StartUp Saturday (Food Industry special) takeaways...

I just came home after attending StartUp Saturday, I'm fortunate to have an opportunity to meet these people who have went there, done that!

Today's event was about Food industry start ups and I was excited about it as I have a couple of ideas in this segment. Entrepreneurs who spoke today were Rahul Chabbra - Founder of Fishtro, Saurabh Sengupta - Founder and Head of Operations at Zomato.com, Sachin Bharadwaj - founder of TastyKhana.com and Jaydeep Burman - founder of FAASOS.

Rahul pointed out that the Sea food business in out country is still very immature. What I liked about this guy is while starting into a food business - territory he was unaware about - he made a point to meet the best people in the industry. He meet the best chefs in sea food in India, best food processing technologist in India and other such people - it's important to meet the best people in the domain you are entering into, you can get some invaluable inputs from them - a great takeaway!

Sachin Agarwal stated that TastyKhana was not generating +ve cash-flows even after a year of operation and that made him think is it worth to continue in loss - that's when his first investment came in - just about a lakh rupees and that was one of the turning point he said. Perseverance is important.

Saurabh Sengupta was very dynamic and touched many pain points of budding entrepreneurs. It is very important to know who has a sense of ownership among the people who are working with you. How to recognize them? According to him the one who recognizes and comes up with problems in the business and even better suggests some solutions is the one! Those who are worried only about their work/responsibilities will never contribute value to the startup - its the thinking about the whole business will make the person stand out from the rest. Another point he put beautifully when asked about viral marketing the product, he said "A good product will viral in itself. No need to do anything else - just build a good product". Hats off to this statement - its easy to understand but difficult to implement.

Jaydeep - the founder of FAASOS mentioned a point which I liked - he said taking care of employees is very important. You need to work as a team and its not only salary that they work for. He mentioned an incident where FAASOS funded one of their chef's son's heart transplant surgery. He says "People don't work for companies, they work for you" - terrific!

Note: StartUp Saturday is an event for connecting entrepreneurs organised by Headstart Network Foundation ~ its a informal gathering where entrepreneurs share their stories and get a chance to meet like-minded people.

Why Liberal Sprouts?

What's there in the name? There's a lot in the name Mr.Shakespeare. 

This is place is my second brain, the place where my thoughts unfold. I wanted a name which exactly imitates my feelings for this blog, the very purpose of this beautiful place, and the purpose my friends isn't creating a good content for the readers...but is perhaps more important than that... this place is where I open up. I strongly believe in opening up in front of someone somehow by any possible means so that the feelings deep inside you come out and work for you rather than against you. Whether its excitement or anxiety, we feel good when we express that feeling, when we open up. This opening up should be liberal, without any constraints and deep inside from one's heart. Sprouts are innocent, young with potential of becoming something big in future....so are my thoughts! The term 'Liberal Sprouts' ignites a wave inside me to express my feelings,thoughts,opinions and views on anything and everything I feel for without any constraints and with the genuineness and originality. I hope you too like the term. :) 

Enjoy the place! 

God bless you!

Cooking Sabudana Khichdi..

Yeah... I just cooked it! I am starting to learn a few basic dishes in the menu of Indian kitchen and today morning I thought to try sabudana khichdi...as I have to keep fast today! Well...some of my friends who know me well would bawl over this in shock...but yeah it's true...I have started keeping fast on Saturdays. People change.

I made the kichdi in pure ghee. First I soaked it in water for about 2 hours - I made a mistake in this, I completely immersed the sabudana into the water, but this is not the correct way to soak sabudana.The amount of water should only be enough to barely cover the level of sabudana. You can take water equal to  80% of the volume of sabudana - Ahh! That's scientific and precise..isn't it?

After soaking it for 2-3 hours I took 2-3 spoonfuls of ghee and warmed it in the normal cooking utensil I use. Then I chopped 2 long green chillies (Mirchi!!) and I added it with "jeera" to the now hot ghee. For some taste I added 2-3 spoonfuls of sugar and also 1 teaspoon of salt. Then I added this mixture to the mixture in the hot vessel...err.. confused?? yeh..I do confuse sometimes.. :) But yeah that's right..you just thought it correctly!

After then all left is to just stir the mixture for next 10-12 minutes. The dish is now ready!

"The Journey" - my first poem!

When I was 20, in my last year of graduation, I scribbled something sitting at the open door of a train cruising at 120 km/hr, when I was on my way back to home from Pune, after giving the CAT 2006 paper. It was a peaceful evening and the whimsical Longfellow in me was ordered to show his inexperience on a piece of paper I was having in my right pocket of the rugged jeans...

 The Journey...

Sitting at the train's door,
Gazing at the running trees,
The Journey so long n' you're so fast,
I cheerily asked the whirling breeze.


Fresh white blossoms balancing on deep green bushes,
Seems blessing me with its holy wishes...


Competing with trees are the electric poles linked,
Reminds me of my electric engineering lectures,
And the girls then I winked... 


The Sun saying goodbye & fading away,
Giving its silky golden rays as the gift of the day...


Now I have come back and filled the vacuum of my seat
Struggling for some space against dirty poor Indians
was a challenge for an elite...

Deep I was in my thoughts 
How hapless condition the poor crowd is in,
When one of these sandwitched his words in between-
"Railways earn 25 crore a day" he said,
Needed time to comprehend the moral he made,
His further quotes made me realize his cognizance,
Left me abased peeping through my negligence...

Some time then passed by....and some more...


The dark was now the king,
With the beautiful night as his queen, 
Lucky enough I was to get a seat besides window,
Felt for a second I was still a kiddo!


With a swift breeze turning more violently close,
Failed all efforts to eschew its trip into my nose!


My station was now approaching to embrace me fast, 
My sad countenance whispered an unforgettable journey will end at last...
But this dude called "me" was happy though,
As this was his first poem he ever ploughed 
He wanted to read his work to the surrounding people illiteracy bitten,
But was sad when he realized-                                                                                             No one can understand the language written!

Merely after 2-3 years I realize that... that... its pathetic!!! uhh!! But I wanted to reveal it the way it was written hence I didn't change anything...I hope the reader gets the hidden message in it. :) Someone wouldn't even call this a poem but certainly not bad as a first scribble...