6 ms·

An Entrepreneur Who Took a Chance on Herself

81 points by thunk 16y ago

jessor 16y ago
Maybe I value my time more than my net worth. Maybe my fear of boredom outweighs my fear of failure. Or, maybe I have an irrational belief that I will succeed against all odds. Whatever it is, I find the risk of entrepreneurship to be not only worthwhile but also necessary for fulfillment. Work is no longer work. It is life, and a good one. Is it just me or do those last paragraphes sound like beautiful poetry?
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- mburney 16y ago
  Sounds more like banal, run-of-the-mill inspirational speech (not that I have anything against that)
  - Jun8 16y ago
    Relief! So I wasn't the only one thinking that. It sounds like a warmed up version of Timothy Ferriss-like mantra.
- dbz 16y ago
  It sounds like anaphora, and correctly used anaphora at that =]
- sumzup 16y ago
  It sounds like the language I used to end essays with when I wasn't sure how to write an appropriate conclusion. In other words, mostly BS.
SMrF 16y ago
She's a Stanford grad, entrepreneur, surfer, model and apparently she has been published in the NYT. She also created this diet, which looks interesting: http://thenaturalfoodsdiet.com/about.php http://thenaturalfoodsdiet.com/about.php I had no idea human beings like this existed. I feel inferior. http://prernagupta.com/ http://prernagupta.com/
- code_duck 16y ago
  That is a great diet. I haven't heard of her before, but that's exactly what I eat already, actually. I think it comes naturally to anyone who has an interest in natural foods and is a vegetarian.
- jberryman 16y ago
  So that "diet" website is a little tongue-in-cheek, right?
- timr 16y ago
  There are tons of people who have bios like this, especially in San Francisco. You quickly come to realize that most of the people who have done 50 million different "impressive" things in a short period of time are either dilettantes who seek the most recognition for the least work investment, or people who have one or two serious interests, and a strong ability to promote all of their other minor achievements. (Protip: my vanity meter goes off the scale when the self-promoter is a woman who prominently features her amateur modeling portfolio on a personal website, or intermixes pictures of herself in a bikini in otherwise unrelated content.) I think the thing to learn here is that noise level for self-promotion is set pretty high. If you think you're bragging too much about an accomplishment...well, you probably aren't. ;-)
  - WEREA 16y ago
    Dude Seriously, I couldn't agree more! I would be rather be Tim Berners Lee rather than some multidimensional above average being
  - abstractbill 16y ago
    Any time someone lists "Microsoft Word" as a skill on their resume (other than a secretary, and then I'd expect a lot more detail) my gut reaction is to assume they're the kind of person who enjoys listing accomplishments no matter how deep or meaningful.
    - WEREA 16y ago
wallflower 16y ago
One of the more interesting profiles to be featured on NYTimes - interesting for the fact that she could easily have had an easy high-lifestyle life financed by her consulting career and gave it up to make her own destiny. I know someone who worked for the Monitor Group - which is the unnamed consulting group - she was super sharp.
Balsamic 16y ago
I find it mildly interesting that the NYT article omits CS from her dossier. Does branding her as purely an Economics grad make her more of an 'everyman' and thus result in a more relatable story?
- WEREA 16y ago
  yeah CS would mean she is geek, shyaa. They must keep the whole econ major models can design an Iphone app feel!
WEREA 16y ago
Sorry but I really find her website too cheesy! Someone who claims to have 5 Million $ worth web company should know better. Also her modelling portfolio is like HFCS worst than cheesy.
- jlcgull 16y ago
  haters gonna hate! srsly?
  - WEREA 16y ago
    dude please check it out. http://prernagupta.com/ http://prernagupta.com/ its nor functionally oriented nor asthetically oriented nor minimalistic. Its a wordpress blog with different pages done by making them categories, the top menu bar gives it a feel of the website. Yet its just a wordpress blog. I have seen much better cheap templates for wordpres.
Jun8 16y ago
Obviously NYT was having a slow day. However, what I'd like to point out is the discrimination: Do you think the same piece would be created if the entrepreneur in question was an average looking guy? People always talk about how women get discriminated against in CS, EE and the like (which is true to a point) while refusing to see the advantages of being a woman in these areas. When we were interviewing people for positions, I always sensed somewhat more enthusiasm before interviewing a woman in my colleagues, even if it's a phone interview. You may find these comments Summers-like, but let me know if you have not experienced similar things in your work environment.
- limedaring 16y ago
