Gaurav4556's Blog.

What Startups Are Really Like

2009-11-20T22:29:00.000-08:00

I wasn't sure what to talk about at Startup School, so I decided to ask the founders of the startups we'd funded. What hadn't I written about yet?

I'm in the unusual position of being able to test the essays I write about startups. I hope the ones on other topics are right, but I have no way to test them. The ones on startups get tested by about 70 people every 6 months.

So I sent all the founders an email asking what surprised them about starting a startup. This amounts to asking what I got wrong, because if I'd explained things well enough, nothing should have surprised them.

I'm proud to report I got one response saying:
What surprised me the most is that everything was actually fairly predictable!
The bad news is that I got over 100 other responses listing the surprises they encountered.

There were very clear patterns in the responses; it was remarkable how often several people had been surprised by exactly the same thing. These were the biggest:

1. Be Careful with Cofounders

This was the surprise mentioned by the most founders. There were two types of responses: that you have to be careful who you pick as a cofounder, and that you have to work hard to maintain your relationship.

What people wished they'd paid more attention to when choosing cofounders was character and commitment, not ability. This was particularly true with startups that failed. The lesson: don't pick cofounders who will flake.

Here's a typical reponse:
You haven't seen someone's true colors unless you've worked with them on a startup.
The reason character is so important is that it's tested more severely than in most other situations. One founder said explicitly that the relationship between founders was more important than ability:
I would rather cofound a startup with a friend than a stranger with higher output. Startups are so hard and emotional that the bonds and emotional and social support that come with friendship outweigh the extra output lost.
We learned this lesson a long time ago. If you look at the YC application, there are more questions about the commitment and relationship of the founders than their ability.

Founders of successful startups talked less about choosing cofounders and more about how hard they worked to maintain their relationship.
One thing that surprised me is how the relationship of startup founders goes from a friendship to a marriage. My relationship with my cofounder went from just being friends to seeing each other all the time, fretting over the finances and cleaning up shit. And the startup was our baby. I summed it up once like this: "It's like we're married, but we're not fucking."
Several people used that word "married." It's a far more intense relationship than you usually see between coworkers—partly because the stresses are so much greater, and partly because at first the founders are the whole company. So this relationship has to be built of top quality materials and carefully maintained. It's the basis of everything.

2. Startups Take Over Your Life

Just as the relationship between cofounders is more intense than it usually is between coworkers, so is the relationship between the founders and the company. Running a startup is not like having a job or being a student, because it never stops. This is so foreign to most people's experience that they don't get it till it happens. [1]
I didn't realize I would spend almost every waking moment either working or thinking about our startup. You enter a whole different way of life when it's your company vs. working for someone else's company.
It's exacerbated by the fast pace of startups, which makes it seem like time slows down:
I think the thing that's been most surprising to me is how one's perspective on time shifts. Working on our startup, I remember time seeming to stretch out, so that a month was a huge interval.
In the best case, total immersion can be exciting:
It's surprising how much you become consumed by your startup, in that you think about it day and night, but never once does it feel like "work."
Though I have to say, that quote is from someone we funded this summer. In a couple years he may not sound so chipper.

3. It's an Emotional Roller-coaster

This was another one lots of people were surprised about. The ups and downs were more extreme than they were prepared for.

In a startup, things seem great one moment and hopeless the next. And by next, I mean a couple hours later.
The emotional ups and downs were the biggest surprise for me. One day, we'd think of ourselves as the next Google and dream of buying islands; the next, we'd be pondering how to let our loved ones know of our utter failure; and on and on.
The hard part, obviously, is the lows. For a lot of founders that was the big surprise:
How hard it is to keep everyone motivated during rough days or weeks, i.e. how low the lows can be.
After a while, if you don't have significant success to cheer you up, it wears you out:
Your most basic advice to founders is "just don't die," but the energy to keep a company going in lieu of unburdening success isn't free; it is siphoned from the founders themselves.
There's a limit to how much you can take. If you get to the point where you can't keep working anymore, it's not the end of the world. Plenty of famous founders have had some failures along the way.

4. It Can Be Fun

The good news is, the highs are also very high. Several founders said what surprised them most about doing a startup was how fun it was:
I think you've left out just how fun it is to do a startup. I am more fulfilled in my work than pretty much any of my friends who did not start companies.
What they like most is the freedom:
I'm surprised by how much better it feels to be working on something that is challenging and creative, something I believe in, as opposed to the hired-gun stuff I was doing before. I knew it would feel better; what's surprising is how much better.
Frankly, though, if I've misled people here, I'm not eager to fix that. I'd rather have everyone think starting a startup is grim and hard than have founders go into it expecting it to be fun, and a few months later saying "This is supposed to be fun? Are you kidding?"

The truth is, it wouldn't be fun for most people. A lot of what we try to do in the application process is to weed out the people who wouldn't like it, both for our sake and theirs.

The best way to put it might be that starting a startup is fun the way a survivalist training course would be fun, if you're into that sort of thing. Which is to say, not at all, if you're not.

5. Persistence Is the Key

A lot of founders were surprised how important persistence was in startups. It was both a negative and a positive surprise: they were surprised both by the degree of persistence required
Everyone said how determined and resilient you must be, but going through it made me realize that the determination required was still understated.
and also by the degree to which persistence alone was able to dissolve obstacles:
If you are persistent, even problems that seem out of your control (i.e. immigration) seem to work themselves out.
Several founders mentioned specifically how much more important persistence was than intelligence.
I've been surprised again and again by just how much more important persistence is than raw intelligence.
This applies not just to intelligence but to ability in general, and that's why so many people said character was more important in choosing cofounders.

