1 00:00:28,099 --> 00:00:33,250 So hi. Alright, so welcome to my keynote. 2 00:00:33,250 --> 00:00:35,300 All right. Apologies for that. 3 00:00:35,300 --> 00:00:37,170 I've been a Rails programmer for too long, 4 00:00:37,170 --> 00:00:40,690 and I used Scaffold to generate this presentation, 5 00:00:40,690 --> 00:00:43,760 and I kind of, I kind of kept this towards the end. 6 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:45,190 You know, I'll fix it in the end, 7 00:00:45,190 --> 00:00:45,790 and I forgot. 8 00:00:45,790 --> 00:00:48,690 So yeah I'm really sorry about that. But, anyway. 9 00:00:48,690 --> 00:00:50,659 So my name is Prateek Dayal. 10 00:00:50,659 --> 00:00:52,379 Unlike Chad, you know, I do need an introduction, 11 00:00:52,379 --> 00:00:56,079 so I'll introduce myself as I go along. 12 00:00:56,079 --> 00:00:58,610 So yeah, I'm currently the CEO of SupportBee, 13 00:00:58,610 --> 00:01:02,390 and I started working with Ruby in 2007, 14 00:01:02,390 --> 00:01:05,080 when I co-founded Muziboo. 15 00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:07,000 And Muziboo is a music sharing website 16 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:07,770 and we had this idea, 17 00:01:07,770 --> 00:01:10,420 how cool it would be if you know people had 18 00:01:10,420 --> 00:01:12,000 a place like Flickr for music, 19 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:13,950 where they would go and upload music and discuss it, 20 00:01:13,950 --> 00:01:16,369 not just share with their friends. 21 00:01:16,369 --> 00:01:17,369 And we launched Muziboo, 22 00:01:17,369 --> 00:01:18,560 we worked on it for a few years, 23 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:19,179 we grew it to about, 24 00:01:19,179 --> 00:01:24,100 you know about half a million users. 200,000 uploads. 25 00:01:24,100 --> 00:01:27,069 And as I said, I started working on this in 2007, 26 00:01:27,069 --> 00:01:29,369 and it was a great time. 27 00:01:29,369 --> 00:01:31,250 It just felt like heaven. 28 00:01:31,250 --> 00:01:34,659 So I did electronics engineering in my college days, 29 00:01:34,659 --> 00:01:36,860 and this was my first real programming project, 30 00:01:36,860 --> 00:01:38,979 and unlike the unfortunate people like you, 31 00:01:38,979 --> 00:01:41,979 you know I never did any PHP or Java. 32 00:01:41,979 --> 00:01:44,420 So I came to the programming world straight into Ruby, 33 00:01:44,420 --> 00:01:45,469 and it was so awesome, 34 00:01:45,469 --> 00:01:46,890 and I could sit and code all day. 35 00:01:46,890 --> 00:01:49,289 That was the part that appealed to me the most about doing a start up. 36 00:01:49,289 --> 00:01:51,969 Actually we didn't even call it a start up back then. 37 00:01:51,969 --> 00:01:53,409 So we just did something, 38 00:01:53,409 --> 00:01:55,969 and I was sitting and coding all day. 39 00:01:55,969 --> 00:01:57,820 And the community was still there actually, 40 00:01:57,820 --> 00:01:59,140 surprisingly even in 2007 in India. 41 00:01:59,140 --> 00:02:02,380 We didn't have a Ruby meet up but we had Open Coffee clubs, 42 00:02:02,380 --> 00:02:03,609 and we had some start up meet ups 43 00:02:03,609 --> 00:02:05,509 and actually all the people talk about 44 00:02:05,509 --> 00:02:07,909 is programming pretty much, all the bar caps??. 45 00:02:07,909 --> 00:02:09,258 So I remember meeting Sidoo?? 46 00:02:09,258 --> 00:02:10,919 and I remember meeting a few other people, 47 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:12,489 later I met Hemant. And we would sit 48 00:02:12,489 --> 00:02:14,790 and chat about Ruby and you know, 49 00:02:14,790 --> 00:02:15,579 they would give me all these cool ideas, 50 00:02:15,579 --> 00:02:16,950 I would be like, I would be like hey dude, you know, 51 00:02:16,950 --> 00:02:17,480 how do I deploy? 52 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:19,380 And they would tell me there's this cool thing 53 00:02:19,380 --> 00:02:20,680 called Mongrel, you should look at it. 54 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:22,489 And I would go back and check out Mongrel 55 00:02:22,489 --> 00:02:24,480 and I would deploy. So that was a really fun time. 56 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:26,380 I was having a great time. 57 00:02:26,380 --> 00:02:28,790 But as you would guess it didn't last. 58 00:02:28,790 --> 00:02:31,220 It wasn't as bright and sunny anymore eventually, 59 00:02:31,220 --> 00:02:35,230 because I had to start worrying about making money. 60 00:02:35,230 --> 00:02:37,500 And I, you know I would just a couple of years out of college, 61 00:02:37,500 --> 00:02:39,239 not much cash, so I had to really start worrying about, 62 00:02:39,239 --> 00:02:40,449 OK, how am I gonna make money? 63 00:02:40,449 --> 00:02:42,530 This is all fun, but you know let's get serious 64 00:02:42,530 --> 00:02:43,989 about this start up thing now. 65 00:02:43,989 --> 00:02:45,930 And I had never done a business 66 00:02:45,930 --> 00:02:48,519 and so I did what you know any sensible programmer would do, right. 67 00:02:48,519 --> 00:02:49,979 I went to a business guy, 68 00:02:49,979 --> 00:02:53,169 I went to a few business people to get their advice. 69 00:02:53,169 --> 00:02:56,609 And all the advice that I got was about SEO, 70 00:02:56,609 --> 00:02:59,310 about partnerships, people said oh you're a music company 71 00:02:59,310 --> 00:03:02,150 you should go partner with the music labels, 72 00:03:02,150 --> 00:03:04,820 you should hire a few sales people, sell music listings. 73 00:03:04,820 --> 00:03:08,100 Like if, I don't know how long, if you guys remember, 74 00:03:08,100 --> 00:03:10,120 but in 2007, India was sort of moving from 75 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:11,840 the offline world into the online world, 76 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:15,120 and the models were just sort of being adapted to the online models. 77 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:16,790 And everybody was sort of like, 78 00:03:16,790 --> 00:03:17,870 everything was a listing site essentially, 79 00:03:17,870 --> 00:03:21,190 and you could just put ads on it. 80 00:03:21,190 --> 00:03:24,900 So I, you know I didn't like this obviously. 81 00:03:24,900 --> 00:03:27,459 I hated doing this work. 82 00:03:27,459 --> 00:03:28,799 Because I loved doing programming. 83 00:03:28,799 --> 00:03:30,400 But I still persisted with it, 84 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:32,500 I still persisted with it for a few years. 85 00:03:32,500 --> 00:03:35,269 So I did some SEO, you know I tried doing some sales - 86 00:03:35,269 --> 00:03:39,650 it didn't work. And, you know, I really felt like this guy. 87 00:03:39,650 --> 00:03:42,870 I felt like I had all these super powers, 88 00:03:42,870 --> 00:03:45,959 like metaprogramming and you know all the cool stuff 89 00:03:45,959 --> 00:03:49,720 that Ruby had to offer, but I would just sit and, you know, 90 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:51,139 tweak page titles all day long. 91 00:03:51,139 --> 00:03:54,530 To get myself ranking. You know I felt really bad. 92 00:03:54,530 --> 00:03:55,479 And I really felt disillusioned. 