  I started to agree with you (my first initial reaction while reading this article was "Huh, typical 'I don't do what's easy and became an entrepreneur and now I'm semi successful' story"). But what does make it different that is that women don't usually go this route, whereas it might seem more normal for a man. So it's worth heralding someone who is technically a minority for doing something difficult. I don't see it as discrimination, rather, making it an example for more women to follow. Of course, I am a woman, so my viewpoint may be skewed.
  - megablast 16y ago
    She did not do it alone, she did it with her partner, now her husband. She may not have done it if on her own, unfortunately.
    - pgbovine 16y ago
      She may not have done it if on her own, unfortunately. care to elaborate on this conjecture?
  - Jun8 16y ago
    Completely agree with you, need more role models in that area. My point was that, the fact that her appearance was predominantly pushed on her personal web page, may send the wrong message, i.e. you have to be intelligent and beautiful/sexy or something to be featured in NYT, not that there's anything wrong with a beautiful entrepreneur woman, but that shouldn't be the first thing that is pushed on you. There are awesome hacker role models, such as Leah Buechley, that can be covered. HN recently had an excellent discussion on exactly this topic: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1430281 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1430281
mmaunder 16y ago
She gets points for cajoling a fluff self-promotion piece out of the nytimes. That's not easy.
- c1sc0 16y ago
  And very effective, I was stunned how much sales a mention in the NYT can bring. Wish I could repeat that for my next startup.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
unohoo 16y ago
the social networking site if I'm not mistaken is www.yaari.com (targeted towards indians) -- as someone who's closely followed the indian startup scene, i seriously doubt if they had anywhere close to 2 million users. besides, think about it - if you have close to 2 mill users, why would you just abandon it ?
paraschopra 16y ago
Oh now I remember who the entrepreneur actually is. She started one social networking site in India called http://yaari.com http://yaari.com which was absolutely spammy. Mailed tons of spam endlessly - probably that's why it didn't work out and now that site simply shows her personal blog.
mambodog 16y ago
...I started Khush Inc., which makes an iPhone music application called LaDiDa. It’s a kind of reverse karaoke — it creates background music when people sing lyrics into a microphone... Someone managed to make Microsoft SongSmith into something that doesn't suck?
credo 16y ago
It is a well-written and interesting article. So unlike some of the comments below, I wouldn't chalk this up to some sort of discrimination (in favor of women) It is true that her history/accomplishments aren't necessarily extraordinary. A few years ago, in a salaried job, she was "was on track to be earning six figures within three years." Now, she has one iPhone app that is doing well in the app store (the app never made it to the top 3 in the Music category, but it is currently at #7 in Music) I think that her accomplishments not being extra-ordinary may make the story more interesting to a lot of people. The fact that it is #5 on HN is a testament to the story's relevance. Kudos to Prerna Gupta for a well-written article, for generating positive PR for her company and also for taking the risk of leaving her salaried job to take up entrepreneurship. She shares the last attribute with many of us on HN :)
braindead_in 16y ago
Her other venture was Yaari.com, which was a scammy dating site aimed at Indians. It was big with some Indian VC's here in Bangalore but eventually got shut down.
alexro 16y ago
In spite of the positive outcome for that woman, do you find that article having a depressing effect for you? She was on track for "six figure salary in 3 years" and worked for very reputable enterprises, and still she was not able to come up with any realistic business-model for herself. An iPhone app while definitely an achievement may as well serve as a proof of a "normal" web-oriented startups going out of fashion.
- alexro 16y ago
  These who downvote silently are the freaks afraid of expressing their opinion. Isn't the whole purpose of a website like HN to have discussions?
savrajsingh 16y ago
The title sounds like a tautology. Don't all entrepreneurs take a chance on themselves, by definition? :)
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]

81 points by thunk 16y ago

Maybe I value my time more than my net worth. Maybe my fear of boredom outweighs my fear of failure. Or, maybe I have an irrational belief that I will succeed against all odds. Whatever it is, I find the risk of entrepreneurship to be not only worthwhile but also necessary for fulfillment. Work is no longer work. It is life, and a good one. Is it just me or do those last paragraphes sound like beautiful poetry?