6. Think Long-Term

You need persistence because everything takes longer than you expect. A lot of people were surprised by that.
I'm continually surprised by how long everything can take. Assuming your product doesn't experience the explosive growth that very few products do, everything from development to dealmaking (especially dealmaking) seems to take 2-3x longer than I always imagine.
One reason founders are surprised is that because they work fast, they expect everyone else to. There's a shocking amount of shear stress at every point where a startup touches a more bureaucratic organization, like a big company or a VC fund. That's why fundraising and the enterprise market kill and maim so many startups. [2]

But I think the reason most founders are surprised by how long it takes is that they're overconfident. They think they're going to be an instant success, like YouTube or Facebook. You tell them only 1 out of 100 successful startups has a trajectory like that, and they all think "we're going to be that 1."

Maybe they'll listen to one of the more successful founders:
The top thing I didn't understand before going into it is that persistence is the name of the game. For the vast majority of startups that become successful, it's going to be a really long journey, at least 3 years and probably 5+.
There is a positive side to thinking longer-term. It's not just that you have to resign yourself to everything taking longer than it should. If you work patiently it's less stressful, and you can do better work:
Because we're relaxed, it's so much easier to have fun doing what we do. Gone is the awkward nervous energy fueled by the desperate need to not fail guiding our actions. We can concentrate on doing what's best for our company, product, employees and customers.
That's why things get so much better when you hit ramen profitability. You can shift into a different mode of working.

7. Lots of Little Things

We often emphasize how rarely startups win simply because they hit on some magic idea. I think founders have now gotten that into their heads. But a lot were surprised to find this also applies within startups. You have to do lots of different things:
It's much more of a grind than glamorous. A timeslice selected at random would more likely find me tracking down a weird DLL loading bug on Swedish Windows, or tracking down a bug in the financial model Excel spreadsheet the night before a board meeting, rather than having brilliant flashes of strategic insight.
Most hacker-founders would like to spend all their time programming. You won't get to, unless you fail. Which can be transformed into: If you spend all your time programming, you will fail.

The principle extends even into programming. There is rarely a single brilliant hack that ensures success:
I learnt never to bet on any one feature or deal or anything to bring you success. It is never a single thing. Everything is just incremental and you just have to keep doing lots of those things until you strike something.
Even in the rare cases where a clever hack makes your fortune, you probably won't know till later:
There is no such thing as a killer feature. Or at least you won't know what it is.
So the best strategy is to try lots of different things. The reason not to put all your eggs in one basket is not the usual one, which applies even when you know which basket is best. In a startup you don't even know that.

8. Start with Something Minimal

Lots of founders mentioned how important it was to launch with the simplest possible thing. By this point everyone knows you should release fast and iterate. It's practically a mantra at YC. But even so a lot of people seem to have been burned by not doing it:
Build the absolute smallest thing that can be considered a complete application and ship it.
Why do people take too long on the first version? Pride, mostly. They hate to release something that could be better. They worry what people will say about them. But you have to overcome this:
Doing something "simple" at first glance does not mean you aren't doing something meaningful, defensible, or valuable.
Don't worry what people will say. If your first version is so impressive that trolls don't make fun of it, you waited too long to launch. [3]

One founder said this should be your approach to all programming, not just startups, and I tend to agree.
Now, when coding, I try to think "How can I write this such that if people saw my code, they'd be amazed at how little there is and how little it does?"
Over-engineering is poison. It's not like doing extra work for extra credit. It's more like telling a lie that you then have to remember so you don't contradict it.

9. Engage Users

Product development is a conversation with the user that doesn't really start till you launch. Before you launch, you're like a police artist before he's shown the first version of his sketch to the witness.

It's so important to launch fast that it may be better to think of your initial version not as a product, but as a trick for getting users to start talking to you.
I learned to think about the initial stages of a startup as a giant experiment. All products should be considered experiments, and those that have a market show promising results extremely quickly.
Once you start talking to users, I guarantee you'll be surprised by what they tell you.
When you let customers tell you what they're after, they will often reveal amazing details about what they find valuable as well what they're willing to pay for.
The surprise is generally positive as well as negative. They won't like what you've built, but there will be other things they would like that would be trivially easy to implement. It's not till you start the conversation by launching the wrong thing that they can express (or perhaps even realize) what they're looking for.

10. Change Your Idea

To benefit from engaging with users you have to be willing to change your idea. We've always encouraged founders to see a startup idea as a hypothesis rather than a blueprint. And yet they're still surprised how well it works to change the idea.
Normally if you complain about something being hard, the general advice is to work harder. With a startup, I think you should find a problem that's easy for you to solve. Optimizing in solution-space is familiar and straightforward, but you can make enormous gains playing around in problem-space.
Whereas mere determination, without flexibility, is a greedy algorithm that may get you nothing more than a mediocre local maximum:
When someone is determined, there's still a danger that they'll follow a long, hard path that ultimately leads nowhere.
You want to push forward, but at the same time twist and turn to find the most promising path. One founder put it very succinctly:
Fast iteration is the key to success.
One reason this advice is so hard to follow is that people don't realize how hard it is to judge startup ideas, particularly their own. Experienced founders learn to keep an open mind:
Now I don't laugh at ideas anymore, because I realized how terrible I was at knowing if they were good or not.
You can never tell what will work. You just have to do whatever seems best at each point. We do this with YC itself. We still don't know if it will work, but it seems like a decent hypothesis.

