2 years in, 10 things I have learned so far

Cannot believe it has been 2 years already since 1Me, LLC became official. Time has flown and a lot of progress has been made. I have learned a lot about myself on this journey, so I wanted to share the top 10 things that I have learned so far:

1. Recruit 24/7. Every meeting, happy hour, lunch/dinner is an opportunity to recruit the best. I always enjoy hearing what people do and what their motivation is so that I can put them in future roles as I continually build this company. There are a lot of great people out there and I want them. You may or may not know it but I may have your career planned out already, haha.

2. Do not give away your company. The majority of my original team members are no longer here and getting back equity shares was a hassle and waste of time. At that time, I was using equity as a form of “payment.” Real entrepreneurs will stay with you for the opportunity, with no pay, because real entrepreneurs are there to create something, a better future.

3. Be constructive, not critical. I have OCD, am annoyingly detail oriented, and have high expectations, all good… for me but not necessarily good when building a team. To build a team, you need to grow them. To do that, focus on how to make things better and not on what they did wrong. In short, highlight solutions and not problems.

4. Learn to adapt to your environment. I went from living in a renovated condo in NYC to India, and was that an eye opener. Going from being a non-veg to a veg to living by myself to a dorm style shared room, I had to learn to adapt because it is about making the best of the situation so that you can move on to a better situation. It is like all new things, it will take time to adapt and you will always feel silly for saying “I can’t do this” initially.

5. Say No. At one point, I was working full-time for my regular job, for 1ME, as a Regional Director for AKPsi, and a Founding Member/President for the AKPsi NYC Alumni Chapter. When I realized that I could no longer put in 110% effort into my RD role, I began to transition out of that position. Stepping down as the RD was probably the hardest decision I had to make because I enjoyed pushing myself to make a difference for my students and volunteers.  I used to be a "yes" guy but time is so valuable these days. If you cannot put 110% in it, do not do it, you cannot please everyone and you end up doing more harm than good.

6. You are not the biggest asset, the team is. I was an “I’ll do it myself” type of guy but at some point it becomes impossible to do it all. Surround yourself with good people that believe in you and build them. Your goal is to make them better than you so that you can build a better company. There is no me in team.

7. Workout, be healthy. Simple enough, the best time to free and open your mind is when you are working out and the adrenaline pumping.  My best thinking is when I’m sweating first thing in the morning. You can do more with a healthy mind and body then just sitting around and feeding on crap.

8. Be grateful, humility goes a long way. On my journey in establishing this company, I have met many great people and received a lot of support which has helped me to get to today. I truly am grateful to have such great people and opportunities in my life, without them I could not have made it. The simplest way to thank someone is to say thank you and by doing the small things for them. I have seen too many people take things for granted, make selfish decisions, and turn their backs. As a human being, you are not better than anyone else, everyone has their own paths and the best thing you can do is empower them to move forward in their life.

9. Create your core values and use them. Sometimes you run into difficult decisions that you have to make. Having a set of core values that you and your team believe in allow you to make that decision. It is a base and a guide for the company.

10. Appreciate. When I started a crowd funding campaign for 1ME, I had my doubts because it was a lot of money I was looking to raise. The support that I received from people that I have known throughout my life time was absolutely amazing. I was surprised by the unexpected that donated and truly appreciate all of the support. Experiencing India, I have learned that having your basic needs met such as food, clean water, and having a roof over your head makes you fortunate. There are many people in this world that do not even have these basic necessities. When you are having a bad day, remember that there is someone else out there who is having it a lot worse. Appreciate what you have, if you want more, go get it, and always, always, give back.

The Past Month in a Nutshell

Well, I’m back to blogging, do not know if that is a good or bad thing, haha. It has been busy for 1ME since the last post, a lot of changes…  all good changes!

With the 1ME Angel Fund, I was able to accelerate some of my plans. With it, we were able to rent a 3-bedroom bungalow for the next 6-months, on-board 1 designer and 1 other developer, and get office furniture and supplies! And that only took half of the fund, the power of the USD in India! Much appreciation and love to the 1ME Angels!

In addition to MeSocial, I’m excited to announce that 1ME will have a services division, called MeToo Studios, offering design (digital and advertisements), website, and mobile app development. We are currently putting together the plans for this and will leverage our current resources so that we can start generating revenue to sustain MeSocial and the company. And if that was not enough, I’m currently working on developing 1, possibly 2, more products offerings for 1ME! Finally, I’m also honored to announce that 1ME will be creating a non-profit foundation with the Drexel Alpha Kappa Psi Chapter to honor and remember Chris Peterson, who passed away at such an early age. What an awesome and motivated brother and person he was, miss you bro!

