Please Vote for My Talk at the Web Summit, Dublin (before 8:00 pm IST on October 11th)


Friends,

I’ve been selected by the Web Summit in Dublin as one of the 100 Student Scholars out of 6500 applicants. I have applied to give a talk at the summit on “Inspiring Young Women Entrepreneurs”. The final speakers are chosen by a public vote. If you would like to support me, please click on the link below and then click on the Like button.

http://websummit.net/campaigns/peoples-stage-voting#entry-246

Description of the talk

Having wanted to be an entrepreneur since the past ten years, I have finally started a company in 2014. What is it that holds back motivated and talented young people from taking the plunge earlier on? What are the challenges that are unique to women?  This talk examines the choices and experiences that helped me build my skills and confidence, and discusses ideas regarding how we can provide this support to young women much earlier on in their entrepreneurial journey.

Thank you so much for your support!

Rutika

Scare of Shootings at Harvard


This past weekend, hundreds of Harvard students and faculty received email death threats wherein the author threatened to come to campus on Saturday and shoot the recipients.

When I received the email informing us of this from Harvard University Police, I was shocked and afraid. I was shocked that someone would think of causing such harm to innocent civilians here (yes, the world still manages to surprise me).

I was also afraid that it could be me, my loved ones or members of my beloved community in the line of fire. I decided to stay indoors till we received any further updates, to avoid going to the much-frequented Harvard Square, to not go work out at Shad because it is a public building and to ask my friends who live on the first floor to come upstairs. The normally adventurous, thrill-seeking person in me, changed a little bit this weekend.

Fear makes you stop living. Fear can change your life. It is easy to be in Boston and never realize what it feels like to be in Syria. I can not begin to imagine what it feels like when this feeling is magnified a thousand times over, day in and day out, for years.

So as a society, it is up to us to create a safe place where everyone can live without fear of harm. It is up to each one of us to work towards this goal, whether it be by educating our children, respecting women and different religions, advocating for gun control, working in strife torn regions or at the highest level, devoting our lives to the service of our nation (we are indebted to you). This is especially important considering the current state of world affairs.

In what way will you make the world a safer place?

Building a Team


Although there is more written about this than you will ever be able to read, I cannot stress enough the importance of building a strong founding team. The success or failure of your company depends entirely on who you choose to work with. Needless to say, you must yourself embody the characteristics that you look for in your co-founder and in fact hold yourself to higher standards than. In the last month I have spent working on SellPhi, I’ve learnt to look for a few things when hiring someone:

  1. Complete commitment: Several startups start off with founding team members working part-time, in order to stay solvent, mitigate risk, etc. When you commit to building a company, it does not necessarily mean spending 24 hours on it. It does however mean being completely bought into the vision of the company, never ‘switching off’ and going above and beyond what is required of you in order to make is successful. It means hitting every tough milestone no mater what it takes.
  2. Honest communication: If you are unable to hit the milestones, it is your responsibility to let the team know and find a solution to the problem. You must be proactive and communicate so everyone else can help you. If you don’t like a particular idea, provide an explanation as to why and don’t be passive aggressive a week down the road. If you love an idea and the team refutes it, sell it to the team. When you decide to dedicate your lives to building something great, trust is the sole currency you have. Do everything in your power to strengthen it. As Henry Kravis said, ‘Your word is your bond’.
  3. Intelligence and initiative: This may seem obvious, but people can have strong EQ, IQ or both. Hire enough people that complement each other, because raw brainpower and an understanding of the consumer and team’s pulse are both equally important. People with great resumes on paper are often less committed to work and learn due to the ‘option problem’ our generation faces (too many career options) and the need for instant gratification (high salaries). Look for the hidden gems who will completely devote themselves to the task, train them and help them grow and watch them become your most loyal teammates. 

What have you learned when building a team? Do share your thoughts with me.

