Kamalika | Kamalika's Notebook

Hindenburg Report Anniversary — The Almost Forgotten Case of the U.S. Short Seller Adani Group

January 24, 2024 By Kamalika Leave a Comment

On the anniversary of the infamous Hindenburg report, the group’s founder Gautam Adani said they have grown stronger as they launched crucial projects like the Dharavi redevelopment. In a leading daily he claimed that they have raised Rs.40,000 crore of equity and repaid Rs.17,500 crore of margin-linked financing, and pruned debt. Below is an unbiased brief of what the report said and what the Adani group had to say against the same.

US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research made headlines on 24^th January 2023 after they accused India’s Adani Enterprises of stock manipulation, unsustainable debt, and inappropriate use of offshore tax havens. The cascading effect of the report forced Adani to shelve Rs.20,000 crores of FPO.

Adani Enterprises Limited is the listed holding company of the Adani Group—its primary business is mining and trading of coal and iron ore. Due to these grave accusations made by the Hindenburg Research report, the market capitalisation of their ten listed stocks tumbled from Rs.19,427 crore to Rs.8.79 trillion (source: LiveMint, chart attached). According to a report published in “Fortune.com,” the Adanis lost nearly $118 billion between January 24^th and February 2^nd. The chart below depicts the sequence of events during the aforementioned timeline.

As on February 4^th, 2023, the group’s founder, Gautam Adani, was at number 21 on the Bloomberg Billionaire index with a net worth of around $59 billion after having lost a whopping $62 billion worth of wealth year-to-date.

According to a Nikkei Analysis, the liabilities accumulated by ten of Adanis listed subsidiaries, including ACC, Ambuja Cements and New Delhi Television, summing up to Rs.3.39 trillion ($41.1 billion), which is equivalent to around 1.2% of the Indian economy if pitted against India’s nominal gross domestic product of Rs.273 trillion as on October 31, 2022, as reported by the International Monetary Fund.

On January 28^th, 2023, Adani Group issued a “notice to its investors” on their Follow-on Public Offer (FPO), where they mentioned to have categorically denied all the allegations made in the Hindenburg Research report. On February 1, Adani Group cancelled their flagship FPO worth Rs.20,000 crores just the day after it was fully subscribed, citing the unusual situation and fluctuating market conditions and the group’s intention to protect the interest of their subscribers.

A report published in Economic Times claimed that Adani Group Traders are offering discounts of nearly 4% on multiple coal shipments from Australia and Indonesia. While the group’s representatives didn’t specify any reason for the unusual discount offering, the subject matter experts in this field say Adani is probably trying to accelerate sales to boost its liquidity which has been under severe scrutiny since the release of the Hindenburg report.

On September 7^th, 2022, the group’s founder Gautam Adani announced his plan to build three Giga factories to build solar modules, wind turbines, and hydrogen electrolysers as part of his $70 billion investment initiative in the clean and green energy sector by 2030. But the Hindenburg report’s accusations have raised serious doubts about the enterprise’s future, including its green energy ambitions. According to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts, Adani Green is at a peak funding risk attributed to its delicate balance sheet, having $1.25 billion worth of bonds due in 2024.

Adani’s side of the story

Over the years, Adani Group has contributed massively to India’s infrastructural growth needs. Their integrated business initiatives connect millions of Indians every day—Adani Group’s supply chain of ports and coal imports empower a significant chunk of India’s industrial power supply requirements. So far, they have developed over 3,100 miles of Indian roadways. According to a company presentation, the group is also the largest private operator of the county’s sea and airports, owning 33% of air cargo traffic and 24% of the shipping capacity. The Adani Group aims to plough around $70 billion into the renewable energy sector, which is critical to achieving India’s Net Zero goals. In April 2022, at the Bengal Global Business Summit in Kolkata, Adani Group’s founder Gautam Adani said, “I promise you that in the years to come, we will transform the skyline we see around us,” while posing with the Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu after acquiring one of their main ports, in Haifa.

Conclusion (or is it?) …

Since the Hindenburg storm, the group faced an array of setbacks, including the unintended cancellation of the Follow-on Public Offer (FPO). Considerable doubts have been raised about the future of Adani Green. The inevitable question is, is this the end of India’s biggest conglomerate after the Tatas and Ambani’s, or will they rise from the ashes like a phoenix?

If we look back at Adani Group’s most recent investments, they were significantly focused on sectors like agriculture, defence, and renewable energy—all of which are also high Indian government priorities. Having just published a rather ambitious budget on February 1^st 2023, the central government is now facing questions on whether its highly ambitious infrastructure projects will be derailed and become collateral damage of the Adani downfall or whether both government and Adani will bounce back.

