Book Review – The Google Story

Recently, I had finished reading The Google Story by David A. Wise. This is not a geek manual. There is enough technical information to keep the story moving without losing the reader in code waffle. Google was founded in 1998 and within a span of 17 years; it has become a world leader in internet. Founders Sergey and Larry started Google when they were Ph.D. students at Stanford University in computer science. They both had a crazy idea to download entire information available on the Internet.

There is a lot in the book about the culture of Google, which is compared to a university campus more often than a corporation. Most people works in teams of three to five maximum, and engineers are given 20% time, one day a week in which to work on stuff that’s interesting to them, regardless of its commercial viability. One of the colleagues even writes an equation to explain the whole phenomenon: “youth + freedom + transparency + new model + the general public’s benefit + belief in trust = The Miracle of Google”. The Google story seems to be the mission to prove that equation from first principles.

It is also a business story. For the business reader, it’s fascinating to learn how venture capital firms, still reeling from the post dot com collapse, approached the infant Google with great suspicion, but found the founders and their ideas irresistible. One lesson from the book – no matter how brilliant your science and engineering credentials, you need a business person to talk to the Wall Street and lead your company into the IPO.

It also answers a question that most of our daily users have asked to some point: how does Google makes any money? Vise sees Google as just like any other media corporation in that regard: Advertising. Again the Google Adwords model is described simply. It is a great story. It is a series of chapters that read like articles. There is a whole chapter on Google Chef, Issues in China, and competitive wars with Microsoft. The Google story is the living example of dedication and continued struggle of men who succeeded in achieving their magnificent goals.

Barriers & Panacea to Women Entrepreneurship

Women today play multiple economic roles in our society. They are consumers, farmers, labourers, teachers, bankers, innovators, scientists, pilots and astronauts. Many are self-employed while some are turning entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship provides the most powerful economically empowering avenue for the women, for the community and the nation. But according to a report, it is estimated that globally there are only roughly 9.34 Million women owned formal small and medium enterprise in over 140 assessed countries.

The above data is very small. So why there are so few women Entrepreneurs? In my opinion, the four main barriers to women becoming entrepreneurs are these. The first set of limiting factors is intrinsic i.e. within the self and family. Most educated women are turned to take up jobs; it is easy and lends the stability of a fixed salary. But with more women leaders coming to the forefront on corporate boards and as entrepreneurs, like Indira Nooyi, Chanda Kochar, and Kiran Majumdar Shaw hopefully all intrinsic pressures will slowly fade away.

The second set of problems is the most critical. These include lack of access to resources like credit, technology and markets. Lack of access to formal, easy, collateral free, and transparent financing for women start-ups is a major problem area. Women also lack access to latest technologies that could enable them to climb up the value chain. The third factor that is a hindrance is that women are not always equipped with adequate knowledge and skills to tap opportunities. They lack exposure to practical aspects of running a business.

The fourth issue is that of networking. Creating wide and sustainable network of women producers and consumers is essential to build and nurture women entrepreneurship. There are many corrective measures to increase women entrepreneurship in India. Increase the volume of women support systems like child care and family support. Enlarge upon development and capacity building processes for soft skills, technology and management skills.

Amplify mentoring and market linkage to support for women owned enterprises through networks like women entrepreneur associations. Simplify the external entrepreneurial ecosystem by enabling ease of doing business. Make simpler government schemes eligibility criteria, documentation and clearance mechanisms. Bring in smarter technology and better inter-departmental coordination to enable simpler, faster, transparent and effective service delivery for women start-ups.

Snow Trek Expedition to Laka

The best travel stories are the ones that teach you something along the road. Being a sports lover, the dream of my life is to experience most of the sports. I remember the cheerful times when I used to play hide n seek, carom, soccer, and now taking up adventure sports with nature. 2015 has been my ninth year to go for Adventurous Trips to North India. As Every year, this time also the place was new and exciting. I would like to thank the Youreka Team for making me a part of this wonderful expedition. This time I decided to do something daring and thus I went for a Snow Trekking expedition to Laka for a time period of 8 days.

Laka is situated on the base of Dhauladhar Mountain Range which is the highest peak of Himachal Pradesh. It is a beautiful valley surrounded by green trees, fresh air, snow, sense of peace, and with a height of 11000ft. This place is located above the Triund peak and one can see the beautiful range from the Triund base camp, which is above Mcleodganj near Dharamshala. I along with a group of 23 others completed this expedition successfully.

The Journey to this long expedition started from Delhi on Thursday night and the very next day we reached the beautiful campus in Dharamshala. After taking some rest and knowing some basic skills, next day we geared ourselves up to trek till Triund. A long trek of 1300m was athough challenging but the scenic beauty of the mighty mountains made it easier for us to do the challenge. We stayed there for a night and began to trek towards Laka the very next day which was our final destination. We reached Laka by Sunday afternoon and for the first time I had experienced Hailstorm in Mountains which was like no ordinary. The snowballs were as big as Ferrero Rochers. After pitching our tents there, we took some rest for sometime which was followed by collecting wood for the bonfire in the forest.

Next day, we began our day with learning some techniques of Snow Craft. As the session got over it again started raining and for the first time I experienced snowfall in the month of June. Temperature dipped below and nights up there were freezing cold. On Tuesday, we went to Lahesh Cave and spent an afternoon in the cave. The cave was surrounded by clouds that were at a height of 12500-13000ft which is one third the height of Mt. Everest. The following night was therefore very challenging because of the continuous rain and cold breeze that hit us. But we accepted the challenge with full courage and fearlessness.

On Wednesday, we trekked back to our campus in Dharamshala and after five days I finally took a refreshing and had a sound sleep on a mattress. I felt incredible and actually patted myself for the endurance I had shown. I got to know the importance of water, kerosene, natural resources, tissue paper, food, fire, wood, and many other resources. For the first time, I lived without any sort of gadgets and internet for five days that helped me explore that there is a much more beautiful world beyond these artificial things. Although, I felt the absence of Internet that connects to the world but its absence helped me explore the other world virtually. I want to keep this spirit of adventure alive in me for all my life. This helps me to be strong, blissful, fresh, and motivated and that helps me to lead a better life ahead.

I hope the next expedition is going to be more longer and challenging than this one!