93 00:03:55,479 --> 00:03:57,609 I felt really disillusioned with start ups because, 94 00:03:57,609 --> 00:04:00,090 I said this is not what start ups should be about, right. 95 00:04:00,090 --> 00:04:02,709 I should be able to do what I enjoy doing. 96 00:04:02,709 --> 00:04:05,419 And that's when I kind of started asking myself, 97 00:04:05,419 --> 00:04:08,669 can I leverage my strengths as a developer to build a great business? 98 00:04:08,669 --> 00:04:11,290 Can I do what I enjoy doing already 99 00:04:11,290 --> 00:04:12,380 and somehow build a great business 100 00:04:12,380 --> 00:04:14,600 and build a company that I'm really proud of? 101 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:17,250 And I started sort of looking around to get ideas, 102 00:04:17,250 --> 00:04:18,529 and that's what my talk is about. 103 00:04:18,529 --> 00:04:22,070 So my talk is about coding your business. 104 00:04:22,070 --> 00:04:24,880 And I just want to share some experiences I've had, 105 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:26,199 some learnings I've had. 106 00:04:26,199 --> 00:04:29,710 Some ideas we are even now working on. 107 00:04:29,710 --> 00:04:32,199 And just get your thoughts, maybe, you know, 108 00:04:32,199 --> 00:04:34,389 it would be nice if you guys could tell me, like, 109 00:04:34,389 --> 00:04:36,060 what do you think, what if you tried something similar. 110 00:04:36,060 --> 00:04:37,509 Or even if later you try something 111 00:04:37,509 --> 00:04:40,949 and you know just tweet to me. That'd be cool. 112 00:04:40,949 --> 00:04:44,600 So when I was doing Muziboo, about a year into Muziboo, 113 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:45,780 SoundCloud launched. 114 00:04:45,780 --> 00:04:49,140 And you know they launched in a public data or something. 115 00:04:49,140 --> 00:04:51,310 And they are a nice product. 116 00:04:51,310 --> 00:04:52,560 And they started getting some traction. 117 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:54,190 But other than working on the core product, 118 00:04:54,190 --> 00:04:58,260 one thing I noticed was that they had this thing called the API. 119 00:04:58,260 --> 00:05:00,820 And somehow people were slowly starting to use that API 120 00:05:00,820 --> 00:05:04,240 and people started writing apps on top of the API. 121 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:07,880 And if you go to their app listing now they've got dozens of apps. 122 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:11,560 And you know they have apps which help them get new musicians on board. 123 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:14,340 These are apps which will allow people to upload directly 124 00:05:14,340 --> 00:05:18,280 from let's say a music recording program. 125 00:05:18,280 --> 00:05:20,730 All these are apps that get some new listeners. 126 00:05:20,730 --> 00:05:24,030 So people have used API to build charts 127 00:05:24,030 --> 00:05:26,090 that are hip-hop charts, specific charts. 128 00:05:26,090 --> 00:05:31,440 So I think the API really, really helped them grow their user base. 129 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:33,860 And that was a great learning for me. 130 00:05:33,860 --> 00:05:38,460 In some ways it was you know it was the hard way that 131 00:05:38,460 --> 00:05:40,810 I was learning, because they were taking off, 132 00:05:40,810 --> 00:05:44,250 but I mean there was definitely something to learn from them. 133 00:05:44,250 --> 00:05:46,240 And then I sort of started looking around 134 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:48,380 and I realized that API is definitely 135 00:05:48,380 --> 00:05:49,700 the new business development. 136 00:05:49,700 --> 00:05:52,330 You know today if you want to grow a product, 137 00:05:52,330 --> 00:05:54,600 APIs are a great way to do that. 138 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:57,480 And it's like, if you look at a lot of other products, 139 00:05:57,480 --> 00:05:59,530 so GitHub, Twitter, Facebook, Google - 140 00:05:59,530 --> 00:06:02,280 there are so many examples that wouldn't be the same product 141 00:06:02,280 --> 00:06:07,060 if they didn't have the API ecosystem. 142 00:06:07,060 --> 00:06:09,500 And especially most in the last few years, 143 00:06:09,500 --> 00:06:12,000 a lot of products are actually just APIs. 144 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:14,260 A lot of products around are simply APIs. 145 00:06:14,260 --> 00:06:19,470 So for example, Firebase - I should use a clicker probably, sorry. 146 00:06:19,470 --> 00:06:22,530 So Firebase is a tool that gives you a back 147 00:06:22,530 --> 00:06:24,660 and forth mobile of web apps. 148 00:06:24,660 --> 00:06:27,730 Swifttype for Surge, mailgun for delivering emails. 149 00:06:27,730 --> 00:06:31,009 Plivo from the streets of Bangalore is computing with 150 00:06:31,009 --> 00:06:32,400 ?? (00:06:31:06) head on. 151 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:34,200 And they both provide APIs for telephoning. 152 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:37,490 So there are a lot of products which are simply APIs. 153 00:06:37,490 --> 00:06:39,630 And I think as developers we are really, 154 00:06:39,630 --> 00:06:41,630 really well-suited to do these kind of start ups. 155 00:06:41,630 --> 00:06:43,540 We already understand our target audience. 156 00:06:43,540 --> 00:06:44,940 We are the target audience. 157 00:06:44,940 --> 00:06:47,570 We, all of us have been to hack-a-thons, 158 00:06:47,570 --> 00:06:49,300 we have worked with different APIs, 159 00:06:49,300 --> 00:06:53,050 we know what it feels like when the documentation is shitty, 160 00:06:53,050 --> 00:06:54,389 what makes good code examples, 161 00:06:54,389 --> 00:06:56,660 what kind of libraries do you need to kick start the environment. 162 00:06:56,660 --> 00:07:00,310 We really understand this stuff really well already, 163 00:07:00,310 --> 00:07:03,060 and I think if you were to start a company like this, 164 00:07:03,060 --> 00:07:07,990 you're definitely at an advantage. 165 00:07:07,990 --> 00:07:10,419 And so you can build a product 166 00:07:10,419 --> 00:07:11,870 and you know you can get maybe some users 167 00:07:11,870 --> 00:07:13,740 but what about marketing? 168 00:07:13,740 --> 00:07:16,300 That's typically the question that I get asked most often from programmers. 169 00:07:16,300 --> 00:07:18,260 Like how do you market your product? 170 00:07:18,260 --> 00:07:20,570 How do you get customers? 171 00:07:20,570 --> 00:07:23,419 And there are several ways to market a product. 172 00:07:23,419 --> 00:07:24,790 Most of them don't work. 173 00:07:24,790 --> 00:07:27,220 And are frustrating actually to execute on. 174 00:07:27,220 --> 00:07:28,770 And what I - personally at least for us 175 00:07:28,770 --> 00:07:31,800 and our company I've realized that writing 176 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:35,340 has turned out to be the best form of marketing actually. 