A Refreshing break

Government reveals reforms agenda, mulls over FDI in corruption [#satire]

2011-11-27T06:11:00.001-08:00

Continuing with its stance on economic reforms, the Government of India is on course for taking a revolutionary step which will officially allow FDI in corruption. The Finance Minister, in an exclusive interview with our correspondent, disclosed the Government’s intention.

“Our Government is committed to growth. Opening up corruption to foreign players will make us more competent and also help in bringing in foreign capital that will improve Rupee’s position vis-à-vis the Dollar. This will also help in making corruption more transparent”, explained the minister.

Although, there have been past instances of foreign involvement in India’s booming corruption sector, this is the first time the Government is proposing to ease regulations so as to encourage greater foreign participation.

The Finance Minister revealed that the Government had approached IIPM to carry out a detailed study to help them take a call in this matter. The Government chose IIPM considering the institute’s global exposure, which would help them in analysing foreign perception for this sector in India. When our correspondent contacted Mr. Arindam Chaudhuri , he sounded upbeat about the government’s proposal. “Corruption in India is a huge unorganized market, growing at a mind boggling CAGR of 420% over the last 10 years, similar growth is expected till at least FY20. Also, this sector has shown growth independent of which political party is in power, thus reducing the political risk of such investments. Allowing foreign players to be a part of this growth story will help us discover the diamond in ourselves”

However, opposition parties seemed unanimous in opposing any such proposal by the Government. “There is no clarity regarding this. What will be our cut? And will we get that in Rupees or Dollars?” asked an opposition party MP, on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, Credit Rating agency Substandard & Poor quickly restored India’s soverign credit rating, after claiming to have ‘accidentally’ downgraded the same after the Finance Minister’s announcement. “The Government is certainly on the right track. Corruption has huge potential, we just had some taste of it after the ‘accidental’ downgrade!”, said a company official with a wink.

“Now they will make me slap foreigners too!”, a certain Harvinder Singh commented on the development.

Piggybacking on competitors' ad spends [Marketing vs Sales]

2011-09-09T23:51:00.000-07:00

I saw the Quikr ad that shows a girl who sells her mobile before the ball that she throws up in the air falls back into her hand.

And I saw the OLX ad that claims "Yahan sab kuch bikta hai" ["Anything can get sold here"], which shows two guys managing to convince their father to sell his old desktop as they already had a buyer through OLX.

And then, I looked at my old Sony Ericsson S312 which I had respectfully retired after upgrading myself to a smartphone.

And I decided to give these sites a try!

Now then, I googled for OLX (to get the exact URL), and the first site I got was OLX.com [I did not notice that OLX.in followed it on the search page]. Not knowing that this was a US specific website, I registered myself on it, and then when it asked for my city etc, I reached a dead end since it only had US cities.This was a turn off and I never looked at OLX again.

I went to Quikr, and registered successfully. Put up my ad saying an awesome looking phone is up for sale. It's been about a month since I did that but still I have not got a single response from any of the 'buyers'. [Granted, that model is a bit out of fashion now!]

I almost forgot about it when few days back I got a call from Sulekha saying they saw my ad on Quikr and if my phone is not sold yet they would like to put up the same ad on Sulekha. They created an account for me and I got a mail that an account has been created and an ad has been posted. I am yet to hear from any prospective 'buyer' through Sulekha as well, but I am intrigued at how a third company which did not spend $$ on expensive TVCs at all took advantage of a market being created by its competitors (since I put my ad on Quikr in the first place more because of the TVCs that I saw of Quikr and OLX rather than any inherent need for me to sell my old mobile phone). All that the guys at Sulekha did was do a bit more of grunt work (the 'scan ads on competitor websites' part) and an awesome customer service (I did not do ANYTHING at all, except giving them an OK for creating an account and an ad, they did everything else).

Perhaps this concept might be unique to the classifieds market, as the market seems to be seller driven (OLX claims "Yahan sab kuch bikhta hai" ["Anything can get sold here"], and not "Yahan sab kuch milta hai" ["Anything can be bought here"]!. The Quikr ad also ends with "Sell Anything Quikrrrr"!) - the classifieds portals need the people willing to sell more than (or BEFORE) the people willing to buy. Plus the fact that the 'user acquisition' done by one site is out in the open (on the internet) for competing sites to see (and target). But just goes to show how YOUR sales can take advantage of THEIR marketing!

Update : Sold my mobile phone successfully through PriceShred.com

Does 'Google Plus' imply a 'Facebook Minus'?

2011-07-10T06:21:00.000-07:00

Some quick (and dirty!) calculations!

Google+ was publicly launched on 28th June 2011. It started off with limited invites, and today (close to 2 weeks after the launch), almost everyone has one. Thus this is a right time to do some analysis as enough people have given Google+ a whirl by now.

Now then, Google's Market cap has jumped from 155.68 Billion USD (on 27th June 2011) to 171.54 Billion USD (on 8th July 2011). That's a rise of 10.19%, or 15.86 Billion USD in 8 trading days! However, the NASDAQ Computer Index has also risen by 7.25% in the same period. Google has a Beta of 0.61 against the NASDAQ Computer Index (on the basis of past two months data). Thus, purely using this statistic, the rise in the Google stock price attributable to the changes in the US Computer Technology industry as a whole is 4.42%. Since, no other major news has come from Google (apart from Google Plus) in the last couple of weeks, we can (as a ballpark estimate, and yes this is the 'dirty' part) attribute the rest of the increase (5.76% or ~9 Billion USD) to the perceived increase in value created by Google Plus!

9 Billion USD is HUGE! That's - well - a tad more than an entire Twitter![Twitter is valued at USD 8 billion going by the latest 400 million USD round it has raised] Facebook's latest valuation as per the last auction held by SharesPost (which happened to be on 7th July 2011) was 87.5 Billion USD. This value has remained flat as against the auction previous to this - which was on 23rd June 2011.

Now, the value created by Google Plus for the Google shareholders is not out of thin air - it is at the cost of other social networks (which effectively means Facebook). So shouldn't we see an equivalent (close to 9 Billion USD) drop in Facebook's valuation? [Assuming it's a zero sum game we should - unless we are seeing significantly new and previously unexplored possibilities with Google Plus.]