“The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived.”

Story of A Startup Girl… I Am Not What Happened to Me. I Am What I Choose to Become

September 27, 2021 By Kamalika 1 Comment

In India, the first challenge for a girl child is acceptance. More often than not, families refuse to accept their firstborn as a girl. In that way, Malavika was fortunate that her parents celebrated her and never opted for another child. But was that enough?

I’m Malavika…

I’m Malavika, and this is my story. After finishing my Engineering in Information Technology, I went on doing the CCNA certification, then joined a mid-sized tech company as a Network Support Engineer – and that’s when I realised that my IT basics were not as great as they seemed from my grades which led to many unpleasant challenges in my workplace. After some initial struggles, I quit and opened a small academy to teach diploma engineering students. I was always a good student and managed decent grades, so teaching proved to be better rewarding than a corporate job. But that also stopped after we had a Baby. Oh, did I tell you? I got married by that time, and my husband supported me well in my academic venture. But then I stopped working again because we decided to have a baby, and I wanted to be available for my baby as much as possible, even if that meant losing everything I had.

Was it the right decision to quit everything for my baby girl? Well, that’s where my self-realisation starts, and that’s what I’m going to share with you all today, how I got it all right and all wrong at the same time. My life’s experience tells me that just like the coin has two sides, we must not look at life from one perspective – there’s always another standpoint.

Ajji and I…

I was the only child of my working parents, and ours was a nuclear family. My mother had no option but to join back work right after three months of my birth, as maternity leave was only that much at that time. She appointed a private caregiver woman for me, but it turned out to be a bad idea – because of the maid’s negligence, I developed a mouth infection from the feeding bottle. That episode led to me getting hospitalised for an entire month. My grandparents lived in another city, and my grandmother was furious over my unfortunate illness. She held my mother’s work responsible and gave her an ultimatum – either my mother quits her job, or I move with my grandparents. Aai decided to let me go – I was only five months old by that time.

Life after Ajji…

Granny devoted all her time to my wellbeing for the next five years, probably the best time of my childhood. But God didn’t seem pleased with my happiness – she decided to put me through the pain again. My Ajji was diagnosed with a brain tumour and passed away immediately. I was back at my parents again. Granny was my whole world; she was irreplaceable. I could not deal with her untimely demise and became a difficult child. It was a stressful time for Aai and me. Aai’s very presence was the constant reminder of Ajji’s absence. Five years went by – I became a little better to come to terms with Ajji not being around.

Ajji’s vacuum was so much that I could never become close enough to Aai like a normal girl child. Now I understand Aai better but am still quite detached and in denial to accept Ajji’s death. It is what made me quit everything and be there only for my daughter. But after two years of motherhood, I have started to feel differently. It is crucial to be selfless and love your child unconditionally, but as women, we must empower ourselves to be independent by all means. I failed to weigh my mother’s sacrifices and acted selfishly. Aai was ahead of her time and understood the importance of financial independence.

Baba’s illness…

God was still testing me – there came another unpleasant twist when I was only twelve. My father was detected with a rare psychological disorder. Statistics say it isn’t that rare – almost 5%, close to five million US adults, have been diagnosed with it. The signs start showing pretty early. In my father’s case, he was in his thirties when it began. This tragedy brought my mother and me close as we were the only two warriors to fight through this as a family. It was worse for us because Indian society or the medical system didn’t have sufficient awareness to treat the disorder.

It wasn’t until I got married and my husband guided us to avail right kind of treatment, but by that time, Baba had suffered for almost fifteen years. Initially, we didn’t even know the correct name of the ailment. Last year when I was watching Modern Love on Amazon Prime, I could completely relate to what Lexi (Anne Hathaway) was going through. We have lived those days with my father. This kind of dysfunction plagues the whole family.

I was all grown up…

During all these struggles, I missed developing any aspiration to become something in life. Fortunately, I was a good student and managed to take science as a major in junior college. I finished a diploma and joined engineering directly in the second year. My diploma was in “Electronics and Communication”, and I got “Information Technology” vertical in engineering because of the unavailability of seats in the ECE department. It seems God was still testing me! I didn’t know anything about computer programming, and my first exam was on “Data Structures”! I refused to fail and memorised all the programs like a robot. I cleared the exams but couldn’t develop any actual knowledge. It wasn’t all bad, you know, because this is where I met my first love Pranav who later became my husband.

