Murali Krishna Devarakonda, Position Statement
Update (July 27, 2007): I have just been appointed to the “Entrepreneur Committee” of the Board of Advisors of the Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs (SVASE.org). This gives me extra leverage in evangelizing Agile methodologies with other startups in the Silicon Valley.
My passion is leveraging the power of the Internet to help launch software products that improve the life of the average consumer. I have been bootstrapping Crystal Ball Corp., a web-based software startup in the Silicon Valley since 2005.
One year after founding, I had blown $100k, my entire engineering team had quit, and I only had 80 pages of use-cases to show for it! Turns out, this is the story of many bootstrapping entrepreneurs.
We have since embraced Agile/XP for our product development with spectacular results. And inspired by our success, I launched “Agile Entrepreneurs” to share the lessons we learned as a global product startup to help other entrepreneurs and early-stage startups with little money:
1. Fixed-bid or time-and-material contracts for product development are the kiss of death for a startup. We are pioneering the use of Agile/XP based contracts for startups, with guaranteed results at fixed costs, iteratively, which results in a win- win solution for the customer and the consultant, and a highly productive and motivated engineering team.
2. As a self-help networking group of early-stage entrepreneurs with limited resources, we improve the odds of success by learning from each other’s mistakes and failures. Agile/XP principles ring true in a startup, far beyond just software development.
I also have a successful track record of leadership and public relations. In 2000, I led a volunteer-run organization to worldwide fame and success (www.tinyurl.com/5owoe).
Agile/XP methodology is the most natural fit for startups. Agile Alliance needs someone like me to take it to the next level, deep into the heart of Silicon Valley- the fountainhead of entrepreneurship and the future of corporate America.
It would be a great honor if I’m elected to the Agile Alliance leadership group.
If elected, I will leverage my position as a Board Member of the Agile Alliance to evanagelize Agile/XP in order to achieve the following specific goals:
a) I will represent the Agile/XP community among entrepreneurs and Venture Capitalists in the Silicon Valley.
b) I will promote Agile/XP among the hi-tech startups of Silicon Valley and the outsourcing community in India.
c) I will represent the voice of the customer in general, and startup entrepreneurs in particular, in the Agile Alliance.
d) I will continue to pioneer Agile/XP-based contracts for product development, saving customers valuable time & money, while actually improving quality and allowing complete control over .
e) The hi-tech startups of today will be the large corporations of tomorrow. I will lay down the foundation for corporation-wide adoption of Agile/XP methodolgies in future, by helping startups gain competitive advantage due to their adoption of Agile/XP for their product development,
f) I will do my best to set a good example both as a customer (Crystal Ball Corp.) as well as an Agile/XP consultant (Agile Entrepreneurs in India), and leverage any success I achieve to help Agile Alliance.
Links:
http://www.LinkedIn.com/in/MuraliKD
Crystal Ball Corp.: http://www.CrystalBallCorp.com
Agile Entrepreneurs: http://crystalballcorp.com/service.html
http://www.AgileEntrepreneurs.comhttp://muralikd.blogspot.com
http://www.tinyurl.com/5owoe
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