A disruptive business model is as powerful as a disruptive product or technology. Learn how innovators apply C.O.R.E differentiation, multipliers, and levers to disrupt the market. Find out about "SLIPPERY" products. Connect the dots between building a great product and creating a profitable enterprise.

SAP is running a strategic market initiative called SAP Startup Focus. It is a global innovation program engaging with niche companies in building cutting-edge next-generation enterprise solutions on SAP HANA. NASSCOM 10,000 Startups and SAP have joined hands to bring onboard and accelerate the startups in their innovation journey for this initiative in India.

They are inviting applications for the next batch of the program. Get started by signing up at SFPA after which you will receive further communication on the next steps of engagement.

Shortlisted companies will get development & technical support, business mentoring and customer exposure from SAP.

TWO SECRETS TO STAYING MOTIVATED & HUNGRY

by GARY VAYNERCHUK

People ask me how I constantly stay so competitive and motivated. It’s tough for me to answer this question for others because for me, being motivated is hard wired. It started for me at a very young age. Whether it was playing AJ in basketball or negotiating the best spot to sell my baseball cards, I was always hungry for the win. I always hated the look on somebody’s face when that person beat me at something. I am very visceral to that feeling; I hate it.

But when I really think about it, being hungry is a perspective. It’s the genuine understanding that you only have one life and a certain amount of time to accomplish everything you want to do. Because of that, there are two major factors (that seem at odds) that can drive your motivation: 1. Selfishness and 2. Gratitude. You have to be selfish with the time you have left and grateful for the time you’ve had.

SELFISHNESS

When I say “being selfish” I’m not talking about money. I’m looking for legacy. If you told me that I could have $500 million and the narrative of my career in the advertising world at VaynerMedia was, “He did a nice job—He did well for himself and he made money” or I could have $200 million and the narrative would be, “He mentally changed how the industry thought about attention,” there’s no question which one I would choose. It’s more important to me to have the impact and the legacy. I’d much rather be known as the guy who changed the wine or advertising industry than the dollars associated with either.

What makes this easy for me is that I genuinely enjoy the process more than the things the process can get me. I love putting in the work. I love the grind. I always value the victory over the fruits of the victory. It’s a great mindset to have and if you can shift your perspective that way, it will help you stay motivated too.

GRATITUDE

Most of the time when people ask me about motivation, 80% of the time I attribute it to gratitude. If you want real fuel to win, be grateful.

Gratitude is what has gotten me through my toughest moments in business. Whenever I have lost a deal to a competitor, or an incredible employee, or millions of dollars in revenue, I default to gratitude. Why? Because I recognize that even if bought the Jets tomorrow, none of it would matter to me at all if I got a call the next day that someone I love was sick or had died. You’d be surprised then how quickly I would stop giving a crap about business. It comes from a dark place, but it’s true.

Knowing that I was born in Belarus in the former Soviet Union, probably the least capitalist place in the whole world—and having had the serendipity of being able to come to the most remarkable country on earth when I was three—I have a full perspective on where I come from. I got really lucky that what I’m great at (entrepreneurship and business) is really appreciated in the US.

My perspective on both the health and wellness of my family, as well as where I came from, allows me to handle anything and everything. My gratitude allows me to step away from any issues and remind me of all the great things I’ve been given.

It’s impossible not to stay motivated or get too down when you’re feeling grateful.

Being motivated is all about a mental shift in perspective. It’s the understanding that time is your number one asset; you have to do right by it by being grateful with the time you’ve had and selfish with the time you have left.

You have to make the most out of the one life you get. This “you’re going to die” mindset might be considered dark, but it helps me stay motivated very easily. The selfishness of legacy over the currency, along with the urgency of a limited amount of time, adds up to competitiveness and drive. Because, who really knows what tomorrow brings? That’s what keeps me hungry.

