I decided to write more on technopreneurship.  Very few educational establishments offer courses on entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship and its different flavors should be groomed as a life style. I will write about grooming technopreneurship today.

Technopreneurship programs should be added as an integral part of the education offering an entrepreneurial culture by planting the seeds for new ventures, preparing entrepreneurs through technopreneurship education, and providing the infrastructure to perpetuate and support new start-ups and ventures. The program should integrate value chain of enterprise creation; one that encourages start-ups, tolerates failure and rewards well. The key essence in such technopreneurship programmes is creativity. Creativity is breaking the conventional mental blocks and playing with imagination and possibilities, leading to new and meaningful connections and outcomes while interacting with ideas, people and the environment. However creativity alone, without technoprenuer skills and competencies, is not viable to sustain a business in a digital, knowledge-based economy. You need an integrated collaborative approach in turning an idea into a viable sustainable business in a digital economy. An approach that encompasses the 5Cs strategy;

Culture: The need to nurture a culture of innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity.
Concept: Incubation concept of role-modeling, research and development, IP creation and Knowledge Acquisition.
Capability: Build capability through training and awareness programs, industrial attachment and provision of financial and support.
Collaboration: Foster multi-prong collaborations with local and international industry partners, tertiary institutions and other ICT technoprenuers and start-ups.
Connection: Build association with strategic Multi-National Corporations in ICT areas in order to facilitate the transfer of knowledge to local technoprenuers, and support structures.

So you have what it takes to be a Technoprenuer, roll up your sleeves and get started! And make things happen!

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Rajesh Shakya - Helping technopreneurs to excel and lead their life!

Technopreneur - a terminology, I have used in my blog tagline. Many readers asked me questions to explain that word.

Bill Gates! Microsoft! Steve Jobs! Apple! Sergey Brin and Larry Page! Google! Count the names of entrepreneurs who started Oracle! YouTube! Facebook!

Wonder what they are? Then you are not ready to be a technoprenuer! Add your name in queue.

If you have decided to add your name in the queue, I am sure, you have what it takes to be a technoprenuer.

A technoprenuer is an entrepreneur who is technology savvy, creative, innovative, dynamic, dares to be different and take the unexplored path, and very passionate about their work. They take challenges and strive to lead their life with greater success. They don’t fear to fail. They take failure as a learning experience, a stimulator to look things differently and stride for next challenge. Technoprenuers continuously go through an organic process of continual improvement and always try to redefine the dynamic digital economy.

Technology and entrepreneurial skills are driving many economies to prosperity. The most famous of them all is, Bill Gates, who makes Microsoft a household name all over the world. Steve Jobs - well known for his innovations. iPod - most carried gadget by young population. Look at the success of Google - brain child of Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Who don’t know Google?

Technopreneurship is not a product but a process of synthesis in engineering the future of a person, an organization, a nation and the world. In a digital, knowledge based society, strategic directions or decision-making processes will be demanding and complex. This requires tertiary level and professional development programs and training to produce strategic thinkers who will have the skills to succeed in a dynamically changing global environment. Traditional educational programs, however, lack the methodology to transform today’s students into creative, innovative, visionary global leaders who understand the importance of technopreneurship.

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Trump University blog recently published a post by Richard Parker, a founder of Diomo Corporation and a Trump University faculty member for Entrepreneurship. He is the author of eight guides on buying businesses including The Art of Buying a Business from Trump University. It’s very motivating and helps entrepreneurs to shape and prepare for the entrepreneurial journey.

I have taken permission from Mr. Parker to republish the full text of the post in my blog for the benefit of my readers. Thanks Richard.

Enjoy the article by Richard Parker:

I’m known as the “Buy a Business Guy” at Trump University. And with good reason. I’m the professor who developed Trump U’s premier course, The Art of Buying a Business. I’ve also bought and sold many businesses over the years.

But between the purchase and the sale of the businesses I’ve owned, I’ve also run those enterprises - and I have run them well, too. I’ve also cultivated the habit of writing down my thoughts over the years - thoughts that I believe can
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Based on my past business ventures, I can say, there is no perfect partnership, at least not one that lasts forever. People change as the time changes. Different dynamics influence on the ways we work, things we believe and perceptions we live in. You just have to be ready to accept those changes and learn to move on.

One of the reason, partnerships crash is the change is focus. In some cases it’s a breach of trust among partners. Sometimes one partner takes advantage of the others. Sometimes there is problem in leadership sharing. Sometimes, the partner you have chosen may not be a right match. To survive partnership, it requires a preparation, hard work and flexibility. I have lived through the extraordinary ups and downs of business partnerships and I know what it is like.

Partnerships don’t always work out. But for new business ventures it’s worth to have a partner. There is a big risk of business collapse if in case you are sick for several months or for some reason, your physical presence in business is not
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I hope you have read my article on What you need to become an entrepreneur?

