Was cleaning up my Dropbox folder when I chanced upon the Valedictorian speech I made for my Class in the MSc in ECommerce Management program at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Thought I would share it.

“ Abraham Lincoln began his now classic, Gettysburg Address 

on November 19, 1863 with the memorable line: ‘Four score 

and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this 

continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated 

to the proposition that all men are created equal’.

On this evening of February 28, 2003, in Hong Kong, I would 

like to borrow his speaking style – and in the context of my 

battle of my bulge – begin my valedictory speech by saying: 

‘Twenty eight pounds and eighty six grams ago, our 

professors brought forth in this university, a new program, 

conceived in the throes of the dot com boom, and dedicated 

to the proposition that all men will practice e-commerce’.

The throes of the dot com boom continue to adversely 

influence public influence today for two reasons. One, it hurt 

people where they felt it the most – in their wallets. Two, 

they did not understand it. They would have done well to 

heed Mark Twain’s words – ‘October is one of those 

dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are 

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, 

September, November and December.

We gathered here today, know better. We know that e-

commerce is becoming stronger every day – be it in retail or 

wholesale, in consumer goods or raw materials. Not a day 

goes by when I do not read articles – some of which I share 

with teachers and friends – that prove this observation.

I make this point because I am sure that some of us have 

asked ourselves ‘what has been the point of this program?’. 

Those of us – and there are hopefully none – who joined this 

program solely in order to lay claim to those six letters M S C 

E C M will likely be disappointed - especially in this 

economic climate and job market – for those letters alone 

will, in all probability, offer us little comfort. As Chip Brown, in 

“Sondheim” said: ‘few things are more embarassing than the 

object of a passion after it has cooled’.

Those of us who participated in this program in order to have 

a broad understanding of e-commerce and the forces 

shaping it, will look back a few years from now, thankful that 

early in the game we gave ourselves the opportunity, to gain 

the ability, to better understand commerce as it evolves in 

this undeniably, increasingly electronic world.

For us to gain the ability I just mentioned, we must 

remember that success is never a destination – it is a 

journey. It is how we take what little we remember of our 

program and apply it over the coming years, that will 

determine if our time in the program was wisely spent. It is 

how we always seek real life events that reinforce what we 

learnt, that will make us masters of e-commerce.

We should all remember that motivation is what got us 

started, but it is habit that will keep us going. As Elbert 

Hubbard said: ‘Knowledge is the distilled essence of our 

institutions, corroborated by experience’.

We should also all remember that the larger picture – that of 

ethics, values, and respect is perhaps of paramount 

importance. It has always been appropriate to be good 

human beings, but, as the constant barrage of news on 

violence, religious extremism, corporate greed etc. 

constantly reminds us, it becomes even more important that 

we all commit ourselves – everyday – to doing our part in 

making the world a better place. In the words of Marcus 

Antoninus: ‘the true worth of a man is to be measured by the 

objects he pursues’.

I believe that Jim Rohn spoke important words when he said 

- ‘you must all take personal responsibility; you cannot 

change the circumstances, the seasons or the wind, but you 

can change yourself. That is something you have charge of. 

You don’t have charge of the constellations, but you do have 

charge of whether you read, develop new skills, and take 

new classes’.

I thank you all gathered here for you have all been my 

teachers for the past year and a half - regardless of whether 

you delivered the lectures or whether you sat on my side of 

the class. 

Thank you

 PROBLEM WITH THE IMAGE IN THE PRIOR POST.

For this interested check out this link

http://img.asercentre.org/docs/ASER%202021/ASER%202020%20wave%201%20-%20v2/aser2020wave1report_feb1.pdf

 FROM THE ASER 2020 REPORT

ASER is the Annual Status of Education Report done in India. Not yet read the report as my breath was taken away by this photograph at the top of the report and I just had to post this message of hope.

Hats off to the conscientious teacher and those students. They have so little and are capable of so much.

Children have to go through so much. Here is to hoping the world values all children and works to bridge digital and other divides and ensure that every child has access to high quality pre-school education. 

 Was reading the Draft New Educational Policy for India that was done by a Committee chaired by Dr. K. Kasturirangan.

In it I came across the following. So simple, so rich in meaning that it needs no explanation. Do hope it is followed by many entrepreneurs.