However, even Facebook has had an 'awesome' feature launch in the past week - the Video Chat service, which happened on 6th July 2011 (just one day before the bidding for the latest SharesPost auction). So effectively one can say that the value added by this feature has sort of balanced out the value snatched away by Google+. But it's difficult to believe that one single feature can do so much damage control!

It would be interesting to track how the Google stock behaves over the next few weeks, as more and more people try out Google+ (and thus the value created by it becomes more clear). Very curious to see how exactly the Facebook stock fares in the next private stock auctions (and how much of a 'minus' is Google Plus for Facebook!)

Bumped [by the King of 'Goon' Times]

2011-06-11T10:44:00.000-07:00

It was 6.15 AM and I reached the Kingfisher checkin counter at the Mumbai Airport to board a 7.15 AM flight to New Delhi. I showed my ticket and identity proof at the counter. She kept tapping at the keyboard, expressing surprise once in a while. I asked her if there is any problem. She preferred to keep tapping away as she kept staring at the screen - with expressions ranging from confusion to disappointment to distress. I wondered if she had suddenly got an E-mail from her boss saying she was fired.[The airline is known to be under severe debt. But I did not get into calculating the Debt/Equity at that time of the day] She looked towards left and then to the right for help, but both the counters seemed to be too busy (and it didn't seem like they had got any such E-mail).

I heaved a sigh of relief when she finally printed the boarding pass. But as it turned out, the relief turned into outright disbelief, when she looked at the boarding pass, frowned, tore it and threw the pieces in the dustbin!

I was shocked. It definitely did not seem like she had got a pink slip [no pun intended]. She finally blurted it out. "There are no seats available. The flight is overbooked". The tables seemed to have turned. It was now my job that suddenly seemed to be in danger (did I mention the purpose of the visit was a business meeting!)

I protested. "How is this even possible!". "I have a valid ticket!". "I have a valid identity proof" "I reached the counter well before time" "There is nothing that I have done wrong which justifies me being denied boarding" (okay, except possibly the fact that I chose to fly Kingfisher)

I so hoped that she would say - "Okay I was just kidding, since there is anyway some 15 minutes more for boarding. And since there is no one behind you in this queue, thought would play a small prank to pass time. Here's your boarding pass!"

I was in the real world though. And airline counter staff aren't known to be particularly funny in the real world. I asked her "So what next?". She said "The next flight is at 8.10 AM. We can get you a seat in that".

I said "That is not an option. I have a meeting." (I was hoping some persistence would help)

She tapped at her keyboard for a while and confirmed that no other airline to Delhi had any empty seats, and also that the next best option was the 8.10 AM Kingfisher to Delhi.

I didn't have a choice but to wait for the 8.10 flight. The issue escalating to higher authorities did not help. They all said the same thing. And as I later found out, it was not just me, but 3/4 others who had also got bumped off the same flight.

But now that the visit is done and I am back in Mumbai, I thought I should just check with the airlines and let them hear some music. Music was what they made me hear though (quite literally), as I called the helpline number and the Kingfisher Airlines jingle started playing. [On a side note, it's a good strategy to have a melodious and soothing jingle while the customer waits for 'customer care executive' - since there is a good chance that it might soften that customer's attack.]

I am yet to go past the jingle stage though, since the elusive 'customer care executive' has not picked up the call yet. Have sent them a mail and am waiting for a response.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Nevertheless, dear reader, what has your experience been with getting bumped off flights? What sort of compensation (if at all) is generally provided by the airlines? Isn't it wrong on the part of the airlines to overbook in the first place (considering there could be a situation - however slim the chance might be - that all passengers would turn up and none of them can afford to go late?)

[Disclaimer: The views expressed are purely as a customer of the service]

Update (June 30, 2011) : Received a cheque of Rs 4000 from Kingfisher Airlines as compensation. The amount is as per DGCA regulations.

LinkedIn IPO - 'Votes' the matter?

2011-05-22T03:08:00.000-07:00

Finally got down to reading the LinkedIn Prospectus and stumbled upon an interesting 'Risk Factor'

The dual class structure of our common stock as contained in our charter documents has the effect of concentrating voting control with those stockholders who held our stock prior to this offering, including our founders and our executive officers, employees and directors and their affiliates, and limiting your ability to influence corporate matters.

Our Class B common stock has 10 votes per share, and our Class A common stock, which is the stock we are offering in this initial public offering, has one vote per share. Stockholders who hold shares of Class B common stock, including our founders, and our executive officers, employees and directors and their affiliates, will together hold approximately 99.1% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock following this offering, and our co-founder and Chair, Reid Hoffman, will control approximately 20.1% of our outstanding shares of Class A and Class B common stock, representing approximately 21.7% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock, following this offering, and therefore will have significant influence over the management and affairs of the company and over all matters requiring stockholder approval, including election of directors and significant corporate transactions, such as a merger or other sale of our company or its assets, for the foreseeable future.

...

Future transfers by holders of Class B common stock will generally result in those shares converting to Class A common stock, which will have the effect, over time, of increasing the relative voting power of those holders of Class B common stock who retain their shares in the long term. If, for example,Mr. Hoffman retains a significant portion of his holdings of Class B common stock for an extended period of time, he could, in the future, control a majority of the combined voting power of our Class A and Class B common stock. As a board member, Mr. Hoffman owes a fiduciary duty to our stockholders and must act in good faith in a manner he reasonably believes to be in the best interests of our stockholders. As a stockholder, even a controlling stockholder, Mr. Hoffman is entitled to vote his shares in his own interests, which may not always be in the interests of our stockholders generally.

Why this makes sense is that an investor coming in an IPO, (generally) would care much lesser about the voting rights than the Pre IPO shareholders (the founding team and the VCs). And the best part is, all shareholders are rewarded with more voting rights if a Pre IPO shareholder goes for an exit (since her Class B shares get auto-converted to Class A, thus the percentage voting rights for the existing investors increase). In fact, a typical retail investor would probably not mind more 'control' in the hands of a proven management (the Class B shareholders). But would getting less voting rights be actually a 'good' thing for the small investor category? Not really, as technically the 'risk' of the 'control' being in the hands of a certain few also is not necessarily a good thing.