11. Don't Worry about Competitors

When you think you've got a great idea, it's sort of like having a guilty conscience about something. All someone has to do is look at you funny, and you think "Oh my God, they know."

These alarms are almost always false:
Companies that seemed like competitors and threats at first glance usually never were when you really looked at it. Even if they were operating in the same area, they had a different goal.
One reason people overreact to competitors is that they overvalue ideas. If ideas really were the key, a competitor with the same idea would be a real threat. But it's usually execution that matters:
All the scares induced by seeing a new competitor pop up are forgotten weeks later. It always comes down to your own product and approach to the market.
This is generally true even if competitors get lots of attention.
Competitors riding on lots of good blogger perception aren't really the winners and can disappear from the map quickly. You need consumers after all.
Hype doesn't make satisfied users, at least not for something as complicated as technology.

12. It's Hard to Get Users

A lot of founders complained about how hard it was to get users, though.
I had no idea how much time and effort needed to go into attaining users.
This is a complicated topic. When you can't get users, it's hard to say whether the problem is lack of exposure, or whether the product's simply bad. Even good products can be blocked by switching or integration costs:
Getting people to use a new service is incredibly difficult. This is especially true for a service that other companies can use, because it requires their developers to do work. If you're small, they don't think it is urgent. [4]
The sharpest criticism of YC came from a founder who said we didn't focus enough on customer acquisition:
YC preaches "make something people want" as an engineering task, a never ending stream of feature after feature until enough people are happy and the application takes off. There's very little focus on the cost of customer acquisition.
This may be true; this may be something we need to fix, especially for applications like games. If you make something where the challenges are mostly technical, you can rely on word of mouth, like Google did. One founder was surprised by how well that worked for him:
There is an irrational fear that no one will buy your product. But if you work hard and incrementally make it better, there is no need to worry.
But with other types of startups you may win less by features and more by deals and marketing.

13. Expect the Worst with Deals

Deals fall through. That's a constant of the startup world. Startups are powerless, and good startup ideas generally seem wrong. So everyone is nervous about closing deals with you, and you have no way to make them.

This is particularly true with investors:
In retrospect, it would have been much better if we had operated under the assumption that we would never get any additional outside investment. That would have focused us on finding revenue streams early.
My advice is generally pessimistic. Assume you won't get money, and if someone does offer you any, assume you'll never get any more.
If someone offers you money, take it. You say it a lot, but I think it needs even more emphasizing. We had the opportunity to raise a lot more money than we did last year and I wish we had.
Why do founders ignore me? Mostly because they're optimistic by nature. The mistake is to be optimistic about things you can't control. By all means be optimistic about your ability to make something great. But you're asking for trouble if you're optimistic about big companies or investors.

14. Investors Are Clueless

A lot of founders mentioned how surprised they were by the cluelessness of investors:
They don't even know about the stuff they've invested in. I met some investors that had invested in a hardware device and when I asked them to demo the device they had difficulty switching it on.
Angels are a bit better than VCs, because they usually have startup experience themselves:
VC investors don't know half the time what they are talking about and are years behind in their thinking. A few were great, but 95% of the investors we dealt with were unprofessional, didn't seem to be very good at business or have any kind of creative vision. Angels were generally much better to talk to.
Why are founders surprised that VCs are clueless? I think it's because they seem so formidable.

The reason VCs seem formidable is that it's their profession to. You get to be a VC by convincing asset managers to trust you with hundreds of millions of dollars. How do you do that? You have to seem confident, and you have to seem like you understand technology. [5]

15. You May Have to Play Games

Because investors are so bad at judging you, you have to work harder than you should at selling yourself. One founder said the thing that surprised him most was
The degree to which feigning certitude impressed investors.
This is the thing that has surprised me most about YC founders' experiences. This summer we invited some of the alumni to talk to the new startups about fundraising, and pretty much 100% of their advice was about investor psychology. I thought I was cynical about VCs, but the founders were much more cynical.
A lot of what startup founders do is just posturing. It works.
VCs themselves have no idea of the extent to which the startups they like are the ones that are best at selling themselves to VCs. [6] It's exactly the same phenomenon we saw a step earlier. VCs get money by seeming confident to LPs, and founders get money by seeming confident to VCs.

16. Luck Is a Big Factor

With two such random linkages in the path between startups and money, it shouldn't be surprising that luck is a big factor in deals. And yet a lot of founders are surprised by it.
I didn't realize how much of a role luck plays and how much is outside of our control.
If you think about famous startups, it's pretty clear how big a role luck plays. Where would Microsoft be if IBM insisted on an exclusive license for DOS?

Why are founders fooled by this? Business guys probably aren't, but hackers are used to a world where skill is paramount, and you get what you deserve.
When we started our startup, I had bought the hype of the startup founder dream: that this is a game of skill. It is, in some ways. Having skill is valuable. So is being determined as all hell. But being lucky is the critical ingredient.
Actually the best model would be to say that the outcome is the product of skill, determination, and luck. No matter how much skill and determination you have, if you roll a zero for luck, the outcome is zero.

These quotes about luck are not from founders whose startups failed. Founders who fail quickly tend to blame themselves. Founders who succeed quickly don't usually realize how lucky they were. It's the ones in the middle who see how important luck is.

