4 misconceptions that can kill your startup

According to Shabnam, here are some misconceptions new entrepreneurs must avoid:

1. All ideas are good ideas: A lot of us who are entrepreneurial in nature, and read in papers about the kind of exciting lifestyle an entrepreneur lives tend to take any random idea and think we can live our rest of life with that. A lot of entrepreneurs don't do enough homework on ideas. Not all ideas are good ideas. It is important to do the homework, look at the competition and understand what expertise you can bring to the table, and make sure you have something that is unique, that nobody else could think about. You have to connect the two dots that nobody can connect and build something amazing out of that. 

2. Entrepreneur's life is fun and games: It is actually the opposite. The life of an entrepreneur is really difficult and painful. You have to go through a lot of rejection. People generally don't have that kind of a mindset to face such rejection, until they start a company, because generally we are all educated in the way we can do everything and everything in life is awesome. And then when you start a company, you hear a 'no' from everywhere. It is an emotionally exhausting as well as tiring.

3. With startups, you work on what you are passionate about: This is a big misconception. I started this business because I am passionate about children and education and I feel that there is a huge disruption and change that needs to come in the education system. But if I were to tell the number of hours that I actually get to spend, either with kids or working on the education front, it is actually a teeny-tiny per cent of what I am actually working on, on a day-to-day basis. 

What I actually do is dealing with legal stuff, dealing with fund-raising and investors, dealing with accounts, dealing with hiring, dealing with management, et al. As an entrepreneur, one is involved in a lot of other stuff and the misconception is that he/she will be able to focus on something that he/she is really passionate about, and the scenario could continue the same for the next many years. 

An entrepreneur is usually focused on activities that are involved in growing of the business. So, now the situation is that I can be put in a completely different sector and I may end up doing a lot of similar stuff. And that is the reality. However, the passion bit drives me and I still want to bring that change. 

4. You can build startups with your buddies: People tend to think that they with be in a comfortable zone if they can start up a venture with their best friends and they can be working together for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, it is just a handful of people who start and maintain the companies with their best friend. Typically, startups come when people are in their twenties, and life changes drastically between 25-35 years with respect to personal lives. People get married, have kids, want to build their houses and all of this brings changes and splits in the startups and people don't really expect that. There are times when a company is stuck in between the two people battling. And then they end-up losing on their concept of coming together as well. One big mistake that people do when they start a startup with a friend is they split the company into 50:50, which is a terrible idea. In such case, there is nobody who is a primary and final decision maker and when any misalignment happens, there is no one who can be termed as a decision maker and who has the right to control the situation. Such a situation is difficult to overcome, and the company ends up dying. So it is important to decide as to who will be the decision maker and who will take the final decisions.

Source : techgignews.com

12 Best Android Hacking Apps

#1 Hackode

Hackode : The hacker’s Toolbox is an application for penetration tester, Ethical hackers, IT administrator and Cyber security professional to perform different tasks like reconnaissance, scanning performing exploits etc.

#2 Androrat

Remote Administration Tool for Android. Androrat is a client/server application developed in Java Android for the client side and in Java/Swing for the Server.

#3 APKInspector

APKinspector is a powerful GUI tool for analysts to analyse the Android applications. The goal of this project is to aide analysts and reverse engineers to visualize compiled Android packages and their corresponding DEX code.

#4 DroidBox

DroidBox is developed to offer dynamic analysis of Android applications.

#5 Burp Suite

Burp Suite is an integrated platform for performing security testing of web applications. Its various tools work seamlessly together to support the entire testing process, from initial mapping and analysis of an application’s attack surface, through to finding and exploiting security vulnerabilities.

#6 zANTI

zANTI is a comprehensive network diagnostics toolkit that enables complex audits and penetration tests at the push of a button. It provides cloud-based reporting that walks you through simple guidelines to ensure network safety.

#7 Droid Sheep

DroidSheep can be easily used by anybody who has an Android device and only the provider of the web service can protect the users. So Anybody can test the security of his account by himself and can decide whether to keep on using the web service.

#8 dSploit

dSploit is an Android network analysis and penetration suite which aims to offer to IT security experts/geeks the most complete and advanced professional toolkit to perform network security assessments on a mobile device.

