Startups, economy, and the survival

Off late it’s all about startups and their survival. Not a day goes by without hearing about pink slips and startups closing. Well, this is what happens in a bad economy. Even the elections focal point this time is all about who can handle the recession well.
I found this article, 10 lessons to learn from startups heroes very interesting and thoughtful. Thought of sharing with you folks


Ten Lessons Startups Can Learn From Superheroes

I have been reading lot of articles that suggest how startups can come out of this recession. Cost cutting is by default the first option for companies to survive the downturn. Hope we can come out of this recession sooner than expected.

Here are some additional articles I liked:
Rules for startups
why to start a startup in a bad economy
How to save money running a startups- 17 really good tips

Android Source Code released as promised

Google announced the availability of android source code today . Android is one of the most promising product of Google. It better be. This will give them a major boost in the mobile market, where the advertisement arena is still wide open. This should be a boon to all those developers that want to build innovative apps on the mobile. Though the android market may not be as big as iPhone, given the fact its open source, u can expect hordes of developers to flock the platform.

From a mobile platform standpoint, it’s a complete end-to-end solution built on linux kernel. In addition to the OS, it has lot of other middle ware tools that can be used to build different applications. Developers can download the entire source code from here.
The source code includes:
Linux kernel
Middleware
Android runtime
Application Framework
System library
Graphics
Media codex
Dialer
Contacts manager
Google rich miner etc

According to Om, numerous companies are playing around with android platform to build a slew of gadgets-- everything from set-top boxes to navigation systems to mobile Internet devices to smart picture frames. Also, he states that Google has started talking to leading universities – MIT, UC Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard and Carnegie Mellon – to develop teaching programs around the OS, ones in which students would be given lessons in Android UI, for example, or taught about the uses of Android as an embedded environment.

For techies,Currently android source can be built on linux and Mac and not on windows. To build the source on linux, you need to install ubuntu. The source code is around 2.1GB in size and requires around 6GB to build.

Check out the video:

Economy crisis, Not again!

This is like déjà vu all over again. The economy is spiraling down like a roller costar. It’s really sad. For the past couple of days, all I hear is- economy crisis, stock meltdown, global meltdown and VC panic. OMG! Not again. Last time when the internet bubble occurred, my startup had to close. It was a one of worst moments of my career. That was the day I decided not to work for startups anymore. Alas, It’s been more than 6 years after that, here iam working for another great startup.

What’s more worrisome is that VC’s are acknowledging the economy facts and pulling the strings from every corner. Some of the VC’s like sequoia and benchmark are already cautioning their portfolio companies. Check out this presentation from sequoia

Sequoia Capital on startups and the economic downturn

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: depression recession)

Some other interesting links:
Sorry, Startups: Party's Over
What will the crisis mean for VC?
VCs to Entrepreneurs: Seed-Stage Startups OK. Others? Not so much
Sequoia rings the alarm bell silicon valley in trouble
Benchmark capital advises startups to conserve capital

One of the popular mobile VoIP and IM aggregation startup EQO slashed around 60% of its work force . Another video comment startup seismic cut down 7 of its employee

So folks looks like tough times ahead. We need to be strong and stay focused in this troubled times. I have gone through this trauma earlier and trust me it’s not fun. Hope the market recovers faster than what analyst and critics predict.

Destination India!

Yep, that’s right; I will be traveling to India (Bangalore) for couple of weeks. Partly office work and some personal work. Last time I flew Lufthansa and what a mess it was. Alas, iam flying Lufthansa again :-) . I will be on a blogging diet. In the meanwhile, if any of you guys want to meet me for a chat/lunch/dinner/drink, send me a mail to geekupate at gmail.com. ( I know my gmail id is weird ). Infact I would love to write about local Bangalore startups.

Finally, Fring makes it to appstore

After a long wait, finally fring makes it to the app store . Fring is one of the most popular Mobile VoIP applications. They fit in both as a Mobile VoIP and Mobile VoIM applications. I like the skype calling from fring applications. Apart from skype, Fring also lets supports other third party IM servers like MSN, GoogleTalk, AIM, Yahoo.
















Check out the video:



Voice calls are still routed via WIFI and not 3G/GPRS network. This is a big NO NO from apple. I’m sure operators would do anything to block applications from using their 3G network for voice calls. Frings user guide mentions that “Currently it is not possible to make VoIP calls over 3G/GPRS networks “. Couple of months back, I had written an article on Mobile VoIP and who will win? . Frings iPhone user guide has more information about different features and usage.

Congratulations to fring for making it to the appstore. Folks go-ahead and download this app on your iPhone and enjoy fringing!