Coffee Shopping


Over the last 3 weeks that I’ve spent working on my company in New York, I’ve discovered several different coffee shops in Manhattan. Why, you may wonder? Do I love coffee? Am I in the coffee business now? Or do I have meetings all over the city?

It is in fact true that I have had meetings, but it is more driven by the fact that New York has several coffee shops which are great places to work at. With free wi-fi, ample space and everyone around you on their laptops, you can feel right at home. I considered getting a co-working space at WeWork, but the scrappiness that comes with being a cash strapped startup made me choose otherwise. I knew that it wouldn’t be a 100% utilized, so the money could be better spent on other things like compensating my intern.

Additionally, I have also been able to discover Manhattan and understand the metro system in a way I wouldn’t have otherwise. I’ve worked in Central Park and Bryant Park, the East Village and Midtown. This change of scenery also helps to keep the spirits high, especially considering my team is halfway across the world from me.

One Night in Paris


The spectacularly illuminated Notre Dame glittered in all its majesty, while the full moon reflected off the waters of the Seine, bathing the river in light. Soft notes floated up from the bottom of the stairs that led from the stone bridge to the riverside walkway. To her surprise and joy, the musician was playing her favorite song, the same song that Alex used to sing to her, which she now hummed involuntarily. She’d just had her portrait made by a cute French art student looking to supplement his living expenses with the extra income. He couldn’t get his eyes off her and she had loved the attention. Of course, since he was drawing her portrait he had had no choice, but that little fact could easily be overlooked. She descended a few steps and sat on the parapet to listen to the music.

She had reluctantly agreed to accompany her family to Paris this summer, where she had buried her laughter and happiness along with her husband. The countryside had provided her with the solitude to mourn properly, without any of the charms of Paris to distract her. But this city was where she had made her home with Alex and had dreamed a thousand dreams with him. Since she had arrived in Paris the dreams had tugged at her heart, first softly and now insistently. This had simply made her feel guilty so far, however sitting here listening to Alex’s song could only be a sign. Her family was right, and finally her heart was ready as well. She would always love Alex and remember him, but it was finally time to let go.

Lemon Bars


I’ve always been a big fan of lemon tarts, lemon cakes, lemon sherbet, lemon souffle…you get the trend. So when I discovered that there exists a previously-unknown-to-me, easy-to-bake lemon dessert called “lemon bars”, it was a pretty easy decision to try to bake them. And it gave me one more productive thing to do during my free time, which, these days, is quite in abundance.

FOR THE LEMON BARS

Quantity: This recipe makes 24 lemon bars in an 8×6 inch tray

Ingredients for the crust:

  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 5/6 (1/2+1/3) cup all-purpose flour
  • Pinch of salt

Ingredients for the lemon filling:

  • 4 eggs
  • 1.5 cups white sugar
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup lemon juice
  • Lemon zest of 4 lemons

Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  • In a medium bowl, blend together softened butter, flour and sugar for the crust. Press into the bottom of an ungreased 8×6 inch pan.
  • Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm and golden. Let the crust cool.
  • In another bowl, prepare the lemon filling. Whisk together the sugar and flour. Whisk in the eggs, lemon juice and zest.
  • Pour over the baked crust. Bake for an additional 20 minutes in the preheated oven.
  • The bars will firm up as they cool. Keep the bars in a freezer for 1 hour, since they are much easier to cut once they are cold. Cut into neat squares of 2×1 each.

Additional tips:

  • You can sprinkle the bars with confectioners sugar for a decorative look (and if you have a sweet tooth!)
  • Layer the base of the tray with parchment paper that overlaps over two opposite sides. This will make the bars much easier to remove once cold, and then they can be cut easily.

These lemon bars hardly take any time to make and require only simple ingredients available in every home. This recipe has just the perfect balance of tartness and sweetness for my taste. They are an incredible treat – the only trouble everyone at home faced was resisting the urge to pop one in their mouth every once in a while!