"‘Learning: The Treasure Within’, which the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century chaired by Jacques Delors, submitted to UNESCO in 1996. The Report argued that education throughout life was based on four pillars: i) Learning to know - acquiring a body of knowledge and learning how to learn, so as to benefit from the opportunities education provides throughout life; ii) Learning to do - acquiring not only an occupational skill but also the competence to deal with many situations and work in teams, and a package of skills that enables one to deal with the various challenges of working life; iii) Learning to live together - developing an understanding of other people and an appreciation of interdependence in a spirit of respect for the values of pluralism, mutual understanding and peace; and iv) Learning to be - developing one’s personality and being able to act with autonomy, judgement and personal responsibility, while ensuring that education does not disregard any aspect of the potential of a person: memory, reasoning, aesthetic sense, physical capacities and communication skills."

On the importance of balanced view points

We all know that it is easy to be taken in by a good story. That the same facts are presented one way by one group and another by a different group.
It is useful to, if possible, see a different line of thinking as well.
For example I have long argued that Donald Trump is helping the rich get richer and is deceiving the poorer folks - and those folks are likely to get really upset when they find out they were taken for idiots.
Have a good read of this story. Some useful information here in my opinion.
Worth considering.

The Real State of the Union, in Charts
It’s not pretty. But there is one big reason for hope.
By David Leonhardt
Opinion Columnist

https://nyti.ms/2UMifKf

Not specific to Entrepreneurship - but FOOD for thought!

Please do go through this report. Each one playing their part will help us all.

https://eatforum.org/content/uploads/2019/01/EAT-Lancet_Commission_Summary_Report.pdf

Vishnu

A wonderful woman

The woman (Babalwa Latsha) in this clip says many things that should hold true for all people but specifically for entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship the way I see it.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/04/sport/south-africa-womens-team-babalwa-latsha-spt-intl/index.html

BOOTSTRAPPING

I always believed that it referred to using as few resources as possible.

Here in this article under the section titled Bootstrapping is an alternate explanation i.e. that Bootstrapping uses a tool to build another, more complex, tool. Way cool, and complementary - in that both meanings should apply.

The article is also about some really important thinkers.

Here is the link.

https://www.wired.com/story/50-years-later-we-still-dont-grasp-the-mother-of-all-demos/?CNDID=42701204&CNDID=42701204&bxid=MjM5NjgxMjQzODg1S0&hasha=b5abeb5ee78f16ff3251c9dabf762cf1&hashb=6cbeee99b9049248612c21f69e8da15fdef39464&mbid=nl_121018_daily_list1_p3&utm_brand=wired&utm_mailing=WIRED%20NL%20121018%20(1)&utm_medium=email&utm_source=nl

Why we should be concerned about Urjit Patel's resignation

Without sounding condescending, only to underscore my point, it should be blindingly obvious that the reason we should be worried is that it points to the people in power trying to remove checks and balances.

If we do not do anything, India will soon be a Fascist state.

While it is Modi and his companions this time, the comment above applies to ANY time!

Here is Raghuraman Rajan making the same point.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/all-indians-should-be-concerned-says-raghuram-rajan-on-patels-resignation/article25711571.ece

A red flag article by Bloomberg that is worth sharing

I found this article to be informative .... I am biased though and it is possible I am only looking at aspects that support my views.

Read on ....

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-corporate-debt/?srnd=premium-asia

More red flags

Despite the (I think misleading) title of the article, these were reasonable penalties imposed by the government. In previous posts I have argued that there are red flags due to relaxing of banking regulations; and given that banks get fined, but the bankers who cause the fines are not punished, and the profits are worth it, that banks could well simply be budgeting for fines i.e. essentially giving the average tax payer the middle finger. One figure stood out in the article below - penalties "and legal costs and related obligations" of 30 billion USD in 10 years!!! NO numbers on the number of people jailed or penalised!
Disclosure: I worked for JPMC for some 11 years and was laid off by them.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-26/jpmorgan-s-secret-punishment-u-s-halted-its-growth-for-years?fbclid=IwAR1_WLbUZa17iz9WCMs3NioiF4rVhaNyPuRSsp_AoFsL6JT-zD3m4-riN54

Can we survive the next financial crisis?

Believable, and good, article. I was incredulous to start with as the article seems to first note that banks were doing well and went against my sense that big banks continue to be very greedy. As the article progressed my views were reaffirmed as it seems that the risk still exists, is bigger, but was simply shifted.

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-lehman-anniversary/

Money for nothing and ...

