tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195846312024-02-21T12:26:10.707+05:30workFrontDreams, Pains & Joys.
[ Experiences from my entrepreneurial experiments ]sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.comBlogger246125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-29241859585192785622013-02-16T12:41:00.003+05:302013-02-16T12:41:21.061+05:30Moving (Again)<div class='posterous_autopost'><p> <p style="border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 21.99652862548828px; color: #595959; clear: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px !important; padding: 0px !important;"><a href="http://www.nextbigwhat.com/posterous-shut-down-297/" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #006699; text-decoration: initial; cursor: pointer;"><br />http://www.nextbigwhat.com/posterous-shut-down-297/</a></p> <p style="border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 21.99652862548828px; color: #595959; clear: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px !important; padding: 0px !important;">Given that Posterous will no longer be, decided to move this blog to:</p> <p style="border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 21.99652862548828px; color: #595959; clear: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px !important; padding: 0px !important;"><a href="http://entrypreneurship.wordpress.com/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">http://entrypreneurship.wordpress.com/</a></p> </p> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://entrypreneur.posterous.com/moving-again-66224">workFront</a> </p> </div>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-72525000053502226352013-02-16T12:41:00.001+05:302013-02-16T12:41:01.876+05:30Moving (Again)<div class='posterous_autopost'><p> <p style="border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 21.99652862548828px; color: #595959; clear: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px !important; padding: 0px !important;"><a href="http://www.nextbigwhat.com/posterous-shut-down-297/" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #006699; text-decoration: initial; cursor: pointer;"><br />http://www.nextbigwhat.com/posterous-shut-down-297/</a></p> <p style="border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 21.99652862548828px; color: #595959; clear: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px !important; padding: 0px !important;">Given that Posterous will no longer be, decided to move this blog to:</p> <p style="border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 21.99652862548828px; color: #595959; clear: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px !important; padding: 0px !important;"><a href="http://zenxthinks.wordpress.com/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: #006699; text-decoration: initial; cursor: pointer;">http://zenxthinks.wordpress.com/</a></p> </p> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://entrypreneur.posterous.com/moving-again">workFront</a> </p> </div>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-48069582120554983322013-01-31T20:37:00.001+05:302013-01-31T20:37:41.754+05:30Has ecommerce evolved at all?<div class='posterous_autopost'><p>Naman did a <a href="http://www.nextbigwhat.com/evolution-of-ecommerce-in-india-297/" target="_blank">great post about how the more things change in the ecommerce space in India, how they're going back more to what worked earlier.</a></p> <p>Begs the question - where's the innovation?</p> <p>The offline world has many ready parallels that haven't even started getting explored online. When I think of a purchase, a store profile/segment immediately pops into my head. Some are about VFM, some about quality, some about customer service and follow-up, some about choice, and some about "spending time in the store"! This varies by product/category. Where are those parallels online? What does a store stand for? </p> <p>Then there's the whole "browse" experience. Doing grocery is also a distraction for a boring afternoon for some. How do I discover new stuff? How do I chance upon products I didn't come to buy? How do I quickly compare across 2 different produts/pacjage sizes? How do I check for ingredients? Whom do I ask questions?</p> <p>Of course, products that depend on touch/feel, tryouts, experience-based research are much tougher online.</p> <p>Finally, the offline world offers "extras". A coffee outlet in store/next door. A few books to browse. Neighbours to catch up with. </p> <p>The carrots of "convenience" and "choice" aren't strong enough. Many stores have more choice, and in the Indian context, I usually have multiple options within a 10 minute walk, and most guys deliver.</p> <p>Ecommerce needs to innovate. And quick. Burning a lot of cash and hoping some sticks is way too short sighted.</p> <p>What can they do?</p> <p>1. Curate.Take a stand.</p> <p>Take a call. Say "these are the best phones in category X" - partner with reviewers etc for this, or evolve a democratic tool/model. Take a stand for something healthy, something green, something ethical, something thta's good value. Be visible as batting for the consumer, and making an effort for it.</p> <p>2. Play Consultant.</p> <p>The offline world has learned this well over the last decade. In store service and staff training has improved a lot. One tends to be a little lost when starting to look for a phone/TV/laptop/car tyre/bag/whatever. Play a friend and consultant. Include some crowdsourced wisdom if possible.</p> <p>3. Get back. Stay Involved.</p> <p>Get consumer feedback about products/brands they buy. What worked, what didn't. Be seen to be concerned about the quality of various aspects of the store. Bring in experts and help for conversations, advice around big ticket purchases. "Are you using your TV optiimally?" "How do you keep the battery healthy?" "Recipes to cook healthy".</p> <p>4. Ancilliary Services</p> <p>Stuff breaks, needs repair, tech support, cleaning, maintenance. Make sure you get involved in helping customer derive better value, longer.</p> <p>Its too transactional right now, and that shows in the bargain hunting behaviour the consumer exhibits online. Someone's got to change that.