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Mind of an Entrepreneur

19 September 2008 By Avinash Meetoo 23 Comments

While driving today, I had an interesting conversation with Christina about entrepreneurship… or, more precisely, the reasons why we opted to work in well-established companies when we returned to Mauritius in 1998 instead of founding our own start-up.Â We thought a little bit and came with the following theory:

When we were at school in Mauritius and, for the matter, in France, we didn’t have the chance to talk to entrepreneurs (we did not have family members or friends who were entrepreneurs.) The only professionals we regularly met were our teachers. Teachers, in general, have a very predictable life: same lectures, same colleagues, same kind of students, same office and (more or less) same salary year in year out. Teachers, in general, do not take too many risks as they do not want to move out of their comfort zones too much. In general, they are the exact opposites of entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, assume significant accountability for the inherent risks and the outcome of setting up their own start-ups. The most successful ones change the world with their innovative products and services.

When we returned in 1998, Christina and I thought a lot about creating our own start-up but decided against it. In hindsight, we should have gone for it. Unfortunately, we still had a very distorted image of entrepreneurs at that time. Compared to our role models, teachers, we felt entrepreneurs took too many risks, had too many things to take care of and, well, were too different… We didn’t realize they took calculated risks, took care of many things they were passionate of and were different because their mind was the mind of an entrepreneur.

In 2008, I felt the need to (finally) become an entrepreneur. Two things prompted this, (1) the world of academia was losing its appealÂ to me and (2) someÂ brilliantÂ people I knew personally were quitting their jobs in big companies to join start-ups. Paul Graham, with his fantastic essays, also influenced me a lot. Â

So, here I am, ten years after having returned to Mauritius, making a salutary change in my life: I am in the process of launching a company.Â Please stay tuned for more information.

[PS: Before you ask, immigration is still a possibility.]

Liverpool will beat Manchester United 2-0 today

13 September 2008 By Avinash Meetoo 24 Comments

Today is, for me, the most important football match of the whole season: Liverpool against Manchester United at Anfield!

Of course, year in year out, I blog about Liverpool being the most successful english football team and about how I’m sure that Liverpool will comprehensively beat Manchester United at Anfield. Except that I was right only for the first part. Liverpool is still the most successful team in England. But, unfortunately, since 2001-2002 where Liverpool won 3-1, my team lost against Manchester United at Anfield last year (0-1), in 2006-2007 (0-1 again), in 2004-2005 (0-1 once more), in 2003-2004 (1-2) and in 2002-2003 (1-2Â as well.) Liverpool only managed to draw 0-0 in 2005-2006.

So it seems the odds are against Liverpool winning today. Five defeats and one draw in the last six years do not look too good.

Reading the match reports reveal the main reason behind this run of defeats: terrible defensive mistakes which Manchester United players were quick to capitalise on. In 2002-2003, the match was even until “[Diego Forlans]’s 65th-minute opener came after an abysmal mistake by Jerzy Dudek in the Liverpool goal.”Â In 2003-2004, “[Ryan]Â Giggs’ wicked left-foot cross evaded [Ruud] Van Nistelrooy, but also deceived the diving [Jerzy] Dudek and flew into the far corner.” In 2004-2005, “[Jerzy]Â Dudek allowed Wayne Rooney’s tame 25-yard shot to slide in after 22 minutes to gift the former Everton striker a goal in front of The Kop.” In 2006-2007, “substitute [John] O’Shea pounced after Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina fumbled Cristiano Ronaldo’s free-kick.” Last year, “[Carlos]Â Tevez was lurking to turn in Wayne Rooney’s driven shot from a Ryan Giggs corner three minutes before half-time.”

Three mistakes by Jerzy Dudek. One by Pepe Reina. And, last year, a goal from an unmarked player during a corner kick.

Apart from those dreadful moments, the matches have been fairly even as can be seen in the one goal differences. Liverpool was unlucky at least once or twice in the sense that they dominated the game but lost because of one terrible mistake. But losing is losing. Manchester United has won five times during the past six years and this is a fact.

So why do I think that Liverpool will win today?

At least for two reasons. First, I am a Liverpool fan and I can’t be rational today. Manchester United is THE enemy and every single drop of blood in me wants Liverpool to win. Call it blindness. I call it passion.

The second reason is that Rafael Benitez knows that Liverpool’s failure to win over Manchester United at Anfield was mostly because of defensive errors. I’m sure he has worked on that part a lot with the players. Liverpool has an excellent defense and, with Javier Mascherano, a world-class defensive midfielder. Defense also starts from the front and Fernando Torres, Robbie Keane, Xabi Alonso and Steven Gerrard have enormous work rates. I’m, of course, assuming that Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard are starting today but they are our two best players and can be rested later…

My prediction for today’s match is 2-0 for Liverpool.

An update:

I was wrong. So wrong. And I apologize. Liverpool only won by 2-1 :-)

The beauty of the match was that both Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres started on the bench. Liverpool managed to completely outplay Manchester United during the second half. Once more, Robbie Keane failed to score but he worked a lot. I was impressed with Albert Riera. He was first-class today and his dribbling mesmerized the Manchester United defenders. His crossing and physical presence were also very good.

I watched the match with my father (who is a die-hard Manchester United fan) and I was telling him that the big difference between Liverpool and Manchester United was the price Liverpool could buy players. For instance, the $9m Dirk Kuyt has a bad first touch compared to the $31m Dimitar Berbatov but the only way to mitigate that is to buy more expensive players…

The best thing that can happen now (following the massive influx in money at Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City) would be thatÂ SheikhÂ Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum,Â Prime Minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai, finally buys Liverpool and injects the cash which is needed to compete at the very top every season.

Becoming fit… and maybe thin

9 September 2008 By Avinash Meetoo 27 Comments

One of the joys of being jobless (for the time being at least…) is that I have ample time to walk, jog and ride my bicycle.

Yesterday I dropped the kids at school and jogged back home. This took me about 15-20 minutes. It was tough as I had not jogged for months… I then took my bicycle and spent the next two hours cycling (Quatre-Bornes to Roches-Brunes to Beau-Bassin to Rose-Hill and back to Quatre-Bornes.) This was an exhilarating experience as I could feel muscles that I thought had completely atrophied. Before you ask, yes, every single of my muscles is aching today :-)

After writing this, I’ll have a light lunch (no fried or boiled noodles today!) with Christina and do a bit of cycling in the vicinity of Quatre-Bornes. If I manage to exercise everyday then I’m sure that I’ll become much fitter… and, maybe, thinner.