My first thought was this would not work in countries like India, Sri Lankas, Pakistan ... but sharing because I think I may be wrong and some will and that can make a difference. Believe there are already groups in Delhi that help to improve the lives of "ragpickers" as they are sometimes referred to in India.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/stories-45398184/a-clever-way-to-make-a-living-out-of-rubbish?SThisFB

Are stock buy-backs starving the economy

Those interested in the markets may find the link below interesting. May also explain why the markets do not necessarily reflect the economy and in some ways, the other way too i.e. the markets do broadly reflect the economy. Folks who think I am spouting nonsense, may be right, but I do think that the markets are often divorced from reality (explanations for a market's movements are best found after the fact); and that professional traders make money on volumes and transactions regardless of whether the markets go up or down while the average investor cannot know whether they will have a profit or a loss despite their often inflated opinion of their stock picking ability. I have time and again seen, especially in the case of Alpha types, that if they get something right, they attribute it to their intelligence, and when they are wrong, they keep quiet about it or will find some external factor to blame!

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/07/are-stock-buybacks-starving-the-economy/566387/?utm_source=fbb

A video on immigration

Sharing a post I made on F/B in 2016 that has to do with the benefits of immigration.

https://youtu.be/JoHCT2bUjwg


Perhaps you can also check out Gerben's You Tube page.

Demonetisation of the 500 and 1000 rupee notes sucks

Note: I first posted this in Facebook some 5 or so days after the demonetisation was announced in India. I realised it was still in Draft form only when I wanted to publish my article on "An old man ...".

Demonetisation sucks! (a) If as reports suggest, only about 6% of illegal money is in cash in Indian rupee notes, it is a relatively small irritation to the cheaters; (b) the collateral damage to honest or relatively so citizens of a primarily cash based society is huge - at a personal level and macro level (lost gdp when productive time is used to stand in lines at banks); (c) the measures make a very tiny dent in "illegal money" because it will not "catch any big fish" - the big fish would have to be stupid to get caught because they risked 100% of their ill-gotten wealth to save 6% of it, far better to light cigars with the cash that is the 6% (or of course use the 13 ways in the attached article); (d) the best connected cheaters would have probably got insider information and "saved" their 500 and 1000 rupee notes in a number of ways - was there an uptick in stock and real estate transactions in the 2 or 3 months that this hare-brained scheme was being discussed and implemented? How about in the number of new bank accounts, or of the number of accounts that mysteriously suddenly had 2,50,000 rupees in them.
I must admit that I was excited when I first heard about it. Then when I got home and started thinking about it and reading the opinions of others I realised what a costly gimmick this was by the Indian Government. The sad part is that after the first day there seem to be many who do not think it is a gimmick and a fair share of them most likely think that the collateral damage is worth the trouble to get at that illegal money. What is even sadder is that whatever amount is not lost and goes into government coffers (via people suddenly paying years of taxes or levees with cash, or the confiscation of funds) is most likely going to get misappropriated or used very inefficiently!
Once again the common citizen is made to pay for the folly and greed of others.

Article from Huff Post
13 Ways In Which Indians Will Convert Their Black Money Into White Even After Demonetisation
As the poor struggle, black money owners are finding a variety of ways to save their wealth.
HUFFINGTONPOST.IN

Note to self - start blogging again!

An old man nearly made me cry today.