The next 6-months will be my final push with the team, to see if we can make 1ME possible. So why not go in full-force at 200%? Miss you stress, old pal.

And the new office? Well, I cannot do a video tour of it since it has been rainy and gloomy for the past week but will do one when I'm back here. Till then, here is a glimpse of it!

Lastly, I will be heading back to the states TOMORROW for exactly 6-weeks, hope to see you all! Cannot wait to have some beef and beer, the essentials of life, haha.

TT Quote: “I will because I am.”

One Month into the New Chapter

Cannot believe that it has been a month since I packed up my things, hop onto a plane, and move to a non-English speaking country. In the words of Michelle Tanner, "You're Nuts."

Lifestyle has been the biggest change but I have learned a lot about myself, the importance of family and being cautious about what I waste, such as food, products, and plastic bags. Definitely components that I will be bringing into the 1ME company environment one day, 1ME will not be your traditional office that I can promise you.

The past week, the team missed the deadline to introduce MeSocial to the big boys but there were dependencies that were out of our control. I was not going to push out an unfinished product update since this will be their first impression of MeSocial and those first impressions are important. However, we are looking to push it out early this week so both the development and marketing teams have my drop-dead deadline. This is it. I’m excited to share the new features, a speedier flow, and updated look to both our current beta users and to the new ones!

Another realization I came to this past week was to push what my ultimate vision of what I want to see MeSocial back until next year. It was a difficult decision since the main reason I came out to India was to work on version 2.0. There is a lot more work that needs to be done and I’m not happy until we can establish MeSocial to what it is, the ultimate social media management tool. I need to build our user base and gain their trust and respect before I can move MeSocial to the next level.

From the India perspective, we are getting acquainted here, got my first haircut and I’m not bald! The house maid still does not say anything to us, she slaps the wall a couple times to get our attention, we exchange some hand signals, and something gets done, haha. I’m going to change my diet as well, I have gorged on enough high carb foods these past couple of weeks. I was able to find some raw almonds and cashews, so that combined with an apple,I have a low carb, protein packed dinner.  Ba (Gopal’s Grandmother) has “trained” me to make her coffee in the mornings, grab the newspaper, and starting today, check her blood sugar level since she has diabetes. Yep, you can add caretaker to my resume, but kidding aside, I’m glad I can provide her some help! Thinks she likes it and is always impress with my speedy and consistent delivery, haha. At some point, I hope we can throw a trip to Bombay for a weekend, but who knows. 

This will be my last post for a while since the next couple of weeks will be busy. I need to focus on MeSocial, the company, and figure out what is next…

TT Advice: Be hard on people not because you are a complete ass but rather because you want to make them better by setting a level of expectation. Being a great professional, leader, and human being, is the ability to grow people. However, the level of expectation should be achievable, not too easy and not relentless. 

[Q&A Time] Let's Catch Up?

So... it has been almost a month now since I have left the country and it has been a crazy ride so far. I miss my friends and most importantly, bacon, ribs, and steak, basically anything with a face, haha. With the time difference, the only time I have been able to catch up with people is through Facebook.

It is about time that YOU and I chatted, post your questions (about anything) in the comments section below and I will reply back. Or just share some news with what is going on back in the States with YOU! Hope to hear from you guys.


TT Advice: Risk it all, only then you will know what you are capable of doing.

Look Forward, Push Harder

After a 15-day campaign, we have reached our goal for the 1ME Angel Fund! As I go through the list of contributors, I'm surprised by the unexpected, humbled by the past, and sad about the missing. Like I told Richard, "Support comes in various ways, always by action, so remember those people as you work on this venture." This fund is only a part of the support as we continue to LOOK FORWARD. What an exciting start to the week and I'm even more excited to welcome the following Angels into the 1ME Family (in alphabetical order):

Alayna Ryan

Alex Andrussier

Alexander G Gac

Alexander Sultan

Allison Moore

Amber Desiderio

Amy Kelley

Andrew Speese

Angel Rosa

Angela Ragan

Benjamin Fetrow

Bruce Orvis

Chris Ciraolo

Chris Pye

Derek Ku

Dev Sharma

Diana Carey

Harsh Patel

James MacDonald

Jason Weinstein

Jay Mistry

Joe Gandolfo

John LeVering

Kathryn Lapid

Kirill Gourov

Laura Ager

Liat Buchnik

Lindsey Rames

Lisa Calandriello

Maryann Kuriakose

Matthew McMaster

Megan Chiu

Melissa Scates

Michael Heer

Navjot Lachhar

Ronni Tan

Roro Chen

Stephanie Marie

Stephanie Potter

Tamisha Jackson

Todd Crespo

Tyler Robertson

Valentino Lapid

Victoria Ku

Wayne Cheng

Wilson Chow

As family members, you all will always have VIP status in our books and no matter where this company takes us, you will have front row seats! Supporters come first, that is my promise to you.

