This document contains slides from a presentation about being an outlier and innovating in business. The presentation discusses the pains and pleasures of being an outlier, including difficulties communicating with customers due to differences in vocabulary, challenges obtaining funding for research and development, and tips for maintaining employee motivation and sanity while innovating. Government support programs for innovation in India are also mentioned. The presentation aims to share experiences with entrepreneurs and inspire innovation.

1. Outliers: Pains and Pleasures
What it is to be an outlier and remain one
Abhishek Jain
abhishek@zeusnumerix.com
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.

2. Slide titles
 Consumer – In India and world
 Funds and allocation of funds
 Process of innovation
 Budget for R&D
 Outcome of R&D is blurred
 How to start-up in innovation centric space
 Tips for entrepreneurs in Innovation – donkey image
 Outside IITians start up
 Government of India
2 Outliers: Pains and Pleasures

3. Overview
 Phase I
 Who are we
 The technical stuff
 Phase II
 How others see it: The importance of Vocabulary
 Customers: Where and how
 Money for R&D
 Tips
 Phase III
 Don’t go MAD
3 Outliers: Pains and Pleasures

4. What’s in PPT
 Please bear
 Bad jokes: PJs
 Poor English
 Uninteresting tech stuff
 But in between that
 I will share our experience
 May be tell you what not to do
 Inspire you to innovate
 This is strictly personal opinion and not my company’s so any
brickbats are on me!
4 Outliers: Pains and Pleasures

5. Brief introduction of what we do and how
INTRODUCTION
5 Outliers: Pains and Pleasures

6. Who are WE
 Zeus Numerix is the first and only company in India to have
developed indigenous software in the field of numerical
simulations IITZeus
CFD Group (1992)‫‏‬
SINE IIT Bombay DST
Society for Innovation & Entrepreneurship Department of Science & Technology
Zeus Numerix Pvt Ltd (2004)‫‏‬
6 Outliers: Pains and Pleasures

7. What is Simulation
 Something that was to happen actually is predicted on
computer
 Obviously, there are many types of simulations
 Computer games
 Ones based on actual physics and used for developing real life
products are complex
 Solve millions of equations on supercomputer to find the
actual happening within some accuracy
7 Outliers: Pains and Pleasures

8. Sample Results
 Bomb falling from an Aircraft
8 Outliers: Pains and Pleasures

9. Sample Results
 Building on Fire
9 Outliers: Pains and Pleasures

10. Comparison with the World
 Most companies make one type of software
 We try to make all
 Buying companies to make one pool of software
 We develop on our own
 Give off the shelf software
 Customize to the extent possible
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11. The Medal
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12. Pains and pleasures that you get while having an innovative business
OUTLIERS
12 Outliers: Pains and Pleasures

13. The Vocabulary
 Engineering services pitch
 We do high end design and modeling and are capable of
providing end to end services
 Design?
 Most CAD data handling or text book design
 Modeling?
 Making 3D CAD files
 End to End?
 Give me the low end work and I will support you till the end
13 Outliers: Pains and Pleasures

14. The Indian Customer
 Have you done it before
 Do you have an experience in doing this kind of stuff
 How many people do you have
 Who are your customers
 Play safe policy!
14 Outliers: Pains and Pleasures

15. The Foreign Customer
 Do you have the required wherewithal to do it?
 Are your people qualified enough?
 See, we do our own R&D, but we are outsourcing something
else if you are interested
 If it is so expensive here, we might as well get it done at our
place
 What if you don’t deliver?
15 Outliers: Pains and Pleasures

16. Funds
 Innovation requires a lot of funds – where do we get that
 How do we monitor the progress of an individual
 Which employee is on tougher problem
 Do we have fixed budget or a variable budget for R&D
 Can we afford a budget for R&D
 Where will that money come from
 What if the outcome is not as great
16 Outliers: Pains and Pleasures

17. The People
 How do you recruit and from where
 Peer pressure
 My dost Gajodhar earns twice as me doing simple work
 How to maintain their motivation
 Handling separation
 How do you fire people
17 Outliers: Pains and Pleasures

