Want to Thrive? Try Paisa Vasool

When I first saw the phrase Paisa Vasool while reading the $10 Trillion Prize: Captivating the Newly Affluent in China and India, I immediately thought of food. The phrase sounded similar to the famous Italian dish "pasta fagioli." Paisa Vasool is not a pasta dish but rather, it refers to the concept of when Indian consumers experience the perfect balance between quality and value when purchasing a product. 

Come to think if it, Paisa Vasool and food have a lot in common and remind me of my favorite restaurants! Food establishments that appeal to the broadest audience typically offer great portions, good food, all at a reasonable price. These are those higher end chain restaurants that have a 1 hour wait on a Friday night. Do I stay or do I scratch my name off the wait list? Typically, I wait because when the buzzer 'buzzes' and I get my table, I know I will be satisfied and the check will not break the bank. No wonder these kind of restaurants thrive!  

As lean startup entrepreneurs, Glen and my goal is to relentlessly search out and discover the perfect harmony between quality and value. We are patient, methodical and humble because the key to filling consumer demand is finding and delivering Paisa Vasool.

Tony

A little background Part 1: The GradULoop story (thus far)

To those that are just getting in the Loop with us,

Welcome and thanks for reading. Tony, my co-founder, has been doing the lion's share of blogging thus far into our startup journey, and I (Glen) think that it’s time to tell the story of where we have come from (Part 1) and where we are and where we are going (Part 2). I hope you enjoy our different styles, as Tony tends to take us into the future and philosophical realm (he is a Heart-based entrepreneur) and I will keep us looking towards the next step for the company (I am a Brain-based entrepreneur).

Not me, I don't drink Tea while studying

Part 1: GradULoop, powered by Educate360, LLC is the brainchild of two military pilot types, Glen and Tony, who met at the Kelley business school in Bloomington, Indiana back in 2010.

How we got there to meet in the first place speaks to one of the core values of GradULoop: alleviating the sometimes lonely process of getting into graduate school. While we have bigger plans than MBA admissions consulting, in the short run as we attempt to figure out the pains of our customers, on the advice of one of our mentors, Roshan (check him out on our Mentor team page!), we both figured this was a great place to start.

The path to grad school was lonely for both Tony and me. Being in the active duty military, Tony in the Air Force and Glen in the Navy, we had to teach ourselves much of the process of getting into a good business school as at the time there wasn’t much of an on or offline network to help us along. In that sense, nobody we knew in our career path was pursuing a top 25 b-school given the arduous job and deployment commitments as well as needing to complete the degree in nights and weekends.

Tony and I bonded quickly when we met in Bloomington as we asked the other who had helped them along the way and if they had found difficulties in navigating the lonely path towards being accepted at the Kelley School. To fast forward to just several months ago, we each remembered this shared frustration of a non-traditional business student (e.g. military, government, non-profit, international, entrepreneur) attempting to get coherent advice that others in the “traditional business fast-track” had readily available around them. Further, from meeting the other military and non-traditional students that had enrolled at Kelley, we also found they shared the same sense of frustration in navigating the process blindly, as well as a shared relief that their almost entrepreneurial application efforts had ended successfully. Tony and I thought there might be a good business model in improving the admissions process to those without the built in coaching network. Luckily, on my end I had a friend named Olivia who eventually went to Cornell’s Johnson school (check her out on our Mentor team page!) to help me along but I’ll never forget how behind I was in the application cycle compared to her, though somehow through her advice and brute force I was able to get everything done and turned in just barely in time. That was a stressful 3 months for sure since I learned most people spend a year or more on studying and taking the GMAT, writing essays, getting letters of recommendation, and transcripts.

Once enrolled, Tony and I quickly realized that we were among the few students who had neither formal business education nor experience. Again we bonded over the sharp learning curve we faced to get on the same plane as the other students who had on average almost a decade of financial, marketing, operations, or strategy business experience for Fortune 500 companies. However, Tony and I quickly realized that the somewhat rare skill of leadership honed from our military backgrounds was our strong suit and we assimilated well with our other new Kelley b-school students. While important, we realized that leadership experience will only take one so far when returning to student mode, so in our first year, we set about learning the other 90% of business skills that ranged from quantitative analysis (spreadsheet modeling), macro/micro economics, operations management, finance, marketing, strategy, accounting.

From getting a world-class foundation in these areas from the #1 business-school professors (as measured from the 2013 Bloomberg Businessweek), Tony and I began to get a sense for the areas we enjoyed and more importantly, the areas that we would rather not concentrate on. As we began our second year of the MBA, we both caught the entrepreneur bug and were led down the traditional b-school path for our Capstone of forming a team, coming up with an innovative idea, and authoring a fully articulated business plan. Every Kelley MBA is required to participate in this important entrepreneurial exercise before they can graduate. For Tony and I, it opened our eyes not only to the wide world of startups but also it spoke volumes of the depth and breadth of the educational experience received at Kelley when measured against other top schools that do not have the business plan and venture requirement.

Stay tuned for Part 2 that brings us up to speed on our respective second Master’s degree experiences and how we came together for GradULoop. Thank you for reading and please pass on our service to anyone in your network that might be able to benefit.