#9 Arpspoof

Arpspoof is a tool for network auditing originally written by Dug Song as a part of his dsniff package. This app redirects traffic on the local network by forging ARP replies and sending them to either a specific target or all the hosts on the local network paths.

#10 Shark for Root

Traffic sniffer, works on 3G and WiFi (works on FroYo tethered mode too). To open dump use WireShark or similar software, for preview dump on phone use Shark Reader. Based on tcpdump.

#11 Nmap for Android

Nmap (network mapper) is one the best among different network scanner (port finder) tool, Nmap mainly developed for Unix OS but now it is available on Windows and Android as well. Nmap for android is a Nmap apps for your phone! Once your scan finishes you can e-mail the results. This application is not a official apps but it looks good.

#12 SSHDroid

Android Secure Shell: Secure shell or SSH is the best protocol that provides an extra layer of security while you are connecting with your remote machine.SSHDroid is a SSH server implementation for Android. This application will let you to connect to your device from a PC and execute commands (like “terminal” and “adb shell”).

Source : hacoder.com

8 Resume Style Mistakes You're Probably Making

There’s a hard line between making your resume stand out, and over styling it to the point of being distracting.

Your resume is an essential marketing document meant to showcase your skill set and work accomplishments. But for someone whose work is extremely visual, like Jason, creative projects are best displayed in your portfolio rather than worked into your resume.

When you’re up against 118 other candidates on average, you want to catch the recruiter’s eye – but without overdoing it. Here are a few tips for styling your resume the right way.

1. Ditch the creative template.

On average, recruiters spend about six seconds looking at your resume. If they’re distracted by your artsy template or can’t find what they’re looking for easily, it’s going in the trash. If you do get called in for an interview, don’t even think about printing it out on a decorative piece of paper, either. 22% of recruiters say doing so also makes your resume trash worthy.

2. Keep it to one page.

Unless you have more than 10 years of work experience, your resume should absolutely not be more than a page. If you have an extensive work history despite not being over the 10 year mark, you may want to include a summary statement to help hit all the points you want to make as far as your skill set and expertise goes. If you do have 10+ years of experience, make sure you put your resume header on the second page, too.

3. Make the font size at 11 or bigger.

I can’t stress this enough: Your resume needs to be easy to read. If a hiring manager is having to squint at your size 10 font, well, they’re just not going to read it. There’s actually data to suggest that a resume with fonts smaller than size 11 statistically results in less interviews. If you’re having a hard time getting it all on one page, decreasing your font size is just not the answer.

4. No cute fonts or colors.

Don’t write your resume in Wingdings. Or Comic Sans. Or anything that makes your letters have additional curly q’s. If your resume is legible and clean, you’re in the clear. Studies show that fonts that you may consider “boring,” like Arial, Times New Roman and Sans Serif are in fact the way to go.

5. Don’t overdo it with your margins.

If you have to extend your margins all the way to the end of the page, your resume is too wordy. A tiny budge won’t hurt you, but if you mess with the margins to the point where it’s very noticeable, the employer will not appreciate it.

6. Make sure your employment dates are readable.

This one is a sore spot for recruiters. 27% would discard a resume that didn’t have easily identifiable job dates included. It looks like you’re trying to hide a gap in employment. Even if you are, it’s better to come clean on your resume than to still be passed over for your resume’s lack of job dates.

7. Don’t include a photo.

You’re applying for a job – not a beauty pageant. There is virtually no reason that your recruiter needs to know what you look like. Including a photo is distracting, and is regarded as a major faux pas. 88% of resumes with a photo are trashed immediately, according to statistics.

8. Cap your bullet points at six or less.

More than six bullets points per job description is too much. Surveys show that hiring managers are looking for short, succinct and to the point descriptions of the positions that you’ve held. Give the people what they want.

Source : www.forbes.com

28 Hottest Startups (And Products) to Watch in 2016

Predicting the next big thing is hard and pretty tough. Every year there are thousands of new startups that hope to be the next great success. A few make it to the very top.