Come to think of it, the differential voting rights could be very useful for startups going for crowdfunding - since the 'crowd' would probably be okay with getting shares of much less voting rights and thus the founders can have more 'control' over the venture they have started. [Of course, this doesn't hold for angel and VC investors - who would want a say per share equal to that of the founders.] This seems even more appropriate for startups as against mature publicly traded firms, in the latter case the 'crowd' being okay with inferior voting rights could probably also imply that the individual investor is more concerned with making a quick buck rather than staying invested for the long term. In case of startups, since immediate exit opportunities may not be available in any case, there are more chances that the 'crowd' has come in with a long term view.

One of the major criticisms for dual class structures has been about the possibility of the superior voting right holders misusing their powers for corporate matters like executive compensation, mergers and executions, etc. However, in case of early stage startups [Pre Revenue, Pre Profits, or at best marginal profits], such issues would possibly be relatively less relevant as against mature publicly traded (and possibly billion dollar market cap) entities (where chances of greed taking over are higher).

Wonder how much is this tool being already used, but surely looks like tweaking the voting rights structure can give some flexibility that can benefit all parties.

Paying users Vs Paying users

2011-05-07T11:57:00.000-07:00

One of those ‘paying users’ is the ‘conventional’ user who pays for your service. The other, though is just the opposite - you pay the user as a part of your business model! And by ‘user’ I mean the ‘C’ in the typical B2C business (rather in this case –a C2B business).

One such interesting concept that I came across recently and one that falls in the second category is Carpaisa. Their tag line says it all – “Brand your car and get paid”. The user (a car owner) registers with Carpaisa, after which one of the many registered advertisers would put up a vinyl sticker ad on the car, the car owner would keep the ad on his car for a certain period of time, and the advertiser would pay the car owner depending on certain predecided parameters (Carpaisa, ofcourse would get a cut out of the deal)

This somehow reminded me of mGinger – a service where users can register to get paid for receiving promotional SMSes. I had registered with mGinger a long time back (have not exactly got rich yet though!)

The commonality between the two is that the user registers with the service purely with the intention of making money (without much of an effort). In case of mGinger, the effort is actually zilch, all you need to do is be ready to receive a few SMSes everyday. And the best part is, no one really knows that you are – well - earning a few bucks this way (if at all you do)!

However, in case of Carpaisa, there is a big difference. It is not an online/mobile promotion any more, but a promotion in the physical world. The user’s car will actually be doubling up as a brand ambassador for the advertiser company. And well, everyone on the road will (obviously!) know about it (that precisely was the advertiser’s intention in the first place). However, my sense is that it might be a bit awkward for many to put up an ad on their cars.

The basic theme in both the services is to lure users into registering by showing them an easy way of making money (not that anything is wrong with it). But the users have nothing else on their mind really! (Oh that also reminds me of SpeakAsia – the online survey site where they claim to pay users for filling surveys– they are even showing TV Commercials these days!).

Money being the only driver for the userbase is somehow not a very comfortable feeling for me. What’s your take?

Incubator or B-School?

2011-04-16T03:58:00.001-07:00

Came across this piece of news recently about JGI Ventures floating a Rs 500 Cr startup fund. JGI Ventures is a part of the Bangalore based education group Jain Group of Institutions. The 'eye catching' part of the news - however - is not that. It is what appears in the second paragraph -

Budding entrepreneurs would be able to undertake a 30-month postgraduate course for a fee of Rs.30 lakh under JGI iDEA, or Incubating and Developing Entrepreneurial Ability.

This made me curious and I went through the programme brochure. They have chalked out a comprehensive 30 month course which covers subjects across domains (Finance, Marketing, IT etc) - and also includes some 'International Exposure' to make your business plan 'global'.

Now, at first sight, it sounds more like a B School programme (and a damn expensive B School programme at that!). Only difference is that a B-School programme typically ends with Campus Placements. This won't.

And if it sounds like a typical incubator, then the fact that there is a fees of Rs. 30 lakhs makes it 'different'. Moreover, one need not even have a business idea in the head to be a part of the programme. As the brochure reads -

Having a pre-conceived business idea will be a part of this process but will not be a mandatory criteria for selection. While aptitude is important, the primary focus of the selection process is to assess your attitude and passion to become an entrepreneur

In fact, this is in stark contrast to PayPal Co-Founder and Facebook early investor Peter Thiel's 20 Under 20 programme where he wants to "invest upto $100,000" in 20 Under 20 kids and "teach them about entrepreneurship".

Is this just an attempt at a new B-School trying to position itself differently (with a sweetener of a Rs 500 Cr startup fund at the end of the course replacing the traditional campus placements). And if one thinks of it as an incubator, then doesn't the huge fees upfront remove the incentives for the 'mentor' to really mentor like an investor?

Moreover, the well chalked out structure of the program - while it looks impressive on a brochure - might not be what is required. For example, not everyone would really require a visit to seven different countries to crystallize a business plan. So at least there could have been an option to pick and chose parts of the course (and thus also cut down on the course expenses).

Certainly there are lots of aspects that pique curiosity. But still, 30 lakhs?

Marketing in Product UI

2011-03-26T07:33:00.001-07:00

Just got myself a Tata Photon+. Was rather surprised when I saw the Interface for the first time. Here's a screenie of how it looks.

The two images on the left and right turn out to be hyperlinks to this page - which keeps giving me a 'Connection Timed Out'!

Now then, the fact that I am seeing the UI of your product/service means that I have already bought your product/service (if not all, then at least in most cases). Even if I have not, at least I am in a position to click on 'Connect' - and check out the product myself. Basically, I (as a user) am in a stage where my (repeat) purchase would depend more on your product/service performance - and the claims on the left and right ends of the interface - if anything, are only going to annoy me whenever the service fails to live upto my expectations.

