(This article is jointly written by Sameer Guglani and Nandini Hirianniah)
In recent days, while working with the MVP portfolio companies and reflecting back on the days of madhouse, we have identified this phenomenon we are calling ’startup madness’.
It’s visible and present from the time when you start thinking of your million dollar/world changing idea to [...]

There was an internal discussion between our portfolio companies about “free press release sites” and their effectiveness. I thought it will be a good idea to share the learning with readers of this blog . Thanks to Sahil and Himanshu for  initiating and contributing
Question: There are so many free press release sites out there [...]

As an early stage startup, your selection of investors or advisers will have a significant impact on your future.  How to identify these guys who will produce the best results over time?
Here are some points to think about:

Are they better at identifying future trends and making targeted investments?
Are they better connected and better able to [...]

This article is reproduced from Sameer’s Blog, my personal blog. It was originally written on 10-March-2008.  Original post can be found here:Startup Essentials: Hire the right kind of people (and fire the wrong ones)
Jason / Michael and bunch of other folks have been talking about kind of culture startups should have, to be able to [...]

This article is reproduced from Sameer’s Blog, my personal blog. It was originally written on 27-January-2008.  Original post can be found here:Startup Essentials: If you have an idea, tell it to a 100 people
This post was jointly written by Sameer and Nandini
Many entrepreneurs working on new ideas, seem to live with this assumption that Idea [...]

This is the common thought right now: “Oh my god! What will happen to startups?“. We have heard a variation of this question from all over the place – bloggers, media, investors, startup employees, startup founders, folks considering doing startups, etc.

YC’s Paul graham has published Why to Start a Startup in Bad Economy
Here is what [...]

This article is reproduced from Sameer’s Blog, my personal blog. It was originally written on 24-January-2008.  Original post with all comments can be found here:Start-up Essentials : Laws of learning and openness (new role, new rules)
Every startup has a core team, consisting of the founders (or just the founder) plus other key early employees. The [...]

This article is reproduced from Sameer’s Blog, my personal blog. It was originally written on 02-December-2007.  Original post with all comments can be found here:Start-up Essentials – Fearless decision making
Assuming that the team and the idea both have the potential to be successful, the single most important factor that determines the success or failure of [...]

This article is reproduced from Sameer’s Blog, my personal blog. It was originally written on 25-October-2006, during my days @ madhouse. Original post with all comments can be found here: Joining a pre-VC startup

Madhouse is talking to a number of exceptionally talented individuals for senior/middle management positions. Some of them have expressed apprehensions around joining [...]

Today afternoon, I was thinking about the topic of feedback for start-ups in some context and this post took shape.
As a part of the start-up ecosystem, there are many occasions when I (and many other folks) hear about a start-up from its founder(s), which is followed by a Q&A to better understand the venture. The [...]