18. Marketing
 Find some bold customers
 He is just a go getter
 He is annoyed with previous vendor’s work
 He doesn’t find anybody willing to provide such service
 Grab him, at any cost
 Create reference
 While negotiating keep cost aside and bargain for better advt
 Do pilots if time allows
 Make the previous customer a demi-god
 Give confidence that result will match with research
 Foreigners pay for pilot studies, just ask for money
 Please try to find out the competitor
18 Outliers: Pains and Pleasures

19. HR
 Recruitment should not be done on the basis of score card
 If a person is very money oriented, better not to have him
 Have interns and then try to offer them job
 Incentives also have to be non-monetary
 Check for dosti and jodidar
 Work is challenging but it must appear doable
 People are people, they may have downs in life you don’t have
that luxury
19 Outliers: Pains and Pleasures

20. Technology
 Get projects that also do technology development
 HR is aligned towards the goal and hence less chances of
blurred outcome
 Market need is known as someone is paying you for doing
the work
 Karenge ya kaise bhee karenge: New August Kranti
 Don’t let customer own your IP
20 Outliers: Pains and Pleasures

21. Finance
 I suggest no fixed allocation for R&D
 How do you ascertain which one can be monetized
 Take projects that involved Research
 Charge prohibitively high for IP in case customer demands it
 Reward the people generating IP
 Get DSIR recognition and save on tax
21 Outliers: Pains and Pleasures

22. Tips for Entrepreneurs
 “To carry his load without resting, not to be bothered by heat
or cold and always be content: these three things we can learn
from a donkey” – Indian proverb
22 Outliers: Pains and Pleasures

23. Tips for Entrepreneurs
 Have a good team
 Marketing, Accounts, Finance (Ghatiya) are all non-tech
brainless activities
 You know I can write a 1000 line code in a week
 So what – phone call to kiya
 Know the law
 Network a lot
 Meet people: Meeting never hurts but it can open up
opportunities
 Give your employees manageable challenges
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24. Sarkar Raj
 There is a hell lot misconception that India does not support
innovation
 Our 80% revenue is from Government
 There are lot of schemes for grant
 Convincing is difficult
 It takes time but it comes
 Know the right contact
 There is TDB, DST, NEN, Incubators
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25. How to maintain sanity while innovating
GENERAL GYAN
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26. Think and go MAD
 Why don’t these buggers buy my product
 Heck, am I selling so expensive?
 This with a gora would have cost five times more
 Tender was mine now this company has spoiled the whole
process
 Why cant people understand I am not sitting on pile of money
 Ok if you don’t do it I will do it
26 Outliers: Pains and Pleasures

27. Unsolicited Advice
 Attend parties and ask friends that you can’t contribute; eat as
if you contributed most
 Go to Jinalay/Temple/Mosque/Church/Gurudwara/Synagogue
if you are a theist or do some Yoga
 Sleep properly; don’t bring tension at home, it anyways
doesn’t solve the problem excepting combing
 Beware of intoxications like drinking/smoking
 If you are short tempered or with high BP or have a lot of self
pride then do a job, entrepreneurship is not for you
 Exercise is a must
27 Outliers: Pains and Pleasures

28. Unsolicited Advice
 All great men were great readers; Gandhi, Bose, Dhirubhai,
Narayanmurthy …..
 Just reading business does not help; diversify
 Most important ideas come from very different subject –
Genetic Algorithms in design
 Know your surroundings – Newspapers are a good medium for
the same; Pokharan could affect my company
 Reading removes a lot of tension – (Auto)biographies are very
good
28 Outliers: Pains and Pleasures

29. Read
 Crossing the Chasm – Geoffrey Moore (For start-ups)
 Mahanayak – Viswas Patil
 Maverick – Ricardo Semler
 Why men don’t listen women can’t read maps – Allan &
Barbara Pease
 Foods that fight pain – Dr Neal Barnard
 I Dare – Kiran Bedi
 Wings of fire – HE Dr APJ Abdul Kalam
 Straight from the Gut – Jack Welch
 In search of excellence – Thomas Peterson
 Built to last – Jim Collins
 Good to Great – Jim Collins
 Scientific American Magazine
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30. Thank You