Anoj Viswanathan

Cofounder @milaapdotorg, | Grateful for the life I am living. Here to listen to our users.

[Anoj Viswanathan @anojviswanathan]

10 years ago, I made a leap of faith. To start a platform where people around the world can come together to help those in need. Turn their compassion into action. Today, we are making another ‘Leap of Faith’.

Starting 14th Aug 2020, Milaap is a FREE Fu…https://t.co/t1OkBIy5iu

[Anoj Viswanathan @anojviswanathan]

Healthcare is hard. Glad to see you are at it! @mahesh427

[Mahesh Kumar @mahesh427]

I'm a man and I work with women's vaginas/pelvic floors. And I love it. It started after my wife's #prolapse & got no help from the establishment. It has been 5 years and been might hard - here are 10 lessons and a general reflection of the journey.

[Anoj Viswanathan @anojviswanathan]

100% true from an execution standpoint. Not sure about ICICI but had a good experience with @thisis_ads at Stanchart.

SideNote: good doesn't mean seamless, just considerate/empathetic folks who'll go the extra mile for every revision (and there's going to be plenty :D)

[Sandeep Srinivasa @sandeepssrin]

Dear Indian founders incorporating in the US,
Half a dozen people have now pinged to ask me about this. So I'm posting here to reduce the number of phone calls.

here's collective wisdom of a few hundred YC India startups ok the correct company structure.
h/t to Anand of @inklehq who is the guru for all of them. You should talk to @getak100 for everything.

1. You CANNOT use Stripe Atlas, Deel or whatever else to incorporate. That's an instant FEMA violation that cannot be recovered from later. For an Indian citizen to buy shares in a US co, u have to do an ODI that needs RBI approval (even for 20$) and a UIN number. If u have done this through Stripe/Clerky/whatever, ur fucked. Close the company and start again. There's no easily known way to recover.

2. Each founder in India has to create a LLP. Individuals cannot buy shares in the US - without an even longer process. This is why, this is known as "LLP route". The gifting route is no longer legal. Trust me - this is like ED territory.

3. Use ICICI for this 20$ ODI. They will charge 15k INR for it. However all the other banks know jackshit about startup founders ODI.

4. Once the ODI happens, the founders have effectively bought shares and now you can sign those YC SAFE and receive money. This is a 2 month long process. You cannot receive money before this. Dear VCs (global and Indian) - this is how long it takes. Please be kind.

5. The only two law firms (that I know of) that work for startup founders in doing this is @CommendaHQ and Inventus.

6. If u want to take money from Indian investors, open a new bank account in US. And take money here from ur Indian investors. This money is kept separate and NEVER used for any Indian operations (roundtripping).
As long as u don't mix Indian investor funds and us investor funds, all compliance is fine.
There is some options route to take money in india and issue options in the US.

7. Once all of this is done, establish a Indian subsidiary pvt ltd and buy out its shares by the US parent. This Indian subsidiary is where the founders and the Indian employees will receive salaries. U cannot receive salary from the US in india as a founder. This is a tax problem. Just don't do it. But it's a minor problem.

[Anoj Viswanathan @anojviswanathan]

Chekov's G̶u̶n̶ Armoury. Take a bow @Dir_Nithilan #Mahara

[Jason Fried @jasonfried]

ALWAYS CHEER

I often hear from people writing in asking for advice about some broken team dynamic. Someone's against them, they're against someone, another group doesn't want them to do well because it'll make them look bad. Management this, team that, individual something or another. People want to know how to handle these unfortunate conditions.

With optimism. With positivity. With good faith efforts, always. Bring your best intent, always. Assume it can happen, always. If that doesn't work, alright — but it's still the right way.

You've got to cheer for everyone on your team. For everyone you work with. For everyone you work for. Up until the moment you aren't here, or they aren't there, you've got to want the best for everyone you're with.

Sabotaging, back stabbing, quietly rooting against, setting the traps to prove yourself right at their expense... That's the worst of you, and it's the worst for you.

If you have the power to change the team, change it (don't ignore it). If you only have the power to be on the team, be on it (not against it). If you can only muster the power to leave the team, leave it after you've given it everything you've got.

To be better, you have to make better. Bend positive.

——

https://t.co/3DJKNFUgdZ

[Anoj Viswanathan @anojviswanathan]

Winning what? Winning who? Winning it all? Taking everything? That’s an insurmountable mountain of intimidation right there. Don’t do that to yourself.