17. The Value of Community

A surprising number of founders said what surprised them most about starting a startup was the value of community. Some meant the micro-community of YC founders:
The immense value of the peer group of YC companies, and facing similar obstacles at similar times.
which shouldn't be that surprising, because that's why it's structured that way. Others were surprised at the value of the startup community in the larger sense:
How advantageous it is to live in Silicon Valley, where you can't help but hear all the cutting-edge tech and startup news, and run into useful people constantly.
The specific thing that surprised them most was the general spirit of benevolence:
One of the most surprising things I saw was the willingness of people to help us. Even people who had nothing to gain went out of their way to help our startup succeed.
and particularly how it extended all the way to the top:
The surprise for me was how accessible important and interesting people are. It's amazing how easily you can reach out to people and get immediate feedback.
This is one of the reasons I like being part of this world. Creating wealth is not a zero-sum game, so you don't have to stab people in the back to win.

18. You Get No Respect

There was one surprise founders mentioned that I'd forgotten about: that outside the startup world, startup founders get no respect.
In social settings, I found that I got a lot more respect when I said, "I worked on Microsoft Office" instead of "I work at a small startup you've never heard of called x."
Partly this is because the rest of the world just doesn't get startups, and partly it's yet another consequence of the fact that most good startup ideas seem bad:
If you pitch your idea to a random person, 95% of the time you'll find the person instinctively thinks the idea will be a flop and you're wasting your time (although they probably won't say this directly).
Unfortunately this extends even to dating:
It surprised me that being a startup founder does not get you more admiration from women.
I did know about that, but I'd forgotten.

19. Things Change as You Grow

The last big surprise founders mentioned is how much things changed as they grew. The biggest change was that you got to program even less:
Your job description as technical founder/CEO is completely rewritten every 6-12 months. Less coding, more managing/planning/company building, hiring, cleaning up messes, and generally getting things in place for what needs to happen a few months from now.
In particular, you now have to deal with employees, who often have different motivations:
I knew the founder equation and had been focused on it since I knew I wanted to start a startup as a 19 year old. The employee equation is quite different so it took me a while to get it down.
Fortunately, it can become a lot less stressful once you reach cruising altitude:
I'd say 75% of the stress is gone now from when we first started. Running a business is so much more enjoyable now. We're more confident. We're more patient. We fight less. We sleep more.
I wish I could say it was this way for every startup that succeeded, but 75% is probably on the high side.

The Super-Pattern

There were a few other patterns, but these were the biggest. One's first thought when looking at them all is to ask if there's a super-pattern, a pattern to the patterns.

I saw it immediately, and so did a YC founder I read the list to. These are supposed to be the surprises, the things I didn't tell people. What do they all have in common? They're all things I tell people. If I wrote a new essay with the same outline as this that wasn't summarizing the founders' responses, everyone would say I'd run out of ideas and was just repeating myself.

What is going on here?

When I look at the responses, the common theme is that starting a startup was like I said, but way more so. People just don't seem to get how different it is till they do it. Why? The key to that mystery is to ask, how different from what? Once you phrase it that way, the answer is obvious: from a job. Everyone's model of work is a job. It's completely pervasive. Even if you've never had a job, your parents probably did, along with practically every other adult you've met.

Unconsciously, everyone expects a startup to be like a job, and that explains most of the surprises. It explains why people are surprised how carefully you have to choose cofounders and how hard you have to work to maintain your relationship. You don't have to do that with coworkers. It explains why the ups and downs are surprisingly extreme. In a job there is much more damping. But it also explains why the good times are surprisingly good: most people can't imagine such freedom. As you go down the list, almost all the surprises are surprising in how much a startup differs from a job.

You probably can't overcome anything so pervasive as the model of work you grew up with. So the best solution is to be consciously aware of that. As you go into a startup, you'll be thinking "everyone says it's really extreme." Your next thought will probably be "but I can't believe it will be that bad." If you want to avoid being surprised, the next thought after that should be: "and the reason I can't believe it will be that bad is that my model of work is a job."

Connect internet through Virgin Mobile Phone VKewl from HUAWEI C5330 CDMA

2009-08-10T02:31:00.000-07:00

Virgin Mobile Phone VKewl from HUAWEI C5330 CDMA

Virgine Mobile Has Launched new latest Mobile Phone VKewl "Huawei C5330 CDMA".

Dimentions	:	103x46x15 mm

Screen Display	:	176x220 Pixels

Display Colour	:	262k

Messaging	:	SMS, MMS (Writing and Sending a Multimedia Message)

Ringtones	:	64 Poly, MP3

Camera	:	1.3 Mega Pixel

Access Internet	:	Wap

Phone Modem	:	Yes

Games	:	Yes

Phone Book	:	Phone - 1000, RUIM - 250.

Memory Card	:	Yes (Micro SD)

Talk Time	:	Upto 310 Mins*

Standby Time	:	Upto 270 hrs*

Media Player	:	Yes


Music Equalizer	:	Yes

Video Player	:	Yes

Video Recording	:	Yes

FM (Radio)	:	Yes

Virgin Mobile Vkews (Huawei C5330 CDMA) Troubleshooting.....................................