Marriage, job, Ananya…

I completed my engineering, got married and shifted to Mumbai. I had no idea what to do next – a well-wisher advised me to do a networking course as I was weak in practical computer programming. I did the CCNA certification, which only taught some more theories and no practical knowledge, and needless to say, it did no good to support my job! The workplace became more unpleasant with each passing day, and I decided to start teaching. I received positive responses from the students and took it as a full-time profession. Eventually, some limitations occurred when students other than ECE and IT streams started approaching us, and we couldn’t support them well. By that time, our Baby Ananya was already born.

The beginning two years of Ananya was challenging, but we bravely fought through it, and today she is a healthy child with enormous energy. She is the apple of our eyes. I love my child fiercely and unconditionally, but slowly, I have realised that I have lost touch with my inner self and the outside world in the process of becoming the perfect mother of my child. I’m far away from self-awareness, low in confidence, sometimes down in self-esteem. Pranav always wanted me to become financially independent and came up with many new ideas, but I always went in the opposite direction.

Introspection and new journey…

Today I’m not regretting my life choices but realised I must start the next chapter of life. It is time that I become something my daughter can be proud of, I don’t want her to respond with, “My mother only looks after me and does household chores.” when someone asks her, “what does your mother do?”. One of my close friends runs a startup, and they managed to design a role for me in which I don’t have to deal with computer programming or networking; instead, I have to work with the programmers and other tech people in a servant-leader capacity.

Yes, you are guessing it right! I’m on the pathway to becoming a Scrum Master and eventually an Agile Coach. I don’t know whether I’ll succeed in this endeavour, but this time I’ll give it a real chance and won’t give in easily. My mother’s greatest strength was her education, financial independence and grit and hadn’t I learned anything from her?

I’m Malavika, a startup girl; I have started many times anew in my life. The first time I was few months old, then when I was five and then again when I was twelve. Again, during my engineering, job and motherhood. Now my journey is towards the next level. So far, I have refused to bow down to the play of fate, and it won’t be any different in future.

Disclaimer: The narrative is inspired by actual events, and I have only fictionalised character names and added a few imaginary references to engage the audience better.

Understanding your medication/medicines – a commoner’s perspective and a science graduate’s insights

July 19, 2021 By Kamalika 1 Comment

It was the winter of the mid-eighties when our family visited a particular famous Kali temple in the interiors of West Bengal and the sight scared me so much that I started having frequent (almost daily) nightmares. While my mother resorted to holy remedies like keeping a rustic piece of iron (a key) below my pillow, but father simply decided to give me half of a Valium 5 Tablet for a couple of days which I believe eventually solved the matter. I was little and could not sallow a tablet or even half of it, so he would grind it with a mortar and pastel and mix it with one tablespoon of water and make me have it, and I would throw all the tantrums I could manage because it tasted severely bitter. It was my first memorable encounter with medicine where my father took a calculated risk by administering a prescription only medicine (POM) like an over the counter (OTC) drug to an underage kid. He could do so because he was well aware of that particular drug, it’s functioning and its side effects.

Know your medications

Medicines or drugs subsist to manage diseases/ailments that may occur in any organism like us humans, but they can be pretty harmful if not used correctly. Even as laypersons it is not enough to know when to take what medicine. We must take time to understand what medications are prescribed to us and for which purpose, their side effects, what happens if we miss doses, how they may interfere with the effectiveness of other medications and food and vice versa and many other things. Let us first get acquainted with questions we must ask our GP/Physician or Pharmacist before starting the course of any medicine.

What is the name of the medicine?
Why do I need to take it?
When and how should I take it? With water? With food? On an empty stomach?
How much should I take? What should I do if I miss a dose?
What side effects could be caused by the medication? Which ones should I call the doctor about?
Are there any foods or medicines I should avoid while taking this medicine?
Will this medication change how my other medicines work?
For how long should I take it?
Is it habit forming?
Will stopping it cause withdrawal syndrome, or is there a tapering off process?

The doctor’s prescription generally addresses question number 8, but sometimes there is confusion when the physician hasn’t advised a follow-up appointment or didn’t give instructions beyond the first course.

Know your rights

When a physician prescribes you medicines, it is your right to get complete exposure to the treatment details like why they are prescribing the drugs and how they will benefit you. Is there any alternative available in case your local chemist is unable to supply it? Also, it is in your power to make the final decision whether to accept any prescribed medicine.