</p> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://entrypreneur.posterous.com/has-ecommerce-evolved-at-all">workFront</a> </p> </div>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-5540429670589206772011-03-27T19:23:00.001+05:302011-03-27T19:23:06.922+05:30the 360<div class='posterous_autopost'><p>desirer. thinker. doer.</p> <p>dreamer. wisher. trier. fighter.</p> <p>builder. seller. doubter. surer.</p> <p>finder. keeper. sharer.</p> <p>seeker. giver. </p> <p>hoper. no-hoper. prayer.</p> <p>fixer. better. wonderer. wanderer.</p> <p>entrepreneur.</p> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://entrypreneur.posterous.com/the-360">workFront</a> </p> </div>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-80881264828391065272011-03-16T09:31:00.000+05:302011-03-16T09:33:57.570+05:30The startup space needs some weight gain<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(66, 64, 55); line-height: 21px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >On a recent thread on India's startup ecosystem vis-a-vis the idea of the startup visa that's doing the rounds, someone mentioned that in the US they saw a lot of support for the underdog - which is what startups are. This support came in the form of users signing up, the biggies willing to work with startups and angels and VCs more readily putting their weight behind ideas.</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px; color: rgb(66, 64, 55); "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><div style="text-align: justify; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">In India, its a tougher battle, to put it mildly.</div><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><div style="text-align: justify; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Most users are less than enthusiastic, and even nervous, about signing up for a startup's service. Unless it is purely (small) transactional with very low risk, or comes as a huge deal, or serves a so-far unserved, desperate need. Anything less than this, and we need the weight of a big brand.</div><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><div style="text-align: justify; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Big enterprise doing business with small guys is the same story - except it needs a much lower risk or a much stronger need. Else, no go.</div><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><div style="text-align: justify; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">I almost don't blame the VCs for following this trend. Few buyers, few users - would you put your money into it ?</div><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><div style="text-align: justify; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">The startups that are working are doing it around transactions. Sell books, tickets. Anything that needs some longer "commitment" falters. </span>It can happen as a grey/white label, or with some smart dealmaking, but else is very very tough. </div><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><div style="text-align: justify; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">How do we solve this, and do it right ?</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><ul style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 15px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><li style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: disc; ">Start with something transactional/low risk. Even if you intend to solve longer term problems, drive stickiness, etc. Tryouts are important.</li><li style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: disc; ">Get a dealmaker or two on your side. Easier said than done, of course :)</li><li style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: disc; ">Do NOT pay users to use stuff. It might give you a spike, but it isn't worth it. Avoid freebies, except for being thankful.</li><li style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: disc; ">Persist :) The curve will take its time. Goes hand in hand with lean-burn too.</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">These are some things startups can do to work around the problem. The core of it - i.e. making startups feel a little more "secure" and "weighty" in the eyes of the user, investor, big-biz, is still an open problem. </div><div style="text-align: justify; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Ideas ?</div></span></span>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-32289475116143794142011-02-20T08:57:00.003+05:302011-02-20T09:02:12.133+05:30Irritation to Go-live in a few hours<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtQ7saKgiJitUEP8VloUD6CxmpYKlygn9PdFNA9aFLJ4YAXVkNttFe0cVo6m5XnQU5qlmdK1-dXgZqJ4RRI7g8AF5y8IDMWjGYseZqgRkfwBhiNY8pXsHJQvIoYiof-pesxx2Y/s1600/dealrater_logo_crafty.png"></a><div style="text-align: justify;">A couple of days ago, got yet-another-email in my inbox announcing deals. As is often the case, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=190970640924855&id=190217527666833">they were either uninteresting/of unclear value or felt like a trap with layers of well disguised fine print</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My first reaction was the usual irritation - the kind you have when a smrt-ass-wannabe tries to take you for a ride and you just manage to spot it in time. But, over lunch which I had in a few minutes later, it occurred to me that I might possibly not be alone in this sea of deal-noise. And that like me, folks naturally have a nose for good, genuine deals which actually made sense.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And as I thought more, it became obvious that the whole definition of a "deal" as a "discounted" offer was flawed. I'd just bought great tyres for my dad's car - even at no discount they were awesome deals compared to the other choices. And we humans, we just know these things, don't we ? Especially Indians - VFM is part of our DNA.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Of course, we find deals everywhere. And the really interesting ones are those that are around us - those in the neighbourhood mall, or with our usual grocer, or favourite diner. Offline, online. Sometimes just a friend selling something they don't need anymore.