1. Unable to Connect Internet from Virgin Mobile Vkews, Huawei C5330 ?
2. How to browse internet using this mobile handset Huawei C5330 CDMA 3G ?
3. Unable to Install Modem

Here i am gonna tell you how to fix these errors. i have search internet but didint' get any help about connectin internet or modem. i explored and found some instresting for you which works with me 100%

Just Follow few Steps...

A. Unable to Connect Internet from Huawei C5330 CDMA Mobile Phone.

1. Install Phone Driver Provide with "Huawei C5330" Mobile Phone.

2. After Downloading "Huawei C5330 Driver" Install it.

3. Now you Need a Dialer for Connect to Internet just follow these steps.

4. Go to Start>Setting>Control Panel and open NETWORK CONNECTIONS

5. After Open Network connections Window, Click Creat a New Connection left hand side top icon.

6. Click Next To Creat a New Connection Wizard.

7. Select 1st One "Connect to the Internet" Then Next.

8. Select 2nd Option "Set up my Connection Manually" then Next.

9. Select 1st "Connect Using dial-up modem" then Next.

10.Now Enter Name Called "Virgin" then Next.

11. Enter This Number "#777" then Next.

12. Enter User Name "internet@ttsl.vmi.com" and Password "vmiiinternet" then Next.

13. Now You Done it ! Remember to Click Check for "Add a Shortcut to the Connection to My Desktop" then Finish.

14. Now to to Your Desktop and Click "Virgin Shortcut" for Connect to Internet.

15. This Window will Open "Just Click Dial" and it will connect you to intenet with you Huawei C5330 Phone as a Modem.

java.lang.OutOfMemoryError : PermGen space error solution on linux

2009-05-02T03:48:00.000-07:00

Solution OF java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: PermGen space error.

java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: PermGen space         at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)         at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:620)         at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:124)         at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.findClassInternal(WebappClassLoader.java:1847)         at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.findClass(WebappClassLoader.java:873)         at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1326)         at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1205)         at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClassInternal(ClassLoader.java:319)         at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)         at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:620)

It’s usually happening when my Tomcat start and stop few time. It’s just funny, however we can fine tune it with some minor changes in Tomcat configuration setting. By default, Tomcat assigned very little memory for the running process. We need to increase the memory by make change in catalina.sh or catalina.bat file.

How to fix it?

1) Find where is Cataline.sh located. We need to make some changes in “catalina.sh” file.
P.S Cataline.sh is located at \tomcat folder\bin\catalina.sh

2) Assign following line to JAVA_OPTS variable and add it into catalina.sh file.

JAVA_OPTS="-Djava.awt.headless=true -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -server -Xms1536m -Xmx1536m  -XX:NewSize=256m -XX:MaxNewSize=256m -XX:PermSize=256m  -XX:MaxPermSize=256m -XX:+DisableExplicitGC"

Partial example of catalina.sh file

#   JSSE_HOME       (Optional) May point at your Java Secure Sockets Extension #                   (JSSE) installation, whose JAR files will be added to the #                   system class path used to start Tomcat. # #   CATALINA_PID    (Optional) Path of the file which should contains the pid #                   of catalina startup java process, when start (fork) is used # # $Id: catalina.sh 609438 2008-01-06 22:14:28Z markt $ # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------   JAVA_OPTS="-Djava.awt.headless=true -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -server -Xms1536m  -Xmx1536m -XX:NewSize=256m -XX:MaxNewSize=256m -XX:PermSize=256m  -XX:MaxPermSize=256m -XX:+DisableExplicitGC"     # OS specific support.  $var _must_ be set to either true or false. cygwin=false os400=false darwin=false case "`uname`" in CYGWIN*) cygwin=true;; OS400*) os400=true;; Darwin*) darwin=true;; esac   # resolve links - $0 may be a softlink PRG="$0"

3) Done. Restart Tomcat.

P.S Change Xms and PermSize base on your server capability

Solving Tomcat OutOfMemoryError On windows

2009-05-02T03:46:00.000-07:00

Solving Tomcat OutOfMemoryError:

Heap space and PermGen space Tomcat

It’s quite common to run In memory problems when running some big Java EE application on a Tomcat server.
Some of the most commmon errors are like the following ones.

This is about a full Heap space:

SEVERE: Servlet.service() for servlet jsp threw exception java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space

This other is about the PermGen space that’s a memory area, where compiled classes (and JSPs) are kept, and this error might happen often if the running web application have many .java and .jsp.

MemoryError: PermGen space java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: PermGen space

To increase the memory available to Tomcat, about heap and permgenthe correct options are the following ones.

This sets the max heap available to Tomcat at 1Gb of memory:

--JvmMx 1024

This sets the max permgen available to Tomcat at 256Mb of memory:

-XX:MaxPermSize=256m

To change the Tomcat memory settings (when Tomcat is installed on Windows as system service), it’s required to use the command-line tooltomcat6. The next command changes the memory settings for the Tomcat service named Tomcat6

tomcat6 //US//Tomcat6 --JvmMx 1024 ++JvmOptions="-XX:MaxPermSize=256m"

The label //US//Tomcat6 has the meaning of Updating Server parameters for the service named Tomcat6.
Obviously this command should be executed from the directory C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 6.0\bin or from wherever is the bindirectory of your Tomcat installation. Or to make things simple, that directoy should be added to your PATH environment variable.

It’s even possible to update memory settings from a GUI frontend, or to view what happened after running the command line tool. Running the following command:

tomcat6w //ES//Tomcat6

a window will open showing all the parameters about the windows serviceTomcat6.