And if you still insist on inserting your ad images in your own product UI, then please put high resolution images so that at least the text is legible :P

Angels in the Crowd

2011-03-25T22:48:00.000-07:00

Of late there has been a growing buzz in the early stage investments space – lots of seed stage funds, incubators and entrepreneur mentoring platforms have come up – which is definitely a very encouraging sign. An interesting innovation in this area is the advent of crowd funding platforms for startups, which – simply put – allow the crowd (people like you and me) to participate in the early stage funding process. [You can give GrowVC a whirl in case you haven’t already – a global platform that connects entrepreneurs with funders and mentors. Another similar example is AngelList. In a way, SecondMarket also allows one to get a piece of the pie of private unlisted firms, although it is more of secondary sale]

Crowd funding for startups is undoubtedly an exciting phenomenon – as it turns the traditional investing model on its head – wherein typically the ‘smaller’ investor comes in only when the company becomes ‘larger’ – large enough to have got listed on a stock exchange with all the regulatory hurdles cleared – thus making sure that the ‘small’ investor’s interest is safeguarded (as it is not efficient for people like you and me to perform a thorough due diligence of a company to invest an amount as small as say Rs. 10,000.).

The big plus of such a concept is for the startups themselves – they get a platform to showcase their product/service, and also a forum where they can get a general perception of how good their business model is according to the ‘crowd’ (Although the ‘crowd’ – who are mostly investors – may not really be the ‘end customers’ for the startups – so it is possible that even the ‘crowd’ may not be able to appreciate the solution that the startup is intending to provide). Not to forget, of course, the main objective – which is to get themselves some funding!

From the funders’ point of view, apart from being an opportunity for ‘small’ investor to be part of the early stage investment space, it also creates a pool for early stage funds to build a pipeline of deal flow.

There are big challenges to be overcome though. For one, the platforms have to strike the right balance between the following two extremes
- Potential investors ending up NOT investing in startups – because it may not make sense to invest a lot of time to study the startup/entrepreneur/ business model – given the amount they want to invest is so small [As against, angels/seed stage funds – who spend a lot of time to understand the startup and the entrepreneur, but also invest a substantial amount]
- Potential investors following a herd mentality – and ending up (frivolously?) investing small amounts, but in large numbers [GroupOn/Facebook Valuations on SecondMarket?]

Moreover, the Capital Market regulators would also come into picture – making the regulatory environment more stringent (which is of course, good in a way!) [The SEC has already shown its inquisitiveness towards the SecondMarket transactions!]

We have already seen the rise and (relative) fall of the Microfinance industry. We probably need to keep a check to make sure the ‘Microequity’ concept sees a comparatively smooth sailing.

The 'Stop Loss' Trigger

2011-03-02T09:47:00.000-08:00

Comparing starting your own venture with an investment in the stock market is not fair at all. But, there is one concept in the stock market jargon that I feel has some significance for an entrepreneur. A ‘stop loss’ – in simple terms – is a valuable tool (trader’s can’t do without it – but novice investors unfortunately do not use it that often) which helps you keep a cap on the losses. So in case you buy a stock for Rs 100 with the (obvious) expectation that the stock price will rise after you buy it, and unfortunately some event occurs which your diligent analysis could obviously not predict (disturbance in Libya / 2G scam / your investee company’s CEO quits), a stop loss at say Rs 90 would have helped you to keep the possible losses in check.

Coming back to our analogy, a stop loss is essentially an acceptance that as an investor, I could be wrong – and in case I am wrong, rather than throwing good money after bad (‘averaging down’ as is the tendency with many investors) – I might be better off cutting my losses. Thus, for an entrepreneur, a stop loss (and here the loss is not just a ‘capital loss’, but also a lot of ‘time’ and ‘emotional’ loss – which is far more heartbreaking) would be deciding at what time to stop pursuing the idea in case things are not shaping up as expected. In the startup where I worked before, we kept hopping from developing one product to another as we realized why our products may not work. I wonder if it was insufficient analysis of the market or a ‘conformation bias’ that stopped us from quitting early (or not getting into it at all). Similar is the case with one of my close friends who started with something which did not work out and then did something totally different and now he is into something entirely different as compared to the earlier two ventures.

A sense (and the guts) to accept you are wrong is important. Though it might sound like ‘quitting’ (which is generally not taken in a positive sense), you at least live to fight another day!

Cross posted on IdeaBing

Value of an Idea

2011-01-29T19:10:00.000-08:00

This post featured on Ideabing

Many successful internet ventures are based on the simple concept of connecting buyers and sellers - eBay allows people to buy and sell stuff over the internet , JustDial makes it easy for local service providers to reach out to customers, Job Portals (Naukri, Monster, Timesjobs) connect job seekers with employers, Property Sites (99acres, Indiaproperty) connect property buyers with property sellers, Platforms like SecondMarket connect buyers and sellers of private company stocks, and so on. The idea is to find a niche (except eBay which is the most generic) and then build a forum that connects people around that niche – taking care of all the requirements specific to that niche . The value addition for users is tremendous - it creates a platform where information is exchanged about the supply and demand of the object in question - eventually resulting in a price that tends to be fair for both parties.

The context of this post is the recently launched OpenInvo - a platform for buying and selling ideas. The proposition here is that people like you and me can post their business ideas on a forum - and parties interested in executing the same can 'buy' the ideas. The prospect is superexciting – now you have a market for something as intangible as a thought in your head! Of course, as OpenInvo explains, the ideas on ‘Sale’ could be in various stages – from a mere three lines of concept to a fully thought out plan to partial execution – and the value of the idea would vary accordingly. The buyers, OpenInvo expects, would mostly be companies looking out for new ideas in their domains of interest and having the financial muscle to execute.

That apart, what makes me curious is as a seller of an idea – how will you decide for how much will you sell an idea for! The very fact that you are putting your idea for sale shifts the power to the buyer (if you believe it in so much, why don’t you execute it yourself?). This is what makes this concept different from Angel Investments where the ‘Idea Owner’ is only seeking funding and mentoring and not an outright sale. Also it is really difficult to claim ‘owning’ an idea – that is where execution wins. Execution is tangible – something for which you can demand value. Ideas, if not backed by execution, are (mostly) worth next to nothing.

Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see if OpenInvo makes it to the list of ‘successful online market places’ I listed earlier.

Stay humble, (and) stay bullish!