177 00:07:35,340 --> 00:07:39,639 And what I mean by that is if you look at developer docs 178 00:07:39,639 --> 00:07:42,699 or marketing copy site or newsletters, 179 00:07:42,699 --> 00:07:44,990 or even delegating great customer support, 180 00:07:44,990 --> 00:07:47,710 it all boils down to being good at writing. 181 00:07:47,710 --> 00:07:51,230 And, I mean that's just how it is. 182 00:07:51,230 --> 00:07:53,790 For example, this is Mailgun's documentation. 183 00:07:53,790 --> 00:07:57,210 If you go through it, it talks about setting up SPF records, 184 00:07:57,210 --> 00:07:58,770 you know how to get to deployability, 185 00:07:58,770 --> 00:08:01,290 why do you need dedicated IPs, 186 00:08:01,290 --> 00:08:03,240 it's stuff that all of us already understand and can write. 187 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:08,370 We just need to be really good at communicating this to our customers. 188 00:08:08,370 --> 00:08:09,540 So we already understand this stuff. 189 00:08:09,540 --> 00:08:10,600 We just need to get better 190 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:14,190 at being able to communicate it in writing. 191 00:08:14,190 --> 00:08:18,199 The same way if you look at Firebase's landing page, 192 00:08:18,199 --> 00:08:19,740 any of us could sit down and write this 193 00:08:19,740 --> 00:08:22,010 and we could build this and we could write this 194 00:08:22,010 --> 00:08:26,410 and you just need to be good at writing again. 195 00:08:26,410 --> 00:08:28,560 So fortunately there is good news, right. 196 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:30,590 I mean it's, as developers, 197 00:08:30,590 --> 00:08:34,620 I think it's very easy to improve at writing. 198 00:08:34,620 --> 00:08:38,519 And I'm just going to show you a few examples of how to do that. 199 00:08:38,519 --> 00:08:41,570 So GitHub. I think one of the coolest things 200 00:08:41,570 --> 00:08:44,339 that GitHub does is that every time you create a new depository, 201 00:08:44,339 --> 00:08:46,980 it says add a readme file. 202 00:08:46,980 --> 00:08:50,130 And that's a great starting point to start learning 203 00:08:50,130 --> 00:08:51,690 how to write or communicate our ideas. 204 00:08:51,690 --> 00:08:53,720 How many of you guys have opensource projects. 205 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:58,079 Even, or just some bit of code online? 206 00:08:58,079 --> 00:08:59,490 And have you written a readme for it? 207 00:08:59,490 --> 00:09:04,350 Oh, quite a few of you have, and quite a few have not. Good. 208 00:09:04,350 --> 00:09:05,889 One hand stood up very long actually. 209 00:09:05,889 --> 00:09:08,910 So, there you are, yeah. 210 00:09:08,910 --> 00:09:10,230 So if you haven't, 211 00:09:10,230 --> 00:09:12,149 just go back and write a readme for that, 212 00:09:12,149 --> 00:09:13,999 and if you already have, maybe try to improve it. 213 00:09:13,999 --> 00:09:15,170 Get some, maybe more feedback. 214 00:09:15,170 --> 00:09:17,499 It's a great starting point to start writing 215 00:09:17,499 --> 00:09:19,980 and learning how to write. 216 00:09:19,980 --> 00:09:22,860 The other cool thing, at least in today's world, 217 00:09:22,860 --> 00:09:26,550 is that product development involves a lot of writing, 218 00:09:26,550 --> 00:09:28,170 and this obviously depends on company to company 219 00:09:28,170 --> 00:09:29,709 but you can become a company like this 220 00:09:29,709 --> 00:09:32,149 so you can choose to work for a company like this. 221 00:09:32,149 --> 00:09:36,100 So for example, I'll give you an example from SupportBee. 222 00:09:36,100 --> 00:09:39,769 So most of our feature requests are enhancement requests 223 00:09:39,769 --> 00:09:41,399 typically originate in our subcode desk ?? (00:09:41:07), 224 00:09:41,399 --> 00:09:44,040 so some customer, for example in this case somebody emailed saying, 225 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:47,619 can we have search word for word trash tickets? 226 00:09:47,619 --> 00:09:49,339 And my colleague I asked who is here, 227 00:09:49,339 --> 00:09:51,860 I asked him you know, do we support this? 228 00:09:51,860 --> 00:09:53,519 So it turns out we support this in the API 229 00:09:53,519 --> 00:09:56,009 but we don't support it in the front-end. 230 00:09:56,009 --> 00:09:59,459 And so what we do is we write this ticket into - 231 00:09:59,459 --> 00:10:00,959 we have a GitHub app - so the code, 232 00:10:00,959 --> 00:10:02,910 we would write that into GitHub, 233 00:10:02,910 --> 00:10:05,040 and we create an issue. 234 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:06,720 And other than create, 235 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:08,110 other than using the issue to actually 236 00:10:08,110 --> 00:10:10,300 just review code or attach code, 237 00:10:10,300 --> 00:10:13,920 what we do is we try to flesh out the feature completely in issues. 238 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:15,970 So we are encourage, not only encourage, 239 00:10:15,970 --> 00:10:17,869 sort of we enforce everybody to just discuss 240 00:10:17,869 --> 00:10:20,470 ompletely in issues. We don't even encourage 241 00:10:20,470 --> 00:10:24,490 face to face or voice calls early on. 242 00:10:24,490 --> 00:10:25,639 If you're not able to communicate something 243 00:10:25,639 --> 00:10:27,839 in issues then you should probably go to a call, 244 00:10:27,839 --> 00:10:30,579 and then also sum it up and put it back in the issue. 245 00:10:30,579 --> 00:10:32,509 What this does it just forces you to 246 00:10:32,509 --> 00:10:34,839 try to explain to your peers what you're trying to do. 247 00:10:34,839 --> 00:10:36,389 Sometimes in terms of code, 248 00:10:36,389 --> 00:10:38,240 sometimes in terms of the marketing copy 249 00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:39,550 that you think should be there, 250 00:10:39,550 --> 00:10:41,399 or the subject line of the email. 251 00:10:41,399 --> 00:10:43,619 It forces you to communicate your ideas. 252 00:10:43,619 --> 00:10:45,779 And acquiring that skill also helps you 253 00:10:45,779 --> 00:10:47,559 in communicating those ideas to your customer. 254 00:10:47,559 --> 00:10:49,860 So it's really the same sort of skills. 255 00:10:49,860 --> 00:10:52,790 And once we know what we want to work on, 256 00:10:52,790 --> 00:10:54,999 what we do, we obviously attach code 257 00:10:54,999 --> 00:10:58,899 and then we go through maybe a sprint or two with that code. 258 00:10:58,899 --> 00:11:00,899 And then finally once we are almost getting done, 259 00:11:00,899 --> 00:11:05,170 we post screen shots in the same issue of the finished feature. 260 00:11:05,170 --> 00:11:06,350 And what that does is, it - 261 00:11:06,350 --> 00:11:08,600 one thing is that it really helps us review faster, 262 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:11,470 so we can, you know, know that this feature is done 263 00:11:11,470 --> 00:11:13,040 and can be deployed. 264 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:13,660 But more than that, 265 00:11:13,660 --> 00:11:16,459 it's also a starting point for writing a blog post about the feature. 