This past week, we teamed up with WebEngage, a start-up company, to make our feedback system better (which was just a Google form). With the WebEngage application, we can gather better feedback by allowing you to attach an image of the issue and notifying you of new functionality! Please share your thoughts, remember, MeSocial is a system built for everyone by everyone!

Continuing the momentum, this week is important to us as we are looking to launch MeSocial outside of our networks, by introducing our first product to the tech websites and bloggers. They are heavy hitters so I'll be a nervous wreck waiting to hear any feedback. I have warned both the development and the marketing teams that the next couple of weeks will be a roller coaster, I will not only PUSH HARDER but I will expect more. Why? Because I need to know if I should continue MeSocial or cut the cord. It scares me but I believe in the team and in MeSocial, we just have to get "there" FAST.

In India, we had our first taste of the monsoon season a couple of days ago. As I was leaving the gym with a local friend, Rahul, we saw that the streets were flooded to knee high levels, how long were we in the gym for?! So what did we do? We parked the car on high ground and tread through the water back home! It was a bit exhilarating to run through the water like a 5-year old, as long as you do not fall into it, haha. Remarkably, it was gone the next day when the sun came out, barely any sign of the night before. Going to be interesting for us as we move into this season.

TT Quote Pick: "An entrepreneur tends to bite off a little more than he can chew hoping he’ll quickly learn how to chew it." -Roy Ash

First Week in India - DONE

Cannot believe we have been in India for over a week now! It has been crazy hot (average of 105) since we have been here. We are expecting another week or so of this before hitting the monsoon season which means mosquitoes. Glad we have our malaria medicine!

This past week we met with our development team face-to-face and I'm really excited to be working together in one location now. Communication and translation of ideas and issues is so much better than chat or email. In addition, we have added new features, based on user feedback (so keep them coming!), to MeSocial which will set our product farther apart! Cannot wait to highlight them in the coming weeks.

With the departure of our finance guy, I have been going over our books and teaching myself Quickbooks so that we can track our expenses. I have done more company work than product development work this week which I do not like. This is what I get for trying to start a company and a product at the same time.

From the India front, the cost of living here is ridiculously cheap, what can I get with $500 a month? Well, here you go:
-Rent
-Maid and cleaning service
-Laundry
-Food prepared fresh daily, lunch and dinner, Monday - Friday
-Internet
-Gym membership

Richard and I have been slowly emerging ourselves into the food and culture. The food here is absolutely amazing, it is fresh, natural, and spicy! Since it is the hot season, mangoes are abundant so we have been eating them in different forms: fresh, lassi (blended yogurt with water), ice-cream, sauces, chutney and juice. Did I mention we have been on a vegetarian diet?! And having chai tea throughout the day has been a part of our day, it surely beats coffee! The culture here is very family oriented and everyone is treated as an extended family member. Ba (term means "Grandmother") treats us as if we are her own and both Gopal's Uncles and Aunts have been nothing but helpful and accommodating to us. They have shown us sites, help us setup the 1ME office, and fed us until we say "Bus" (pronounced "Baas") which means "no more." I am truly grateful and appreciative to be able to move into a new country and to come "home" to this family, what a start for our new venture! Could not have done this without our good friend, 1ME supporter, and AKPsi brother: Gopal Shah!

DON'T FORGET: Join and be a part of the 1ME family, contribute to our 1ME Angel Fund! It is the only fund that works to pay you back plus some and also contributes 5% of the fund collection to a charity! Campaign ends 6/15!


TT Quote Pick: “It is our choices, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” - J. K Rowling

[VIDEO] 1ME's First "Office" Tour

So I wanted to give you guys a quick tour of the space we have been working in, the ad hoc office we had set up to work with our development team. The main reason we moved to India was to collaborate with the team face-to-face.

Also, if you want join and be a part of the 1ME family, contribute to our 1ME Angel Fund! It is the only fund that works to pay you back plus some and also contributes 5% of the fund collection to a charity! Campaign ends 6/15!

Sit back, enjoy the tour, and share your thoughts!

TT Advice: "Workout, no excuses, JUST DO IT. It does not have to be lifting or running, find something and just move your body and sweat. Adrenaline reduces stress and refreshes the mind. Do not have time? Workout in the morning since you have more control over it then after work (late night projects and happy hours, ring a bell?). Plus, the gym is not crowded in the morning like it is after work. Not a morning person? Get over it, it will take about 2 weeks for your body to reset itself and get into a routine. Trust me, been there, done that. Nothing wakes up the body like some sweat! So in summary, shake that ass!"