An old man nearly made me cry today.
That said, and before I go on, I would like to make it clear that the following is not about me – it is about him. Here is what happened.
About 6:15pm with the temperature dipping below 20C and darkness settling in I set out for a short walk with my dog, Fred. I was in a hurry, hoping that I could go back and see the last of the cricket action on Day 4 of the 4th test v England at the Wankhede (I like to watch only when India is winning).
When I had walked about 20 meters out of my compound, I saw a person slumped in a sitting position by a lamppost on the pavement across the road. Just then, he slowly stood up, shuffled to about a foot from the edge of the pavement, then without really caring as to what was happening stepped on to the road in front of an oncoming taxi that braked, swerved, missed him and carried on. The man froze. Given that this was on the bend (just outside the entrance to 25, Sha Wan Drive) I thought traffic coming up the hill may not see him in time when he was on my side of the road, so I rushed towards him (thinking he was suicidal) and shepherded him to my side of the road.
I tried to speak to him but could not understand him at all given I did not know his language. He also did not know any Cantonese so the few words that I know in that language were useless. He was dressed in two shirts and a pant and very poorly and wore bare sports shoes. He was calm but obviously exhausted and weak and I noticed that he looked me in the eye when I addressed him or when he tried to speak. I asked if he was Ok and he indicated that he was. I then waited and he entered 25 Sha Wan Drive and then again just stopped in the middle of the entrance road about 4 or 5 meters into the compound. I ran towards him still unsure if he was suicidal. Perhaps it was because it was a Sunday evening there was no one else on the road and this made me desperate because I really wanted to communicate with this man and ask him how I could help.
I escorted him to the corner of the entrance to 25 Sha Wan Drive and tried to ask him again. He put his two palms together and by the side of his head as he tilted it. I took that to mean that he wanted a place to sleep. So I tried to tell him that he could go into 23 Sha Wan Drive (where I live) and thinking I could show him a place in the underground car park where he could sleep at least for a few hours before the guards found him. He indicated “no”. I then showed him a tiny gate (it is near Block 1 of 23 SWD), opened it and stepped in to show him “the secret” entrance. He said “no”.
He also indicated, “thank you”.
That shook me to the core. Here was a guy, who was not drunk, clearly exhausted, possibly starving, but polite and courteous – and there I was, helpless in my ability to comfort him in some way, thinking my dog Fred had a better life than a human, and that I could walk to the comfort of my home in just a few steps while this man had nothing. This caused an angry rage in me and I had to fight back my tears of anger at the situation the old man was in.
I know this sounds like an extreme reaction on my part. Especially considering that I have lived in countries where I have seen extreme poverty and watched on television news the horrors inflicted on people. Perhaps it was anger that had welled up in me because of the injustices that I had seen. Perhaps it was because it was just me, the old man and Fred on the road and that made the situation very personal.
As he walked down the road towards 23 Sha Wan Drive, I waited a bit, then overtook him and went into 23 Sha Wan Drive and waited to see what the old man would do. He just ambled past the entrance and continued down the hill – or so I thought.
Angry now with myself for not doing more for him, I went up to the flat and (with my wife on a business trip and my helper off for the day I was alone) started looking for something that I could give the man. I grabbed a sweater, a jumper, and 3 energy bars and rushed back down with Fred. As I exited the building I saw a helper returning from a day off and asked if she had seen an old man in a white shirt. She said: “yes, he his walking up the hill”. I was sure that had to be wrong and asked again and she was sure and added: “he cannot be far”.
I ran out and sure enough, he was on the other side of the road, not 15 or 20 meters from where I first saw him. I went up to him and stopped him and there was instant recognition (leading me to believe that he had his memory working and was not lost). I offered him the clothes and he pinched his shirt (to indicate he had one) and said “no”!! I then offered him the 3 energy bars – and he took 1. ONE. In that instant I thought of the many that I know, who despite having so much, want more and are greedy or stingy and wondered at this exhausted man who gingerly took just one of the 3 energy bars.
I then reached across and put the other two energy bars into his shirt pocket. I asked him again to please take the sweater and the jumper and he politely refused but pinched his pants (this time the expression indicated he may need pants). Thinking that perhaps he needed a change of pants I indicated he should sit down, pointed to my building, and that I would go and return quickly with something while he waited. He again politely declined and indicated thanks by slightly cupping his right hand and pointing his palm at me while slowly moving it up and down a few times.
I looked around, saw the road was still empty and realised that I may not be able to help the man more. In hindsight I should perhaps have called the police.
If you asked me to pick him out of a line up of elderly Chinese men I would possibly not be able to do it. But I was able to recognise in him a polite and good man, who was dignified and not greedy. I only wish that when his end comes, it comes quickly and painlessly, and that his last memory before his breath leaves him is a happy one.

Spreading the message

A somewhat different post this time ..... perhaps a harbinger of things to come.

1) A quick update - I have returned to Hong Kong. Am not sure of next steps yet but have a few things that will keep me busy till June. Will try and blog now and then (many blog ideas that I have not converted into posts, and some new ones).

2) Been wanting to share photographs of my mobile bill board.
Now you do see a few more of this type of truck in India but it still draws looks. I figured that I ought to use that to my advantage and put up some messages that are important to me.
The messages.
a) Equal rights and dignity to all. The core of the U.N. charter and something that I firmly believe will lead to a better world if taken on as a tenet.
b) Empower Entrepreneurs. This is central to my notion that there is a lot of unnecessary friction in the "system". Entrepreneurs should succeed or fail based on their abilities and not due to the "system".
c) Empower Women. (At least in India) we are missing out on the power of women. Not just in the human capital aspect. Also in the leverage factor - in that (at least in some socio-economic strata) when women are earning the chances that their children will have access to more education and nutritious food is higher than otherwise.
d) "Our soldiers died for us - respect them by being better citizens". There are no doubt folks in India who think I am overly critical of India. I try and explain that we should learn to take warranted criticism - and why it burns me up so much when I see wrong done (because I actually care!). In India, we are not allowed to fly the national flag from vehicles or wear flags etc. because the government believes that it would show disrespect to the many who have laid down their lives for the flag. Yet, we insult those dead in so many other ways.
e) Speaking of flags - designed ones that showed my Indian and Swiss heritage and put them up in a few places.