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So created the easiest thing I could - <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/DealRater/190217527666833">a Facebook page for dealrater</a>. And followed up with a WordPress install with a plugin for voting deals up or down. And then added a Google spreadsheet form so folks could add stuff they found VFM, or a great deal they'd go for themselves.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtQ7saKgiJitUEP8VloUD6CxmpYKlygn9PdFNA9aFLJ4YAXVkNttFe0cVo6m5XnQU5qlmdK1-dXgZqJ4RRI7g8AF5y8IDMWjGYseZqgRkfwBhiNY8pXsHJQvIoYiof-pesxx2Y/s320/dealrater_logo_crafty.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575608979280793522" style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 108px; " /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The site is now up at <a href="http://dealrater.in/">http://dealrater.in.</a> Its a simple blog with some features now, and will grow if my gut feel of folks being better at this, and interested in cutting down deal-noise is vindicated (them being able to find the site is of course part of the testing so help me please :))</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">// Pardon the crappy logo - its a 2 minute job to get started. Will get a fancier, designed one later.</div><div><br /></div><div>All of this took sporadic effort over all of 48 hours. Including some data seeding.</div>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-5247034299378793082011-02-09T20:01:00.000+05:302011-02-09T20:02:27.600+05:30Great vs Profitable Business<div>Purely based on a few stray examples,</div><div><br /></div><div>Is it that for building a really profitable business you usually have to build for common denominators and base desires? Great businesses aren't always immediately wildly profitable. The common denominators are easier to find. </div>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-88191808932026144112011-02-06T09:11:00.000+05:302011-02-06T09:13:24.684+05:30Hot or Not or Whatever Happened to Joy ?<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >There was a time we caught two movies a week, sometimes. We did not always need to know from the reviews beforehand if the movie was "worth watching" - it was more about deriving pleasure and a good time out of whatever we watched. Sometimes we suspended disbelief, sometimes we needed to carry empathy as we went in, sometimes we gave in to feeling spooked, and sometimes it was intensely and deeply intellectual.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >It was not about 0 or 10 - all movies were certainly not reduced to a binary choice. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >"We value our time more" - often heard argument in this context. Really? You'd just catch a movie in the time you spend reading the multitude of reviews and analyses of one. And if you value your time, you'll construct it in different entertaining surprising ways - not just in the mould of one dreary totally expected and conformist superlative.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >The movie reviews (and of course those darned multiplex prices) have killed it. Bigtime.</span></div>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-31277796952028788512011-01-22T10:09:00.001+05:302011-01-22T10:09:22.824+05:30I am in violation of Google's policies! {Shiver}<div class='posterous_autopost'><p><span style="font-family: Trebuchet, Trebuchet MS, Arial, sans-serif; color: #191919; line-height: 20px;"> <div style="text-align: justify;">This is what I saw in the mail this morning:</div> <p /> <div> <blockquote style="line-height: 1.3em; margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 20px;"> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>This message was sent from a notification-only email address that does not</em></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>accept incoming email. Please do not reply to this message.</em></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</em></div> <p /> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>Hello,</em></div> <p /> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>While reviewing your account, we noticed that you are currently displaying</em></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>Google ads in a manner that is not compliant with our policies. For</em></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>instance, we found violations of AdSense policies on pages such as</em></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em><a href="http://entrypreneur.blogspot.com/2009/11/catching-entrepreneurial-bug-side.html.</em">http://entrypreneur.blogspot.com/2009/11/catching-entrepreneurial-bug-side.ht...</a>></em></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>Please note that this URL is an example and that the same violations may</em></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>exist on other pages of your website.</em></div> <p /> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>As stated in our program policies, AdSense publishers may not display</em></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>Google ads on pages with adult or mature content. While we understand that</em></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>it may be challenging to monitor user-generated content, such as comments,</em></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>on your site, we require publishers to check that the webpages containing</em></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>their ad code complies with our program policies.</em></div> <p /> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>Please make any necessary changes to your webpages in the next 72 hours.</em></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>We also suggest that you take the time to review our program policies</em></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>(<a href="https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=48182&stc=aspe-1pp-en">https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=48182&stc=asp...</a>)</em></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>to ensure that all of your other pages are in compliance.