Aviraj’s Blog on Posterous

Aviraj’s Blog on Posterous

Aviraj Saluja

You can call me Avi

Jan 29 / 8:44pm

Tips For MBAs Who Want To Work At Startups

most of you are going about this startup thing completely ass backwards and no early stage startup that I know of is really dying to hire an MBA.  What they want is a ninja, and a hundred grand or so later, your diploma is not universally recognized as a “I haz ninja skillz” card. 
Instead of asking what opportunities there are for you, you should be telling me what opportunities you are going to create for the startups I know. (“Ask not what startups can do for you…”) 
startups assume that MBAs are going to look for too much money, have classroom knowledge that won’t likely transfer to the real world, and want things to be handed to them. You’ve got to counter that by providing immediate upfront value, differentiating yourself, and creating your own opportunities. From what I see, these aren’t necessarily skills most business schools are teaching well. 
via thisisgoingtobebig.com found via @michaelmontano

Very interesting tips here. I agree with most of them. And if I may add, most of these points apply to *anyone* looking to work at startups, not just MBAs.

Ahem. Noted.

Click through here to read this insightful article by Charlie O'Donnell.

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Filed under  //  Entrepreneurship   MBA   Startups  

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Jan 7 / 3:25pm

First shots from my new Nikon D3000

I was in San Francisco for the past couple of weeks and with me was my fantastic new dSLR, a Nikon D3000. Yes, it is only an entry-level dSLR but hey, I'm just an entry level photographer myself. I can safely say that this camera has become one of my best friends. 

I also started experimenting a bit with post-processing my photos. I have no previous Photoshop experience so I've just been using basic processing features like saturation, brightness/contrast and crop. Oh, I've been doing this on Gimp and it works like a charm (for my use at least). I renewed my Flickr pro account last month and I hope to do it justice this year.

I am genuinely very happy with the way my photos turned out in the end. The D3000 is a great starter camera for anyone looking to get one. For now, here is a set of my favorite shots from my trip to the Bay Area. I'm new to this thing so any feedback at all will be greatly appreciated :) Thanks.

p.s. - I know I've been overdoing this a bit lately, so I promise this is the last time I talk about these photos :) I hope you enjoy them.

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Dec 23 / 11:14am

One night in San Francisco

These pictures are from my first night here in San Francisco from my new Nikon D3000. This place is just gorgeous. I'm going to keep adding my favorite pictures to this set on my flickr page. Check it out here.

                                             

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Filed under  //  photography  

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Dec 21 / 4:44pm

I'm at Posterous HQ! Little Avi is home :)

I'm in San Francisco for the winter break to meet a lot of friends. Guess who is based a half mile from where I'm putting up? =D I had lunch with the Posterous bunch, helped assemble some new furniture, followed by this great Christmas cake. These guys are just awesome. I'm going to be in town for a good couple of weeks so multiple visits here are guaranteed. So psyched!

   

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Filed under  //  awesome   Me   photography   Posterous  

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Nov 16 / 10:40am

Warren Buffett on How to Pick Where You Work

Go to work, if possible, for an organization or an individual that you admire.  I mean I offered to go to work for Ben Graham because there was nobody I admired more in the business than him.  I didn't care what he paid me. 

But I knew I wanted to work for Ben Graham.  And I knew I would jump out of bed every morning and be excited about what I would do and I would go home at night smarter than I was in the morning. 

via imperfect.posterous.com

Agreed.

The question he was originally answering was "What should we do if we don't know what we want to do with our lives?", which was posed to both, him and Bill Gates. It's interesting how different their answers were. And Buffett's answer speaks volumes to me. I don't say money is insignificant -- I'd be the last person to say that today, given how important it is for me to make and save money at this point in time. But it is equally important to value the learning in an experience than just go where you get the most money. If you think long-term, that knowledge will earn you a lot more than you can imagine making elsewhere. This might be a simple, oft-repeated thought, but it is very powerful.

A selection of students from my MBA class at the Leeds School of Business had the opportunity to apply for a trip to Omaha for a personal meeting with Warren Buffett in January 2010. He's a finance guy and I'm not. I knew he's awesome and all but I have absolutely nothing to do with finance. So I figured the trip may not be completely worth my time and money and hence did not apply. Yes, BAD DECISION.

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Filed under  //  Leeds School of Business   life   Me   Warren Buffett   Work  

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Nov 13 / 11:37am

Boulder + Bikes = Awesome a.k.a. The Boulder Bike Story

This is the Boulder Bike Sory.

I saw this video a few days ago and couldn't help reflecting on why it means a lot to me.

Here it is in brief -- my bike has been the best investment I have made since moving to Colorado. There's no question about it. Facts first: I have lost approximately 25 pounds / 12 kgs within 4 months of moving here (I bought my bike 10 days after landing). Now, anyone who knows me well enough, will know that that's significant. I had been gaining weight continuously for over 3 years, so this is definitely a big thing for me. Heck, when I went rock-climbing, I was shocked I could even lift my own weight. 

But then it's not just about the weight. I feel so much more awesome after my daily bike ride. Yes, my ride is only for commuting reasons, but that's what I find awesome about it. I've surprised even myself when I sometimes skip the bus to get somewhere and prefer a 4 mile bike ride instead. My friends know that I had been dying to buy a bike to commute to work for over a year when I was in Mumbai. But it was clear -- if the cars on the road did not kill me, the pollution certainly would. A good biking experience was one of the significant factors in my decision to move here. Not kidding. And Boulder has not disappointed. I just love how bike friendly this town, in fact, most of Colorado is. As you would've seen in the video, 95% of roads in Boulder have a dedicated bike lane or bike path or both. All buses have bike racks and cargo storage. It's super impressive.

Bottomline? Boulder is awesome.
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Filed under  //  Bike   Boulder   Videos  

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Nov 10 / 7:06pm

On doing the right things. And doing them right.

I've been thinking a lot lately.

I am here in Boulder, and I am getting an MBA. How do I feel about that? Well, school work is kicking my backside but I have never been any happier, professionally, than I am today. I know I will never be a champion in Corporate Finance or even Marketing Management class, but I am being the best that I can be. And that is thanks to the one thing I keep telling myself.

I am not here to study. I am here to learn.

And I am learning a heck of a lot. The number of influential people that I have spoken to, met, listened to and learned from in the past 4 months is incredible. Then there's all the blogs that I read. My blog reading patterns have changed since I started business school. Apart from all the tech blogs that I used to read, I've started learning a lot more from the 'behavioral' blogs I've discovered. I've been reading these blogs for a long time now but by 'discovered' I mean I have started perceiving them differently. My three favorite blogs right now are those of Garry and Sachin from Posterous and Learn To Duck by Micah Baldwin. I learn so much from just reading what they write, I now consider the three of them as my personal mentors. This is also probably the reason behind my reduced blogging - I am now trying to add value to my readers through personal experiences, just like these blogs add value to me. Observing these people, their actions, their words, their work is a lot more fulfilling than breaking my head over, say, Johnson & Johnson's marketing problems. Don't get me wrong, I am not discounting the value of solving these problems, but these solutions will not take me where I want to be. Again, my perspective has changed over the past few months. For the better, I would say.

I have also been thinking about opportunities. There are opportunities out there for everyone and we must train our eyes on them. But, you know what is better than finding and grabbing an opportunity? Creating one. That leaves you with the best chance of being the one to grab it. I have realized that I am a lot better at creating opportunities than waiting and grabbing. As a result, I am closer to where I want to be than I have been before. That hints to me that I am walking in the right direction. My good friend Avneesh, who is also my harshest critic, often tells me that I am doing the right things and I am doing them right. I admire this guy and, even though I have a few good reasons to disagree with him, I respect what he says. Besides, an ego boost always feels nice, no? :)

Despite all the depression that school work is bringing on with itself, I am quite happy with my life right now. The hopeless optimist that I am, I feel good about the pain. I am the only person that can shield myself from that depression. After all, success at business school is a lot less about skills and knowledge and a lot more about attitude. Heck, success in life is a lot less about skills and knowledge and a lot more about attitude. It's a rough ride, but I am getting there.
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Oct 4 / 10:47pm

You Can't Do What You Want By Doing Something Else

One observation set me back. There are lots of people who wanted to do one thing but then got "practical" and did something else "first." The idea was that they'd be successful and sock away money doing the practical thing, and after that they could go back to the thing they loved. Bronson was sure that, among the hundreds of people that he interviewed, someone would actually have been successful with this strategy. It sounds so reasonable, after all.

But he encountered exactly zero people who pulled it off. Everyone who tried got sucked into the "practical" career and were never able to extract themselves from it. Too comfortable, too many expectations from friends and family, too easy just to keep doing what you're doing.

via artima.com found via @sivers

I cannot begin to explain how much I needed to read this. It’s like this article was written just for me. This changes perspectives for me. This article addresses the eternal question – “Should I really go for it?” This article is about building the gumption to leave what you’re doing and change your life. Make it what you want it to be. Because if you don’t make it change, it won’t change.

It’s hard. It’s hard to consciously bring yourself to a point where uncertainty rules your life. But you have to look at people around you who’ve done that and take inspiration. Then make that inspiration work for you. Despite all the resistance that will come along the way. That’s what I’m trying to do. This article goes on to say:

There's a quote that appears again and again in various forms: "close one door, another opens." It seems like magical thinking until you see it happen. And it only happens when you don't leave the door partially open, but instead firmly close it. For some reason, being certain that you're ready to move on does cause some kind of magic to happen, and I don't know why.

This doesn’t mean my life will magically change all of a sudden. It will be a long and hard battle – against my mind. And I will need to keep re-reading this article to remind me of my priorities.

I’ve been fortunate to be reading some really inspiring stuff lately, from people that I hugely admire. I intend to share them with you along with my thoughts on them. For now, do yourself a favor and read this amazing piece of text here.

Good luck.

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Filed under  //  awesome   Inspiration   life   Me   Motivation  

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Sep 26 / 8:50pm

So I went rock climbing. On real rocks. In the mountains.

And I loved it.

Yeah, it's been a couple weeks since I did this and I had wanted to write about it earlier but, you know, school came in the way. 

It was my *first ever* outdoor activity and for that I think I did fairly well. No, I didn't manage to go all the way up the "beginner-level" (my ass!) climb, but half-way up wasn't bad considering the bike ride up Baseline Rd. killed me before I even got to the Gregory Canyon trail head. And I promise you, I could've gone a lot higher had the drizzle not made the rock as slippery as it was. At the end of the day, if you ask me, I was surprised I could lift my weight at all :)

I want to thank my classmate Ryan Mazer and his friends for organizing this awesome outing for us. I totally need to do this again.

I'm hoping for more Boulder awesomeness as my life here continues. I really couldn't be happier. And I promise I'm going to post more often.

                                     

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Filed under  //  awesome   Boulder   Colorado   photography   Pics   Rock Climbing  

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Sep 10 / 10:47pm

I just joined the Boulder Photography Club

1.jpg

I'm so damn excited about this. Photography has long been something I've wanted to take seriously, but never found the time or opportunity for it back in Mumbai. Boulder, to me, is an ideal location for someone with a passion for photography. It's just so freakin beautiful!

So, today I joined the Boulder Photography Club at the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU). It's a simple student club on the CU campus that has a whole bunch of undergrads. I don't care, it's still the best opportunity I've got to pursue photography. That too for just 15 bucks for the whole year, haha.

No, I'm not a great photographer, far from it in fact. I'm still going to run around with my trusty point-n-shoot (Canon SD800IS), that I love dearly. The goal is to understand photography from a technical standpoint, get a grip of exposure, ISO, shutter-speed, what have you, and figure out when to use what. I also want to learn some basic post-processing techniques in Photoshop or whatever (yep, I don't know how to use Photoshop). Once I'm down with all that, I'll unquestionably graduate to a dSLR; I just feel the need to be ready for it.

As I've been saying about everything Boulder these days - so psyched!

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Filed under  //  Boulder   Colorado   OMG Boulder!   photography   University of Colorado  

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