266 00:11:16,459 --> 00:11:19,470 And we have taken the same GitHub issues process 267 00:11:19,470 --> 00:11:22,319 and turned it into user for our blog as well, 268 00:11:22,319 --> 00:11:23,970 you know we power our blogs by JQL. 269 00:11:23,970 --> 00:11:27,699 We create issues for each new feature that we have, 270 00:11:27,699 --> 00:11:31,189 or if you want to put out a def post about how we did the feature. 271 00:11:31,189 --> 00:11:35,199 And we use these assets and we write the block post. 272 00:11:35,199 --> 00:11:36,339 And because we are already comfortable 273 00:11:36,339 --> 00:11:37,559 with this GitHub issues process, 274 00:11:37,559 --> 00:11:39,249 very easy to get feedback. 275 00:11:39,249 --> 00:11:41,300 So just like code we can comment in-line, 276 00:11:41,300 --> 00:11:43,360 we can help people if they're feeling a writer's block 277 00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:45,699 or if they want some feedback. 278 00:11:45,699 --> 00:11:46,829 It's very easy to give out feedback 279 00:11:46,829 --> 00:11:48,540 and push out this block post. 280 00:11:48,540 --> 00:11:52,470 So we really tried to make this process work for us, 281 00:11:52,470 --> 00:11:56,699 and it has ended up, it has ended in a lot of our developers, 282 00:11:56,699 --> 00:11:59,069 or people who've worked with us getting better at writing, 283 00:11:59,069 --> 00:12:02,579 and in fact for the first time even realizing that they enjoy writing. 284 00:12:02,579 --> 00:12:03,740 And it's worked really well for us 285 00:12:03,740 --> 00:12:08,410 and I encourage you guys to go and try it out. 286 00:12:08,410 --> 00:12:09,610 Because the cool thing about this process 287 00:12:09,610 --> 00:12:10,439 if that you can start tomorrow. 288 00:12:10,439 --> 00:12:12,079 You don't have to wait to start a company 289 00:12:12,079 --> 00:12:13,029 to become good at writing. 290 00:12:13,029 --> 00:12:15,259 You know you can do it in your current job. 291 00:12:15,259 --> 00:12:17,660 So next time you have a feature release post, 292 00:12:17,660 --> 00:12:20,309 go out and propose to do it yourself. 293 00:12:20,309 --> 00:12:21,269 Maybe you have a job opening 294 00:12:21,269 --> 00:12:22,629 and you're putting up a job on Haskee 295 00:12:22,629 --> 00:12:25,499 (00:12:23:02 ??). You know, tell your founders 296 00:12:25,499 --> 00:12:28,170 or tell your CEO that you want to write that. 297 00:12:28,170 --> 00:12:28,779 And just practice. 298 00:12:28,779 --> 00:12:30,589 So there's so many opportunities around us 299 00:12:30,589 --> 00:12:35,829 to practice writing in development. 300 00:12:35,829 --> 00:12:37,879 If you build a company like this, 301 00:12:37,879 --> 00:12:40,790 one of the other cool things that happens is, 302 00:12:40,790 --> 00:12:43,059 it's very easy to recruit a developer. 303 00:12:43,059 --> 00:12:45,179 Because developers love hanging out with other developers, right. 304 00:12:45,179 --> 00:12:46,129 That's why we are all here today 305 00:12:46,129 --> 00:12:47,850 and will be here tomorrow. 306 00:12:47,850 --> 00:12:51,149 And so it is a very natural fit there. 307 00:12:51,149 --> 00:12:52,879 And I've been talking to a few developers 308 00:12:52,879 --> 00:12:54,050 in the last couple of months 309 00:12:54,050 --> 00:12:57,759 and I realize that most developers hate these block, 310 00:12:57,759 --> 00:13:01,149 you know, job posts written with the words ninja, 311 00:13:01,149 --> 00:13:05,300 or, like how many of you are ninjas here? No one? 312 00:13:05,300 --> 00:13:10,600 What about programming rock stars? No one? 313 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:13,160 So yeah, I mean, people kind of hate that 314 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:16,410 and if you are a company like this that is developer friendly, 315 00:13:16,410 --> 00:13:17,119 it will show through. 316 00:13:17,119 --> 00:13:20,559 You won't have to put an effort to look like that. 317 00:13:20,559 --> 00:13:26,649 And, so it really does help if you hire better people. 318 00:13:26,649 --> 00:13:28,999 So what I'm saying is that, 319 00:13:28,999 --> 00:13:32,519 we figured out that in the end it just falls under two things. 320 00:13:32,519 --> 00:13:34,329 Doing great work on the product, 321 00:13:34,329 --> 00:13:36,209 on the ecosystem, and then talking about it. 322 00:13:36,209 --> 00:13:37,730 I think especially in India, 323 00:13:37,730 --> 00:13:39,649 where we are really good at doing great work, 324 00:13:39,649 --> 00:13:42,779 I think we are very, incredibly talented set of developers here. 325 00:13:42,779 --> 00:13:45,850 But we are not so savvy about talking about it, 326 00:13:45,850 --> 00:13:47,029 and it's not as much of a skill thing 327 00:13:47,029 --> 00:13:49,369 I think as much as it's a mindset thing. 328 00:13:49,369 --> 00:13:52,769 So it's about doing great work and talking about it. 329 00:13:52,769 --> 00:13:54,470 But obviously, I mean, this is not easy. 330 00:13:54,470 --> 00:13:55,749 You know building a company like this 331 00:13:55,749 --> 00:13:57,230 is not going to be easy, 332 00:13:57,230 --> 00:13:58,449 because it's all about good teams. 333 00:13:58,449 --> 00:14:00,279 It's all about hiring the best people 334 00:14:00,279 --> 00:14:03,119 that you can and after you hire them, 335 00:14:03,119 --> 00:14:07,179 spending a lot of time helping them get even better. 336 00:14:07,179 --> 00:14:10,160 And empowering them, so they can make decisions on your behalf. 337 00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:11,179 And obviously this is a, 338 00:14:11,179 --> 00:14:13,329 this is a very hard thing to achieve, 339 00:14:13,329 --> 00:14:16,100 and it's very easy to get it wrong. 340 00:14:16,100 --> 00:14:17,329 And you have to just keep trying. 341 00:14:17,329 --> 00:14:18,799 And it takes a bit longer. 342 00:14:18,799 --> 00:14:21,809 So if you are definitely trying to flip a start up soon, 343 00:14:21,809 --> 00:14:25,049 don't try this. Don't do this. It'll take awhile, 344 00:14:25,049 --> 00:14:27,199 but I think you'll get a much nicer company in the end. 345 00:14:27,199 --> 00:14:30,230 And one of the side effects of working like this 346 00:14:30,230 --> 00:14:32,019 or creating a company like this is that 347 00:14:32,019 --> 00:14:34,489 you can actually work from the beach, 348 00:14:34,489 --> 00:14:38,249 because now everything happens on the, online. 349 00:14:38,249 --> 00:14:39,269 Everything happens in tools. 350 00:14:39,269 --> 00:14:41,360 Everything is written, everything is documented. 351 00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:42,369 And you become really comfortable. 352 00:14:42,369 --> 00:14:43,379 It's like testing, right. 353 00:14:43,379 --> 00:14:45,309 Before we started testing, 354 00:14:45,309 --> 00:14:49,629 how many of you felt testing is gonna slow you down? 355 00:14:49,629 --> 00:14:51,790 And how many of you now feel that, 356 00:14:51,790 --> 00:14:54,480 oh I can't write something serious without tests. 357 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:56,679 Yeah, well same number of people. 358 00:14:56,679 --> 00:14:59,439 Yeah. Good. Yeah, so it's the same thing. 