Holiday Greetings from Last-Bench!

As 2012 draws to a close, the words that come to mind are “thank you.” This has been an amazing year. We flexed our...

We're Hiring! : SPIT-MCA interviews...

As we begin to ramp up activities at our young but effervescent start-up, we realized we'll need a few more hands (and brains) to help us achieve our targets. So, we reached out to the MCA students at Sardar Patel Institute of Technology with the opportunity to intern with Last-Bench! and get a taste of the start-up environment. We were thrilled with the response and the talent on display left us quite impressed. Here's a gist of the entire experience...

Last-Bench! Festive Offers...

It's our first Diwali and true to the Last-Bench! style we really want to celebrate! So, we've decided to make LIGHT OF LEARNING shine brightest...

Last-Bench! - from an entrepreneurial perspective

How do recognise the potential in an idea? How do you convert your idea into a business? What is the entrepreneurial journey like? What are the challenges faced by most entrepreneurs? What do you need to 'learn' to be an entrepreneur?

Teach For India

Last-Bench! would like to introduce Teach For India- an excellent social initiative that aims to fulfill the 'Education for All' dream in India by educating underprivileged children from low-income backgrounds. 

Here is a short introduction into how you can contribute to the cause of educating our nation!

Please find more information below:

Soft Skills : The Need to Succeed!

With the traditional paternalistic style of leadership becoming passé, professional managers expect their teams to be proactive and communicate openly. Each company looks for a different mix of skills and experience depending on the business it's in. In fact, it’s pretty tough to predict what they really require from new hires. Is it the ability? Is it the education? Or is it the theoretical prowess? Well, don’t get sleepless nights over what you need to succeed, Last-Bench! has got your back...

The Last Bench! Team Interview!

Startups Media: Exclusive Interview with Team LastBench! on their ...: Few days back, I covered an article on LastBench prior to their launch. So with the arrival of their first program Essentially Business , ...

Soft Skills : The ace up your sleeve

"  Soft Skills training is imperative in preparing trainees for jobs that are based on manual or practical activities and to improve behavioural competencies

- Umesh Dhal, VP, HR & MS, LG India

Apart from sales expertise and technical training, it is imperative to provide soft skills training to people on-the-ground for developing their personality, communication and entrepreneurial talent

- Romira Roy, Executive Director-HR, SEED Financial Services        " 

Feedback from Learners!

The great thing is the start - to see an opportunity for service, and to start doing it, even though in the beginning you serve but a single customer - and him for nothing.

- Sir Robert Collier 

Our principle is simple: sow good services and the remembrances will grow them. Our services are our 'dragon eggs'- we protect and nurture them so that they create a wave of change, but what really drives us to go further and motivates us to work harder is the feedback we receive.  Here's our first set of feedback and, rest assured, many more will follow :D

E-Cell talk @ SPIT: The Entrepreneurial Experience via Last-Bench!

E-cell invited Last-Bench! to talk to students, faculty, alumni and budding entrepreneurs of SPIT about the initiative, the entrepreneurial experience and our solution to the 'education conundrum'. 

Behind the scenes @ LAST-BENCH! : Website update

Behind the scenes @ LAST-BENCH! is  an 'inside look' into the happenings at our start-up. Here you'll get to read about our brainstorming sessions, coffee breaks, 'whiteboard' drawings and most importantly connect with our team. It's almost as if you're right here with us! Feel free to comment, have a laugh and give us some useful feedback :)...

S.M. Parekh Memorial debate competition at Sardar Patel Institute of Technology : Sponsored by Last-Bench!

A debate competition allows for enterprising and intelligent minds to take stage and express their thoughts and views to an enthusiastic audience. This one was no different.  Last-Bench! had the privilege of sponsoring the annual S.M. Parekh Memorial debate competition at SPIT and, like everyone else present, we were left speechless by the quality of the competition and the array of talent at the event.

Program : MANAGE WHAT

'After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say ''I want to see the manager." ' William S. Boroughs What really makes a good manager? What skills and training do you require? How much experience is needed? How can you apply what you're learning now to a leadership position in the future? One comprehensive answer to worrisome questions - MANAGE WHAT!

THOUGHTLESS NO MORE!

     

'The current business environment is extraordinarily challenging, competitive and dynamic. You must be over qualified, have multiple degrees, have years of experience and seize opportunities!'

At Last-Bench! we like to call this the 'Parrot line'. Why? Because everyone picks it up from someone else, will talk about it at length but won't do anything about it. In fact people don't know what the solution to the problem is and constantly worry about how success can become a guarantee? The solution is getting lucky at the right time and till then churn on, persist and hope for that special break. Right?  Wrong! Here at Last-Bench! we like to say- 'Today's world is highly competitive, YOU must carve a niche for yourself!' See how we played around with words? See how the emphasis is suddenly on YOU to make that next big leap? Whether at home, at college or at your workplace, people will constantly give you advice (c'mon we've all given and received it!) but in reality advice is just food for thought and action is what makes the difference! 

The 'Teach for India' Workshop!

Since the time our TFI liaison confirmed the workshop for the 4th of August, we have been super excited and eagerly looking forward to not only meeting the TFI folks but also delivering the workshop. We ensured everything was organized and set in order. It was funny to see Sajid double and triple check to ensure there would be no goof-ups :)

Workshop Launch! - 27th July, 2012

This was it! The big day - our first 'Manage What' workshop. It was the launch of our offerings. There were 6 participants who we personally invited to come and experience the workshop. We decided to cover a key topic from the 'Manage What' program - Personal Effectiveness!

Office Space

Initially during our pre-setup discussions which were taking place in a borrowed conference room at a friend's western suburban office, we would splash out ideas as to what would be an ideal location for our startup. For the matter of fact we also thought if it would be ideal to simply follow a work-from-home model. But then, call it a blessing in disguise we found out that our alma mater Sardar Patel Institute of Engineering had started an Incubation Centre. This helped us lay our first stone in the foundation of our company.

We wanted the office to be a one stop shop which incudes office space for the staff as well as a learning lounge for the cohorts. Right from the word 'Go' we started scouting for the furniture, keeping in mind comfort, aesthetics, experience and ofcourse costs (remember the 'Lean and Mean Start-up Strategy').

Parallel to these activities we also had to finalise the gadgets for the lounge such as a high quality projector which could display images and videos flawlessly. The partition for the office alongwith the electrical works was completed within a week, with the furniture delivered in the following week.

W.E.B.S.I.T.E - Our immediate learnings!!!

After we launched our website, we received a lot of 'praise' emails. It was motivating for us.
While, most of the feedback was positive, there were a couple of questions around our offerings. This was definitely something we had to analyze and take care of. We immediately sat down and brainstormed on our initial purpose of the website, how much we achieved and also revisited the feedback.

After our analysis, we found the feedback that we recieved fell in line with our observations. We completely missed out on explaining our offerings clearly to our 'Last-Bench Learners'(Customers). This included the What, Why, Where, When, Who and How of the offerings. Now, it was time to get down to actual business and get this issue fixed. The changes included revisiting the page layouts, content, content organization and the interfaces.

The W.E.B.S.I.T.E!

It was a proud moment and a huge relief when our website went live! :) After weeks of brainstorming, mock-ups, paper prototypes and conceptualization, we finally saw it come to life. Of course, without the contribution of the tech team this wouldn't have been possible.

It was a great team effort because everyone did their part and ensured that we stuck to our schedules. Some things that I personally like about our website, one is the bench-y feeling, second the custom font and the sketch pad on which all the info is put out and finally all the images that were developed.