Software Companies and Ghosts

Does anyone remember 'Nalay Baa(Come tomorow)' Ghost hoax?

For those of you from mars this was a popular hoax that was floating around in Bangalore in the 90's. The story goes like this. A ghost has come to visit the garden city and if you do not write 'Nalay baa' on your door, the ghost will haunt you. So when you write the spell to repel the evil guest away on your door the ghost will come back again tomorrow!

Sounds stupid? Not to a 6 year old kid! One could see the phrase on almost any door, window and shutter around bangalore. Crazy as it was, it was one of the best widespread hoaxes in bangalore.

But the ghost was not left Bangalore yet. It just transforemed into the Indian Software Developer. Take your resume and walk in for a job in any software company and you hear them saying 'No job postions are open as of now, try applying in the future' or in other words 'Nalay baa'

DNAius.com Initial days

First things first

http://www.dnaius.com/

Thats the URL to my very own company. The name does not make sense right? Let me see if i can break it down for you.

D - Dolly(My soulmate)
N - and
A - Amith(My soulmate's soulmate a.k.a Me)
I
U - Anything you want. If you think of something,please let me know
S

OK, I did not spend much time on the name of the company, that does not matter. It never does, unless you are in the AD/Logo Business and have a stupid name.

Projects, as it turns out I am pretty good a people skills and the clients seem to have an instant trust that I can complete the project on time. Well all that is well, I have 3 projects which i am working at right now. Pretty amazing. Making more money in a week than i was making in a month. Flexible hours. All seems to be going well.

Actually can't call myself a company yet. But soon. The journey has just begun.

The Slow Realization

'Do you need a MBA to survive?'

This is the question I have asked myself for a long time after consistently failing to get a good GMAT score. Did all the greats in business take my path? Did they all say, 'Only way to start a business is doing an MBA?'

Business is a knack. You will either suceed at what you are good at or you will fail at what you are bad at. Its that simple. Ask any business guru.

What am I good at? The only answer I could think of was SOFTWARE. I am great at coding so do i get back to a software company and accept failure or keep at embrassing myself with GMAT. Well there is always a third option. START YOUR OWN COMPANY.

Simple? Why din't I think of it earliar? No more working for somebody else, nomore making money for someone else. What was stopping me? That answer is also simple. FEAR!

Fear of failing again, fear of not getting clients and most of all fear whether i can take another failure in life. But whats life without failing and learning out of it. Heck, I am going to start off a company and see what happens. Backup plan? None. Here I go into the unknown. I can do this!

The MBA Dream

Doing an MBA in a awesome American university seems to be the thing we all want to do. Get into a fancy college, learn amazing methods to make money. Well, this is the dream. I made my decision to pursue an MBA in a day. I, bored of my software job in a small company wanted to get into a premier school and get a job in the US which makes my current earnings a pocket money to a six year old.

It was with full of enthusiasm and confidance i started my research and preparation for GMAT. My aim score a 700, get into a A-List B-school, rock it and make a career change. Sounded easy enough if i applied myself . Hardwork and confidence will get me there. Or so i thought.

Three years have now passed, leaving me with a humble score of 560/800. What can I do with that score? Get into a Tier2 US B-School or do an MBA here in India. What should you do? GO!