9 Free Tools To Help Your Startup Off The Ground

This post first appeared as a guest post on WATBlog.com.

It is a free world we live in with free access to information (read Internet) and cheap ways that make our lives better. It is now easier and cheaper to start a company from scratch. Open-source tools, free information over the internet (Coursera, Khan Academy) make it super-reasonable for usually near broke entrepreneurs that we become. And we at Musicfellas have taken full advantage of such tools to help build a scalable business without breaking our piggy bank too much.

1. Google Apps

This includes the full rainbow of Google products for your business – Gmail, Google Docs, Calendar, Drive. These tools are quite simply some of THE most important tools you would get around to using. And until some time back it used to be free but they have now stopped free signups.

2. Asana

Asana is a project and task management tool which is free upto 30 members – which obviously works well for young startups like ours. Founded by Ex-Co-Founder of Facebook, Asana is super easy to use, very crisp and makes collaboration very easy. And the instant gratification that you see on checking off a task is superb. It has an iOS app as well but it leaves much to be desired.

3. Trello

Trello is our workhorse. It is a completely free project management tool which looks a bit like Kanban Board. It is a great tool to see what tasks are assigned to whom and are in what stage of the development.  Best part is that it is transparent and gives you snapshot of your project status in a view. Here’s  a look at the Trello team’s board.

4. Dropbox

I am sure that most of you use it already. If you are not, then you are missing out on a great and free (to an extent) way to share files. Instead of sending out email attachments to everyone, we use it to sync design files between everyone so that everyone knows what is the next thing we are building.

5. Tweetdeck

According to a recent study, twitter is much better than facebook for music marketing.  And we use twitter quite extensively to seek feature requests from users, inviting new artists on platform and sharing new releases to our fans. But doing it from within the twitter app is a little painful. Hence we use a free tool Tweetdeck which is also owned by twitter. Although there are other tools also available in the market like Hootsuite, Tweetbot, etc. we find Tweetdeck to be most easy to use and good at whatever little things it does.

6. BufferApp

For the same reason as above, we use Buffer App to stay connected with people. Buffer App is a great free way to schedule your FB/Twitter/etc posts. You can add upto 10 items in each network before which it asks you to pay. This is a great way to share good content with your users without spending too much time worrying about the timing of the post.

7. Skype

I am sure you all use or have used Skype in some form or the other. Nothing much to say here except that for a team like ours, which is spread across different cities, a few skype calls always help – after all emails can only take you so far.

8. Tumblr

Having a blog presence for your business never hurt anybody. There is no better marketing than sharing your story with your audience. A startup is an interesting journey and there are people who would always be interested in a good honest story told well. And we use tumblr – a free tool to setup our blog. With absolutely zero coding, we have setup a blog and keep sharing good content it.

9. Mixpanel

Building a startup is as much science as it is intuition. And building a company which also takes decisions based on data is the mark of a good entrepreneur. So, apart from google analytics (which is a free tool as well), we use Mixpanel. It gives you information about events on your site very deeply and is free till 25000 data points a month – which can be extended after you put a logo on your site (which we have).

Building a startup is a time, energy and money consuming process. I hope that this post helped you in saving some of the money bit.

The crazy, twisted story of a logo

Rome was not built in a day. Our logo was built in one (month). There’s been some talk about our website design and the logo. And we are glad you all liked it. We have spent a lot of time working on it and it feels good to see some appreciation.

Today, we give you an inside view of how our logo was designed chronologically. None of the earlier versions was perfect but we learnt from each one of them. Apart from the ones mentioned below, there were loads which were discussed, created and scrapped. But, for the sake of this discussion, we’d like to share just these few.

1. The Pacman lookalike

This was the first one we came up with. The idea was to resemble ‘fellas’ as some character. This looked cool to us especially since we could do a lot of avatars of it - like one wearing a headphone or a hat or even one which looked like a girl. But, the music element was missing. And of course it looked a bit too much like pacman which was the reason we eventually had to scrap it.

Key Takeaway: Avatars could work if done well with a unique, well conceptualised base character.

2. The elegant circle

Simplicity, minimalism and elegance were always at the top in our list of words we wanted to associate with our brand. We’ve been fans of clean design and this appealed a lot to our senses. But the restrictive little that could be done with this design led it to be passed over as well.

Key Takeaway: The green to blue gradient which could be seen in our website design. Typography, which was retained for the final logo.

3. The cliched music tones

This was an attempt to make a play on the initials M and F. The element of music was of course front and center but we wanted to go for something more subtle.