Types of medicines/drugs

Since I intend to limit the scope of this article to allopathic medicines only, we’ll not discuss Supplements (plant base/herbal), Homoeopathy or Ayurveda. Allopathic medicines are chemical compounds derived from one or more compounds (generally salts) – they are governed by the disciplines of medicinal chemistry or pharmaceutical chemistry, primarily synthetic organic chemistry and pharmacology. 99% of the human body comprises the six primary elements oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, calcium, and phosphorus – another five elements make up about 0.85% of the remaining mass: sulphur, potassium, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium. The rest 0.15% of the human body is made of trace elements. While the percentage bifurcation depicts a broad generic picture of the chemical composition of the human body, but these statistics cannot predict how each individual will respond to a particular medicine. Hence the selling of drugs is controlled by prescription.

Prescription only medicine (POM)

A chemist can sell these drugs to a patient/consumer only when they produce a valid prescription written by a registered medical practitioner. The validity of a prescription varies per jurisdiction, but usually, it is 6 months from the date of issue unless the prescribed drug falls into the classification of controlled drug (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances). The Valium 5 in my story is a POM.

Over the counter (OTC)

These drugs are allowed to be sold over the counter and the buyer needn’t produce any prescription while ordering them. Paracetamols, cold & flu medicines, common painkillers are all available over the counter.

Understanding the structure of medicine – decoding terms like generic, branded, salt compositions, ATC codes, USP, Pharmacopeia et cetera

Disclaimer: Before I get into the design of a drug, I would like to inform my readers that whatever I’m explaining here is purely for general knowledge purposes. I have researched the data/insights from various authorised global sources (mentioned in the references section). You should not take any decision basis this information; instead, you must always consult a registered medical practitioner, a doctor or a nurse to treat ailments/diseases.

Let us first understand the three most commonly used OTC medicines in India Crocin Advance Tablet, Calpol 500 Table and Dolo 500 Tablet.

In the above example, paracetamol/acetaminophen is the name of the salt composition present in the drug – this name is referred to as the international non-proprietary name (INN), which is the official generic and non-proprietary name given to a pharmaceutical drug or an active ingredient. Every generic active ingredient has an ATC code attached to it which define its attributes/properties.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO)…, “In the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification system, the active substances are divided into different groups according to the organ or system on which they act and their therapeutic, pharmacological and chemical properties. Drugs are classified in groups at five different levels.”

Apart from ATC, there is USP-DC (United States Pharmacopeia Drug Classification) which divides the active ingredients into a slightly different hierarchy. The word Phar·ma·co·pe·ia was derived from two Greek words: pharmakon (medicine or charm) and poiein (to make). In modern times a Pharmacopeia is a book used by medical practitioners and drug makers to identify salt compositions/compound medicines. They are either published by a government authority or a pharmaceutical society. Examples of various Pharmacopeia are…, Indian Pharmacopeia (IP), British Pharmacopeia (BP), Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China (ChP/PPRC), German Pharmacopoeia (DAB).

Now let us get back to understanding Paracetamol (Acetaminophen) in better detail. According to NHS Paracetamol for Adults page…, “Paracetamol is a common painkiller used to treat aches and pain. It can also be used to reduce a high temperature.” It can take up to an hour to work. The usual dose is one or two 500mg tablets at a time for adults below 16 years (preferably 19 years for India). It should not be combined with other drugs containing Paracetamol. It is safe to take Paracetamol during pregnancy and while breastfeeding, at recommended doses. It is always advisable to consult your doctor if the patient in question has kidney disease, especially those suffering from End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD).

The next in line for us is to understand Paracetamol from its ATC Code, i.e., N02BE01.

Level 1: N – Nervous System (Organ System)

Level 2: N02 – Analgesics (Pharmacological or Therapeutic subgroup)

Level 3: N02B – Other Analgesics and Antipyretics (Chemical, Pharmacological or Therapeutic subgroup)

Level 4: N02BE – Anilides (Chemical, Pharmacological or Therapeutic subgroup)

Level 5: N02BE01 – Acetaminophen (Chemical substance)

Detailed chemical composition of Acetaminophen can be found in the National Library of Medicines (NLM). According to their specification page…, “Acetaminophen is a p-aminophenol derivative with analgesic and antipyretic activities. Although the exact mechanism through which Acetaminophen exert its effects has yet to be fully determined, Acetaminophen may inhibit the nitric oxide (NO) pathway mediated by a variety of neurotransmitter receptors including N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) and substance P, resulting in elevation of the pain threshold. The antipyretic activity may result from inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis and release in the central nervous system (CNS) and prostaglandin-mediated effects on the heat-regulating centre in the anterior hypothalamus.”

A USP monograph of Acetaminophen can be found here – as per the USP-DC, they fall under the category of Analgesics.

Epilogue

In July 2007, when my father had his first cardiac arrest, I learnt to manage hospitals and doctors from a patient’s family and caregiver perspective. In 2012 he developed Syncope. According to Heart.org, ” Syncope is a temporary loss of consciousness usually related to insufficient blood flow to the brain”. His cardiologist could not determine the exact root cause of the frequent syncope episodes and implanted a pacemaker to solve the issue. Unfortunately for us, father’s syncope episodes didn’t seem to cease; instead, they aggravated and became severe seizures. So, the cardiologist introduced us to a neurologist and stroke specialist. He prescribed Encorate Chrono, Syndopa 110 and Maxmala. That’s when my quest for understanding drug compositions started as my father’s health started deteriorating rapidly with those nervous system drugs. We lost him in 2018, and I primarily blame the neuro drugs. Though he became an ESRD patient in April 2017, he responded to dialysis well, even survived sepsis twice. His neuro issues never stopped, even with a 2200mg daily dose of nervous system drugs. During Covid-19 pandemic lockdown (waves 1 and 2), I had the opportunity to manage two ESRD patients closely (one with comorbidity), which further developed my interest in Pharmacology.

This year at Ebullientech, we started working on a healthcare product where the client outright refused to buy CIMS Drug Database for their pharmacy feature. I was forced to delve deep into the world of medicines and Pharmacology, which is tiring, tedious, exciting and enlightening all at the same time. Grasping the basic concepts of drugs was probably slightly more convenient for me because I studied pure science till graduation and kind of enjoyed both biology and chemistry. However, my consistent, drastically low scores/grades will tell otherwise! So, this was my attempt to share a piece of my mind currently succumbed in the ocean of Pharmacology!

References:

https://www.who.int/tools/atc-ddd-toolkit/atc-classification

https://qualitymatters.usp.org/what-pharmacopeia

https://go.drugbank.com/atc

https://www.patients-association.org.uk/understanding-your-medicines https://www.garnethealth.org/news/what-you-should-know-about-your-medications

Happy Father’s Day – father figures/mentors and father

June 20, 2021 By Kamalika Leave a Comment

I always tell my team that I’m the blended effect of everyone I have ever met. Today, while scrolling through hundreds of father’s day wishes on Facebook, I was trying to think how many ways my father may have influenced me and I realised it’s not only my father – there are father figures who have helped me become what I’m today. As a child, “Baba” was my go-to person for every question/doubt I had, be it literature, mathematics, science, sports, movies, politics, general knowledge or whatever. In a way, he was the mentor of an overtly curious kid who probably wanted to understand and analyse everything around them.

My uncle/teacher Mr Sibaprasanna Saraswati with his wife Late Mrs Shanti Mr Saraswati.

Then he introduced me to my uncle Mr Sibaprasanna Saraswati (husband of my father’s distant cousin), and I found my second father figure/mentor. He was the first person to make me believe in myself, who said it was OK if my literature paper marks are not that great because literature is more about the experience than analysis. It doesn’t matter if my school teachers were not impressed by my creative expressions, but I must carry on and evolve. Many students didn’t understand his teaching methods (including my fellow schoolmates), where he would mix pupils from different grades in a single batch and conduct classes. I loved it primarily for two reasons – it flourished my leadership side and I got a few followers from junior grades, which I immensely enjoyed back then as a teenager. It boosted my confidence because I could compete with my seniors and many a time emerged as a winner in his eyes. He taught me every piece of printed stationery is worth reading – even dictionaries are books and we must read them. He made me fall in love with English literature as he took the fear away that we vernacular medium students are not enough to learn the queen’s language. Quite humorously, he’ll do a percentage census and prove that the English speaking population in India was significantly higher than Britain’s total population! He emphasised learning mother tongue (Bengali/Bangla) because he believed if we know our mother tongue properly, then we can master and enjoy any language in the world. We never paid him any fees, but I sometimes got my father to buy him imported cigarettes! The lessons I learnt from him are invaluable, and they are the building blocks of my childhood and teenage.

