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Project GoldenEye

Asfaq Tapia — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 06:42:00 +0000

It is a wondrous thing to look at the world thru another’s eyes! Over the last 2 months, some of you might have noticed that you get repeated Twitter Following notifications from me in your inbox. I have been secretly conducting a project of my own.

When I find someone interesting on Twitter, I want to know what makes them so interesting. I want to know what influences them and whom they engage with. While this can be creepy to some, in a way, I find the idea fascinating. Imagine getting influenced by the same thoughts and ideas. Now, you can.

Project GoldenEye — I started this 2 months ago. From the people I followed, I chose one person whom I found most interesting. Let’s call that person ‘John Tapia’. Then, I went out and unfollowed everyone on Twitter and followed everyone that John Tapia was following. We followed some people in common, but a vast majority of them were total strangers and yet their ideas and thoughts were refreshing and new. I related to them.

The next month, I followed another John Tapia and it immediately became apparent that he was fond of Indie music. I am not. However, I stuck at it. Now, I can name quite a few Indie bands myself and while I still don’t love the style of music I don’t completely abhor it anymore.

This month, am following another John Tapia and he is into startups and progressive culture (whatever that means). Once again I am absolutely loving the content on the timeline. Some of the people he follows overlap with the people I know, but the overwhelming majority of them are new. The conversations so far have been good.

It is a wondrous thing to look at the world thru another’s eyes!

Update: @freegeek also mentions there is an app that lets you do exactly this: ShadowMe. Here is the Mashable review for the same. Way cool!

April Fool’s Day is a Waste of Time

Asfaq Tapia — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 12:25:44 +0000

I wish Google had spent more time on Google Reader or Google+, instead, they seemed to have spent so much of their resources on doing something that is absolutely useless and will last only a day in publicity.

In a time, not too long ago from now, companies didn’t bother about April Fool’s Day. We didn’t see expensive full page newspaper advertisements *cough, Lay’s, cough* of brands trying very hard to capture mind space, especially here in India. Alas, those days are now past. Brands want to milk everything these days — from Amitabh Bachchan’s birthday to April Fool’s Day — everything goes. The focus has shifted to being frivolous.

I wish companies would try harder to deliver genuinely funny April Fool’s Day messages and when they can’t think of something interesting, they politely stay away from making a fool of themselves. I wish Google had spent more time on Google Reader or Google+ instead.

Being a Failing Entrepreneur

Asfaq Tapia — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 13:54:13 +0000

I am a failing entrepreneur, and am proud of it. Until a couple of months ago, I used to wonder why people boast about their failed entrepreneurial ventures. To me, it always sounded like glorifying one’s mistakes. I thought it strange that people were talking so wondrously about failing dramatically in making their businesses a viable success! Was I the only one that seemed to think it was a bad idea? Then, half a year ago, something amazing happened…

With a few friends and a radical idea, I began on an entrepreneurial journey of my own. We are still on that road and we are constantly making mistakes—failing. At every step of the turn, we face challenges—both technological & financial—and we are failing. We are getting past most of them, but we are also dramatically failing at some of them, only to realise later, that we should have taken a different path. Nevertheless, we are progressing. All our estimates and projections have been blown out of the water and the competition is closing in on us fast. What seemed like a path breaking idea only half a year ago is now slowly starting to appear on tech blogs and in conferences. Lucky for us, it still features in the ‘…in the future’ section. For now we are safe. But we also know that it won’t take long for the competition to catch up on the idea.

However, it is this whole journey over the last half year that has been so very rewarding. We have had our disagreements, our debates, our missed deadlines and our catastrophic goof-ups. But one thing is certain; we are in this for the long haul. For now, we will just bunker down and grow organically. We are also learning how our clients from different industry verticals want to use our products. We are only the ‘enablers’ here. They are the ‘shapers’. We are learning new things with them at every step of the way.

When I go back and read about everything that the failed entrepreneurs have to say, I realise that they must have learnt so much from these mistakes. The experience would have made them far better than when they started out. No wonder then, that these people flaunt it around like a medal of honour. I also read somewhere that when the US Army is looking to form an elite team of commandos for a task, they look for people that have failed and bounced back. That experience makes them handle situations better!

This has been a fascinating journey so far and I can’t wait to see what the next phase will bring to our lives. We will no doubt fail again, but we will stand up as we always have, taller than before. Wiser from the experience and yet, more cautious, we are in this for the long haul and we are committed.

I am a failing entrepreneur, and am proud of it.

Being Brilliant

Asfaq Tapia — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 03:09:47 +0000

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t have a clue on how to be brilliant. When I think about it, I understand that it is about taking many small steps in a day as fast as you can. But there is more…

It is more about DOING things – writing that email early in the morning, making that phone call at the right time, and setting expectations right at the right time. If there is something on your plate, DO it.

I whole-heartedly recommend a really amazing free ebook I read some time ago. Its called The Flinch, written by Julien Smith. The book talks about how one can train themselves to move forward when a difficult task presents itself, rather than instinctively moving backward and delaying the task.

I have come to believe that Being Brilliant is all about doing all these small tasks in a day as fast as you can with 100% sincerity.

You Give Internet Advertising A Bad Name

Asfaq Tapia — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:56:41 +0000

It is hair-brained ideas like these that give Social Media a bad name. Why will a client take you seriously if all your ideas revolve around increasing your follower count!

To make matters worse, you cash in on a trending hashtag that is in no way related to your brand. Groan!

Planning and Forecasting

Asfaq Tapia — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:46:08 +0000

Here is a little something I thought of today:

If you live in the past, you will have no time.
If you live in the present, you will have 24 hours.
If you live in the future, you will have infinite time.

Interesting Posts I read between 24th January and 28th January

Asfaq Tapia — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 04:03:36 +0000

Here are some posts from around the internet that I found interesting in the last few days: