You can find me on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/rohandighe

Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/irohan – previously i was http://www.twitter.com/rohandighe

Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/rohandighe

Here are the twitter handle of the attendees of tweetup (Pls let me know if i am missing anyone)
@rkj007 @s3630 @vishalgangawane @_god @theravishankar @trakin @sahilk @bosky101 @ravishmody @joesat @rkartha @prateekgupta @shrutijakhete @saurabhshah @krity_deb @vishalgadkari @mcurie @shardulmohite @rrdasgupta @dipaliekbote @sridharo @aseemjakhar @vipulk @nishanth23 @links4u @d7y @dnene @vaibhavkamble @ketankhaimar @irohan @iamsb @sumitshah @purvapar @thecancerus @freegeek @illuminatus @prashant3535 @freespiritjain @abhijeetpatil @paragr @nimmo

Posted On Wednesday, June 10, 2009 at 04:07:00 AM

While the rest of us struggle with the intensely personal effects of the downturn — paycuts, no TVPs, job losses, pissed-off, high-maintenance girlfriends etc — a bunch of city youngsters are blazing a whole new trail.

Fuelled by ambition and independence, these guys, most of them below 25, are running their own companies here in the city, growing quickly and listen to this — hiring people when most companies are looking for an excuse to fire.

Running enterprises from open source technology to social media application development to trekking solutions to editorial content development to web development to delivering veggies to the doorstep, these youngsters are taking the downturn in their stride with style.

Every one of them has a unique story to tell. For instance, Paarth decided it was time to go solo after he had a tiff with the management at the job he got on campus.

Anup Tapadia is Pune’s own child prodigy. At 23, he has a masters degree, is working on a Ph.D and is already running his own startup which develops interactive media products for the global market.

For Tarun Markose and Ashwin Chandran, both 21, setting up shop was just an extension of pulling day-nighters on college projects. Rohan Dighe, 24, founder, CEO, Social Web Factory, began his venture in February 2008.

His company now employs eight people and has already won the “Best Social Application in Asia” award for a competition organised by MySpace for an application they developed for a client.

Other competitors were Korea, Japan and China. Shardul Mohite, founder, Webonise Labs, said his company is a product of the recession.

Saurabh Jain, 25, founder, Thinking Space Technologies Pvt Ltd has had his venture ranked at #84 out of 600+ companies from all over India at the recently concluded TATA NEN Hottest Startups Contest.

“This January, we grew from a three-people company to a six-people company and last month, we hired our first sales in-charge. So currently, we’re a seven-people company and growing strongly.”

Sahil Khan, 20, has just earned his grad degree and already runs a popular online lifestyle magazine (Khan likes to call it ‘lifestyle activism’ with an aim to “understand how people interact with lifestyle.”).

Also on the way is Three November Designs which will be into web, print and corporate identity designs.

Sahadev Yadav, 26, runs a service which home delivers packed fruits and vegetables at no extra cost and below shop prices. Best of all, he got seed funding from his college, Tasmac, where he was studying management.

But while starting up early may not be that uncommon, the bigger story is how these young companies are leveraging the benefits of being small.

This amounts to low burn, leanness, the ability to change directions quickly, value for money services and good old fashioned optimism. Check out what these people had to say about dealing with the recession.

Ashwin Date of Tekdi said, “We’re definitely in the expansion mode and business looks good in spite of the recession”.

He added, “We seem largely unaffected due to the downturn, probably because we are in the Open Source software domain, and I’m expecting more firms to turn their heads towards it.”

Paath Lawate, also of Tekdi, had more to say, “Due to the smaller size of our company, we haven’t been affected hugely, it made us think out-of-the-box and expand our base.”

Sahil Khan’s company was only marginally affected. “The economic downturn only hurt us when we wanted event sponsors, not otherwise.”

Anup Tapadia had more than just good news from his venture. “Our company recently did a campaign for a big shoe brand.

We have seen a double growth each month for the last 5 months!” For him, the recession came as good news. “The recession is working in our favour.

Brands are looking for cost-effective methods to gather eyeballs. Due to the US slowdown, customers there are looking for low cost alternatives to existing products.”

Rohan Dighe’s Social Web Factory can’t get enough talent to work for them.

“We expanded our company from one person to eight, moved to a bigger office and managed to get 15 top Indian clients in the very first year.

The current situation is that we have so much work on our hands and can’t find people with the expertise.”

Saurabh Jain of Thinking Space says, “This was the first time we hired people and it was exciting and  tiring.

The 3 developers we hired — after interviewing 60+ candidates (and testing 150+) have turned out to be true gems and we are lucky to have them.

We took our time, had stringent tests and the team we have now is amazing”. Jain adds, “The recession has worked in our favour —  it became easier for us to find talent.”

But it has had it’s effect, “Some of our payments from international clients are pending because they are suffering , so it has hit us marginally. We just need to be more careful  about our projects from now on.”

Sahadev Yadav’s Vijaya Enterprises (whom he partners with friend Gorbinder Pal Kaur) too is growing. “There is a good response to the service.

Personal touch with customers is the positive aspect of our business. We experimented with 25 direct contacts and within a week we were referred to four new customers on an average. Our customer base has moved to nearly 350.

We started with two and in four months we are seven. We have a unique model and hope to replicate it in other parts of the city and later, the state and the nation.”