</em></div> <p /> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>Once you update your site, we will automatically detect the changes and ad</em></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>serving will not be affected. If you choose not to make the changes to</em></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>your account within the next three days, your account will remain active</em></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>but you will no longer be able to display ads on the site. Please note,</em></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>however, that we may disable your account if further violations are found</em></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>in the future.</em></div> <p /> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>Thank you for your cooperation.</em></div> <p /> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>Sincerely,</em></div> <p /> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>The Google AdSense Team</em></div> <p /> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>Issue ID# 166xxxxx</em></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>----------------</em></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>For more information regarding this warning email, please visit our Help</em></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em>Center:</em></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><em><a href="https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=113058&stc=aspe-ai4-en.">https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=113058&stc=as...</a></em></div> </blockquote> </div> <p /> <div style="text-align: justify;">As far as I remembered, I have not cut-pasted or written or even pointed to any adult content on the web, tho yeah, there's lot which indicates maturity on both the readers' and authors part. Obviously, I was a little flabbergasted. On clicking the culprit link, I realized there were some eastern-script (Chinese?) comments that I could not make head or tail of, and had never noticed, or been notified about!</div> <p /> <div style="text-align: justify;">Especially given that this is on Google's own blogging platform, does this sound like its fair ? Not from where I stand. For one, the algos could, and should, easily isolate the offending comments, realize its not author-originated, and maybe hide those? At worst, maybe send me a friendlier note about "Hey we've found some shady material from your commenters, wanna take care of it? Its interfering with our Adsense policies."</div> <p /> <div style="text-align: justify;">But no sir, I have been found in violation for someone else's actions, inaction and clearly no "adult" intent on my part. And if "further violations are found in the future" I will lose the privilege of using Adsense! And the huge riches - all of $36 - that I could accumulate from the same. I am terror-stricken!</div> <p /> <div style="text-align: justify;">Honestly, Big-G, this is a very very lousy approach to managing consumers/customers. There's not even a way of getting back to someone in there and clarifying! You're losing the mojo a bit, and this needs to be part of the reforms if you want that back. If its a "just machines" approach, sure we understand, but first make those machines a little smarter before you send threatening notes to users.</div> <p /> <div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Aside :</strong> For the longest time I'd cribbed that most folks had a "we-re wrong, Google's right" if something didn't quite work out with using a Google service. A set of results that left one unsatisfied just meant we'd not framed the query well. People started to, and continue to, rewrite sites for the express purpose of being in Googles good books and ranks. Isn't that a little screwed ? I do see cracks in that mindset, and one hears f the SEO problem etc more often.</div> </span></p> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://entrypreneur.posterous.com/i-am-in-violation-of-googles-policies-shiver">workFront</a> </p> </div>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-74460285733310239762011-01-22T09:51:00.002+05:302011-01-22T10:07:24.578+05:30I am in violation of Google's laws!<blockquote></blockquote><blockquote></blockquote><blockquote></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;">This is what I saw in the mail this morning:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>This message was sent from a notification-only email address that does not</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>accept incoming email. Please do not reply to this message.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Hello,</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>While reviewing your account, we noticed that you are currently displaying</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Google ads in a manner that is not compliant with our policies. For</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>instance, we found violations of AdSense policies on pages such as</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>http://entrypreneur.blogspot.com/2009/11/catching-entrepreneurial-bug-side.html.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Please note that this URL is an example and that the same violations may</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>exist on other pages of your website.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>As stated in our program policies, AdSense publishers may not display</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Google ads on pages with adult or mature content. While we understand that</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>it may be challenging to monitor user-generated content, such as comments,</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>on your site, we require publishers to check that the webpages containing</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>their ad code complies with our program policies.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Please make any necessary changes to your webpages in the next 72 hours.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>We also suggest that you take the time to review our program policies</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>(https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=48182&stc=aspe-1pp-en)</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>to ensure that all of your other pages are in compliance.