First Impressions of India

Before I jump into it, just wanted to mention that in our layover in Doha, I met an AKPsi brother (from Penn State as well!!!) who recognized me from our last PBLI, crazy huh? Alright, so...

We have been in Ahmedabad, India for a couple of days now and are adjusting to the big change of being on a vegetarian diet, sober, and dusty all the time. As soon as we left the customs area at 5 AM, we were greeted by a large crowd of folks who were waiting for our arrival! Haha, j/k, but holy cow there are a lot of people at this time. Rich stood out in the crowd as the foreigner (really?!) and the children came up to him like an attraction of some sorts, haha.

We finally meet up with Gopal's uncle (Gaurav) and aunt (Trupti), got into a Rickshaw (taxi), and headed to his Uncle's place. As we were driving through the towns, I can safely say that what you envisioned about India is probably close. It was an eye opener and made me realize how our definition of "living" is different in the States than here. As I see it, "living" in the States means how can we get more of it and in India, it means making do with what you have. That is why you barely see any use of disposable items here, like the usage of napkins at meals or at all. As we continue moving, you see a lot of people living off the streets, cooking, sleeping, and cleaning. Dogs, cows, camels, and lambs walk around, also living off the streets. Regardless, people and animal live together in respect and with the sense of shared "community." The most interesting thing is that there are no road laws or stop lights, people can drive on either lane, one way streets are turned into two ways, and honking means "I'm coming through." I would call it a "cluster f*ck" of a traffic jam but again, people drive with a mutual respect for each other and I have yet to see one accident. Controlled chaos?

We get to Gopal's uncle place, we meet his wife (Kimali) and their daughter (Raji) who sat us down and fed us our first Indian meal which was absolutely amazing! Everything here is unprocessed, natural, and fresh. We ended up taking a power nap (6-hour+ by accident), luckily it was during the hottest period of the day. Speaking of hot, holy hell in hell, it has been an average of 110 degrees every day!

That same night, we caught our first Indian sunset and slept out on the terrace since it was much cooler then sleeping inside. Gazing at the stars and having a breeze come throughout the night, what an awesome experience. I have slept outside before, camping, passing out on a bench (you know, haha), etc, but nothing beats sleeping on a terrace!

Will go into more of my experience so far in the next post. Also, these past couple of days, we have been running around India, looking for a table and chairs for the team and also in the process of looking for a window a/c to cool this place down! Just happy we have internet, max available here is at 4 mb/s, high tech we are! ;)


TT Quote Pick: "It's not good enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required." -Winston Churchill
 

Standing on a Man-Made City in a Desert

After a 13-hour flight, we finally arrived in Dubai! We were greeted by Gopal's cousin, Naman and his friend Sachin, and they are really cool dudes! I can see us being good friends for a long time!

Since we lost a day in Dubai, no thanks to the weather issue in NYC, we only had 48-hours, so here it goes:

Day 1 - 5:30 PM: Tried India Street Food called Pani Puri, did 6 "shots" or bites of it, had some Parathas (pan-fried Indian flatbread) for dinner, headed to Bar 360 (a circular bar on the waters) for Shisha (REAL Hookah) and bottle service (of course), and finally ended the night with a view of Atlantis and stroll on the Palm beach. Bed at 4:00 AM.

 

Day 2 - 11 AM: Headed out to grab some lunch (variety of Parathas, another type of flat bread), Dubai Mall (6th largest mall in the world) to check out the aquarium and ice rink,  headed to the world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa, to check out the sunset and night time views (and to shamelessly market MeSocial), headed to the beach to check out the city night views, and then ended the night at the Marina and a cafe to smoke some more Shisha. Bed at 2:00 AM.

 

 

Day 3 - 9 AM: Beach time for a couples hours before it got too hot, then back to pack. Headed to the airport at 5:30 PM.

 

Oh yeah, that work related stuff, we stopped into an electronics shop on the last day, picked and paid for 3 brand new fully loaded laptops (for my developers) all in a matter of 10 minutes, probably the fastest time for me to buy anything, let alone laptops!

Cannot wait to visit Dubai and see Nanam and Sachin again, still need to sky dive, go on a desert safari, and do so much more! Now off to India!

(Side Note: I know this is a quick and dirty of the Dubai trip but I promised to keep the blog postings short!)


TT Advice: As long as you keep thinking "I," you will never know what "WE" can do.