(Confession. I also had the truck modified a bit. It has a bit of a growl now with a modified exhaust, a power chip that makes driving in hills fun, and four extra shock absorbers to limit the roll on curves. Boys, as they say, will be boys.)

Stay well. Stay true.
Vishnu

On making a pitch

I subscribe to a blog called Venkat's Expressions and came across his post on Pitching. While a good post, given that I have seen a few pitches and hold some views on them I thought I would add to his post (which is here http://carvk.com/2014/01/17/10-factors-for-a-perfect-pitch/).

Overall Venkat's list does indeed capture most of the key aspects of a Pitch. I would be surprised however if folks said all that in 3 minutes never mind in a 1 minute elevator pitch - or if folks could understand it if they did. ;)

You should choose elements from and/or tailor the list for 1 min, 3 min and 10 min pitches.

In my view, the list is missing three key elements - delivery, ability to handle questions, audience.

When I say delivery I mean how you are dressed, body language, enunciation etc. Some steps to take in this regard are first to practice in front of a mirror and then to pitch to friends. Practice does make perfect.

To handle questions well you need to dream up questions (ask people you think are not very smart to ask you questions) and find good answers to them (not-so-smart people should be able to understand them). Not saying investors or clients or potential partners are not smart - just that by working hard at it you will find good, simple, direct answers to important questions ("stupid" people sometimes ask the best questions!).

Audience - pitches are not just to investors but also to potential partners and customers. Tailor your pitch accordingly.

One of my shortest posts so far!

Been meaning to post a longer, more personal blog for a few weeks now. Working up the courage (it will show my vulnerabilities) to do so but will do it so long as I think it may help others in similar situations. That is the wonderful thing about doing things for pure reasons - you do not have the same "I must impress people" concerns, only, whether a message may be of use or not!

Stay well. Stay true.

Vishnu.

The talk I gave as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week (at IIIT-Hyderabad)

Was tasked with speaking about "the things a start-up founder should do" and to speak a bit about mentors and incubation.

Thought I would transcribe and post the hand-written notes of my "speaking points".

Preamble

a) Given that for reasons of brevity (this is going to be a long post anyway) I am not explaining or using the examples I used while speaking, there may be some loss in translation.
b) To set the stage, a significant part was in the form of questions, with prizes for correct answers being the sweets that I love and that I pick up at the Abbey in Piona, Italy.
c) The speaker before me, a board member of TiE Hyderabad, and a much-accomplished man had argued that Entrepreneurship was an art and a science. When I started I used that to make the point that I was going to disagree, that disagreeing had nothing to do with disrespect, and that the point to underline for entrepreneurs was that they had to get used to hearing different views and deciding for themselves.
d) Most of what I spoke about was based on my experience. The only thing that was not, was the part on Incubation.

Ok so lets get to the speaking points.

1) Will ask questions. Sweets for what I think is the right answer.

2) Will speak about universal skills - those that can be applied in any situation.

3) Why is it that a person who does not know theoretical physics cannot talk on theoretical physics to theoretical physicists but a non-entrepreneur can talk about entrepreneurship to entrepreneurs?
Answer: Its an art, not a science.
While I am not an entrepreneur it is true that I have been mentoring them for about a year and have done a fair bit of research on the subject so in a way I was not being entirely honest.
Also make point that entrepreneur (E) needs to be a bag of contradictions. Example have a massive ego while also not having one. Think big and think small.
(As an aside, the earlier speaker had said an E should not have an ego, but I stated that to execute on something that others do not believe can be done, or believe you cannot do, you do need a healthy ego.)

4) 3 statements. Question is who said them? Hint - if you have been watching TV in India you will recognise theme.
a) "Chase your dreams, but make sure you do not take short cuts."
b) "Path may be difficult but don't give up."
c) "Be a nice human being."
Sachin Tendulkar, a much-loved and accomplished Indian cricketer had stated the above in his farewell speech at the Wankhede stadium and had said that this was the advice his father had given him. I thought it particularly appropriate for entrepreneurs.