My mentor Mr Bhaskar Sen, founder of Sika Qualcrete

I met my second father figure/mentor some fifteen years ago, Mr Bhaskar Sen, my best mate’s father. Because it is father’s day, I shall restrain myself from mentioning her mother, Mrs Jayasreen Sen, with whom I share an extraordinary bond whose impact on my life is beyond expressions. I was an ordinary IT employee when I met Uncle, and he was already retired from work, but a person like him never really retires. If not anything else, they keep mentoring and inspiring others, mostly people like me, searching for their ultimate calling. It was probably him and his life that gave me the courage to leave my hometown behind, build a life in Mumbai, and eventually becoming an entrepreneur in that unforgiving and challenging city (though successful or not is a different question!). I happen to spend both waves of the Covid-19 pandemic with him, and the way he has led all of us to through it is unbelievable. He taught me that a leader must lead from all fronts without dividing personal or professional, and just like a soldier, an entrepreneur is never off duty. He says entrepreneurship is not only running the business – it includes running everything around you with utmost dedication as much perfection as you can manage. He taught me life must be enjoyed even if the situation is worrisome and tense. He’ll appreciate my anger, and simultaneously he’ll teach me to hold my temperament through all adversities. If I ever have a future as an entrepreneur, it’ll be because he came into my life and changed the way I looked at the world.

Now that I have spoken a bit about the father figures in my life, it is time that I discuss a little about my father. A simpleton, a little bit chauvinistic when it came to his wife (my mother!) but entirely liberated in matters concerning his daughters (especially me!), a sincere worker with no career ambition, abstemious, food connoisseur, traveller (read tourist!), avid reader, sports lover and most importantly a communist. All in all, a total homely guy, great in theories of the world but hardly outgoing. He was quite the opposite of what I’m, but his values lie at the core of my value system. He taught me the basics of everything (except singing and drawing/painting and computer science), quite unconventionally though, as we never sat for typical teaching sessions. Let’s say if he didn’t teach me alphabets then I wouldn’t be able to spell “floccinaucinihilipilification”!

Last year I wrote a father’s day article on him while going through a complex state of mind – it became so emotional that I never read it a second time.

15 Commandments of Being a Techpreneur!

November 17, 2020 By Kamalika 3 Comments

Before we begin, let’s first understand who a ‘techpreneur’ is or what , being so, entails. While there is no Oxford dictionary reference available for this term, but Merriam Webster defines “techpreneur” as a noun meaning “an entrepreneur involved with high technology”, and Collins says “A techpreneur is an entrepreneur who starts and manages their own technology business”.

An article in Inc42 defines techpreneurs as – ‘a new class of entrepreneurs who manage to harvest technology and convert every seemingly minor opportunity into a commercial reality’.

As for me, when I decided to launch my technology outsourcing startup Ebullientech, I knew my forte was product engineering, so I chose projects which demand first in class business and engineering amalgamation acumen, but little did I know that I was referring to techpreneurship! It has now been nearly three years and a couple of products…… I have attained a stage where I have learnt what not to do in the path of becoming a techpreneur.

Needless to say, that I have learnt not only from my own mistakes, but from those of other entrepreneurs too, for whom I had worked as a tech enabler/provider.

The original ten commandments were the mandates given by Jesus to Moses on Mount Sinai to shape the pillars of moral behaviour of the human race, in other words, they were the moral code of conduct and foundation of the modern legal system.

Our commandments are a mix of ground realities and guidelines, needed to survive as a technology entrepreneur in the era of a highly demanding product startup ecosystem.

01. Thou Shalt Not Depend on Merely One Client / Product –

We began our journey back in 2018 with one product company whose founder promised us the world and vouched for combined growth within nine months. Our earlier startup experiences warned us not to depend only on him, and we went on signing up with other product-based startups. Since we didn’t have the support of an investor or family funds, our only way of surviving/sustaining was the recurring incomes coming from product retainers and fixed cost technology projects. About six months back, that founder went back to the life of 9-to-5 employment, yet we’ve managed to remain afloat and, are well on our way, to completing three years of operation.

Clients never favour shared attention, but till the time they are not able or willing to pay at the scale that can keep us captive only to them, we must find ways to sustain and grow. Commercial success is still a faraway dream for us, but we have at least established a reliable foundation for ourselves where we don’t depend on one client or product for survival.

02. Thou Shalt Not Only Think About the Long Term –

Having foresight and thinking long term is great, but in today’s tech world, we work with agile methodologies which demand successful completion of short-term goals to accomplish the long-term objective with accuracy. Just as our lives are work in progress, every product lifecycle is also a work in progress. In the path of the development of a successful product, we must divide the product modules into epics and epics into stories and stories into sub-tasks. It is extremely difficult (almost impossible!) to fix the mistakes/errors at the end of the product’s lifecycle.

Rather, we should have a roadmap which addresses the problems in stages. Also, for every problem statement, there should be two types of solutions one short-term business goal-oriented and the other, long-term, which covers the tech debts and ensures sustainable quality.