Tarun Makrose said his company was looking to hire too, but having trouble finding the right people.

“We are looking for capable people who will take risks and share our passion  for our goals.

A lot of students from technical backgrounds (who were willing to take risks) didn’t even know the basics! But we are still looking, and  we will gladly take the right people.”

Makrose  mentioned the people he credits for showing him the way — Dr Bhama Venkataramani, Head, Symbiosis Centre for Management Studies and Prof Gilbi John. Khan too mentioned his mentor from NEN.

Article on punemirror.in

http://www.punemirror.in/index.aspx?page=article&sectid=62&contentid=2009061020090610040700868bbc4e7a5&sectxslt=

Listen to my interview here…

A very good friend of mine Sahil Khan who runs the online lifestyle magazine also got featured on radio here is his discussion with the RJ.

It was 1:46 seconds of fame, i loved it totally!!!

The S-FM Interview on GenXellence to hear Click Me!

Firstly, I am honored being given a chance to come here and talk in front of all you energetic and enthusiastic crowd!
The chance my dear friend is all that I ever wanted and it’s sadly the last day where I am able to voice my opinion.

Well, my dear friends I still remember the first day of my college where everyone was so excited, so nervous, everyone’s eyes filled with hope their minds and souls so focused to a single goal, the goal my friends of “being an engineer”.

The word engineer seems so simple and yet so complex, it’s only after years of dedication & struggle have I known the real definition of being an engineer. Let me put forth the definition so that all you people realize that it’s just not an ordinary English word.

“Engineers are the people who use their creativity, technology, and scientific knowledge to solve practical problems.” All of you for a second just think of yourself and remember any past problem that you have solved that has changed the way the things are…. My dear people being a B.E graduate or getting a masters degree is not an achievement anymore and neither is attending 75% of the theory classes and 100% of the practical classes. What is important and what you are forgetting is the reason “why all of you are here?” You are here to gain knowledge and not marks. Marks are a side effect my dear friends, when you have knowledge you get marks.

Is getting 70% marks with no knowledge is what you dream??
Do you even know how it feels like to know 70% of the topic? People spend their entire lives just for a single algorithm and you enjoy so much having got 70% of the marks… ask yourself is it what you desire.
Is the same reason you came here for?? Is it the same reason why you are attending classes?? There is no wrong time to do the right thing. Even the reason that I am talking in front of you is because I feel this is the right time…

The place where we stand my friends is the same place our seniors stood and you probably are at the same place where I was a year ago right on that chair. A lot of things have changed, the people have changed, the buildings have changed, and most importantly the thing that has changed is “THE TIME”… The destiny has called upon us and we all have had our time…now’s it’s time for all you young people to make a mark for yourself.

When we walk out of this college all that will remain are individuals, each one creeping for their own goals, the scenario can be easily compared to The sailing ships wondering in search of a destiny, a destiny so unexplored so unknown yet so real. Some ships having conquered their home waters and ready to get the taste of the foreign lands while some set out on a destination so unknown that only when they enter the waters they know how deep it really is! My friends, the ships are safer when anchored at the shores but they are not meant for that!

For young enlightened minds I just want to say,

Talk to people whom you have never talked to before and actually listen. Let yourself fall in love, break free, and set your sights high. Hold your head up because you have every right to. Tell yourself you’re a great individual and believe in yourself, no on else will believe in you. Create your own life and then go out and live it.

It’s a different world outside…….You will only realize how big the world is when you walk alone in search of a destination so unknown to you. A world where only 1 rule pertains “survival of the fittest”. A world so fluctuating where you get lost in your own thoughts, the only thing that remains with you my dear friends in “HOPE”.
Well, I will leave you all with two words which can give a new meaning to your lives, a new direction to sail, a hint of the unexplored territories, the final words my friends “Stay Hungry! Stay Foolish”!
“Stay Hungry! Stay Foolish!”

Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away they were meant to be there…to serve some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson, or to figure out who you are or who you want to become. You never know who these people may be but you lock eyes with them and you know that very moment that they will affect your life in some profound way.

And sometimes things happen to you at the time that may seem horrible, painful, and unfair, but in reflection of you realize that without overcoming those obstacles you would never would realize your potential, strength, will power, or heart.

Everything happens for a reason. Nothing happens by chance or by means of luck. Illness, love, and lost moments of true greatness and sheer stupidity all acure to test limits of your soul. Without these small tests, life would be like a smoothly paved, straight, flat road to know where safe and comfortable but dull and otterly pointless.

The people you meet affect your life. The successes and the downfalls that you experience can create whom you are and the bad experiences can be learned from. In fact they are probably the most poignant and important ones. If someone hurts you, betrays you, or breaks your heart, forgive them because they have helped you learn about trust and the importance of being cautious to whom you open your heart to.

If someone loves you, love them back unconditionally, not only because they love you, but also because they are teaching you to love and open your heart and eyes to little things. Make everything count. Appreciate everything you possibly can, for you may never experience it again.

Talk to people whom you have never talked to before and actually listen. Let yourself fall in love, break free, and set your sights high. Hold your head up because you have ever right to. Tell yourself you’re a great individual and believe in yourself, no on else will believe in you. Create your own life and then go out and live it.