Motivation isn’t everything—it’s only half the battle. It’s easy to get motivated, but it’s hard to execute. Remember: Ideas are shit until you execute. For more on that, check out this episode of the #AskGaryVee Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6katuaR5l4

__

Gary Vaynerchuk is an entrepreneur who runs VaynerMedia, a digital agency besides other businesses. He is also a prolific public speaker and a best-selling author.

This post originally appeared on Gary’s blog. Click this link to read more: https://goo.gl/A162QQ

I DROPPED A FEW SMALL, YET CRUCIAL BALLS. I’M HEREBY GETTING BACK IN CONTROL

By Arjun R Pillai

While the world is celebrating #Thanksgiving, I’m trying hard to catch up and pull myself together. Historically, I’m not a person who gets stressed out. Not that it has changed, but I have dropped some balls these days.

I’m going through a pretty hectic and unsteady phase of my life. After our acquisition, I took up the Head of Data Strategy at FullContact. I’m also in the process of making my move to US (Denver, CO) where we are headquartered. So at the moment, I’m neither here, nor there, but have things from here and there.

Every day I start at 8am till 6 pm, I try to handle the usual FullContact India related things as an ‘acting CEO’ (though my friends kindly remind me that I’m the ‘ex-CEO’. We never lose an opportunity to pull each others’ leg). After 6pm, my sync ups, and partnership calls starts with our US team and partners in the US. This goes on till 10.30–11.00 pm.

On top of this, I have been crazily traveling. In the past 6 weeks, I have been in Denver, New Jersey, San Francisco, Las Vegas, New York, Spain, Portugal, Chennai, Bangalore and Kerala. I have to reach US in next 2 days and come back in 5 days and goto Bangalore again. Travel is probably the biggest necessary evil. Don’t get me wrong. Each of these travels were really fulfilling and I got shit loads of work done(and learned lots). However, travel throws you off your schedule so much that it takes a while to get back to context.

I’m being unfair to my wife. She is kindly and silently supporting me while I try to make my ends meet. Whatever time that I get after all the above agenda items, I try to spend with her who never asks for a lot.

In between all these things, I dropped a few small, yet crucial balls. The good thing is I never dropped a business related ball. It was all personal things. Since it is not something that I’m used to, after 2–3 misses that I made, I have taken today to STOP and reflect on what is happening.

I strongly believe that one should slow down when everyone/everything around him/her prompts him to speed up.

(more about this in a later post, but for eg; when an investor wants you to speed up with your pitch, that is when you should slow down).

I have realized that over the past few weeks, I’m just trying to get to everyone’s speed and play a catch up game. With this post, I’m telling myself to slow down.

1. I’m going to scrutinize every single task I’m doing and see what are the ones which I’m NOT going to do from now.

2. I’m going to set the right expectations with everyone. For eg; I have set a simple vacation responder on my email until Dec 10 since I’m traveling till then.

3. I realize that this has got a lot to do with the transition phase. I need to be mindful until I make my complete move to US.

4. Maybe, this is my next phase of busier life, I’m going to keep strict vigil to see whether I need more support systems in place to take away a bunch of my simple tasks so that I can focus on where I should.

5. I’m committing myself to keep continuing to look far ahead (strategy vs tactics) whatever is the near-time events. I don’t think it is bad at the moment, but just reassuring myself.

6. I’m committing to more reading (learning), music(which is my stress buster) and hopefully more blog posts.

7. I’m committing myself more time to my personal life.

So this is me getting back to control. I have caught up with pretty much all my backlogs today. Ofcourse there are more emails to reply to, but that is ok. I will get there, soon, in total control :)

Update: I caught up with my emails too. Phew, tough it was, but managed with some straight hours :)

____

Arjun R Pillai is the Head of Data Strategy, FullContact.com. He founded Profoundis as the CEO, bootstrapped for 3 years, raised 2 rounds of funding, grew from 4 to 72 & got it acquired.

This post originally appeared on Arjun’s blog. Click this link to read more: https://goo.gl/ZB1nH3