2010-04-10T00:25:00.000-07:00

Have written this as a guest post for Stratessence

Last year while I was doing my MBA I got an opportunity to work with a for-profit online social venture. This startup was founded two years back, and the co founders had their own jobs – so basically this was a side-project which they wished to carry on (since they had started it, but now were a tad busy with their jobs).They chose a handful of us B School students to work with them. Needless to say, we were quite kicked about working on this. However, it did not quite work out as expected. From this experience in particular and a few other related experiences in general, here are a few tripping points that I believe entrepreneurs should watch out for!

· Don’t let early success get into your head! During the first couple of months of launch you are bound to see very promising looking registrations/usage numbers. But understand that a big part of this is purely due to the affection of your family and friends, as well as the novelty factor attached to any new ‘cool’ looking business plan! It is very easy to get carried away by all the sweet talk about your product, but again take all those ‘sweets’ with a pinch of ‘salt’ ;) . A positive start is by no means a validation of your business plan!

· Launch only when ready, even if it takes time! Making your product public when you yourself are aware of major issues is like putting up an ‘in a relationship with’ status update on Facebook just because you have a crush on that person – bound to be disastrous unless the ‘crush’ (or in our case the user) is totally sold out on you (an assumption fraught with peril)

· Make sure at least one person is working full time with the startup – else, IMHO, the momentum just gets lost somewhere. The side-project would eventually (and sadly) get pushed off the sidelines!

· And finally, be a bit shameless in asking for feedback, be humble enough to take the criticism, and be flexible enough to incorporate changes which you might not have thought of in your plan A!

It is the period after the first launch that I believe is the acid test for any Entrepreneur. The joy and pride should take a backseat while receptiveness and humility should do the driving!

Local Train ka 'suffer'

2010-04-02T01:21:00.000-07:00

Something that i wrote long back (2005) for the VJTI College magazine...but still very relevant, and I guess it will always be (was reminded of this when travelling in the local train yesterday!)

सुबह सुबह में चल दिया
फिर एक बार college की ओर
Weather report थी "bright and sunny"
पर बादल छाए थे घनघोर

पर जब पहुंचा में
तो देखा train थी दो मिनट late
खुश हुआ में यह जानकर
सोचा करूंगा थोडा wait

इसी बीच train आती दिखी
सब लोग हो गए तैयार
Bag आगे, sleeves ऊपर
मैंने भी किया challenge स्वीकार

Train रुकने से पहले ही
लोगों की शुरू हो गयी मशक्कत
मैंने भी एक को दायाँ हाथ मारा
और bar पकड़ा करके हिम्मत

पीछे वालों के धक्के की बदौलत
में आराम से पहुँच गया अन्दर
"शाबाश" मैंने अपने आप से कहा
क्योंकि जो जीता वही सिकंदर! (:P)

इतने में ट्रेन शुरू हुई
और as usual शुरू हुआ लोगों का झगडा
"क्या Boss, धक्का क्यों मारा?"
"चुप कर, वरना दूंगा एक झापड़ तगड़ा!"

और फिर शुरू हूए
यात्रियों के बीच के चर्चे
"अरे यार salary कितनी कम,
और कितने ज्यादा है यह खर्चे!"

"गांगुली को तोह निकाल ही दो*,
उसे कुछ भी ठीक से नहीं आता!"
"यार stock market का क्या हाल है,
कल फायदा हुआ या घाटा?"

"अरे भाई मिठाई खाओ,
में बाप बन गया हूँ!"
"मुह खोल देता हूँ, तुम खुद ही खिला दो,
में तो चारों तरफ से घिर गया हूँ"

इतनी interesting बातों में
पता ही नहीं चला कब स्टेशन आया
और फिर आराम से उतरा में
कुछ धक्का दिया, और कुछ खाया

और फिर मैंने सोचा
ज़िन्दगी भी तो ट्रेन का एक सफ़र है
Enjoy करो तो है यह अमृत
न करो तो फिर यह ज़हर है

ज़िन्दगी में भी कई लोग
हमें हँसाते हैं, रुलाते हैं!
किसी station पर चढ़ते हैं
और किसी पर उतर जाते हैं!

* PS: My sincere apologies to all dada fans :P

Prisoners at large

2010-03-13T11:19:00.000-08:00

A jury in front. Questions. His nervous answers. More questions. Finally Kabir pleaded guilty. He had managed to keep slipping away nicely for a few years since he had got trapped into this field. But now all the evidence was against him. And as expected, they sentenced him to jail.

It sounded scary. But then, somehow he couldn’t help feel a bit excited! This was going to be his very first time. In his profession, it is hard to keep escaping forever. And a prison is a nice place to catch up with some pros in this business (who unfortunately had one bad day at the office when they got caught!)

There he was. They took him to his cell. And there was another guy already there. A newbie he was. Poor chap got caught in his first week. Never mind, I would teach him a trick or two, Kabir thought. And there were many more. They were to suffer together. They made them work through the day and the night. Rehabilitation - they called it. Non sense – thought Kabir and co.

The traces of excitement in Kabir were beginning to die down. But then gradually he did start learning the tricks of the trade from his fellow inmates. And there was so much to learn! From conning the common man on the street to duping governments! Someone or the other had done it. And done it well. I want to try it all out once I am outta here, thought Kabir.

The every day pain seemed so much more bearable now. In fact it became a routine. Fellow inmates soon became close buddies. Life is actually not too bad here, thought Kabir.

Soon rumours started doing the rounds in the cells. The prison was going to be under attack, they said. The big gangs had a few of their men in here. And they were just looking for a chance to rescue them. Kabir, like others, started dreaming of the world outside. I just need to get out, he thought.

And one night they could hear the firing. The security was never going to be strong enough. The fight lasted for a couple of days, and seeing his chance, soon Kabir was out, just like many others.

They are out in the open. Much smarter than what they were when they went inside. The world is not safe!

Aha moment!

2009-08-02T18:57:00.000-07:00

Classes can hardly ever be refreshing. 9 AM ones even less so. This one was just another such early morning class when I had dragged myself to the classroom.What more, it was a Sunday morning - a time when the majority of the sane world is hours away from getting off the bed. And then if you have taken an elective which only a few others have, then all of you put together are just too few in number to take the liberty to doze off in class.