359 00:14:59,439 --> 00:15:02,160 It feels like writing is gonna slow your product development down. 360 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:04,189 It's gonna take, make decisions longer, 361 00:15:04,189 --> 00:15:07,029 but it actually helps you get way more structure. 362 00:15:07,029 --> 00:15:12,189 And you'll definitely see that in a few weeks or maybe a few months. 363 00:15:12,189 --> 00:15:15,579 And - by the way that is a real picture 364 00:15:15,579 --> 00:15:17,639 of us sitting and working from the beach, 365 00:15:17,639 --> 00:15:21,259 so. That's one not-stock image. 366 00:15:21,259 --> 00:15:25,049 And what's incredible to me personally 367 00:15:25,049 --> 00:15:28,540 is that I was working on Musiboo for about three years, 368 00:15:28,540 --> 00:15:30,949 about two of those were miserable. 369 00:15:30,949 --> 00:15:34,480 Right, there was, I was just banging my head against a wall, 370 00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:35,910 and I could have figured this out 371 00:15:35,910 --> 00:15:38,299 and I could have changed my direction, 372 00:15:38,299 --> 00:15:42,019 but I didn't. And I literally felt like I was stuck 373 00:15:42,019 --> 00:15:43,350 in a Groundhog Day. 374 00:15:43,350 --> 00:15:46,110 Right, it's very easy to get stuck in a Groundhog day. 375 00:15:46,110 --> 00:15:47,970 And what you have to do is obviously 376 00:15:47,970 --> 00:15:50,360 you have to step back, 377 00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:52,679 and then you have to get a better perspective. 378 00:15:52,679 --> 00:15:55,009 And I think the thing that prevented me from doing that 379 00:15:55,009 --> 00:15:58,149 was that I had no semblance of a work-life balance. 380 00:15:58,149 --> 00:16:00,959 Nothing. I was just working all the time. 381 00:16:00,959 --> 00:16:03,100 I was under this assumption that if I am failing 382 00:16:03,100 --> 00:16:05,069 it's only because I'm not working hard enough. 383 00:16:05,069 --> 00:16:07,660 How many of you believe that actually? 384 00:16:07,660 --> 00:16:09,459 That if you are not succeeding at something 385 00:16:09,459 --> 00:16:12,059 then you just got to try harder? Yeah. 386 00:16:12,059 --> 00:16:13,999 Quite a few people, right. 387 00:16:13,999 --> 00:16:16,079 And I think this is kind of true 388 00:16:16,079 --> 00:16:19,499 but I think it's not about the number of hours. 389 00:16:19,499 --> 00:16:21,129 So definitely having some work-life balance 390 00:16:21,129 --> 00:16:24,379 is very important in getting this perspective. 391 00:16:24,379 --> 00:16:26,709 And the other thing I give thought a lot about 392 00:16:26,709 --> 00:16:30,299 as a company is that there is simply no way we can outwork our competitors. 393 00:16:30,299 --> 00:16:33,279 So for example our competitors are companies like FreshDesk, 394 00:16:33,279 --> 00:16:36,579 which have thirty million dollars, two hundred people team. 395 00:16:36,579 --> 00:16:39,119 Even if like all of us work two days in a day, 396 00:16:39,119 --> 00:16:40,869 we would still not out-hour them. 397 00:16:40,869 --> 00:16:42,209 So it's simply not going to work like that 398 00:16:42,209 --> 00:16:44,290 and technology companies are not built like that. 399 00:16:44,290 --> 00:16:45,579 They're built one team member 400 00:16:45,579 --> 00:16:47,709 and one great decision taken at a time. 401 00:16:47,709 --> 00:16:50,269 And that happens when you have a fresh perspective 402 00:16:50,269 --> 00:16:52,420 and a clear vision. 403 00:16:52,420 --> 00:16:56,359 And it's amazing to me that being in the knowledge industry 404 00:16:56,359 --> 00:17:00,649 or industry driven so much by knowledge and by creative energy, 405 00:17:00,649 --> 00:17:04,049 how little at least I did, and when I talked to other people, 406 00:17:04,049 --> 00:17:06,559 people understand about how our brain itself works. 407 00:17:06,559 --> 00:17:08,089 And that's I think probably where a lot 408 00:17:08,089 --> 00:17:10,319 of these misconceptions come from. 409 00:17:10,319 --> 00:17:12,720 So I highly recognize that you guys 410 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:14,619 take a look at this book called Your Brain at Work. 411 00:17:14,619 --> 00:17:18,619 It's a very quick read. It's gonna take you a few hours to read. 412 00:17:18,619 --> 00:17:22,549 How many of you have read this book? OK, only two people. Cool. 413 00:17:22,549 --> 00:17:26,679 So. And both of them have (00:17:26:08) ??, so yeah. 414 00:17:26,679 --> 00:17:28,549 So yeah, please go ahead and read this book. 415 00:17:28,549 --> 00:17:32,620 What this book shows you is how to get more out of your work life. 416 00:17:32,620 --> 00:17:36,899 How sometimes just trying harder is not the solution. 417 00:17:36,899 --> 00:17:38,139 And it's a very enjoyable read 418 00:17:38,139 --> 00:17:41,779 and it gives you a very nice perspective. 419 00:17:41,779 --> 00:17:47,679 Apart from this, I've also lately started using RescueTime. 420 00:17:47,679 --> 00:17:51,080 So I did a quick survey before the RubyConf 421 00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:53,049 and I asked people how much they worked, 422 00:17:53,049 --> 00:17:54,470 and so about twenty people I asked, 423 00:17:54,470 --> 00:17:56,720 actually about twenty people filled out that survey, 424 00:17:56,720 --> 00:17:57,990 and I think seventy percent of them said 425 00:17:57,990 --> 00:18:00,330 that they work about sixty hours a week. 426 00:18:00,330 --> 00:18:03,830 And I encourage everyone to go back 427 00:18:03,830 --> 00:18:05,139 and set up this application. 428 00:18:05,139 --> 00:18:06,710 It's free for about a week. 429 00:18:06,710 --> 00:18:07,940 And you'll be surprised by the results. 430 00:18:07,940 --> 00:18:11,320 You'll be surprised by how much time you just lose 431 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:12,970 in a YouTube video that somebody sent you 432 00:18:12,970 --> 00:18:14,360 and you had no idea that you opened 433 00:18:14,360 --> 00:18:16,120 and watched for thirty minutes. 434 00:18:16,120 --> 00:18:19,889 So your time is definitely finite. 435 00:18:19,889 --> 00:18:21,480 So there's no denying that. 436 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:24,289 But it's amazing that with that finite time 437 00:18:24,289 --> 00:18:26,610 how much of it we lose without even knowing. 438 00:18:26,610 --> 00:18:28,740 So try to use this application 439 00:18:28,740 --> 00:18:30,360 and free up more of your time 440 00:18:30,360 --> 00:18:32,720 and enjoy your life as well while you're building a start up. 441 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:38,929 I think that's really the key. 442 00:18:38,929 --> 00:18:45,299 So Bangalore. When Prakash invited me to do the keynote, 443 00:18:45,299 --> 00:18:46,470 he pushed out block which it said 444 00:18:46,470 --> 00:18:48,389 I'm gonna bring a unique Indian perspective. 445 00:18:48,389 --> 00:18:51,730 And I wasn't sure what that was gonna be entirely, 446 00:18:51,730 --> 00:18:53,860 but one thing I do feel very passionate about 447 00:18:53,860 --> 00:18:55,389 is being in this city actually. 