Category Archives: work

Hyderabad trip

I and Shantanu reached Hyderabad about 10am. An old friend picked us up and took us to his place. I was meeting him after over two years. As I found out later, he too had turned entrepreneur. He’s running some educational and counseling services helping students who want to study abroad. It hasn’t been a year yet…and he’s close to getting on top:). Anyways…we chatted about our businesses, and how we could collaborate. Reached the client’s office a little early, and ate a rather heavy chinese meal at a nearby restaurant. Boy…they serve enough in each single serving for 2 people! But ofcourse…I do eat a lot…and I hadn’t eaten anything since the morning, so didn’t leave much:D.

The meeting began at 2 o’clock. Mr Murthy, my contact person in the company took us to the conference room, where I setup the equipment and began the presentation. People kept dropping in, we ended up meeting four of their seniormost staff. And the youngest one of them was in his mid 30’s! A round of Q & A’s followed, and it went quite well. We presented them with a copy of the agreement prepared by my lawyer, and they kept it for later review.

They have a pretty large office and good headcount, but they don’t have experts in the web applications domain. And they keep getting a lot projects in that field. So instead of hiring people on their own, they want to have a long term agreement with us, where they keep subcontracting us with work. They are present in seven countries currently, and most of their clients are abroad. That works out quite well…as they pay better as well:)

My friend’s workplace was near the place of departure, so went to see him in the evening. Boy…the place looked good! Apparently, the whole place was setup by some other guy, who wasn’t able to manage the business, so he handed the reins to my friend. We had a long discussion about Hyderabad food, where I stood as a mute spectator as most of the local delicacies are not made from ghaas-phoos:D. Still…there was atleast one dessert, Quwani ka meetha, a Hyderabad speciality, which is composed of fruit. He ordered some for us…and we had it there.Really sweet and delectable. And as usual, I dropped some on my clothes:p. Always manage to do that…lol. Finally said the goodbye’s around 9, and started on our trip back home.

If things work out as hoped, I’m gonna be setting up a place of my own soon (Working from home is so much better!).There are already offers of work from US and Australia, apart from the Hyderabad guys. And will have to increase headcount…which is the toughest part. Even with so many software people available, its always hard to find people who you can fit into your setup. Otherwise you end up spending a lot of time in training, and then correcting their errors. And when things are set…they get a better offer and they quit! Went through this ordeal while managing the startup I’d been in for over a year. If anyone gets to know of available talent, please contact me.