The Blank Canvas and Its boundaries!
As a kid I have always been fascinated with the idea of a blank canvas. The possibilities provided by the whiteness of the canvas is just incredible. Thinking what all colors can be assimilated to create a world that is so uniquely our own is just something!
The attraction to the canvas was so intense that I ended up buying one as the first gift for my then girl friend and now wife (Yogita). Ofcourse! her being an amazing painter helped :). So, why am I writing this post on the blank canvas and its relevance in my journey as an entrepreneur. The blank canvas and its boundary is really a metaphor for the invisible thing that we know and call as culture here at Avishkaar.
My Painting!
I have always felt what we do in life has to be mostly an expression of us — the individuals. Like starting Avishkaar was an idea that germinated in me when I was working in US and facing a very evolved form of discrimination that I belong to a third world country incapable of innovating. It was my way telling the world that we, Indians, also have the persistence, knowledge and tenacity to innovate. My own experiment made it quite apparent to me that expression of self has to be the most important motivation for anyone to thrive in the uncertain world of startups — so a cornerstone of something called culture.
What’s the boundary again?
However, the question that loomed large was what would be the expression? Could it be anything or is it bound by some rules or fences. Would the expression be defined by things like wearing shorts to work, flexible timingsor having drunken parties at office or it has to be something else? I could not convince myself that the boundaries of the blank canvas could be defined by superficial things. I believe it has to be certain values that we live or die by no matter what. So, we set out to define what those boundaries were for us — ones that we would define our expression with.
What are the boundaries of Avishkaar canvas?
Growing up in an era of extreme customer insensitivity, customer focus had to be the first boundary of the painting. This particular value has helped us tremendously, our first customers (some parents at the British Council) got us entry into our first schools (The Shriram and RDPS) and our first schools recommended us to other schools and it goes on. Most of the sales that we have done have been by word of mouth.
Like it or not, but execution (delivering what you commit) is not the strength that Indians are known for in the world :(, so clearly rolling up your sleeves and getting things done had to be the second boundary of our company. Clocking 200% growth year on year means we have to quadruple our production every year.
Go anywhere, but go with your full heart or in the management jargon, pursuing excellence is definitely one of the conscious choices that we made as a boundary for us. Competing as a nobody in the domain of Robotics in the world, we have created the most varied range of Educational Robotics products in a record time. This, my dear, is just a start — as the world of Personal Robotics opens up, the world is ours :).
Finally, empowering people to act independently had to complete the rectangle for the canvas that we provide for our people. How do you expect people to express themselves if they are not empowered.
So what’s the painting like?
Bright Yellow
Those who know us will know some colors of this painting — the events we organize, the marketing we do has to be bright yellow. The early mornings setup, the IRC standees, the drones, the segways, the excitement, the burn-out who else does it represent than the uncontrollable energy that only Vinit Saklani can possess :).
Big Wide Brush Strokes
We go for a company offsite every year and if we see a small school near our camp, everyone suggests Vijay to go there and sell our products/solutions. This is representative of the fact that if there is a chance, Vijay will take it. Its the never say die attitude, the in-your-face resilience and the brute force that are representative of wide big brush-strokes that Vijay has painted the Avishkaar canvas with.
Sparky Bright Reds
Something that requires thinking, but, still needs to be done in a record time with a class and of course! a bit of melodrama — enter the world of red pioneered by Pooja.
Clear Black Lines
If there is anything certain and well defined on this painting, its Devesh’s commitments. Rain or shine Devesh’s words have weight — the payments that he does, the protocols he makes, the vouchers that he ask us to file everything is like well defined black lines that add to the beauty of the whole paining :).
Perfect White
A great artist uses the white color most judiciously — as it represents purity or perfection. Manoj is that white color in the team, he goes after the hardest of the technical problems (be it electronics or design) and mostly comes back with the finest of the answers as well :).
and many more colors that I want to talk about.. But this space won’t do justice :(…
More colors, awesome brushes and sparkies are required on this canvas?
This Avishkaar Canvas is still a work-in-progress. You can come and make your own unique collages by managing our supply chain and finding more resourceful vendors in India or China, or may be provide the much needed sky blues (awesome Product Manager), or adding a pinch of the fluorescent greens (incredible Designer), or may be add more whites to the canvas (Sales Head) and in case if you enjoy keeping the boundary, we are looking for a very strong ops guy/gal as well.
Better still if you have a strong need for expression (even if not sure in what area) and you want to own some area of this evolving painting, its still wide open. Come and join and express yourself :).