448 00:18:55,389 --> 00:18:57,840 So in the last couple of years I've traveled a lot. 449 00:18:57,840 --> 00:18:59,299 I've been to Chile, 450 00:18:59,299 --> 00:19:00,799 I've spent a lot of time in Vietnam 451 00:19:00,799 --> 00:19:03,309 and some other southeast Asian countries. 452 00:19:03,309 --> 00:19:05,250 And I've traveled a lot 453 00:19:05,250 --> 00:19:07,860 and I really enjoy living in some of these places. 454 00:19:07,860 --> 00:19:09,090 But I always come back to Bangalore, 455 00:19:09,090 --> 00:19:12,820 and I really like spending time here simply for one reason. 456 00:19:12,820 --> 00:19:15,080 I think this place is full of incredible developers. 457 00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:16,889 It's just so amazing. 458 00:19:16,889 --> 00:19:21,460 I haven't been to U.S. Yeah, thanks. 459 00:19:21,460 --> 00:19:23,440 Thank you. 460 00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:27,049 I haven't been to U.S. 461 00:19:27,049 --> 00:19:28,370 But I've been to some of the other hubs. 462 00:19:28,370 --> 00:19:29,539 I've been to Syngapore. 463 00:19:29,539 --> 00:19:31,769 But seriously the development activity here is just amazing. 464 00:19:31,769 --> 00:19:35,120 People are so passionate, they really like the code, 465 00:19:35,120 --> 00:19:37,250 they like trying out new stuff. 466 00:19:37,250 --> 00:19:40,350 And in general if you see our English ability, 467 00:19:40,350 --> 00:19:41,029 everything is really good. 468 00:19:41,029 --> 00:19:43,139 And I really think that we, 469 00:19:43,139 --> 00:19:44,840 and especially today if you look around you, 470 00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:46,600 there's enough money, there's enough resources, 471 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:47,950 enough accelerators, 472 00:19:47,950 --> 00:19:49,230 some may even say too many accelerators 473 00:19:49,230 --> 00:19:54,559 or incubators around us, to help you launch companies. 474 00:19:54,559 --> 00:19:57,750 And I really hope that in 2014 a lot more 475 00:19:57,750 --> 00:19:59,110 such companies get launched from Bangalore. 476 00:19:59,110 --> 00:20:00,600 I'm totally rooting for you guys. 477 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:02,019 If I can help you guys in any way, 478 00:20:02,019 --> 00:20:04,000 or anybody else, I'm totally up for it. 479 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:06,049 Let's build more such amazing companies. 480 00:20:06,049 --> 00:20:13,049 So yeah. Happy New Year, and thank you so much. 481 00:20:17,350 --> 00:20:19,769 So I wanted to keep the talk a bit short, 482 00:20:19,769 --> 00:20:21,620 so you can either use the time for Q&A 483 00:20:21,620 --> 00:20:23,399 or reclaim your fifteen minutes of life 484 00:20:23,399 --> 00:20:30,309 and go back home early. It's your choice. 485 00:20:30,309 --> 00:20:34,850 V.O.: Questions, anybody. 486 00:20:34,850 --> 00:20:38,460 QUESTION: Regarding the writing of, 487 00:20:38,460 --> 00:20:40,409 I mean encouraging your team to start writing. 488 00:20:40,409 --> 00:20:42,710 When you started up, how big was your team? 489 00:20:42,710 --> 00:20:43,480 P.D.: Sorry? 490 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:46,090 QUESTION: When you started off with Muziboo, 491 00:20:46,090 --> 00:20:47,289 how big was your team when you 492 00:20:47,289 --> 00:20:50,600 started actually writing in the code and solving issues? 493 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:52,090 P.D.: No, no, not really. 494 00:20:52,090 --> 00:20:54,630 So none of this happened in Muziboo actually. 495 00:20:54,630 --> 00:20:56,380 And that's why I kind of moved away from Muziboo. 496 00:20:56,380 --> 00:20:59,220 I realized I'd gone too long, far too long, 497 00:20:59,220 --> 00:21:00,870 to like, totally change 498 00:21:00,870 --> 00:21:03,679 and the product had taken like a lot of fundamental decisions. 499 00:21:03,679 --> 00:21:05,190 QUESTION: OK, one more connecting question. 500 00:21:05,190 --> 00:21:06,409 So when was the point that, 501 00:21:06,409 --> 00:21:07,880 how many team members were there 502 00:21:07,880 --> 00:21:09,639 when you actually started encouraging your 503 00:21:09,639 --> 00:21:11,380 team members to start doing this? 504 00:21:11,380 --> 00:21:15,970 P.D.: Right. So that's a cool question actually, 505 00:21:15,970 --> 00:21:16,769 and you have to start doing this 506 00:21:16,769 --> 00:21:20,049 when you are just one person actually. 507 00:21:20,049 --> 00:21:23,720 And you have to start from day one. 508 00:21:23,720 --> 00:21:27,330 So it's funny but even when I started doing SupportBee, 509 00:21:27,330 --> 00:21:30,370 I would actually, you know I was the sole developer 510 00:21:30,370 --> 00:21:31,880 but I used pivotal tracker 511 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:34,389 and I would try to document everything, 512 00:21:34,389 --> 00:21:36,710 and not as much but still. 513 00:21:36,710 --> 00:21:40,139 Because I think that's the biggest challenge 514 00:21:40,139 --> 00:21:42,259 in setting any kind of culture, 515 00:21:42,259 --> 00:21:43,950 that you have to start really early on. 516 00:21:43,950 --> 00:21:44,789 And when you say early, 517 00:21:44,789 --> 00:21:46,830 you have to basically start with yourself. 518 00:21:46,830 --> 00:21:47,889 So the best time to start is 519 00:21:47,889 --> 00:21:49,549 when you're starting the company. 520 00:21:49,549 --> 00:21:52,210 And some companies have done a good job of explaining this, 521 00:21:52,210 --> 00:21:54,799 so recently you know we've been reading the walf?? 522 00:21:54,799 --> 00:21:55,049 (00:21:54:23) handbook. 523 00:21:55,049 --> 00:21:57,639 I don't know how many of you guys know about it. 524 00:21:57,639 --> 00:21:58,500 But there's a company called walf, 525 00:21:58,500 --> 00:22:02,179 which makes a lot of cool games like Counterstrike I believe, right. 526 00:22:02,179 --> 00:22:05,820 And, sorry, I'm not a gamer, so, yeah. 527 00:22:05,820 --> 00:22:07,700 And, so Walf has a good handbook, 528 00:22:07,700 --> 00:22:08,380 and that's what they said. 529 00:22:08,380 --> 00:22:10,419 To build a company like this, 530 00:22:10,419 --> 00:22:13,750 you need a very strong commitment from day one. 531 00:22:13,750 --> 00:22:14,970 And one of the things I didn't mention 532 00:22:14,970 --> 00:22:17,860 is that one reason we can do this 533 00:22:17,860 --> 00:22:19,470 in a lot of companies can do this 534 00:22:19,470 --> 00:22:20,870 and take longer to build better companies 535 00:22:20,870 --> 00:22:23,539 is the fact that they don't take any investment. 536 00:22:23,539 --> 00:22:26,039 So you know you might have to worry about that as well, sometimes. 537 00:22:26,039 --> 00:22:27,429 QUESTION: Hey, um, Prateek. 538 00:22:27,429 --> 00:22:28,440 Something that always fascinates me 539 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:31,090 with entrepreneurs who have started product- 540 00:22:31,090 --> 00:22:32,929 moved to a different product is, 541 00:22:32,929 --> 00:22:35,460 at what time did you decide that, OK, 542 00:22:35,460 --> 00:22:36,460 this product sucks. 