Aji Issac Mathew( http://in.linkedin.com/in/ajinimc ) of TechShu shared from his experience at the July 2012 edition of Startup Saturday Kolkata. Aji very engagingly spoke about the Random Dots about Scaling up a business, that he has meticulously collected over years of his experiences at GRM Tech, TechShu and his earlier attempts to startup.

1. Scaling up your business
Random Dots – Connect yourself
Aji Issac
Co-founder, CEO – Techshu.com
“I can’t teach you anything today but you can learn a lot today” – Aji Issac

2. Can’t express the value of this pic!

3. #1: Understanding Business #2: Understanding Yourself #3: Understanding Scaling
Gyaan #1: Understand your Business
• Product vs Service (Mix) (Product => Service,
Service => Product) [Think again, again]
• Your SWOT (Examples – Testimonial, relationship,
money, knowledge, People etc etc etc)
• Why you are in business? Just sake for it, you
need to graduate and find the purpose.
– Your need to understand Market
– Resources (Money, People)
– Path to Execution

4. #1: Understanding Business #2: Understanding Yourself #3: Understanding Scaling
Everlasting Gyaan #1.1: Core of it
• What Value are you adding?
• ROI for people investing in (Customers)
– How can we improve ROI?
– How can we increase visibility of ROI?
– How can we improve relationship?
Think again, every day, every week, every
month, learn, Ask, Get Mentored … Get this
solved, rest can be fixed.

5. #1: Understanding Business #2: Understanding Yourself #3: Understanding Scaling
Everlasting Gyaan #1.2: Market
• Local, Current
• Long term
• Sustainability
• Competitors
• Think Logically, Ask, Read, Understand Market
• Document, cowork on document.
• Etc Etc
“Managing to think business administration
logically is MBA” – Aji Issac

6. #1: Understanding Business #2: Understanding Yourself #3: Understanding Scaling
Everlasting Gyaan #1.3: Resource
• What resources are needed
• How will you get it
• How will you retain it
• CUT the cost (Logical, I hardly bought clothes for last 3
years, our tables are Rs 500, Plastic Chairs, Micromax
zindabad) … CUT CUT CUT (But do invest, you will lose)
“Going frugal initially is right MBA, Marwari
Business Administration == Amazing Success” –
Aji Issac

7. #1: Understanding Business #2: Understanding Yourself #3: Understanding Scaling
Everlasting Gyaan #1.4: Execution
• Bengal Execution
• Process
• Hard Work => Smart work + Hard work =>
Smarter Work + Hard work (All at will and with
passion)
“Going frugal initially is right MBA, Marwari
Business Administration == Amazing Success” –
Aji Issac

8. #1: Understanding Business #2: Understanding Yourself #3: Understanding Scaling
My Reality #1: About business
• Focus is bogus – Don’t worry – Survival is everything.
– Health, Family, Money, Reputation, Anger, Team
– God (Be Merciful, Be Gracious)
• Focus is essential and should be targeted, keep
revisiting Focus Documents.
• One year passes off in 4 months.
• Short Term & Long Term
• Stay along, believe, keep working and keep learning.
Don’t waste your time. Just keep collecting dots (PPT
making, relationships, reports) .. Later connect.

9. #1: Understanding Business #2: Understanding Yourself #3: Understanding Scaling
Takeaway counter #1:
• Documents use drop box
• Perfection is not desired, Don’t waste your
time on perfection (Think ROI) – 80-20 rule
• Have Scoreboards as much as possible (We did
spend a lot of time)
• Do partnerships
• Do give attention to detail (How I changed PPT
and frustrated people and myself). Excellence
is costly, people are not comfortable.

10. #1: Understanding Business #2: Understanding Yourself #3: Understanding Scaling
#2: Understand yourself
• You are the Business for many months
• Every person who takes up ownership is business,
people deal with people not companies initially.
• Develop yourself (You are not ___, qualities)
– Determination
– Flexibility
– Understanding business
– Understand marketing
– How to argue
– How to value, motivate people
– How to recruit.

11. #1: Understanding Business #2: Understanding Yourself #3: Understanding Scaling
Why do we Suck?
“I still think why I was so stupid last year & it is happening for last many years” – Aji Issac

12. #1: Understanding Business #2: Understanding Yourself #3: Understanding Scaling
It’s ok to suck, we all will do, just keep
improving?
“It’s ok to suck at times, its ok be human and imperfect” – Aji Issac

13. #1: Understanding Business #2: Understanding Yourself #3: Understanding Scaling
Wait! Do you really Suck & don’t know
• This is the horror part of it
• Killer issue here.
• People can’t teach you
• You don’t understand, you are too much on ego
• Don’t even know how to eat valuable shit
“Knowing what you don’t know is the greatest
knowing” – Aji Issac

14. #1: Understanding Business #2: Understanding Yourself #3: Understanding Scaling
By Alok (Rodinhood)
• Determination
• Wanna be a start up CEO?
Then learn to to board the Titanic AFTER the captain
has left; sink with it; go and weld the big bloody hole;
then go to the surface, fill your lungs, dive back into
the ship and blow bubbles into the bulkhead. Now do
this 1 trilion times. Die. Go to hell. Excuse yourself from
the devil and come back. Blow 1 trillion bubbles again.
Die. See the ship rise with your corpse on it.
God will not want you even then, but the devil will give
you another company to start

15. #1: Understanding Business #2: Understanding Yourself #3: Understanding Scaling
Marketing/Sales

16. #1: Understanding Business #2: Understanding Yourself #3: Understanding Scaling
Takeaway counter #2:
• Read books (Its organized) – Jack Welch
“Winning, Straight from Gut, Answers”, Execution
(Ram Charan) … from people who have proved
their worth not the best selling alone.
• Don’t get confined to yourself. Go out, meet
people “X Coffees with _____” (Balance sheet)
• Make comfortable.
• Cumulative respect.
• Right Decision is over rated.

17. #1: Understanding Business #2: Understanding Yourself #3: Understanding Scaling
It’s different! A little different!
• Having #1 & #2 in place helps you to go to #3.
• Beyond You – Next Level
– “Train the Trainers” for Service industry
• Documents, Process, Programs
• Right Valuation for yourself and your company …
Don’t wait for perfection (Not sure)
• Customers will be different, Selling will be
different.
• Risks will be bigger. (#2 is important)
• Diversification … Busy CEO can be killing