Nevertheless, amidst strings of naps that lasted a few seconds (usually the times when the Professor is busy writing on the board), what struck me sometime in the middle of the lecture was this amazing concept that the Professor talked about. It was an "Options and Futures" class (scary stuff - isn't it! Nice way to brag on one's own blog!)- and the Professor was talking about the various ways one can use Stock Index Futures (I can easily imagine a big chunk of readers who have got until this point stopping right here! However, if you have ever invested in stocks / plan to do so in future, its worth continuing reading - trust me!)

Most of the times, when we are investing in the stock of a company, we are betting on the company to do well. What we tend to forget is that as we bought the stock, we not only took up the risk that the company may or may not do well, but also the risk that the market-in-general may or may not do well. Even if we do have that in mind, we usually do nothing about it. (Frankly, the "we" here means novice investors - which includes me!).

So, for example, if you invest in Company A purely because you think it will do well, and say some event occurs which brings the whole market down (Government toppled - War with Pakistan - etc), pulling down our dear Company A with it, then you make a loss even when your view on the company was probably correct. (The market-in-general say went down by 20%, while Company A went down by 5%. Hence the Company A has outperformed the market - but you still make a loss - you would have been much better off parking that money in a Savings Bank account!)

One way to ensure that your money is precisely where you want it to be is to go long on the stock and short on the index futures.(For the benefit of those who could not get head or tail of the last sentence - it simply means that you bet on the stock to do well and so you buy it now, and at the same time you also bet on the market-in-general to not do well and so you get into a contract saying - "I will make money if the market does not do well after 3 months, and lose if it does").

What this ensures is that the gains (or losses) you make in the stock purely because of the market 's performance in general are cancelled out by the losses (or gains) you make in the the contract. Thus you are left with the gains (or losses) which can be purely attributed to the stock! So, the investment is as good as your view on the company (and the company alone - not the market-in-general) with which you wanted to invest in the first place.

And I was awake for the rest of the class!

Tie Un-Tie

2009-06-03T07:11:00.000-07:00

The absolute disgust of having to wear a tie everyday (okay, except Fridays and working Saturdays – Thank God for small mercies) to office during the last two months has made the rebel inside me wake up and give this serious issue some even more serious thought.

So this is how it works – you wrap a long piece of cloth around your neck, making loops and knots and finally push one end down and the knot up so that it is looks the way it should look.

In the evening you remove the damn thing off.

And in between, the thing hangs down your neck.

This is the thing which makes you look formal – the thing which symbolises that you really mean business – that you are very serious about your work and not taking it casually.

Well, I am somehow not too convinced. If that indeed is the case – then why is a tie not a part of the formal dress code for women. Do they not need to look like they mean business? (Disclaimer: I hope it is understood that this is a rhetoric question – I am not to be blamed if some highly proactive organization introduces ties as a formal dress code for women)

So, I put on my thinking cap and tried to imagine the various ways in which the useless looking piece of fabric can be put to some use for the good of this world. So here goes the list.

· For wiping sweat off your face – the positioning of a tie is really strategic (oh, physical positioning that is – just in case you thought I am taking this opportunity to give some marketing gyan). I mean how cumbersome it is to get your hand inside your pockets, take out your handkerchief, do the needful, and put it back in the pocket. The tie saves a lot of time and serves the same purpose.
o Counter-argument – Offices are usually Air Conditioned. So no sweat!

· For ensuring a clean nose when suffering from cold – this point actually stems from the counterargument mentioned above. Sometimes “hot and cold areas in the same office” (no, this blog is not sponsored by Blue Star) can lead to a running nose. The convenience of using a tie in this case is similar to that mentioned earlier.
o Counter-argument – A tie can prove to be inadequate if the severity of the running nose is very high – the much larger surface area of the handkerchief scores over the long but thin tie.

· For wiping off tears when you get bashed by your boss – this particular use just fits so well in the “formal” office scenario.
o Counter-argument – similar to one mentioned for running-nose. A tie may just not be adequate enough.

· To be used as a leash by your boss – this again fits well in the office scenario.
o Counter-argument - Why should the biggest boss in the office wear a tie? Agreed he would be meeting clients/ partners etc who would want to have a leash around him, but that does not happen every day.

The strong counter arguments for each possible use that I could think of lead me to believe that we are just following some silly norm which does not make even a little bit of sense. It is high time we un-tie ourselves from the unnecessary knots we have got ourselves into !

Fin's loss is Mar's gain!

2008-12-02T09:47:00.000-08:00

Following is an (edited) version of a chat log between me and my classmate Vikash...

...

Vikash: waise ab maine decide kar liya hai. I'll major in Marketing

me: KYAA?

KYAAAAA?

KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?

KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?

Vikash: bas

bassss

bassssssssssssss

me: yeh sunne se pehle mera GTalk crash kyon nahi ho gaya!
Vikash : Naseeb ko kaun badal sakta hai. My expectations from cost accounting are going loyyyyyyyer. Is it not? I have started appreciating that typically Marketing is what I am made for.
me: Kya yeh tera aakhri faisla hai?
Vikash : Haan
me : par tu toh hamesha finance finance..
Vikask : kehta tha. Par jab utne hi paise, aur dher sa aaraam, jab mujhe Marketing mein mile. Tab koi woh kyon le, yeh na le
me: Maan gaye..
Vikash : Kisey?
me: Aap ki paarkhi nazar, aur marketing ka asar. Donon ko!

Update: Vikash got placed in Wipro (Corporate Finance)

Murphy's law strikes thrice!!!

2008-10-20T01:40:00.000-07:00

Had a bad day in the marketing class today. Our professor keeps a surprise quiz when the number of absentess crosses a certain threshold - but the quiz is supposed to be very simple so that all those who are present are rewarded for showing themselves up.

Now then - it was one of those days. The quiz was on a case which we were supposed to do for the class today. The questions were (as I later found out) straightforward.Moreover, it was an open-case quiz, meaning you could make full use of the resources. But then if something can go wrong, then it surely will, and Mr. Murphy ensured all the three doors of escape for me were closed.

1. I had not read the case, had no clue about it.
2. In a hurry for the morning class, I took the wrong Marketing book with me. I spent the first 3 minutes of the 7 minute test trying to figure out where the case was - only to realise I wouldn't find it in that book even if I spent my entire lifetime searching there.
3. For once (probably because of the large number of absentees) there was noone sitting next to me

I might as well have slept off in my room!;)

Violent me!