03. Thou Shalt Not Be Overconfident –

Confidence and self-worth are an engineer’s greatest assets as they enable us to carry the can-do attitude that gives us the courage to venture into unknown technology territories. Sometimes supreme confidence leads us to make irreversible mistakes. Recently we were given the task to build a time-sensitive product module targeting a specific event, and my team confidently committed to a timeline, considering they knew the product codebase well enough. It is mortifying for me to accept the fact that we failed the timeline, incurring financial losses to both the client and us. While my people defended themselves vehemently saying the time fiasco was the effect of faulty code quality from the original developer, in my evaluation, it is a classic case where we were overconfident to not have done an impact analysis and committed erroneously on the timeline.

04. Thou Shalt Not Fear to Be A Lone Ranger –

Entrepreneurship is difficult, and techpreneurship is even more challenging because we have the job of making other businesses successful. Teamwork is crucial for any business to thrive, but a techpreneur must have the willingness and capability work as an individual contributor for every department that needs his/her close attention. S/he should be the backbone and the disaster recovery system as the organisation and the enterprises dependent on him/her. S/he should be the best architect, coder, tester of the team. S/he must have every solution up her sleeves; in summary, s/he should be the best service/product offering of her enterprise. S/he needs to stay updated on market dynamics and new trends in technology and Ready to fight perceived and unforeseen threats. S/he should be the friend, philosopher, and guide for both his/her people and her customers but in her own space, she has to toil alone like a fearless lone ranger.

05. Thou Shalt Not Forget the Basics –

In every sport knowing the basics is crucial, like in tennis, if you are not good at serving, then you can never hit an ace, in pace bowling, if you don’t know how to deliver a good length ball then accomplishing a yorker would be impossible. The foundation of techpreneurship lies in engineering; your concepts of logical reasoning, mathematics (more of arithmetic), algorithms, and English language must be sharp. You must not forget the basics of corporate communication like responding to emails, WhatsApp messages punctually so that clients don’t feel ignored, you must communicate with your customers proactively and should always be there for them at the earliest possible time.

06. Thou Shalt Not Function Simply Like an Engineer –

Every techpreneur is a software engineer at heart, but that’s not enough when you are driving your enterprise and helping others to manage theirs. You must take active interests in business goals, sales numbers, social media engagements, books of accounting, analytics, recruitment, human resource activities, office administration, compliance. When a client comes to you with their business problem, you must think and act like a businessperson first, then translate the problem to an engineering puzzle and then build the solution.

07. Thou Shalt Not Compromise on Quality –

Technology outsourcing companies often gain a bad reputation because of delayed delivery and compromised quality which happens as their leaders get too busy improving sales numbers and growth hacking. A techpreneur’s reputation must precede him/her in the right way where people should remember him/her for quality and time sensitivity. At times it would be fine to miss deadlines in order to maintain quality, but that must not become the excuse for constant delays. The foundation of quality lies in planning and thinking long-term. Software engineers often jump into execution and forget planning which results in quality issues and timeline failures.

08. Thou Shalt Not Shy Away from Taking Calculated Risks –

“Entrepreneurs are not risk-takers. They are calculated risk takers” as pointed out by Leonard C. Green, in Entrepreneur. The word “Calculated” makes all the differences; taking a risk is like having one turn in a game of roulette; if we fail, we don’t live to take another chance. Taking a calculated risk is asking yourself how cost-efficiently I can handle it, how minimal are my probabilities of failure, and also what kind of credibility I shall be able to generate if I succeed. Calculated risk taking happens in an agile manner, one step at a time and with each new phase, we try to figure out how to reduce the risk further.

09. Thou Shalt Not Forget Value and Ethics –

The realm of technology is glamourous and grey, most of the software engineers think that storing client’s code and data in their local infrastructure is ethical. They also fail to see the importance of timeline and quality commitments. As a techpreneur, one must drive their people to meet the highest standards of value and ethics as formulated in the Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct (Source: https://ethics.acm.org/code-of-ethics/software-engineering-code/).

PUBLIC – Software engineers shall act consistently with the public interest.

CLIENT AND EMPLOYER – Software engineers shall act in a manner that is in the best interests of their client and employer as well as, consistent with the public interest.

PRODUCT – Software engineers shall ensure that their products and related modifications meet the highest professional standards possible.

JUDGMENT – Software engineers shall maintain integrity and independence in their professional judgment.

MANAGEMENT – Software engineering managers and leaders shall subscribe to and promote an ethical approach to the management of software development and maintenance.

PROFESSION – Software engineers shall advance the integrity and reputation of the profession consistent with the public interest.

COLLEAGUES – Software engineers shall be fair to and supportive of their colleagues.

SELF – Software engineers shall participate in lifelong learning regarding the practice of their profession and shall promote an ethical approach to the practice of the profession.