5) Which one of the 3 quotes is not necessarily good advice?
Answer: the second one. Speak about knowing when to quit and move on.

6) What do most E's need? Money
What do most mentors not have? Time
Time is money. As an E whether selling your product, pitching to investors etc. the Q you have to ask yourself and solve is: "How do I get the money out of that pocket into mine?"
Same approach for mentors. "How do I get them to give me their time?"

7) Situation = you are unfamiliar and scared of dogs (we have many of them "on the loose" in India). Who should adapt, you or the dog?Who should change their behaviour to suit the situation?
If you are clever you will realise that humans, yes it is true (!), are smarter than dogs. Yet we just stay scared and do not try to study dogs and understand what to do. We expect the dogs to change. Not us.
Kind of similar when dealing with investors and mentors. Not to compare them to dogs, the dog example is incidental. Point is it is incumbent on us to state our case so the investors and mentors understand it. The burden is not on them. It is on us.
Real case in point. A friend had (has) a product and lamented the fact that the investors just did not "get it" i.e. they could not see the uses (and resulting value) he could see. My point to him was to break it down into parts they could understand and call the rest as "future development" and introduce it and depending on their reaction, stop there. I told him that in my opinion most of us are driven by egos and have a hard time saying "I do not get it, please explain" and that an investor would more likely than not have the same frailty. Rather than try to understand they are likely to react by finding a reason why the idea will not succeed.  We therefore have to talk in their language. We adapt.

8) Be selective in choosing a mentor and even more selective in choosing an investor.

9) Do not accept mediocrity and more importantly do not accept that "it is the Indian way".
Question: Is your competition in the next 10kms, 100kms or 1000kms?
Answer: it is global. If you do not believe me, the next time you are stationary in traffic observe that an out-of-state economic migrant is selling you goods made in China. Some 20 years ago there were some 600 products on the so-called Reserve list. Today there are about 25. So your competition is global and you cannot compete globally by accepting mediocrity.

10) Social Capital (saw the below on the internet but did not note down source - apologies).
Question. Is a small business nothing but a small version of a big business?
Answer. No. A big business like Dow or J.P. Morgan is not a person. A small business is you. Your value systems and your biases.

11) Question. Which would you rate higher: Jugaad (Indian word that translates into improvisation) or Innovation?
Answer. Innovation. Jugaad is improvisation and has its place but is a band-aid (give example). Innovation is more long-lasting and better-value (give example).

12) Circle of Opportunity. Check out Gary Sinek's TED talk. Why, What, How. Always in that sequence whether you are building or selling your product/service.

13) Question. "I must know how to create an excellent business plan to be a successful entrepreneur." True or False?
False. while a tool that has its uses its link to performance is tenuous at best and to me unproven.
As an aside, it is a good means of evaluating the person who is presenting it. Have wild assumptions in there and you lose credibility instantly.

14) How do you get your first client(s) (in general, approach is product/service, market, and customer type dependent). As an aside, believe I got the first and sixth from some scholarly article, but do not remember which. Apologies to the author!
i) Be credible: before starting your firm (you are likely to sell to folks in your circle); during; and after (i.e. after-sales).
ii) know your offering well
iii) Solve a problem
iv) demonstrate value
v) Social capital - i.e. network, go to where your customers are either online or off.
vi) Find 'leverage customers" the type that will lead you to or influence more customers
vii) Give it for free - careful though .... only if it makes sense

15) INCUBATION
(Source for this section: “On the structure and internal mechanisms of business incubator: A comparative case study” Ali Ahmad. Note: I did a decent amount of research on the subject and found this paper to be particularly good.)

Incubation is primarily relational in nature.
3 key relationships Incubation Manager (IM), Client (C) and Third Party.
Quality of incubation is dependent on "incubation clicks".

Positive incubation clicks
- shared awareness of gaps in knowledge, competencies and resources
- mutual willingness to engage in incubation activities
- recognise that IM can fill gap
- capacity of IM to commit sufficient time to implementing a breadth of activities and achieve the level of intensity needed for impact

Negative incubation clicks
- client's (over) confidence in personal activities
- view that IM is incompetent
- uncertainty as to type of business problems to bring to IM's attention

Ground rules help
- subscribe to community spirit
- adhere to standards of housekeeping
- adhere to standards for conducting business affairs
- consider the incubation centre a true stakeholder (not just a shareholder agreement).

Thank you.

Stay well. Stay true.