It’s possible to see in this image that, after running the previous command, for setting higher memory limits, in the sections Maximum memory pooland at the end of the Java Options the new memory limits are set.

Tomcat Memory Settings on Windows

=========== Forcing Downloads With Content-disposition ===========

2009-05-01T06:05:00.000-07:00

html
code to download a file instead of opening in browser ??

Forcing Downloads Of file With use of HTTP header Content-disposition :

Those who understand HTTP know that the web server returns several "headers" along with every object downloaded by the web browser. The best known of these is Content-type:, which tells the browser what kind of file it is dealing with: a web page (Content-type: text/html), a GIF image (Content-type: image/gif), and so on.

A lesser-known header, Content-disposition:, can be used to tell the browser what should be done with the file. By default, the browser will "dispose" of the object by displaying it in the browser or launching an appropriate external player, whichever is appropriate.

when Content-disposition: is set toattachment; filename=sample.csv, the browser instead displays a "open, save or cancel" dialog box, inviting the user to save the file under the name = sample.csv. The default may be to open the file in an external player, but that does not happen automatically, and the user is given a clear "save" option in both major browsers.

**** Tradition Code ****

<a href="sample.csv">See my MPEG movie</a>

**** PHP Code to force browser to download fie ****

<?php

header('Content-disposition: attachment; filename=sample.csv');

header('Content-type: video/mpeg');

readfile('sample.csv');

?>

**** JAVA Code to force browser to download fie **** NOTE :: Use it in JSP

<% response.setContentType("application/octet-stream"); response.setHeader("Content-disposition","attachment; filename=Sample.csv"); %>

We create a simple PHP "page" that delivers the file to the browser for us. Then we link to the .php file instead, and let it do the work of outputting the correctContent-disposition: and Content-type: headers, then the actual file.

I put the word "page" in quotes here for a reason! Although we'll use a file called movie.php, this PHP file won't be generating a page of HTML. It will be generating an MPEG movie - a different content type entirely. PHP can do that, sending images, audio and video directly to the browser, as long as PHP code appears at the very beginning of the file and immediately sets the appropriate Content-type: header. Otherwise, PHP defaults to generating an HTML page.

Notice that PHP's readfile() function does the job of reading the entire video and writing it to the web browser for us. In other languages this can take considerably more code. Conveniences like readfile() are the reason why PHP is the most popular dynamic web programming tool.

Once you've created movie.php, all you have to do is test it by accessingmovie.php with your web browser. Note that you must install movie.php on a real web server that supports PHP, you can't test it as a local file. When you accessmovie.php, you should be prompted to save sample.csv to disk, which is the desired result.

When you're finished, just link to movie.php directly to invite the user to download the file:

<a href="movie.php">Download my MPEG movie</a>

You might be tempted to change the Content-type: to application/octet-stream to prevent the "open" option from appearing at all. However, in my tests this was ineffective in both Internet Explorer and Firefox, and other browsers might see it as a reason to force a new file extension. So I don't recommend it.

Note ::

=> This article assumes that your file is a CSV file. Keep in mind that you can use exactly the same techniques for other file types. Just replace your filename with Sample.csv

=> This file must contain only PHP code and nothing else. No blank lines before or after. Blank lines before will cause PHP to default to Content-type: text/html. Blank lines after will be sent as additional "garbage" data after the video, potentially causing problems.

=> Yes, the PHP file has a .php extension. No, this doesn't create any problems when it comes time to save the actual movie. The filename of the PHP file doesn't matter to the web browser because:

1. We are specifying a video/mpeg content type. Web browsers usually don't care about file extensions - they care about content types. That's because file extensions are not universal standards (although, in practice, they are fairly consistent).

2. Our Content-disposition header suggests the filename we really want the movie to be saved as.

Investing Strategy

2009-04-21T05:24:00.001-07:00

Investing Strategy

You will find many investors entering the market at high levels and making a quick exit as the market witnesses a correction. Unfortunately, such investors seldom think of investing in stocks again. Thus, they ignore an excellent opportunity to earn above average returns.

In short, investing in equities can be a difficult proposition for retail investors. However, equity must form a part of every investor’s portfolio. The proportion could vary, depending on the investor’s age, monetary requirements, risk appetite, etc.

To cope with volatility, it is important to have a disciplined and systematic approach to equity investment. Set your own rules and more importantly, follow them religiously. Indeed, the mantra for successful equity investment is a well thought-out, disciplined investment strategy.

A long term monetary commitment, adherence to discipline in investment and decisions based on company fundamentals are essential ingredients for successful equity investment.

Here are golden rules for safe equity investment, which could help you to sail through different market scenarios

1. Be a long term investor

This is the first and most important rule of equity investment. Timing the market - entering the market at low levels and exiting at higher levels - is almost impossible. Though often heard on the street, this strategy is difficult to implement, as it is nearly impossible to gauge when the market has peaked and when it has bottomed out. Do not play the guessing game; it is more sensible to put money into the market with a long term commitment.

Trading or speculating seldom helps in equities. You could make quick bucks by trading in 10 deals, but you could lose whatever you have earned in just one deal. This is the risk you take when you try to trade and make easy money from the stock market. Apart from incurring financial losses, it also involves a lot of mental stress. Trading could give you sleepless nights.

Globally, economies follow seven year business cycles of boom and bust. Thus, when you are investing, invest for a fairly long term, say three to seven years. Indeed, it is a proven fact that over the long haul, equities tend to outperform all other asset classes.

