2012 will be the year of happening for Startup Saturday Ahmedabad. We saw close to 170 registrations this time despite other events making their rounds in the city. We had Mr. Shirish Andhare, a remarkable speaker who taught his class, ” Five uncomfortable lessons from the silicon valley trenches “. Mr. Shirish’s rich experience from the silicon valley backed by his absolutely perfect story weaving skills did the magic for the day.

‘Entrepreneurship is definitely not for the fainter heart’ he started. Though technological advancement has made a lot of tasks easier to execute, the challenge of creating something out of nothing has pretty much remained the same. Loved the parallels he drew between product and personal chasms. He pointed out while the former has just one, on a personal level there exists many. Surviving through these chasms as an entrepreneur is what defines his success. He indicated that one has to be ready to disrupt his/her comfort zones to reach where he wishes to be.

He then spoke of how the formative years of one’s life and experiences define a individual’s experiential DNA which in turn builds his/her pattern of existence.His five valuable lessons on entrepreneurship had the audience listening with rapt attention to their teacher. Shirish interleaved his lessons with anecdotes from his professional life that brought in a great deal of perspective. To sum it up, the lessons Shirish shared, will definitely linger on, in our minds, for long. The simplicity of idea and clarity of thought appealed the audience in a big way.

Startup Saturday Ahmedabad looks forward to having a great 2012 after a great start. We wish to build a stronger community here with many more success stories to narrate.

To attend Startup Saturday in your city, register here

Update: Mr Shirish has been kind enough to do a longer post with his slides and notes here. Do give it a read!

By Nagashree Iyer

(Headstart Ahmedabad)