Category: India

 

1) What has been the story of your career and what message would you like to send to young people aspiring for MBA’s

(Masters of Business Administration)

Jaya -I come from a small town in Bihar, where I completed my class 10th in a residential school close-by. Finished my high school from DPS Ranchi and then joined IIT Kanpur for a B. Tech. in Computer Science & Engineering. Joined IIM Lucknow right after that. Since then I worked with a start-up and then with Google India in Product Management roles, before starting full time on Pothi.com

Message to young people aspiring for an MBA: Don’t aspire for an MBA, because everyone else is doing so, or because people want you to. Aspire for being good at what is in your heart. If you an artist at heart, aspire to be a good artist! If MBA it is, then you probably know what you want to get out of it.

2) Why did you turn down a job from Google and start a startup straight after college

Jaya -I had opted out of placement from the campus and joined a start-up (not my own). There was no offer for Google at that time. I did work for Google later as a Product Manager before starting on my own. The reason for joining a start-up after the college were two fold. Firstly some of the job possibilities that looked very lucrative before joining an MBA turned out to be not so lucrative. I really enjoyed reading the psychology and sociology behind consumer behaviour, how they shape choices etc. But a real life job would have entailed ensuring that people drink more Pepsi and eat more chocolates! After my summer internship I knew I wasn’t going to enjoy it. So, I thought going back to technology and take up something where technological as well as management education could be put to use. The start-up was providing the right platform with a product management role.

Secondly, I always wanted to be an entrepreneur myself and hence working in a start-up looked like a good preparation ground. After about two years since graduating, I found myself ready with an idea I was passionate about, a partner with complementary skills and same passion for the idea and some savings to sustain myself for a few months. So, Pothi.com emerged.

3) What are the key learnings that you have learnt in this short period

Jaya -I think one of the major (and useful) realizations for me has been that start-up (success) and institutional funding are not synonymous. Somehow, people always talk to entrepreneurs and discuss start-ups in terms of how good the business is from a Venture Capital (VC) perspective. One has to realize that VCs are geared towards investing in only certain kinds of businesses. That does not mean there is no demand for some of the other kinds of product and services or that a sustainable business can not be made out of them.

4) Is an IIM MBA necessary for success .Comments please.

Jaya-I am very biased against an MBA, especially the way it is used in India/IIMs – as a job agency and not a learning ground. No, I don’t think that an IIM MBA or any MBA (or any particular degree for that matter!) is necessary for success.

Note- IIM stands for Indian Institutes of Management. They are six IIMs and they are the analogous counterparts of the IVY league of USA

5) Whats your vision for Pothi.com . Which website is a good analogy for it ? Why should anyone visit the website ?

Jaya-There is lot more interesting and good content out there than what traditional publishing (and distribution, as we learned over time) can support. All of them should be produced and distributed in the form of a book, which is the most versatile, economical and easy form for consuming content. And Pothi.com should pioneer that!

Jaya Jha is the co-founder of Pothi.com. She is an IIT Kanpur and IIM Lucknow alumnus and was working with Google India as a Product Manager before starting up on Pothi.com full time. She enjoys reading, writing and traveling.She topped IIM Lucknow and was a gold medallist there.First person to be hired outside of US office in the APM Program at Google. APM Pogram is a 2 year training program for fresh graduates to take up the Product Management Role in Google.She was also awarded Sangeeta Goel Memorial Award for highest All India Rank (88) in JEE 2000 amongst the girl students admitted to Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur

Specific Services at Pothi.com start as low as 12 USD for writers (due to India based costs).International shipping is enabled.