Key takeaway: Retain the element of music in the logo but make it more subtle.

4. Complicated headphone + moustache

For some reason, we were very impressed with that crazy #LikeaSir moustache and wanted to put in the design resembling ‘fellas’. The music element was there with the play on the name resembling the headphone. But, we felt it was a little tacky and hence scrapped it.

Key takeaway: The moustache was a good way to resemble ‘fellas’.

5. Giraffe + Elephant

This was the one on which we spent the most hours on. How could you say no to a cute little fat elephant hanging out with his buddy giraffe and listening to music :)

Endless hours in a coffee shop were spent making the elephant’s bum a little broader, giraffe’s neck taller and the tails together. It was hard to let go of this logo. But eventually, common sense prevailed and we scrapped this.

Key Takeaway: Nothing - this logo was perfect. *Sob Sob*

But seriously, don’t get too attached to your designs. You lose the sense of what’s right and what’s wrong.

6. The final one

The final version looked perfect to us - of course not at first. Lot of different versions were tried, eyes were inverted, mole was added, borders removed etc. But, as time went by - it started growing on us and we are so glad we decided to stick with it.

Bidding adieu to Mumbai

Bombay. Mumbai. The city that never sleeps. Provider to millions. Fulfiller of dreams. And so on.

A lot has been said about Mumbai and a lot will be said in the future. Why you might ask? I think its probably because it totally deserves it. I’ve been here only for the past two years and I already feel as if I’ve always belonged here. As a friend of mine rightly put it - I’ve been ‘Bombayed’. Many people who ask me about Bombay and why I am so enamoured by it probably don’t understand this sentiment. But, once you look past the problems of this city, it truly is a beautiful city to live in. 

Today, as I leave Mumbai for good and move to Bangalore, it feels like the right time to jot down the things I will miss the most about Mumbai:

1. Vada Pao - The food of the masses. The countless vada-paos I’ve had at this shop outside the Goregaon station actually has this playing in the shop on repeat: "Surabhi ka jumbo vada-pao. Jo khaye wo bole - main khaun, main khaun". 

2. Rains - You can love them, you can hate them but you can’t ignore them. 

3. Toto’s, Mondegar, Leopold, Score,….. -  There are good pubs in most major cities, but you feel that some of these places in Mumbai have a personality. I owe some of the most amazing conversations and memories to these places.

4. Marine Drive - Those late nights spent there thinking, introspecting, looking at the skyline and just being there gives you so much calm and peace of mind. 

5. Coffee Shops - Its not about the coffee, its about the whole setting. And if you  keep your ears open, you are sure to hear one or two film/tv scripts being narrated on a regular basis.

6. Bandra - The perfect blend of old world charm with very urban setting -works best for me. 

7. People - When they say that there is something about Mumbai which keeps pulling people into this city, I am sure they mean its people. Such warmth is hard to find.

There is so much more which needs to be said but lack of time forbids me. So, will have to wrap this fairly non-descriptive post up. 

Adios Mumbai. You’ve been awesome.

What separates great music from genius

Good music is just good enough. You won’t write a blog post about it. You might not post it on your wall. You might not even recommend it to a friend. So, lets not talk about it.

Great music is something which you find yourself listening to every time you start your music listening session. Something which more often than not you recommend to a friend of yours or post it on your wall. Again, not something I want to discuss here.

Genius music. This is what interests me. This is the kind that keeps you awake at night. Makes you lose sleep because you don’t want to stop listening to it. For some us, even makes us hold our pee.  But, its not the kind you post on your facebook wall. It is just too precious for that. You hold it close, listen to it over an over again, get high and probably write a blog post on it.

Why I quit my job at JPMorgan Chase

First things first: This is not a rant. Neither is this a description of what I am doing now. This is an unbiased factual description of what happened and what prompted me to quit my first and only job. And this is certainly not as sensational as Greg Smith’s experience with Goldman Sachs. 

Background:

As a freshly minted Engineer(technically atleast!), I headed to Mumbai to work in one of the big four - JP Morgan Chase & Co. Honestly, I had no idea what exactly am I going to do at my job(sounds familiar?) except that I wanted to put in long hours, kick ass and have fun - basically work hard and party harder. 

Beginning (6 months): 

Awesome would be an understatement. As anyone would tell you, first 3 months in your first job is your honeymoon period. Little work, more ‘team building activities’, new friends and a new city.

Middle (12 months): 

Honeymoon over. But it stays a happy period. Got a chance to start doing some real work. JP Morgan is a great place to work at and actually has some really fine leaders. The place gave me fame and fortune. I was a happy employee. But there was a problem.