543 00:22:36,460 --> 00:22:37,730 Or it's not gonna work, 544 00:22:37,730 --> 00:22:38,950 I need to move on. 545 00:22:38,950 --> 00:22:40,880 When do you take that decision? 546 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:41,769 It could be a lot of factors - 547 00:22:41,769 --> 00:22:42,929 finance, team, motivation. 548 00:22:42,929 --> 00:22:44,090 P.D.: Right, right. 549 00:22:44,090 --> 00:22:46,019 QUESTION: What was your move? 550 00:22:46,019 --> 00:22:49,659 P.D.: Right. So I definitely had a moment 551 00:22:49,659 --> 00:22:51,779 where I clearly knew I had to move on. 552 00:22:51,779 --> 00:22:55,350 And so for awhile obviously I thought 553 00:22:55,350 --> 00:22:56,519 that you know I should keep trying, 554 00:22:56,519 --> 00:22:57,980 and I talked to a few more entrepreneurs, 555 00:22:57,980 --> 00:22:59,880 and given. So we had a lot of traction, 556 00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:02,500 we had about a million visits at one point. 557 00:23:02,500 --> 00:23:05,110 And we did have a good amount of traction, 558 00:23:05,110 --> 00:23:07,070 but the thing that frustrated me the most 559 00:23:07,070 --> 00:23:09,070 was that over the three years that I did Muziboo, 560 00:23:09,070 --> 00:23:12,649 I learned a lot of new stuff. And not just in terms of programming, 561 00:23:12,649 --> 00:23:15,919 in terms of how to go about product design and things like that. 562 00:23:15,919 --> 00:23:17,940 And in the case of Muziboo it had already become 563 00:23:17,940 --> 00:23:20,710 too big to sort of start over or to completely change, 564 00:23:20,710 --> 00:23:23,169 especially with, and we didn't have a big team as well, 565 00:23:23,169 --> 00:23:24,909 so it was just me and my co-founder 566 00:23:24,909 --> 00:23:27,840 and I was pretty much the only programmer anyway. 567 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:31,100 So it just felt like, with the new experiences 568 00:23:31,100 --> 00:23:32,620 that we had and the new knowledge that we had, 569 00:23:32,620 --> 00:23:35,460 it just makes more sense to start something fresh. 570 00:23:35,460 --> 00:23:36,549 Because one of the things that also happens is 571 00:23:36,549 --> 00:23:38,130 when you are just starting out, sometimes you 572 00:23:38,130 --> 00:23:41,000 pick an idea that's close to your heart, or looks cool, 573 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:43,289 but may not necessarily make business sense. 574 00:23:43,289 --> 00:23:44,870 So with all those factors put in it 575 00:23:44,870 --> 00:23:48,259 just felt that it's better to start over again 576 00:23:48,259 --> 00:23:51,210 in a domain that I can relate to more. 577 00:23:51,210 --> 00:23:52,409 One of the other problems in Muziboo 578 00:23:52,409 --> 00:23:54,190 was I'm not a musician myself. 579 00:23:54,190 --> 00:23:57,620 So after awhile I couldn't relate to their problems actually. 580 00:23:57,620 --> 00:24:00,399 And it's, in Support it's been incredible 581 00:24:00,399 --> 00:24:02,429 because we use SupportBee ourselves. 582 00:24:02,429 --> 00:24:04,000 And I wanted to get into a domain where 583 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:08,049 at least I could relate to the target customers a lot more. 584 00:24:08,049 --> 00:24:09,759 So even though I wasn't from customer support, 585 00:24:09,759 --> 00:24:11,769 I could relate to business owners and small 586 00:24:11,769 --> 00:24:13,639 and medium companies, 587 00:24:13,639 --> 00:24:15,190 and so it made sense to just switch over. 588 00:24:15,190 --> 00:24:17,490 QUESTION: OK, so your story is very close to, 589 00:24:17,490 --> 00:24:20,610 you might like this, ??, he's a ??. 590 00:24:20,610 --> 00:24:21,450 P.D.: OK. 591 00:24:21,450 --> 00:24:23,440 QUESTION: But he started with his own service company. 592 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:25,800 No, he- yeah. First service company, 593 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:27,400 and then he expanded his product (00:24:27:19) 594 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:31,140 and then he learned this concept of ??, so. ?? 595 00:24:31,660 --> 00:24:34,060 P.D.: Right. Yeah I think a lot of entrepreneurs do that. 596 00:24:34,070 --> 00:24:36,789 I think visual website optimizer are another one. 597 00:24:36,789 --> 00:24:38,950 Paris ?? tried a couple of ideas. 598 00:24:38,950 --> 00:24:41,289 In fact he had a music service as well. 599 00:24:41,289 --> 00:24:44,909 I don't remember the name but it was there for awhile. 600 00:24:44,909 --> 00:24:46,860 And, so I think even India there are a lot of entrepreneurs 601 00:24:46,860 --> 00:24:47,980 who have done that actually. 602 00:24:47,980 --> 00:24:52,179 And I think they've had pretty good success that way. 603 00:24:52,179 --> 00:24:54,820 QUESTION: Do you think it's important 604 00:24:54,820 --> 00:24:56,759 for someone who wants to start a start up 605 00:24:56,759 --> 00:24:58,360 to first work in a desk job, you know, 606 00:24:58,360 --> 00:25:00,379 with an MNC and then start the start up? 607 00:25:00,379 --> 00:25:03,299 I mean do you need the experience or can you just, 608 00:25:03,299 --> 00:25:05,669 you know, finish college and then go straight into a start up? 609 00:25:05,669 --> 00:25:07,779 This is because I'm a college grad, 610 00:25:07,779 --> 00:25:10,529 almost, so I want to know. 611 00:25:10,529 --> 00:25:12,409 P.D.: Right, so obviously this answer 612 00:25:12,409 --> 00:25:15,929 will come with a disclaimer that, yeah, 613 00:25:15,929 --> 00:25:19,669 you know, there are always exceptions to the rule, 614 00:25:19,669 --> 00:25:20,639 and so there are, like for example, 615 00:25:20,639 --> 00:25:21,820 I think Fractor?? is one company 616 00:25:21,820 --> 00:25:24,190 that came right out of college and did really well in India. 617 00:25:24,190 --> 00:25:26,250 I don't know if you know about them. 618 00:25:26,250 --> 00:25:28,169 But typically what I've seen is, 619 00:25:28,169 --> 00:25:30,649 it does help to have a few years of experience. 620 00:25:30,649 --> 00:25:33,259 But at least today you don't need to get that experience in an MNC, 621 00:25:33,259 --> 00:25:33,769 necessarily. 622 00:25:33,769 --> 00:25:35,559 You can actually get it in a well-run start up. 623 00:25:35,559 --> 00:25:38,779 A start up with a certain amount of validation. 624 00:25:38,779 --> 00:25:40,210 So probably you don't want to join a start up 625 00:25:40,210 --> 00:25:41,340 that has no validation, 626 00:25:41,340 --> 00:25:43,500 and you're not sure where the start up is headed. 627 00:25:43,500 --> 00:25:45,159 But as soon as you think there's enough validation 628 00:25:45,159 --> 00:25:48,240 or you like the product story or you like the founders, 629 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:49,580 you can definitely work with start ups. 630 00:25:49,580 --> 00:25:50,929 And they can teach you a lot more. 631 00:25:50,929 --> 00:25:53,000 Similarly because in starts ups you work, 632 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:54,049 you have to do what work, 633 00:25:54,049 --> 00:25:56,470 and your work is always going to be used. 634 00:25:56,470 --> 00:25:58,100 Big companies have the luxury of just sitting 635 00:25:58,100 --> 00:26:00,220 on your work or just wasting your time. 636 00:26:00,220 --> 00:26:02,389 But in a start up that luxury isn't there, 637 00:26:02,389 --> 00:26:06,379 thankfully. So you're always going to gain a lot more exposure. 