2. Invest time and efforts in doing your homework

Investing in equities is not a one time affair. You need to invest a lot of time and efforts, apart from money, to understand industries, economic trends and so on. Further, you should dedicate time to analyse companies, as this will help you to avoid costly mistakes. You need to develop the habit of reading first hand information - such as company annual reports, company announcements and so on. Annual reports of large companies are easily available on the web. Reading business dailies is also a must for equity investors.

Get your basic concepts and fundamentals right. Revisiting financial fundamentals periodically would be a good idea. You need to understand basic concepts like the Price-Earning ratio (P/E ratio), operating margins, earnings per share, etc. Analysing balance sheets and profit and loss accounts is a must. A short term course on ratio analysis would be of immense help.

Further, understand technicalities of investment, like how the stock market operates, how to buy or sell, settlement procedures, etc.

Also focus on domestic economic and policy development. These factors are also of immense importance as they lead to structural changes in the economy that would benefit certain industries. For instance, the boom in the telecom sector in the domestic market is driven by government policy initiatives over the years.

Lastly, you also need to keep yourself abreast with key global developments. With liberalisation and subsequent integration of economies, global factors also impact domestic industries and the stock market.

The stock market is said to be all about sentiments. However, in this mad rush you need to stay focused and maintain a lot of discipline in executing your investment strategy. Thus, irrespective of which way the market moves, you need to stick to your investment strategy without getting swayed by market sentiments.

In short, discipline in your investment approach will protect you from the herd mentality. Most investors are tempted to buy when everyone is on a buying binge and sell when the market is moving southwards. But if you have decided as a rule to buy a particular stock only when the overall market corrects by one per cent, this rule could kill your temptation to jump on the stock when the market is overheated.

3. Pay the right price

It is essential to buy at the ‘right price’, that is, the price that you are comfortable paying. Do not buy because others are doing so. This will help you to hold the stock for a longer duration.

Conversely, when you have to decide when to sell, if you feel that the market is overheated and prices have reached unrealistic levels, exit; Don’t stick on hoping for a little more. It helps to limit your own greed.

4. Portfolio diversification
Diversion is a very old and popular investment strategy, applied to reduce portfolio risk. Actually, before you start investing in equities, you should consider various factors like your age, monetary requirements, etc, to determine how much risk you can take on. For instance, if you are around 30 years old, you can invest a greater portion of your portfolio in equities than a retired person. Once you have determined how much risk you can take on and how much you can invest regularly in equities, try to achieve diversification in your portfolio.

To reduce risk, diversify within equities by investing across sectors. Do not invest in one or two sectors or any negative development pertaining to those sectors could severely impact the profitability of your portfolio.

Secondly, ensure a good blend of small, mid and large-cap stocks in your portfolio. While large cap stocks would lend stability to your portfolio, small and mid cap stocks would give you an above average appreciation. Basically, growth potentials are higher in the case of small and mid cap stocks. Thus, just having large cap stocks could be safe but also mean that returns are just about at the same level as market returns.

Thirdly, invest across value and growth stocks. Growth stocks are risky but also offer higher returns while value stocks are likely to be less volatile.

In brief, when you spread your investments over a larger number of stocks and sectors, if a few stocks/sectors under-perform, this is compensated by other stocks/sectors which perform well.

5. Do not buy on tips or rumors rather focus on fundamentals

Tips and rumors are an integral part of the stock market. Always remember that these could be engineered by a group of traders or punters. Therefore, a sharp rally based on rumors could fizzle out in a short time.

You should strictly stay away from rumors, suggestions or tips received from your broker or friends or the investor circle. Investments based on tips could lead to huge losses. Rather, you would be better off investing based on industry and company fundamentals. Furthermore, generally such tips pertain to small and mid cap stocks, where liquidity is extremely limited. If you invest in such stocks, you could get trapped in an illiquid investment for a very long time.

6. Buy shares of companies whose business you understand

In the long run, the stock market rewards companies with strong fundamentals and good financial performance. Therefore, it is essential for you to invest in companies whose industry dynamics and business models you understand. This will help you to gauge whether a transformation in an industry is positive or negative, at an early stage itself, and its likely impact on the company’s fundamentals. Your understanding of industry dynamics would help you to evaluate industry trends.

7. Don’t sell in panic

Markets go through cycles of boom and bust and volatility is a way of life in equities. Do not sell your holdings in a hurry and panic just because your stocks have witnessed a sudden correction. Always focus on company fundamentals; if they are intact, there’s nothing to worry about.

8. Do not borrow money to invest in equities

It is true that equities tend to outperform other investment avenues in the long run. However, there is no guarantee that you will make money on your stocks either in terms of dividends or capital gains, if your sale of shares is time-bound. Therefore, if you borrow funds to invest in equities, it might be difficult for you to repay the interest or principal on the loan, on time.

What really matters in equity investment is your withholding power. So, invest your surplus money in equities and only invest an amount that you will not need in the immediate future. If you borrow and invest, your withholding power to stay invested for the long term could be limited.

9. Do not marry a stock

If you feel your investment decision has gone wrong, exit the counter; don’t try to average. It is prudent to cut losses, rather than lower the average purchase price. Particularly in cases where the stock is witnessing a continuous sell-off, it is better to offload your position and book losses. You can use the same money to invest in other opportunities.