2008-09-17T09:48:00.000-07:00

I close my eyes...
..and imagine...
the person in front of me is tied on to a chair,and I am splashing hot boiling water on his face...
he minces in pain...
but I am not going to show any mercy..sorry..
next I make him lie on a slab of ice..he screams ... but I just smile a wicked smile...there's worse in store for you mister..
..then I make him travel in an auto rickshaw in Mumbai which is following the exhaust of a truck all the time...and the stream of exhaust is directed right at his face..his hands are tied so he can't even cover his face..all he can do is cough...
...then I make him stand on a railway platform in Mumbai at 7.30 in the morning..and make him board each local train and alight it on the same platform...the mad crowd does the rest..abusing,kicking and punching him at all places..
..and then...it just keeps getting worse..

"Mandar..I think we are done for today, you can open your eyes now"..says the dentist.

I open my eyes,and smile in relief.."done for today"..three golden words I was waiting to hear since the last hour an hour..a period in which I made the dentist go through so many different interesting things in mind...

A root canal is one of those things which you would not want even your worst enemy to experience. And unfortunately, I have had two in the last year. Somehow my teeth behave rather strangely - they skip all the intermediate stages of decay (that I now have by heart what with staring at those posters waiting outside for my turn at the dentist's clinic) and start paining only when root canal is the only solution left - and I have to find more creative ways of punishing the dentist while he is operating on me.

Nevertheless, the visit I had at dentist's yesterday was by far the best ever I have ever had. For the first time I went to the dentist for a "routine checkup" - and not with holding one side of my jaw. It was over even before I thought it started - the dentist gave me a clean chit after having a look at my teeth. And I was more happy than I was at that point in our XLRI adventure trip - when we successfully built our own raft, touched the other end of a lake in windy and rainy conditions, and came back with the same number of passengers as we had started with.

So the moral of the story is - brush twice a day to keep the dentist away - a small piece of advice that we have been hearing since childhood but hardly does anyone adhere to. This -as you must have observed in the first part of this blog - is one of the reasons for the increasing violence in this world. This world would be so much more peaceful if only everyone would brush twice a day! ;)

Isn't it Saturday yet?

2008-07-03T09:18:00.000-07:00

Place : XLRI Hostel
Time : 7.00 am,Thursday

Its been 20 days since arriving here.The alarm rings (In my room you will find it ringing every now and then - the "alarm bells" are always ringing ! ).I wake up, and see my roomie has also woken up because of the alarm.And I ask him - "Isn't it Saturday today?" . Frustated,he shouts back "IT'S THURSDAY!!!"

Weekends!Why dont they come a few more times in a week!

Tamil ille

2008-05-29T07:26:00.000-07:00

In keeping with my love of talking about public transport,here I am going to tell you about my maiden auto riksha ride on my maiden trip to chennai last week.:).

Me and a few of my school buddies decided to meet at Ispahani Center (a mall) in Nungambakkam.I had no other means to reach there , but to take an auto.So i ventured out in the hot Chennai Sun looking for one.

I waved at the first empty auto that I saw,and well,it stopped.The driver wearing a shirt and a lungi looked at me and said something in tamil.

Me: Nungambakkam?

He: ########################## (Something fairly long in tamil,couldnt make out a single word)

Me:Tamil ille..English?Hindi?

He:(Smiling ) #############################

Me : (whats he saying...surely he is saying a lot of things.Even a shake of the head would have answered my question) Ispahani Center?Nungambakkam?Gemini Bus stop? ( a few keywords that I had asked my buddies to enrich me with)

He:############## HUNDRED RUPEES ############

Me : (finally..seems like I have a deal here..but why does he have to speak so much knowing that I cant understand tamil?) Thanks..(and I sit in the rick)

The meter in the rick looked cool..the readings were digital (as opposed to the mechanical meters in mumbai ricks).But then how does it matter.They dont use the meters anyway in Chennai.

After about half an hour of travelling,the auto driver slowed down and looked at me..

He: ########### nungambakkam ###########

Me:Ispahani Center?

He( his expression said that he did not know where that Ispahani Center is) ######### Gemini ##########

So we had come to Gemini,now the task was to find Ispahani Centre.It would be close by ,as I had been told.So I paid him 100 bucks and got out of the rick.

I stop a passer by.

Me:Excuse me,Where is Ispahani Center?
PB1: pata nahi jee,mein yahan naya aaya hoon
(oops..finally someone who understands hindi...but he doesnt know the place..what bad luck!)

I move on to the next passer by.
Me:Excuse me,Where is Ispahani Center?
PB2:###########
Me:Tamil ille..English??Hindi???
PB2:(smiling)#####(and he shows me a direction)

I start moving in that direction.Suddenly there is a shout (in tamil) from behind.Its PB2 shouting something at me.He is pointing towards a group of people near me.I am like ..What???He continued pointing towards those people (who are not looking at either of us).Finally I understood what he wanted to say.He did not know where the place is!!!.He had just told me to go and ask those people sitting there!Oh God!!

Fortunately,a few in that group of people could speak english,and as it turned out , knew where Ispahani Center was as well.After a few right and left turns (as explained by them),I finally reach the place.

Later on while reciting this entire incident to my buddies,I came to know that "tamil ille" actually means "there is no tamil" or "tamil does not exist". :P Ooops

BEST does a Twenty20

2008-03-08T00:02:00.001-08:00

Seems like its the season of goodies from the government...With our Finance Minister coming out with a budget full of niceties - tax slabs increased , lower excise rates etc etc.Mumbai's very own BEST buses have come up with a great way of making an average Mumbaikar happy.They have come up with a Rupees 20 ticket that allows you to travel in any BEST Bus for that day.