638 00:26:06,379 --> 00:26:08,129 So yes, to answer your question, 639 00:26:08,129 --> 00:26:11,519 I think it's good to get some experience. 640 00:26:11,519 --> 00:26:13,370 QUESTION: So hi Prateek, 641 00:26:13,370 --> 00:26:16,049 I'm going to add a comment, 642 00:26:16,049 --> 00:26:19,269 and then you can probably add more to it. 643 00:26:19,269 --> 00:26:21,419 To start up, there's no right time. 644 00:26:21,419 --> 00:26:25,090 But what I believe is the research that goes into starting up. 645 00:26:25,090 --> 00:26:28,629 So whether you're out of college or you work for MNC, 646 00:26:28,629 --> 00:26:31,259 whatever that means, but all your work for any company, 647 00:26:31,259 --> 00:26:34,269 as long as you do good work and you find a problem you can solve, 648 00:26:34,269 --> 00:26:37,870 and you validate it, by going, asking, talking to people. 649 00:26:37,870 --> 00:26:39,419 Then you can start up. 650 00:26:39,419 --> 00:26:41,210 And then the rest of the start up stuff 651 00:26:41,210 --> 00:26:44,960 like finances and team and stuff comes through. 652 00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:46,379 So Prateek it'd be pretty interesting 653 00:26:46,379 --> 00:26:50,710 to see how you started about the idea about SupportBee. 654 00:26:50,710 --> 00:26:52,990 Why you thought there was a gap. 655 00:26:52,990 --> 00:26:56,600 When did you realize that this could actually potentially take off? 656 00:26:56,600 --> 00:26:58,049 And finally, you know, competition. 657 00:26:58,049 --> 00:27:01,100 P.D.: Right. Can these lights be a little bit dimmer? 658 00:27:01,100 --> 00:27:06,299 It's, if it's OK. 659 00:27:06,299 --> 00:27:08,149 So sorry, so your question was when did I, 660 00:27:08,149 --> 00:27:11,289 when did I start and why did I think it was a good idea? 661 00:27:11,289 --> 00:27:13,440 QUESTION: So you, there must have been a time 662 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:14,759 when you found there's a pain point, 663 00:27:14,759 --> 00:27:16,330 and was like hey, man, this is a cool idea, 664 00:27:16,330 --> 00:27:18,000 then you did your research. 665 00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:19,110 Then you actually said, 666 00:27:19,110 --> 00:27:23,110 all right I think there is some app to be found. 667 00:27:23,110 --> 00:27:24,320 And finally competition. 668 00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:25,529 P.D.: Right, right. 669 00:27:25,529 --> 00:27:27,419 So when I was coming out of Muziboo- 670 00:27:27,419 --> 00:27:29,190 actually in some ways that's the other lesson 671 00:27:29,190 --> 00:27:32,460 I have learned. It's always easy to learn in hindsight, 672 00:27:32,460 --> 00:27:36,080 right. You can look back and it's much easier to come up with lessons, 673 00:27:36,080 --> 00:27:39,080 life lessons. So take it with a pinch of salt. 674 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:41,590 But one thing I realized was that after Muziboo, 675 00:27:41,590 --> 00:27:43,559 I was pretty, like, not really desperate, 676 00:27:43,559 --> 00:27:45,240 but I was like, in a rush. I was like, 677 00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:47,440 oh my god man, you know, I've been sitting 678 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:49,549 for a whole twenty days without doing anything. 679 00:27:49,549 --> 00:27:52,759 You know, three weeks. And, so I was like, 680 00:27:52,759 --> 00:27:54,529 actively looking for ideas, and we've had, 681 00:27:54,529 --> 00:27:58,779 we had this idea about having a customer support tool before. 682 00:27:58,779 --> 00:28:00,149 Because we tried to find form to use 683 00:28:00,149 --> 00:28:01,470 where we ended up using something, 684 00:28:01,470 --> 00:28:03,929 but it wasn't that great. 685 00:28:03,929 --> 00:28:06,360 So it was around that time that I came up with the idea, 686 00:28:06,360 --> 00:28:09,669 all right. And so, one of the first things I did was, 687 00:28:09,669 --> 00:28:11,999 and we had a few other ideas before that, 688 00:28:11,999 --> 00:28:14,860 so we tried validating those, and those didn't work with customers. 689 00:28:14,860 --> 00:28:16,259 So we would just put about, 690 00:28:16,259 --> 00:28:20,200 put up a landing page and then try talking to people. 691 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:22,139 And the one of the first things I did about, 692 00:28:22,139 --> 00:28:24,340 when I came up with the SupportBee idea was, 693 00:28:24,340 --> 00:28:25,620 I talked to Valerie from Balsamiq. 694 00:28:25,620 --> 00:28:27,879 So Balsamiq is a very popular company 695 00:28:27,879 --> 00:28:28,820 I think most of you guys would know. 696 00:28:28,820 --> 00:28:31,169 And they were very, very well-known for their customer support. 697 00:28:31,169 --> 00:28:32,519 So I reached out to Valerie 698 00:28:32,519 --> 00:28:35,169 and she was kind enough to come on a Skype call 699 00:28:35,169 --> 00:28:37,259 and talk to me about the idea, 700 00:28:37,259 --> 00:28:39,320 and we did this with a few other companies like BooFoo ?? 701 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:42,980 and Discuss, and actually a lot of those interviews are now online, 702 00:28:42,980 --> 00:28:46,159 on our blog. And we have also written more about this process, 703 00:28:46,159 --> 00:28:49,029 it's still on our blog if you guys are interested in checking it out. 704 00:28:49,029 --> 00:28:50,990 And so with, in a month, 705 00:28:50,990 --> 00:28:53,230 a month and a half even then we thought, 706 00:28:53,230 --> 00:28:59,570 OK, we could do this. I think what Coby said in the morning that, 707 00:28:59,570 --> 00:29:00,190 you basically found it at least as hard 708 00:29:00,190 --> 00:29:00,570 as you thought it was going to be, 709 00:29:00,570 --> 00:29:00,909 in my case it was definitely true. 710 00:29:00,909 --> 00:29:02,639 So I thought OK, so I just need to 711 00:29:02,639 --> 00:29:04,009 pass an email and then I can get started. 712 00:29:04,009 --> 00:29:07,220 And that's it. Passing the email too me a night, 713 00:29:07,220 --> 00:29:09,590 and then ?? (00:29:12:21) a little bit later, 714 00:29:09,590 --> 00:29:12,379 it took us a whole year or something, pretty much. 715 00:29:12,379 --> 00:29:13,100 And so we started coding, 716 00:29:13,100 --> 00:29:14,360 but getting the product out it took us 717 00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:16,600 about a good eight months or something. 718 00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:21,680 And in private ... ?? (00:29:27) 719 00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:31,320 V.O.: Anymore questions? All right, 720 00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:40,259 thank you Prateek. 721 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:44,320 P.D.: All right, thank you so much.