Some of the startups on this list are trying to transform business messaging. Others are attempting to conquer the sharing economy. Some are trying to make the most of artificial intelligence. And others want to change the world.

These are companies with awesome technology and great leadership. Most of them have tons of partnerships and industry attention. A few have massive investor backing. Some of these companies or products will help shape the future.

Here’s a roundup of 28 startups and products you should keep an eye on in 2016. They are hot startups which have the potential to make it really big this year. Most of these startups and products were selected based on their popularity on Product Hunt.

1. Tesla Powerwall: Tesla home battery.

2. Motion AI: Create Artificial Intelligence to do almost anything!

3. Email Hunter: Helps you find all the emails related to a domain.

4. Nubia Shower: Better shower, 70% less water.

5. Lily: A drone with a camera that follows you.

6. Slack: Be less busy. Real-time messaging, archiving & search.

7. Medium: Yes, Medium is gaining a lot of attention.

8. Dataminr: Real-time information discovery.

9. Periscope: Explore the world through someone else’s eyes.

10. Postmates: On demand delivery.

11. Paper: The new sticky note.

12. Sunrise Meet: The fastest way to schedule a one-to-one meeting.

13. RocketClub: Get startup shares in the products you use & love.

14. Slash Keyboard 2.0: Smart keyboard with built-in search engine.

15. Shyp: Shipping on demand.

16. Be My Eyes: Lend your eyes to the blind.

17. Robinhood: Free stock trading.

18. Zenefits: A platform for all your HR needs.

19. Dropbox Paper: Collaboration tool built for teams.

20. Gigster: Hire a development team in 5 minutes.

21. Clara: Clara is a virtual employee that schedules meetings for you.

22. Spark: A smart, fast and free email client for iPhone.

23. Slide: A hoverboard by Lexus.

24. Capitan: A smart shopping list that learns as you use it.

25. Graava: A camera that automatically edits its own video.

26. Product Hunt: A daily leaderboard of the best new products.

27. DroneDeploy: Image processing for any drone.

28. Magic Leap: Combines visual ability with mobile computing.

Source : devbattles.com

Hiring mistakes start-ups should avoid !!!

All organisations make mistakes during recruitment. But such mistakes can prove costly in new ventures that run on small teams. What is to be done then? Founders of two startups in the lifestyle and health segment list the dos and don’ts of hiring.

Punit Desai, cofounder and CEO, Welcome Cure, a homeopathy treatment portal

1. Hiring too quickly: Startups, especially ones that are well-funded or newly-funded, value money less since it has come to them easily. Hiring the right team is as important as renting a right house. It’s the resource with which one lives, learns, excels and builds an ecosystem.

2. Not spending enough time with a prospect: It is essential to understand the social background of the candidate. One must also be well aware about what the short-term and long-term goals of the candidate. It helps analyse whether the candidate can get closer to the organisational goals.

3. Acceptability: It's great to have people for decades with the organisation. Loyalty is loveable to all. However, sometimes in a short span of time of a year or two, an employee may start feeling that the organisation is nothing without them. They feel the system will collapse or get massively disturbed in their absence. This is when unreasonable demands and insincere behaviour starts taking shape. Startups should not bow down to such situations. Rather than fearing the loss of someone once valuable and good, the organisation must gracefully show them the door and be positive of expecting a better resource walking in.

Amit Vora, founder and CEO, iCrushiFlush, a dating app

1. Hire mobile geeks and not PC geeks: We need people who change their phones every few months and apps weekly, if not daily. One can’t be shy to work for a dating app.

2. Don’t hire expert, pick all-rounder: Lifestyle is one space which needs loads of features, e-commerce and chat. Only all-rounders would be better placed to think and work on the lines of all aspects. 

3. Creative and logical: The person hired should be moderately creative and logical. Left brain and right brain should dominate equally. Extreme creativity takes a few years to transform imagination into reality while extremely logical person designs solutions which only Einstein can decipher.

Source : techgignews.com

Latest Web Designing Trends You Can’t Miss

The world of web designing is truly dynamic. It is constantly evolving. Today the eCommerce scenario is extremely competitive and it is therefore, necessary for innovating, adapting and staying abreast with the latest trends in web designing and on-line marketing. The leading e-commerce sites for the year 2016 would definitely be those, who are smartly taking advantage of the advanced and current on-line trends.