10. Invest regularly and gradually build up your position

Just as you put money into fixed interest bearing investments regularly, also invest in equities on a periodic basis. Further, do not invest at one go. Rather, buy on a regular basis and in small lots. This will help you to buy stocks at a reasonable price.

11. Monitor your portfolio

Investing in equity is not a one time affair. Buying shares is perhaps the smallest part of the overall investment activity. It is important to periodically monitor and review your investment portfolio. It is always prudent to sell a stock if you feel that the fundamentals have deteriorated and the stock is overpriced in comparison to its fair value. Money has an opportunity cost and by selling an overvalued stock you can investment the same money elsewhere, for better capital appreciation opportunities.

2009-02-11T22:44:00.000-08:00

Hi View this Presentation it describe recession and depression very well .

Perfect Example For Layoff

2009-02-04T02:35:00.001-08:00

Once upon a time the government with Ruling Party XYZ.. had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert. Ruling Party XYZ Said..

- "Someone may steal from it at night."

So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job. Then Ruling Party XYZ Said..

- "How does the watchman do his job without instruction?"

So they created a planning department and hired two people, one person to write the instructions, and one person to do time studies. Then Ruling Party XYZ Said..

- "How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?"

So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people. One to do the studies and one to write the reports. Then Ruling Party XYZ Said.. ,

- "How are these people going to get paid?"

So they created the following positions, a time keeper, and a payroll officer, then hired two people. Then Ruling Party XYZ Said..,

- "Who will be accountable for all of these people?"

So they created an administrative section and hired three people, an Administrative Officer, Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal Secretary. Then Ruling Party XYZ Said..

- "We have had this command in operation for one year and we are $18,000 over budget, we must cutback overall cost."

So they laid off the night watchman.

Tell a Friend Use very nice

2009-02-02T04:56:00.001-08:00

Hi By Clicking On Tell a Friend you can connect to all social networking site easily and can mail to anyone by using gmail,yahoo etc.

So, Check it out...

If you want script then mail me ...

Sort HashMap By Value in java

2009-01-31T05:27:00.000-08:00

Recently I face a little problem in java programming .

“How to sort HashMap By value ?”

Then I make simple method for sorting hashmap which work very niceJ

Here you can get that method =>

public static Map sortMapByValue(Map map){

List listForSort = null;

Map sortedList= new LinkedHashMap();

listForSort =new LinkedList(map.entrySet());

Collections.sort(listForSort, new Comparator() {

public intcompare(Object value1,Object value2) {

return ((Comparable) ((Map.Entry) (value1)).getValue()).compareTo(((Map.Entry) (value2)).getValue());

}

});

Iterator itret =listForSort.iterator();

while(itret.hasNext()){

Map.Entry entry = (Map.Entry)itret.next();

sortedList.put(entry.getKey(), entry.getValue());

}

returnsortedList;

}

Economy in 2009

2009-01-29T03:40:00.000-08:00

"Economy in 2009" it is the most hot (For who, have enough capital to invent in new business ) and serious topic (For who, lose job) now in world. But people who take this issue as hot is less and remain are large.

As we know all "Bear and bull each follow each other" in this game of bear and bull some time active ,intelligent people earn some money and lucky people earn lot off money while unlucky people always lose lot off money.

In boom if you invest money in any business or industry you will get good return and any thing you sell get good price. And in recession you invest in any sector and though your analysis is very fine and strong but no guaranty you will get good return.

But one thing sure boom and recession is state of lots of human minds believing simultaneously same scenario in same attitude.

Mostly grab good stock in recession and sell this stock at appropriate time in boom.

If we see this recession in different way then this recession is good chance for china and india like developing country to come out as world driven economy .They should take benefit from this recession .

One funny and true incident written below for last year recession =>

If you purchased $1,000 of Delta Airlines stock 1 year ago, you would have $49 today.

If you purchased $1,000 of AIG stock 1 year ago, you would have $33 today.

If you purchased $1,000 of Lehman Brothers stock 1 year ago, you would have $0.0 today.

But, if you purchased $1,000 worth of beer 1 year ago, drank all the beer, returned the aluminum cans for a recycling refund, you would have $214.

The best current investment plan is to drink heavily & recycle.

cheers!!!

Another funny thought for USA :) =>

Investment analyst and entrepreneur Dr. Marc Faber concluded his monthly bulletin (June 2008) with the Following:
''The federal government is sending each of us a $600 rebate. If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, the money goes to China . If we spend it on gasoline it goes to the Arabs. If we buy a computer it will go to India . If we purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico , Honduras and Guatemala . If we purchase a good car it will go to Germany . If we purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan and none of it will help the American economy. The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it on prostitutes and beer, since these are the only products still produced in US. I've been doing my part.

Bug's in Struts2

2008-12-28T22:30:00.000-08:00

I had decided to make my new project in struts2 because it's prior strut is very famous j2ee framework .

But struts2 is very buggy and it's client side part is really make me red when ajax theme come then ..... (can't abuse here) .

There are some bug which are very critical

=> DatetimePicker is not working when we provide value from server side it display year 1908 instead of 2008 ( younger cousine of Y2K)

=> MessageStoreInterceptor's automatic mode is not working.

=> When Ajax theme is used in firebug (Addon of firefox) to many jacvascript file is missing error occures .

They release new version but not resolve bug with it ..

Apache Community have to do something for that because too many fan of this popular J2EE

framework is worry about this all bug.