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
mburney 16y ago
Sounds more like banal, run-of-the-mill inspirational speech (not that I have anything against that)
- Jun8 16y ago
  Relief! So I wasn't the only one thinking that. It sounds like a warmed up version of Timothy Ferriss-like mantra.
dbz 16y ago
It sounds like anaphora, and correctly used anaphora at that =]
sumzup 16y ago
It sounds like the language I used to end essays with when I wasn't sure how to write an appropriate conclusion. In other words, mostly BS.

SMrF 16y ago

She's a Stanford grad, entrepreneur, surfer, model and apparently she has been published in the NYT. She also created this diet, which looks interesting: http://thenaturalfoodsdiet.com/about.php http://thenaturalfoodsdiet.com/about.php I had no idea human beings like this existed. I feel inferior. http://prernagupta.com/ http://prernagupta.com/

code_duck 16y ago
That is a great diet. I haven't heard of her before, but that's exactly what I eat already, actually. I think it comes naturally to anyone who has an interest in natural foods and is a vegetarian.
jberryman 16y ago
So that "diet" website is a little tongue-in-cheek, right?
timr 16y ago
There are tons of people who have bios like this, especially in San Francisco. You quickly come to realize that most of the people who have done 50 million different "impressive" things in a short period of time are either dilettantes who seek the most recognition for the least work investment, or people who have one or two serious interests, and a strong ability to promote all of their other minor achievements. (Protip: my vanity meter goes off the scale when the self-promoter is a woman who prominently features her amateur modeling portfolio on a personal website, or intermixes pictures of herself in a bikini in otherwise unrelated content.) I think the thing to learn here is that noise level for self-promotion is set pretty high. If you think you're bragging too much about an accomplishment...well, you probably aren't. ;-)
- WEREA 16y ago
  Dude Seriously, I couldn't agree more! I would be rather be Tim Berners Lee rather than some multidimensional above average being
- abstractbill 16y ago
  Any time someone lists "Microsoft Word" as a skill on their resume (other than a secretary, and then I'd expect a lot more detail) my gut reaction is to assume they're the kind of person who enjoys listing accomplishments no matter how deep or meaningful.
  - WEREA 16y ago

wallflower 16y ago

One of the more interesting profiles to be featured on NYTimes - interesting for the fact that she could easily have had an easy high-lifestyle life financed by her consulting career and gave it up to make her own destiny. I know someone who worked for the Monitor Group - which is the unnamed consulting group - she was super sharp.

Balsamic 16y ago

I find it mildly interesting that the NYT article omits CS from her dossier. Does branding her as purely an Economics grad make her more of an 'everyman' and thus result in a more relatable story?

WEREA 16y ago
yeah CS would mean she is geek, shyaa. They must keep the whole econ major models can design an Iphone app feel!

WEREA 16y ago

Sorry but I really find her website too cheesy! Someone who claims to have 5 Million $ worth web company should know better. Also her modelling portfolio is like HFCS worst than cheesy.

jlcgull 16y ago
haters gonna hate! srsly?
- WEREA 16y ago
  dude please check it out. http://prernagupta.com/ http://prernagupta.com/ its nor functionally oriented nor asthetically oriented nor minimalistic. Its a wordpress blog with different pages done by making them categories, the top menu bar gives it a feel of the website. Yet its just a wordpress blog. I have seen much better cheap templates for wordpres.