Ups and downs in business is common, even for the large and successful business firms. But problems at the initial stage of business start may be the result of something else. Let me list those reasons:

Lack of fueling finance

New business ventures always take time to make profits. For some businesses take two years, for others even longer. Crossing a break even is very hard work initially. That is why new entrepreneurs need at least one-year worth back up investment to move the business smoothly.

Lack of market Experience

Most of the new businesses are in trouble because owners don’t have experience about the market. Entrepreneurs require extensive sales and marketing to attract customers. If they don’t have sales and marketing skills, they will face a big problem from the very beginning. If you’re in this trap, get help from the experts. You can hire a good sales or marketing person or one of the partners should work as salesperson. There is a high chance of business success, if one of the partners is an expert in the field and the other partner is the expert in sales.

Lack of coaching

There are numerous other reasons a new business could fail during its initial phases. One of the reason may be that you are coached in wrong way, your business plan projected the wrong projections, may be wrong organization arrangements, may be wrong market assessment. Consult with the right advisor, who is more experienced and can reveal these problems.

Every new business venture goes through periods of difficulty. But if you’re dedicated to your aspirations and you believe in what you are doing and if you can tolerate this initial pains, then you will definitely get success in future.

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Last year I read the bestseller by Jack Welch - Winning, which helped taking many bold decisions in my business and in my life.
That is one of the must read book by entrepreneurs and professional managers.
I remember, I had written in some of my articles about Winning. Winning is different for different person. When I am waiting for green light on cross roads, I often get stopped by street children selling two page newspapers. If they sell their quota at Rs. one per copy, they make their day. They WIN their day. Value of winning is different for everybody.

Yesterday I was watching a TV show “Indian Idol”- one of the most popular musical show in India. Participants are competing to win the fame of “the Indian Idol”. Shabana Azmi - one of the best actresses in India and intellectual celebrity was the guest judge. She expressed a very powerful message to the participants. “Play to win. If you play, play to win. You need a killer instinct to win.” Competition has reached at the stage, where a mediocre performance will eliminate any participant. Each performance should exceed the excellence. No chances of excuses. People don’t care about the past performances. Fans of the contesting singers are competing themselves betting to make their stars win.

This is a big lesson for the entrepreneurs as well. You single wrong move may bring you down to earth. If you are confident and want to win, play like a winner and put your killer instinct to win.

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I have discovered that one unhappy customer who is treated rudely will tell ten other people about the incident, but she will not - generally speaking - tell anybody who can do anything about the problems, namely the supervisor of the individual with whom she was dealing. The sad thing is that those ten people who have been told about the problem will, on average tell five other people. Put your pencil to it. That means these are fifty people who have heard your name and your company’s name in a negative way. it doesn’t take an awful lot of unhappy customers to put a company out of business and halt the career of the employee.

When you treat a coworker rudely or thoughtlessly, the same principle is in effect. Generally speaking, he will tell 10 other coworkers who will turn around and tell five more. Even in large organizations, it doesn’t take long for you to establish a negative reputation.

The procedure for coping with these problems is very similar to that used for handling other customer service problems. The minute a problem arises and you become aware of it, deal with it all possible haste. Typical customers (internal and external) are not interested in excuses; they’re interested in a solution to the problems. They don’t want you making excuses or blaming someone else. They’re not interested in fixing the blame - they’re interested in fixing the problem! if you will quickly apologize for the inconvenience and/or delay and get busy working on the solution, you will take giant strides toward building a solid “internal” reputation.

Find out what it will take to make your valued peer happy and bring the solution to the problem. Once the problem is “fixed,” check back in a day or two to make absolutely certain the “fix” was permanent and the coworker is happy. A week later, a handwritten note will score lots of points. The reality is, the aggressive, professional manager will capitalize on those opportunities to “win friends and influence people.”

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When I started my first software development company (It was SoftroniX in 1995), I had to start everything from scratch. I did not know much about the Project Management. I did not have skills and managing a firm. I knew almost nothing about keeping accounts and running a company. I was thriving to be an entrepreneur and thats all. During last 13 years, I have worked in many in-house, offshore and international projects and handled varieties of situations in project management.

When you start a new project, most of the firms don’t clearly designate roles and responsibilities among project members. Most of the projects fail when team members don’t understand their role in the project. Project activities should be assigned to each of project members and let them know that they are accountable for those activities. Clear accountability is important, specially when firm is undertaking large, complex and multi-stakeholder projects. Each and every member of the project should be accountable to the activities they are assigned and they should be project manager for their own. One of the reasons of project success is the feeling of responsibility and accountability of project members to their tasks assigned.

What do you do to make project members realize accountable to their job?