[Jason Fried @jasonfried]

A while back I got an email from a fellow who asked:

—
"I’ve been trying to think about my next B2B play but everytime I think of an idea I stop myself due to how saturated the markets are. How do you still win in a packed category? I feel like it’s a lot harder to win now than it was 10 years ago.
-J.B."
—

Starting something new can definitely be intimidating. Especially when there are already lots of other people/companies with a huge head start. I feel you.

But I’m going to ignore all that and focus on what I think is the bigger concern with the mindset represented in the email: This person asks “How do you still win in a packed category?”

Winning what? Winning who? Winning it all? Taking everything? That’s an insurmountable mountain of intimidation right there. Don’t do that to yourself.

How about just making something that can sustain itself? Why do you need to win it all? Why would you ever want to make it that hard on yourself?

Build something good, keep your costs low, keep your growth in check, hold back your expectations, find some customers, charge them money for your good/services, make more than you spend, and you’ll buy yourself another day, or week, or month, or year in business. Just aim to stay open, don’t aim to win anything from anyone. Staying afloat is a win for yourself.

Just start there. The odds are still against you, but they’re a whole lot better than trying to win it all.

[Garry Tan @garrytan]

@DarrenSRS Worse companies choose that investor and then the investor does even worse and then squeezes every last drop of alpha out of the founders even more

Rinse and Repeat

[Garry Tan @garrytan]

There’s a weird phenomenon among VCs where the less successful they are, the more evil they become to founders to squeeze more money out of their best startups out of necessity which then becomes a vicious cycle of adverse selection

It keeps happening and I am always amazed

[Anoj Viswanathan @anojviswanathan]

@adhicutting @milaapdotorg @aksh_yay Shruti, I am one of the founders. This is totally unacceptable and we will never let this https://t.co/C2UIOwZLQf fact, calling donors is not even an option! Any info from wrt call details will help us get to the bottom of this. I am at anoj AT milaap DOT org

[Anoj Viswanathan @anojviswanathan]

@Joshutosho @dhanyarajendran Sandeep, thank you for the feedback. I am founder of Milaap. Would you mind sharing the specific issued you faced over DM along with device details [screenshots, screen recordings will be really helpful] or email - I am at anoj AT milaap DOT org cc @milaapdotorg

[Anoj Viswanathan @anojviswanathan]

@VishakhaBhatna2 @milaapdotorg We ll have this resolved at the earliest Vishaka.

[Anoj Viswanathan @anojviswanathan]

4726 days and counting.

[Jason Fried @jasonfried]

There's lots of talk about starting things. Startups, launching products, new initiatives. It's exciting, no doubt.

But the hardest part about business is not the start, it's the stay. Stayups, not startups.

Staying in business is the hardest thing to do in business. Day 10,000, 1,000, or 100 is always harder than day 1.

[Anoj Viswanathan @anojviswanathan]

@CETMoorthy1 @girikesavan @shankaran_5 Hello sir, I am the founder of Milaap. There's no Milaap fees charged - Here's the breakup for your perusal

payment gateway charges refers to upi, netbanking, credit/debit card processing charged by the pg provider before donations are received by us. Hope this clarifies.

[Anoj Viswanathan @anojviswanathan]

@mercury @immad @immad , we have sent another urgent request needing your intervention over email. Please address it asap.

[Anoj Viswanathan @anojviswanathan]

@mercury I've emailed you seeking the SWIFT / MT103 receipt for a wire transfer we carried out 4 days back. It's very critical that we get it at the earliest, as it pertains to medical treatment for a child. Request your alacrity in this cc @immad

[Anoj Viswanathan @anojviswanathan]

@mercury @immad DM'ed!

[Anoj Viswanathan @anojviswanathan]

Brilliant idea to address wealth/resource inequities between metros and towns/rural areas. Make a gift to preferred local municipality/panchayat, receive tax break and a gift from the community.

[Paras Chopra @paraschopra]

@MilanVishnoi In Japan, they send gifts to taxpayers.

https://t.co/B68R4UatHg

[Anoj Viswanathan @anojviswanathan]

@akshaytraj Asking my team to reach out and investigate this at the earliest cc @milaapdotorg

[Anoj Viswanathan @anojviswanathan]

@Amit_A_Tiwari @Lolita_TNIE @milaapdotorg Hi Lalitha, am the founder of Milaap - happy to help in any manner possible - . Pls DM me or @milaapdotorg your details and we ll get in touch

[The Hindu - Chennai @THChennai]

Crowdfunding platform #Milaap.org and Kanchi Kamakoti CHILDS Trust Hospital (#KKCTH) organised a clowning session for young patients at the hospital.
https://t.co/wl6dlu5wH8