There already was this concept of a "full-day-ticket".But it was priced at Rs.40.Now this did not make any economic sense for most people.As the longest one way route in a normal BEST bus would still not be more than Rs.20.So only those who travel a lot - changing lots of buses in between - would have been able to benefit from it.But now its a totally different story.With a full-day-ticket for Rs.20 , even a person who travels everyday with a one way expense of Rs.11 stands to save more.Add to that the problem of loose change would be scaled down to a huge extent.Another good thing that they have come up with is more AC buses and at a reduced fare at that.All this does augur well as I believe that BEST in particular , and public transport in general is one of the ways out to reducing the ever increasing traffic + pollution problems in this city.Agreed that the number of BEST buses need to increase by a huge margin.Buses (just like local trains) in peak hours are too crowded and passenger safety is thrown out of the window.We need more buses please!!!Carpooling is another great way of reducing the number of vehicles on the road.And with four wheelers becoming cheaper , we might as well see the Nanos replacing the autos.;)

Turn on the Radio!

2008-01-10T09:01:00.000-08:00

Radio is fresh.Radio is in the phone.Radio is great to have with you in your commute.I often listen to it when traveling in the morning.Earlier it only used to be RED FM and Radio Mirchi for me but since a couple of months I have started trying out others - Radio One,Radio City and Big FM.After giving ear (literally!) to each of them for a while I can say that RED FM seems to be miles ahead of others (at least in the morning),and the reason for that is the RJ of their breakfast show - Malishka. She is more effervescent ,versatile and confident than her peers from other stations , and the distance is real huge."Red FM Shendi" is a real cracker - the radio version of the good old MTV bakra!and thats when she is at her best,calling up innocent victims who dont know they are on radio and doing mimicries with amazing ease.Radio One has a similar section called "Ghanta Singh",but thats no where compared to Shendi.Red FM has fillers called "Kamla ka Hamla" and "Angry Ganesan" which I find absolutely disgusting ( thats when I switch over to other stations).Radio Mirchi's RJ Tarun is not bad too.Radio One has this nice idea of having multiple RJs conduct a session together,so its more like a chit chat than one person talking all the time.Others havent impressed me so far.So next time you are bored while traveling,just bajate raho!

Show the world you are trying...

2007-11-24T08:16:00.000-08:00

..like yesterday when i saw my bus running away from me and instinctively decided to chase it.Well,its not easy crossing a road amidst traffic,dodging street dogs and randomly (slow) moving people.The bus moved fairly quickly but I was equal to the task,knowing that its just a matter of pushing myself until the next speedbreaker (these are the only times when I love those).But fate had something else in store for me,the bus driver seemed to be in one of those moods when he imagines himself to be flying a plane,and the speed was not slow enough for me to risk trying to grab on the door handle.The bus gained speed and I lost,and it seemed like I would have to be content with the next bus.A gentleman on a motorbike stopped beside me.Seems like he had seen my 100 meter sprint and was convinced I will be the next Olympic medallist for India,he offered to drop me to the next bus stop after overtaking the bus.I got the bus I wanted,as Paulo Coelho says in The Alchemist, "when you really want something to happen, the whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true"!!!

Theatre fest at IIT B

2007-10-05T22:04:00.000-07:00

It was play time at iit with
the 2nd iit mumbai theater fest starting the day before yesterday. My expectations were moderate as we went in for the plays on the first day of the fest.

Day1 had three plays.It started with a 15 minute solo performance called "Kutte" by Pramod Pathak.He plays a man totally frustrated by dogs and goes on to describe their various kinds.So you have the "tapasvi" types who sleep on the stairs and when someone tries to shove them away mange to lift themselves up to a feet or two further and then continue with their meditation,and then you have the "shayar" types who send out a long squeak in the middle of midnight and other dogs from various corners appreciate with the "Waah waahs".It was funny actions and funny barkings all the way.

Then there was "Bade bhaisahab" from Munshi Premchand.Frankly I had presumed that it would be sad-type play but it turned out to be a laugh riot.Romi Jaspal and Girish Jain play two brothers studying at a hostel,one five years elder to the other but academically only 3 years ahead.The elder brother is studious and buried in books while the younger is to be mostly found on the playground.The elder scolds the younger every time he sees him not studying,and the younger cant utter a word in front of him.But it so happens that the elder fails in his exams yet again and the younger comes first in his class.The elder gets mad at the younger and starts telling him how difficult the subjects of his standard are.And here starts all the fun.He questions algebra ("Angle ABC aur ACB mein kya antar hai?Agar maine roti daal bhaat khaya ya fir roti bhaat daal kkaaya toh bhi baat toh ek hi hui").He questions history ("pata hai dus tereh ke henry hain aur terah tarah ke charles , ab kaun sa yudh kaun se henry ke waqt hua yeh bhala kaise yaad rakha jaaye").He questions essay-writing ("Ab 'samay ka sadupyog' is par 4 pannon ka nibandh kaise likha jaaye.Samay ka sadupyog karna chahiye aur yeh ek acchi baat hai.bas doh lines hi kaafi hain.Ab is par 4 fullscape panne rangna khud hi samay ka durupyog hai")...

The last one was the most hilarious."Mahroom ki yaad mein" (which at first I read as "Mushroom ki yaad mein") was all about how a friend manages to sell his old bicycle to this guy (Pramod Pathak again) who dreams about seeing the entire town on his new possession.But as he starts using it,he finds each "purja" is "dheela-dhaala" and starts breaking on its way.The best part is as he explains his ride, his "naukar" inacts his situation on the bicycle (with the bicycle being imaginary which made it all the more funny).SO at first the back wheel starts shaking sideways,then the right handle bends,then the seat comes down.....and finally the bicycle rides on him rather than the other way round...

Day 2 had a more serious play..."Ilhaam" (literally means revelation), about a middle aged man who starts behaving in a strange manner.Starts playing with children who don't exist,talking to birds and dancing on music which nobody can hear.It was creepy at times and the lighting effects were great.Frankly some parts were a bit difficult to understand ;).But few dialogues were phenomenal,one of them being..."Maine us hatash vyaqti ki taraf apna haath badhaya.Main us vyaqti ko nahi jaanta tha,par uski hatasha ko jaanta tha.Us vyqti ne mera badhe huey haath thama .Woh vyqti mujhe nahi jaanta tha,mere haath badhane ko jaanta tha.Hum donon saath chalne lage,hum ek doosre ko nahi jaante the,par saath chalne ko jaante the." It was nicely performed with patches of laughter scattered in between...

Nicely organised by the IIT guys,though we dint get the chai and biscuits on day 2 promised on day 1. :P