10. Thou Shalt Not Undermine Thy Market Value –

Just as you should take your business valuation seriously and always keep working on it, you must not undermine your market value as an entrepreneur. It was you who saw the potential in quitting a high paying job in order to take up the responsibility of running an enterprise. Most of the technology entrepreneurs don’t have any prior entrepreneurial experience; hence their chances of failure are much higher than one coming from a management or business administration background. Unlike other entrepreneurs, techpreneurs must be a know-it-all because they are primarily engineers trying to become successful businesspersons. Your journey will set examples for future aspirants; your intelligence and hard work will attract new talents and engage more customers. Your market saleability and acceptability will always play a crucial role in your business’s valuation.

11. Thou Shalt Not Apprehend Gender Discrimination –

Gender discrimination exists, and it is going to prevail. We cannot avoid it, but we can indeed handle it well so that it acts neither as a roadblock nor as an excuse in the path of success. Gender bias is an issue that exists in all spheres of society; entrepreneurship is no exception, and the only way to overcome it is to be supremely confident about yourself. A technology entrepreneur gets his/her confidence from two things knowledge and his/her ability to communicate persuasively. If you are a female techpreneur, then your gender should not affect your self-worth; likewise, being male should not make you feel overconfident. It is the power of knowledge and intellect that keeps you ahead of the competition.

12. Thou Shalt Not Work for Wealth but for Value Creation –

As entrepreneurs, we unquestionably want to create wealth, but if that is the only thing we care about, then that is a problem. Most startups fail because of lack of funds, but they often forget to analyse how they were spending. The last startup I was working for, as an employee failed because of too much pilferage in sales and logistics that resulted in value deficiency which could have been avoided by focusing on EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization profitability).

Exercising a controlled approach over expenses could have helped them achieve EBITDA and in turn, better valuation followed by sizeable funding. Too much aggressiveness towards customer acquisition leads to a burn, which in turn, leads to further value deficit. Achieving EBITDA is a good thing, but as an enterprise, we must make sure not to pay government penalties, late fees and interest on fines. In India organisations often end up paying heavy government and bank penalties but fail to pay their employees, consultants, vendors duly.

13. Thou Shalt Not Trust Blindly –

We techpreneurs primarily rely on our workforce in order to succeed. We cannot function without trusting our people, but it is unwise to count on them blindly. We should be watching over the quality of their work, their commitments, and their willingness to fulfil the same. We must keep a close watch, on the communications between the team and clients so that no solicitation can take place.

14. Thou Shalt Not Delegate Totally –

An entrepreneur has to don many hats, and without effective delegation, it is not possible to accomplish success. Absolute delegation may lead to process gaps and inefficient results. Processes like sales, finance, human resources need entrepreneurial supervision. Sales generates revenue, finance manages income and without the right people, it impossible to deliver efficiently. You may delegate the tasks totally, but the delivery of the same needs to bemicro-managed. You may delegate finance operations completely but , at the same time, you do need to monitor transactions closely so that there is no embezzlement or mismanagement of funds.

15. Thou Shalt Not Be A Boss but A Leader –

The key difference between leaders and bosses is that leaders can influence without authority, and bosses can’t function without power. Your focus should always be on sustainable solutions, not patchworks. You must act with empathy and sensitivity but not emotionally, which means you need to care about people’s reactions to your activities and behaviour, but you must not react emotionally towards their actions. A leader’s goal is to create a legacy and make their people successful. Leaders always take ownership of their actions, and he/she should drill down the same to their people. Being bossy can help you achieve short-term success, but entrepreneurship is a long-term life goal which demands the selflessness, strength and conviction of a leader.

Epilogue

I have written the commandments based on my experience with various startups for the past six years out of which last three years are of building and leading Ebullientech, my own technology outsourcing company. I’m sure other techpreneurs will have different opinions and advice, especially the ones trained in ESM (Entrepreneurial Science and Management), and I would love to learn from them to shape the future for all of us. There is one thing which I forgot to mention under the headings – it is the contribution of my team to produce an entrepreneur out of an ordinary person like me. One day I would like to dedicate a whole essay to our journey. Its been nearly three years, and we have lived so many emotions together that it feels like a voyage of a lifetime.

I would like to conclude with what Bill (William) Campbell said…

“If you’re a great manager, your people will make you a leader. They acclaim that, not you.” He once wrote to a struggling manager: “You have demanded respect, rather than having it accrue to you. You need to project humility, a selflessness, that projects that you care about the company and about people.”

Article edited by: Anuradha Abida Lahiri