I suggest to assign the tasks in writings. First divide the project into logical parts and describe each part in detail. I know, this is the most challenging job and we end up with abstract division of project. Don’t be lazy at all, learn to be precise to details. Project members always try to stick with the points listed in the documents given to them. So be specific and describe in much details where ever needed. Clearly assign name of the team member who is accountable for that part of the project and mark the project milestones. Never assign a task open ended. In many firms, I have seen that Project managers get documents signed by the members. You will see team members perform in more responsible and accountable manner if you assign their name against each task. If their roles and accountability is clearly defined, they will be able to focus more on their assigned tasks. They will not have to do research on the problems by themselves and project goes smoothly.

I am sure, most of the team members may feel this approach more strict, but believe me, with this you will improve the project output comparatively much better. To make team members more comfortable with the project and tasks assigned to them, involve them in project design, time estimations, dividing the project into modules, feedback on project problems, critical problem areas etc. If they are asked for their suggestions, they feel more relaxed and feel more accountable to what they are assigned.

Make each of team members feel themselves the Project Manager for their job regardless of the project size and duration.

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I am sure you remember the proverb you learned in junior classes - “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” You use this proverb to say that it is much easier to do something to prevent a problem than to deal with it after it has happened. There is similar proverb - “A stitch in time saves nine.” This proverb is used to say that it is better to spend a little time to deal with problems or act right now than wait. If you wait until late, things will get worse, and it will take much longer to deal with them. These proverbs applies to all businesses - startups to well established corporates.
I would like to discuss come of the issues startup entrepreneurs should keep in mind.

Most of the business people overlook the small and internal problems when they are dealing with large and complex problems. Most of the problems in deals with other parties start from inside the company, from different internal sources.
When you can not close the deal with your customer, look back and try to find out what’s wrong in your firm. There may be dissatisfied employees, your employee may be having bad relationship with the unit managers, you may have tagged price high, or unbelievably low. Similarly watch out the outside view of your firm. May be you are presented in a wrong way to your market, may be your prospects don’t know much about you. If your employees are not trained well, and if they are not happy selling your product or services, they will cause unrecoverable problems in long run. If it’s external problem, try to spot as soon as possible and find the solution for that.

Most of the emotional problems like employee relationship, buy-in firm’s goals by employees, customer loyalty, branding are very difficult to notice easily. You must lookout such emotional problems at first, so that you will not face surprises at your bad times. But most of other problems are easier to locate and resolve. You should try to resolve such problems before you start stumbling over those problems and those problems start their impact on firm’s operations and financial results. For this entrepreneurs must keep due care on such problems, both internal and external before that result in a big problem. Investigate and prepare a list of specific possible problems, internal and external and conduct a regular study on that.
Start studying the anatomy of your firm when your business is running well. You can stitch or prevent the problems in a smart way, when you are in good mood - emotionally and financially that might need such stitching or prevention.

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Today I read an article on “How to Restore Your Career after a Major Setback” by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld in Trump University blog, the founder of Yale University’s Chief Executive Leadership Institute and author of six leadership books, including the new book Firing Back: How Great Leaders Rebound After Career Disasters (Harvard Business School Press). He says, “The more risks you take in your career, the greater the likelihood that you will suffer a setback someday.” He suggested a five-part strategy to recover for those who are suffering a devastating setback. He suggests to fight, not flight and also recruit others into battle. To rebuild the heroic stature, you need to explain the true nature of adversity and provide a rational explanation of the context behind and injustice. You should be able to demonstrate that the setback has not destroyed your professional expertise and character strength and he suggests to redefine a new leadership vision and new path for personal meaning in your work.

Those suggestions are really inspiring to those who are in major setback and also to those who thrive to be an entrepreneur.

I have been working with entrepreneurs, helping them to excel and writing regularly to and lead their life.

I would like to add few more suggestions to complement the suggestions by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld:

1. Never loose your confidence. You should believe you can restore. Many people can not restore because they don’t believe in themselves. Verizon came back with rejuvenated confidence.

2. Get inspirations from the industry leaders. Understand that they have also failed many times but they know how to restore themselves. Look at Steve Job, how he came back and how he redefined the meaning of music through iPod, phone through iPhone and PC through iMacs.

3. Be honest with you and admit that you know what you really want. If you know exactly what you want, then prepare the action plan to achieve that goal. Never forget your written goal and strive consistently for that. Look at image of Pepsi in India today, if you remember the anti-Pepsi movement in India last year.

4. If you work hard with persistence, learning by past mistakes and you specialize, then you really can do something really worth. Take how Dell addressed the “Flaming Notebook” issue last year.

5. To restore again from setbacks and to make your goal fulfilled, you need commitment , passion, confidence, optimism and persistence.

So start right now. If you wait, you will leave your goal far behind.

If you have your comeback stories, share us in the comments area …

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