Regards,

Glen

Reciprocation: A Natural Human Behavior that Sparks Superhuman Persuasion

In his book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini explores the power of reciprocation. He mentions, "The rule possesses awesome strength, often producing a 'yes' response to a request, that, except for an existing feeling of indebtedness, would have surely been refused." In other words, if you give something to someone, that person is more likely to be persuaded because he or she feels like the favor should be returned in some way. Let's look at a few examples that Cialdini presents:

1. In 1985, Ethiopia sent monetary aid after Mexico experienced massive earthquakes. Ethiopia sent the money despite major internal problems to include famine, disease, and starvation. Upon further investigation, Ethiopia sent the money because Mexico sent aid in 1935 when Ethiopia was invaded by Italy.

2. In a study, a University Professor sent Christmas cards to a list of perfect strangers. To his surprise, many of the strangers sent a Christmas card in return without even questioning the identity of the professor.

3. "During the 1992 presidential campaign, actress Sally Kellerman was asked why she was lending her name and efforts to the candidacy of Democratic hopeful, Jerry Brown. Her reply: 'Twenty years ago, I asked ten friends to help me move. He was the only one who showed up.'

In the business world, reciprocation plays a major role. The "14-day" free trial on a website subscription or "free samples" at a grocery store are eliciting the power of reciprocation. The customers are far more likely to purchase the product due to the natural human behavior of giving back and avoiding the feeling of indebtedness.

The moral of the story is not to shamelessly try and ensnare people and make them indebted to us. We should use this power wisely by naturally giving in times when we do not necessarily need anything in return. This leads to an organic growth of "giving stock" that we can cash-in naturally throughout our lives.

Tony

Source: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini

The Original Elevator Pitch

In 1853, Elisha Otis demonstrated to a skeptical crowd in a New York convention center, that his elevator would revolutionize the safety of vertical lift conveyances. Up to 1853, elevators were dangerous, rickety contraptions that had zero fall-back measures if the cable snapped. Otis, however, solved the problem by attaching a wagon spring and ratchet bars into the shaft so if the rope snapped, the spring would activate and arrest the elevator. He built a 3-story high elevator shaft in the New York convention center and hoisted himself high above the crowd. To everyone's amazement, he cut the rope holding up the elevator with an axe, and his braking system brought the plunging elevator to an abrupt halt. Instead of plummeting to his demise, Otis went on to found the world renowned Otis Elevator Company. How passionate are you about your idea? How do you plan to move people and convince the skeptics that your revolutionary idea should change the status quo?  Fascinating stuff!

Tony

Source: To Sell is Human by Daniel Pink

The Lighthouse

As we are setting the stage for our company, I have found that one of the most challenging aspects of starting a business is trying to determine what information in the vast sea of good ideas, tips, and suggestions is actually pertinent. It is easy to get overwhelmed by the never-ending "Top 10 lists" guaranteed to change your life forever! I am learning early on that a critical skill required in a startup is the ability to process amazing amounts of information and determine which applies best to your business. My co-founder, Glen and I were reading countless books all with great ideas and advice. At times it felt like we were constantly changing directions subjected to the directional winds of the current book. Then, one day, Glen mentioned that I needed to order Steve Blank and Bob Dorf's The Startup Owner's Manual. While I was still on the phone, I promptly took advantage of my Amazon "one-click" purchase and the book was on its way. While I love to absorb all things "lean startup," admittedly, I was thinking that it will probably be good but just another startup book that will serve as a good beer coaster. It turned out though, that this book has become THE LIGHTHOUSE that we turn to when the rough sea of everyday information becomes too dense. We both made the commitment after reading the book that this will be our primary reference. In our fledgling startup, to this day, this has been the most important and liberating decision we have made. Now, we can absorb online information, read other books, and peruse "Top 10 lists" without being tossed about in a wayward direction. After all, we simply have to look up, and off in the distance, THE LIGHTHOUSE shows us the way! Oh yeah, hope you were impressed with all the sea analogies :)

Tony

The Foundation of Any Business

A good product is the most important aspect of any business! Right? Not so fast! Let's look at a different angle. The product is only an extension of a much more critical core value:

                                             Humility

Legendary thinker, Karl Popper asserted that we "....should formulate a bold conjecture and then start looking for observations that could prove us wrong." Challenge assumptions. Accept that perhaps initial ideas or inclinations are mere hypotheses. Listen, learn from, and adapt based on input from potential customers. The iterative process is entitled "customer development" and occurs well before a product is ever created. 

This is the essence of the Lean Startup. 

Hello World!

Hope is a powerful human emotion that connects people far and wide. It serves as a unifier and gives us a call to action. It is what gets us out of bed in the morning and motivates us to do something or be something great. The amazing thing about hope is that is can manifest itself in simple, small ways. For example, San Francisco 49ers fans collectively hope that their team will win the Superbowl this February. It is a common bond that gives two strangers wearing 49er jerseys a reason to connect and greet each other with a "Go Niners!"
On a larger scale, hope can bring together people to help change the world. For instance, Muhammad Yunus started the microfinance revolution in 1977 when he opened up the Grameen Bank providing very small business loans and thus hope to the underprivileged. This hope was converted to opportunity, opportunity to concrete goals, goals to action, action to success!

Join us on a start-up business journey where we seek to convert hope to success both for ourselves and for the amazing customers we seek to serve!