional life. No one achieves a lot on their own; it takes a team. Start building this asset today.