Web designing trends change every year just like fashion. However, unlike fashion, changes in the world of web designing are triggered by developments and advancements in technology. Just like web platforms keep changing and evolving so do web designing trends.

In the year 2015 there was a commendable change in the world of web designing and most innovative websites implemented the minimalist approach. How are the latest developments in the world of web designing going to affect your business today? What should you be expecting if you are thinking of building or revamping your website for e-commerce? Here is a list of some of the latest web designing trends that would soon be gaining momentum in the year 2016.

Keep it Simple & Standard

The current trend in eCommerce website designing is that it is best kept simple. If you consider the two leading on-line retail giants Walmart and Amazon, both are almost identical as far as design is concerned. Both have opted for a simplistic site frame with search bar, basic header, popular product listing and featured web banner in the homepage.

This is precisely because the emphasis is on CRO, “conversion rate optimization” and not because of any lack of imagination and creativity. Renowned eCommerce sites have understood what actually works and what never does in terms of generating increased sales on-line. They would therefore, continue with their basic winning formula, but would make slight design modifications from time to time. If you are planning to launch an eCommerce business, get in touch with Eighth Orbit, for all your web marketing solutions.

Beautiful, Bold and Big Fonts

Bold fonts are the current trend. Boring black and safe fonts are getting replaced by beautiful, bold and big fonts to attract attention. Of course, there is absolutely nothing problematic about boring and plain fonts if you are thinking in terms of a corporate website. However, all other types of websites would be embracing colourful and large fonts. There would be a boom of colourful and bold fonts in the year 2016. There would be a dramatic change in the way we are used to seeing text on-line.

CSS3 Is Here

CSS3 layout modules will be in vogue in the year 2016. Most of the popular browsers would be implementing CSS3. Layouts would not be looking drastically different. However, the underlying code would be much simpler and far more reliable.

Splurge of Animations

Animations obviously, are not something new, but you should be seeing many more animation techniques in web designing through 2016. Both larger and smaller animations would be used as both are highly entertaining and quite effective, when used in right proportions and doses. Overdoing it would be a real disaster for you as your visitors would really be turned off.

Hamburger Menus Are In

It is no secret that mobile devices are increasingly used for viewing web content. As a result of this trend, more and more web designers are coming up with hamburger menus. This implies that navigation would not be visible until expanded. This gives a really attractive, aesthetically appealing and a cleaner site. However, this may not work for all websites. There are chances that users might not explore or discover major sections of your website. Moreover, users might not be interested in browsing through your website in the absence of obvious or clear navigation pathways.

Every year new web design trends appear and 2016 will certainly bring many more new trends besides those discussed here. If you are a web designer, then just remember that no matter what trend you follow, you have to keep the basics right and make sure that the sites you create don’t just look good, but help the users achieve their goals as well.

Source : examiner.com

How to become a decent programmer in few months?

Do you want to become a great coder? Do you have a passion for computers but not a thorough understanding of them? If so, this post is for you.

Saying #1: 10,000 Hours:- There is a saying that it takes 10,000 hours of doing something to master it. So, to master programming, it might take you 10,000 hours of being actively coding or thinking about coding. That translates to a consistent effort spread out over a number of years.

Saying #2: No Speed Limit:- There is another saying that I just read, which inspired me to write this, “that says There is no speed limit”.

In that post, Derek Sivers claims that a talented and generous guy named Kimo Williams taught him 2 years worth of music theory in five lessons.

I did not have a Kimo Williams. But now that I know a bit, I’ll try and emulate him and help you learn faster by sharing my top lessons with you.

The Top Tips:-

Get Started:- Do not feel bad that you are not an expert programmer yet. In 10,000 hours, you will be. All you need to do is start. Dedicate some time each day or week to checking things off this list. You can take as long as you want or move as fast as you want. If you’ve decided to become a great programmer, you’ve already accomplished the hardest part: planting the seed. Now you just have to add time and your skills will blossom. If you need any help with any of these steps, feel free to email me and I’ll do my best to help.