Jun8 16y ago

Obviously NYT was having a slow day. However, what I'd like to point out is the discrimination: Do you think the same piece would be created if the entrepreneur in question was an average looking guy? People always talk about how women get discriminated against in CS, EE and the like (which is true to a point) while refusing to see the advantages of being a woman in these areas. When we were interviewing people for positions, I always sensed somewhat more enthusiasm before interviewing a woman in my colleagues, even if it's a phone interview. You may find these comments Summers-like, but let me know if you have not experienced similar things in your work environment.

limedaring 16y ago
I started to agree with you (my first initial reaction while reading this article was "Huh, typical 'I don't do what's easy and became an entrepreneur and now I'm semi successful' story"). But what does make it different that is that women don't usually go this route, whereas it might seem more normal for a man. So it's worth heralding someone who is technically a minority for doing something difficult. I don't see it as discrimination, rather, making it an example for more women to follow. Of course, I am a woman, so my viewpoint may be skewed.
- megablast 16y ago
  She did not do it alone, she did it with her partner, now her husband. She may not have done it if on her own, unfortunately.
  - pgbovine 16y ago
    She may not have done it if on her own, unfortunately. care to elaborate on this conjecture?
- Jun8 16y ago
  Completely agree with you, need more role models in that area. My point was that, the fact that her appearance was predominantly pushed on her personal web page, may send the wrong message, i.e. you have to be intelligent and beautiful/sexy or something to be featured in NYT, not that there's anything wrong with a beautiful entrepreneur woman, but that shouldn't be the first thing that is pushed on you. There are awesome hacker role models, such as Leah Buechley, that can be covered. HN recently had an excellent discussion on exactly this topic: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1430281 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1430281

mmaunder 16y ago

She gets points for cajoling a fluff self-promotion piece out of the nytimes. That's not easy.

c1sc0 16y ago
And very effective, I was stunned how much sales a mention in the NYT can bring. Wish I could repeat that for my next startup.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]

unohoo 16y ago

the social networking site if I'm not mistaken is www.yaari.com (targeted towards indians) -- as someone who's closely followed the indian startup scene, i seriously doubt if they had anywhere close to 2 million users. besides, think about it - if you have close to 2 mill users, why would you just abandon it ?

paraschopra 16y ago

Oh now I remember who the entrepreneur actually is. She started one social networking site in India called http://yaari.com http://yaari.com which was absolutely spammy. Mailed tons of spam endlessly - probably that's why it didn't work out and now that site simply shows her personal blog.

mambodog 16y ago

...I started Khush Inc., which makes an iPhone music application called LaDiDa. It’s a kind of reverse karaoke — it creates background music when people sing lyrics into a microphone... Someone managed to make Microsoft SongSmith into something that doesn't suck?

credo 16y ago

It is a well-written and interesting article. So unlike some of the comments below, I wouldn't chalk this up to some sort of discrimination (in favor of women) It is true that her history/accomplishments aren't necessarily extraordinary. A few years ago, in a salaried job, she was "was on track to be earning six figures within three years." Now, she has one iPhone app that is doing well in the app store (the app never made it to the top 3 in the Music category, but it is currently at #7 in Music) I think that her accomplishments not being extra-ordinary may make the story more interesting to a lot of people. The fact that it is #5 on HN is a testament to the story's relevance. Kudos to Prerna Gupta for a well-written article, for generating positive PR for her company and also for taking the risk of leaving her salaried job to take up entrepreneurship. She shares the last attribute with many of us on HN :)

braindead_in 16y ago

Her other venture was Yaari.com, which was a scammy dating site aimed at Indians. It was big with some Indian VC's here in Bangalore but eventually got shut down.

alexro 16y ago

In spite of the positive outcome for that woman, do you find that article having a depressing effect for you? She was on track for "six figure salary in 3 years" and worked for very reputable enterprises, and still she was not able to come up with any realistic business-model for herself. An iPhone app while definitely an achievement may as well serve as a proof of a "normal" web-oriented startups going out of fashion.

alexro 16y ago
These who downvote silently are the freaks afraid of expressing their opinion. Isn't the whole purpose of a website like HN to have discussions?

savrajsingh 16y ago

The title sounds like a tautology. Don't all entrepreneurs take a chance on themselves, by definition? :)

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]