End (6 months):

I was restless and itching to do something more. You see, the problem is that I am a product of our much vaunted IIT system. It gives you high ambitions and even higher expectations from people around you. I would be lying if I said that the latter didn’t affect me. And I am sure, some of you feel the same (especially during the time when CAT results come out :P )

I’ve grown up reading about entrepreneurs and artists. They inspired me to create something that is used and consumed by loads of people. But, this can’t happen in a big organisation - sure you could tighten few screws here but there is no real sense of ownership. And that is exactly what I wanted. 

Parting notes:

Let me be honest here, the journey for the past one and a half months since I quit my job hasn’t been smooth. It is by far the toughest thing I have ever done even surpassing that IIT-JEE exam some of us took. Those who have had to bear me all this while know what a painful friend I have been. Apologies to all of you and thanks for sticking it out with me. But, its been totally worth it for all the reasons that are well understood - meeting new people, new perspectives and so much more that can be just felt and not put in words.

Here’s hoping that what I am doing turns out to be as exciting to all of you as it looks to me.

Cheers!

Lessons from Leaders

Recently, I bid farewell to the company where I spent the first two years of my professional life. As anyone would tell you, your first job – much like first love - is the one which is hard to forget and leaves you with many fond memories.

I learnt a lot from my stay there and from the leaders in the organisation. As I set out to step foot in a very uncertain domain, I thought it would make sense to seek advice from these leaders. They are all experienced fellows running huge offices and managing a lot of happy (I was) people. So, I requested some of them if I could steal 20 minutes of their time to soak in any advice they had. And, all of them (well, almost) happily agreed. So, in pointers, this is what they had to say to me:

1. Change your communication strategy based on kind of people you meet

2. Listen

3. Be empathetic

4. Focus

5. Persist, stay the course

6. Be approachable

7. Be honest even if you don’t like it

8. Acknowledge if someone does something good

9. Grow together 

Most of this is not rocket science, but it always helps to hear someone say it to you. And, it also serves as a reminder lest we forget these small yet important things.

Uncertainty

“A startup is a human institution designed to deliver a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty." - Eric Ries

Most of us would agree with this Eric Ries on this one. The point I would like to stress on here is ‘conditions of extreme uncertainty’. 

Uncertainty is one thing you can definitely be certain on in your startup. I realised this the hard way and wish I and my team members didn’t have to find it out like we did. And this is one of the reasons I haven’t been able to honor my promise.

I’ll be honest with you - we were running behind on our product development schedule. Not because we were confused as to what to do. Nor was it poor planning nor was it lack of motivation. It was factors which were just out of our control and all of them happened at the same freaking time! 

• Two of us had our family members who were sick and we had to go to attend them. Days Lost per person - 15.
• One of us had to leave country for what was an unavoidable trip with the parent. Days Lost per person - 15
• Two of us went about looking for new place to rent. Then stuff gets packed and moved. Then stuff gets opened and settled. Then a man takes a beer and relaxes. Days lost per person - 5

There were more but I’d refrain from listing them all down. There were a few bright lights in between but mostly it was pretty bad. These events were unavoidable and were emotionally sapping. You just can’t plan for such things. And its not a startup specific thing but can happen to anybody - though its just that its effect is felt the most in a startup because we are all building what we think is going to be next big thing and running on really tight schedule to make it happen.

Lessons Learnt: Shit happens. You will run into things that you have no control over. You will feel its a conspiracy against you. But, more often than not its just sheer bad luck. Things eventually do turn around for the better. We came out stronger from that phase, touch wood. We are working harder than ever before on our product. The team has responded admirably to all this and I feel proud of us all. So, thanks team! Keep the faith and keep building. 

Suggested Reading: This too shall pass

When in doubt - TALK!

In any startup, you ARE going to have arguments, misunderstandings and even fights with your co-founders.

You have a co-founder with you whom you know him from your school/college days. So, you can shout at him when you want to and he probably would understand. But, what in case you had met someone new and who became your co-founder over a period of time, what to do then? Do you shout ? He might get offended. Do you sugarcoat your words? It might lose its effect.

We have the same situation - 3 co-founders, 2 of them who know each other from college days and the third one is someone whom we didn’t know for a long time. The best way to deal with the situation is to TALK it out. Start with the belief that all human beings are inherently nice people, and you know what, you’ll find that it is true. So, just relax, take a  deep breath and speak your heart out the way you would to a friend. And see the the effect. This obviously comes from personal experience as declared earlier.