Don’t Worry:- Do not be intimated by how much you don’t understand. Computers are still largely magic. We all know that computers are fundamentally about 1s and 0s, but what the hell does that really mean? It took me a long time to figure it out – it has something to do with voltages and transistors. There are endless topics in computer science and endless terms that you won’t understand. But if you stick with it, eventually almost everything will be demystified. So don’t waste time or get stressed worrying about what you don’t know. It will come, trust me. Remember, every great programmer at one time had NO IDEA what assembly was, or a compiler, or a pointer, or a class, or a closure, or a transistor. Many of them still don’t! That’s part of the fun of this subject – you’ll always be learning.

Read Books:- In January of 2013, I spent a lot of money on programming books. I bought like 10 of them because I had no idea where to begin. I felt guilty spending so much money on books back then. Looking back, it was worth it hundreds of times over. You will read and learn more from a good $30 paperback book than dozens of free blogs. I could probably explain why, but its not even worth it. The data is so very clear from my experience that trying to explain why it is that way is like trying to explain why pizza tastes better than broccoli: I am sure there are reasons but just try pizza and you’ll agree with me.

Get Mentors:- I used to create websites for small businesses. Sometimes my clients would want something I didn’t know how to do. I used to search Google for the answers, and if I couldn’t find them, I’d panic! Don’t do that. When you get in over your head, ping mentors. They don’t mind, trust me. Something that you’ll spend 5 hours panicking to learn will take them 2 minutes to explain to you. If you don’t know any good coders, feel free to use me as your first mentor.

Object Oriented:- This is the “language” the world codes in. Just as businessmen communicate primarily in English, coders communicate primarily in Object Oriented terms. Terms like Classes and Instances and Inheritance. They were completely foreign and scary to me. They would make me sick to my stomach. Then I read a good book(Object Oriented PHP, Peter Lavin) because my first programming language was PHP, and slowly practiced the techniques, and now I totally get it. Now I can communicate and work with other programmers.

Publish Code:- If you keep a private journal and write the sentence “The car green is”, you may keep writing that hundreds of times without realizing its bad grammar, until you happen to come upon the correct way of doing things. If you write that in an email, someone will instantly correctly you and you probably won’t make the mistake again. You can speed up your learning 1-2 orders of magnitude by sharing your work with others. Its embarrassing to make mistakes, but the only way to become great is to trudge through foul smelling swamp of embarrassment.

Use Github:- The term Version Control used to scare the hell out of me. Heck, it still can be pretty cryptic. But version control is crucial to becoming a great programmer. Every other developer uses it, and you can’t become a great programmer by coding alone, so you’ll have to start using it. Luckily, you’re learning during an ideal time. Github has made learning and using version control much easier. Also, Dropboxis a great tool that your mom could use and yet that has some of the powerful sharing and version control features of something like Git.

Treat Yourself:- Build things you think are cool. Build stuff you want to use for yourself. Its more fun to work on something you are interested in. Programming is like cooking, you don’t know if what you make is good until you taste it. If something you cook tastes like dog food, how will you know unless you taste it? Build things you are going to consume yourself and you’ll be more interested in making it taste not like dog food.

Write English:- Code is surprisingly more like English than like math. Great code is easy to read. In great code functions, files, classes and variables are named well. Comments, when needed, are concise and helpful. In great code, the language and vocabulary is not elitist: it is easy for the layman to understand.

Be prolific:- You don’t paint the Mona Lisa by spending 5 years working on 1 piece. You create the Mona Lisa by painting 1000 different works, one of them eventually happens to be the Mona Lisa. Write web apps, iPhone apps, Javascript apps, desktop apps, command line tools: as many things as you want. Start a small new project every week or even every day. You eventually have to strike a balance between quantity and quality, but when you are young, the goal should be quantity. Quality will come in time.

Learn Linux:- The command line is not User friendly. It will take time and lots of repetition to learn it. But again, its what the world uses, you’ll need at least a basic grasp of the command line to become a great programmer. When you get good at the command line, its actually pretty damn cool. 

Source : hacoder.com