Q1. What has been the story of your career and what message would you like to send to young people aspiring for MBA’s or just starting their careers?
A1. I’d rather have the reader click through to my LinkedIn profile (http://www.linkedin.com/in/nimish79) to see how my career has panned thus far. However, the interesting bits only start now that I have taken upon myself the challenge to create true value by building a big Internet business – click by click.
Also, I feel it’s too early for me to be dispensing advice to those starting their careers. To each his own dream.
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Q2. Why did you create a web startup?
A2. While I have always tried to spot the right opportunity to get started, my last few jobs have been in the Internet space. And I took to it just like a fish takes to water. Also having set up two Internet businesses and having contributed in different capacities to the other businesses at my previous organizations, starting off in this space was a natural progression for me.
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Q3. What are the key learnings that you have learnt in this short period?
A3.
1. INNOVATE or DIE.

My first initiative, workosaur.com, is a niche job site targeting senior professionals. To exist in the online recruitment industry, which is currently dominated by big players who entered the market early, makes it imperative for me innovate. Moreso because even late entrants with deep pockets have struggled to remain competitive.
2. BUILD TO LAST. DON’T BUILD TO EXIT.
Many Internet startups today are not built on a solid business model. They exist under the assumption that one of the bigger plays will snap them up. When you have such a vision, there is a greater chance that you would fail. Because if things don’t go your way and the bootstrapping costs pile up, you may lose patience, and hang up your boots. So it’s always better to build a business that can go all the way – one that provides tangible value to its audience – so that you can make money at some stage of your product’s lifecycle.
3. WORK HARD.
During the start-up stage, it pays to work hard. For example, I decided to read and learn everything I could – right from managing and hosting a webserver to designing on Photoship/GIMP to programming in PHP/Python to HTMLization to search engine optimization to campaign management and online marketing. I knew enought to be able to do all the initial work myself and was able to launch workosaur.com under USD 1000. If one isn’t willing to do this kind of spadework, it becomes difficult to sustain a start-up which can’t be monetized early.

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Q4. Is an MBA (IIM or Otherwise) necessary for success. Comments please.

A4. In my opinion, an MBA (especially from an IIM) is detrimental to success if one aspires to be an entrepreneur. Given the prevalence of extremely high salaries amongst the IIM pass-outs, one tends to build a comfort zone around themselves. And it’s difficult to get out of. During conversations I have noticed that most of my peers aspire to start up but the superficial comfort zone of drawing a fixed monthly income holds them back. And once you are so risk-averse, it is very difficult to tread the entrepreneurial route.

Also, the comfort in their current job kills the stomach to do spade work. And with this you have pretty much eliminated the key elements that are necessary to be a successful entrepreneur.
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Q5. Whats your vision for your site. Which website is a good analogy for it? Why should anyone visit the website?

A5. The vision for workosaur.com is to be the #1 job search destination for middle-level and senior-level management. My current mission is to aggregate the most Rs. 10+ lac jobs and simultaneously build features that would be of great utility for my audience.
It’s a niche segment and currently there is no competitor operating exclusively in the same niche. The competition comes from multiple channels like the top management jobs on naukri and monster plus print classifieds such as Times Ascent.
We have chosen to serve only senior professionals on workosaur. Once you decide to serve a niche, you are in a better position to give them what they want. (We are like a Chinese restaurant which serves good Chinese food to an audience who has come to eat Chinese cuisine.) Senior professionals who visit workosaur will note that we aggregate only 7-figure jobs i.e. jobs that pay more than Rs. 10 lacs per annum. And we do not provide recruiters any access to our database of CVs unless its in response to a job posting. Thus the need for confidentiality is taken care of. Apart from this, you’d find a lot of nifty features that are built for this audience. Log on to workosaur and try them out.

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Bio:
Workosaur.com is a free job board for senior positions i.e. jobs that pay more than Rs. 10+ lacs per annum. Unlike the other job sites, workosaur.com truly focus on aggregating the most lucrative jobs in India and overseas – Corporate-level, vice president, director and manager positions. Workosaur.com explicitly asks employers to use the job board only for positions for which they can afford to pay more than Rs. 10 lacs per annum, thus making workosaur an aggregator of 7-figure jobs.