Chirag Desai

Interesting (and rather valid) point of view on startups, on why it’s possible for startups that later in the game are more successful because they execute better.

Suppose you have an idea for a startup, and then do some research only to discover there are already similar products on the market. You become disheartened and wonder if you should abandon your idea.

In fact, the existence of competing products is a meaningful signal, but not necessarily a negative one.

…

1) Almost every good idea has already been built. Sometimes new ideas are just ahead of their time. There were probably 50 companies that tried to do viral video sharing before YouTube.

Other times existing companies simply didn’t execute well. Google and Facebook launched long after their competitors, but executed incredibly well and focused on the right things. When Google launched, other search engines like Yahoo, Excite, and Lycos were focused on becoming multipurpose “portals” and had de-prioritized search (Yahoo even outsourced their search technology).

2) The fact that other entrepreneurs thought the idea was good enough to build can be a positive signal. They probably went through some kind of vetting process like talking to target users and doing some market research. By launching later, you can piggyback off the work they’ve already done.

3) That other people tried your idea without success could imply it’s a bad idea or simply that the timing or execution was wrong. Distinguishing between these cases is hard and where you should apply serious thought.

Good read: competition is overrated by @cdixon

Day 2 in Philadelphia, and a visit to Reading Terminal Market was in order. To the uninitiated, Reading Terminal Market is best described as a farmer’s market with an awesome hotchpotch of options. True to its style, and enclosed in a just-right closed space within Center City Philadelphia — 12th and Arch to be precise — Reading Terminal offers a wide variety of foods, from baked goods to flowers, meats & seafood to produce and a number of eateries.

Due to my intense desire to fill as many attractions as I could in my short stay, we hit RTM (sorry, I can’t be expected to type out the entire name each time, and copy-paste stops my smooth flow of typing, but I digress) rather early in the morning, but the place was quite bustling for 8.30 a.m. on a weekday. Since it’s right of Philly’s Market East station, it’s got a perfect location for a quick breakfast, a drop by for lunch during a busy day, or a stopover for supplies to take home at the end of the day. They also offer student discounts on Sundays & Tuesdays, so if you are one, or know one, that’d be the day to go.

The market is a delight to the retina, and ??I’ve tried to capture as many of the colors as I could.

We stocked up on some basic supplies comprising organic vegetables, and attempted a place called the Basic Vegetarian Snack Bar for a quick bite. Our reason for picking them — they had every conceivable dish you could think of, from the chili burger to the traditional Philadelphia Cheesestake — but made with organic vegetarian ingredients. The best description on their menu was for the Soy Chicken Salad (paraphrased) — if we didn’t tell you it was soy, you would never know. We have a confession to make — they were 100% right. It was so good, we took a pound of it back home for a later snack. I’ll drop another confession: along with the garlic and olive bread we picked up, this quantity did not last beyond lunchtime.

To begin with, this post is dedicated to a certain reader of the blog who, when asked for suggestions for improvement, complained that all our reviews are way to positive. Well, here we are, you pessimistic person you, our first negative review.

??

At the behest of a close friend who had also never tried the place, my first lunch in Philadelphia after three years was at a place creatively called Currito Burrito, right on the??Drexel University??campus by the residence halls. This was housed in a new food court structure that had come up after I left the city. Oh, the excitement.

??

Curbing my natural instincts to go to Subway — primarily because Subway in the US kicks Subway in the UAE’s behind by a mile and a half — I went for the “new Burrito place that is really good.”

Some considerations later, I went for what they called a Mediterranean Burrito, comprising rice, a Black Bean hummus and some other condiments. I wasn’t overtly impressed with the look and feel, or the way he was actually making my burrito at all. And the burrito, right, let me say it was the worst burrito I’ve had, and that graciously includes??my own home-made version.??

??

I don’t really know what else to say except to avoid the place, and particularly the Mediterranean option. The burrito was dry, the rice was…is stuffy an appropriate word? And the flavors just did not work.

??

Father’s Day celebrations found me at a family favourite one Sunday evening. Bukhara in Samlesbury is commonly known as having ‘authentic’ Indian cuisine, though I have never figured out if the attributes of being ‘authentic’ referred to the chefs being south Asian, or the food being truly Indian inspired? Needless to say, we all have our favourites, and this is particularly busy haunt for the Asian communities in the North West.

For starters we ordered a meat feast of mixed grill, which consisted of lamb and chicken kebabs, tandoori chicken, lamb chops. This was accompanied by one of their signature dishes and a particular favourite of mine, as I have made it many a time at home, Thai mango salad. This salad is not as authentically Indian as it is Thai, but nonetheless a great accompaniment to the starters. The salad consisted of a carrots, peppers, onions and mangoes topped of with coriander, and a honey mustard dressing with red chili and pepper.

For mains we ordered Akbari chicken Masala which was extra hot, far too hot for my liking, but my father loved it; and Lahori ghost which was delicious, the lamb was perfectly cooked and the spices perfectly chosen to compliment this dish. the balance was just right. This was all served with fresh nan bread which was soft and brushed with butter. The new desserts menu was the highlight of my evening, I opted for the Apple tarte, another special on the menu, however it was a big letdown, as fussy me could tell that the apples were pre-prepared and had gone slightly brown. The family ordered traditional Indian falooda (a milk based dessert, with sago, rose water, and dumplings of kulfi ice cream inside it), the chocolate waffle meltdown which was amazing and probably one of the best things on the menu, and a mint parfait which was as standard as prepackaged ice cream desserts can get. The biggest fail on the menu I felt was the lack of locally sourced produce, mainly in the form of Huntley’s Ice cream, whose farm is a mere 1 mile up the road.

The ambiance was great, with a family oriented atmosphere, to a restaurant which is always busy and very lively of a weekend. If you’re in the North West of England, why not try this countryside gem, nestled in between dairy and sheep farms midway between Preston and Blackburn. It promises to be a find, and will not disappoint.

Omg, there’s something called the Snapple??Theater, with larger than life size models of the infamous iced tea!

Can’t leave New York without a visit to one of it’s historic pizzerias. Pictures from Famous Famigla, courtesy some poorly configured wi-fi router.

Guilty pleasures are a must for all. Mine is the humble cheesecake.??Whether it is shop bought or home made is always a sticking point for me. The love and care??I put into making cheesecakes at home, is what makes the end result worth the time I painstakingly spend in the kitchen. Here is a little something??I rumbled up today, with some Indian Alphonso mangoes, and??all the other everyday ingredients I found in my fridge or larder cupboard at home. With one exception, the first time??I had used fresh Vanilla pods, and??I must tell you my hands smelt amazing after de-seeding the pods.

A late night decision while skimming through a recipe got our family interested in making graduation cupcakes for the sibling marking his entry into the working world. Recession be damned, these chocolate goodys are topped with a nice slice of After Eight, and twizzlers matching the school colors.

(We went with ready cupcakes and toppings, but at least they do look like the convocation cap :P)

Pizza from the campus days @ California Pizza in University City, Philadelphia.

And Snapple Iced Tea. *bliss*

What is Mohampar, you ask?

The best description I found for Mohanthal is gram-flour fudge. A traditional Gujarati sweet, Mohanthal is a soft, melt-in-your-mouth type of delicacy, very popular during certain Gujarati festivals like Navratri. This recipe is another??naihar specialty, made and distributed to perfection.

??