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Once you update your site, we will automatically detect the changes and ad</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>serving will not be affected. If you choose not to make the changes to</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>your account within the next three days, your account will remain active</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>but you will no longer be able to display ads on the site. Please note,</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>however, that we may disable your account if further violations are found</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>in the future.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Thank you for your cooperation.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Sincerely,</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>The Google AdSense Team</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Issue ID# 166xxxxx</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>----------------</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>For more information regarding this warning email, please visit our Help</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Center:</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=113058&stc=aspe-ai4-en.</i></div></blockquote><div></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As far as I remembered, I have not cut-pasted or written or even pointed to any adult content on the web, tho yeah, there's lot which indicates maturity on both the readers' and authors part. Obviously, I was a little flabbergasted. On clicking the culprit link, I realized there were some eastern-script (Chinese?) comments that I could not make head or tail of, and had never noticed, or been notified about!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Especially given that this is on Google's own blogging platform, does this sound like its fair ? Not from where I stand. For one, the algos could, and should, easily isolate the offending comments, realize its not author-originated, and maybe hide those? At worst, maybe send me a friendlier note about "Hey we've found some shady material from your commenters, wanna take care of it? Its interfering with our Adsense policies." </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But no sir, I have been found in violation for someone else's actions, inaction and clearly no "adult" intent on my part. And if "further violations are found in the future" I will lose the privilege of using Adsense! And the huge riches - all of $36 - that I could accumulate from the same. I am terror-stricken!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Honestly, Big-G, this is a very very lousy approach to managing consumers/customers. There's not even a way of getting back to someone in there and clarifying! You're losing the mojo a bit, and this needs to be part of the reforms if you want that back. If its a "just machines" approach, sure we understand, but first make those machines a little smarter before you send threatening notes to users.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Aside :</b> For the longest time I'd cribbed that most folks had a "we-re wrong, Google's right" if something didn't quite work out with using a Google service. A set of results that left one unsatisfied just meant we'd not framed the query well. People started to, and continue to, rewrite sites for the express purpose of being in Googles good books and ranks. Isn't that a little screwed ? I do see cracks in that mindset, and one hears f the SEO problem etc more often. </div>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-20837944361503399392011-01-17T10:00:00.001+05:302011-01-17T10:03:07.370+05:30Thus Far<div style="text-align: justify;">I started writing code in grade 7, and in the 8th (in 1988!), had stitched up a desktop app (we called them "projects" back then) that presented visual + text questions - with some level of animated graphics painstakingly coded one motion at a time - to test people's knowledge of road rules and best practices. I saw a very similar - tho of course more advanced - piece of software when I took my driving license test at the DMV in Beaverton, OR. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">College was one massive waste of time, except a couple of interesting "projects" we did - from a fundamental growth of knowledge point of view. Sure we picked up a lot of stuff, but didn't really connect to lots of it till much later, as we stumbled upon concept after beautiful concept.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My first job was in operating systems - initially in the command layer and later - nirvana - inside the kernel itself - of a very cutting edge OS for parallel architectures. I learnt new stuff every single day.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The next job came because of a huge jump in salary - and got boring as hell in a few weeks. We were porting massive amounts of code with very little clue to the underlying architectures, designs or even concepts. Personally, that turned out to be a good place because I couldn't bear to stay in front of the screen doing diffs on logs - so automated bits and pieces and improved my scripting skills a lot. Laziness, boredom are indeed drivers of innovation :)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An unexpected switch to an "R&D" group brought much needed activity to the brain - we were trying to solve the problem of base platform developers who needed to fix bugs reported on platforms that the code had been ported on to. Did my first major design work for this - and got to a stage where basic core dumps from one platform could be captured and migrated to the base platform, with context intact, for debugging. Filed a few patents, and this would've had a major impact if it were used for reduced triaging effort and manpower.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The next bit of "R&D" involved mapping pieces of database logic - across constructs and languages - to a common format, looking for opportunity for recommended practices, improvements and optimizations as documented in a huge number of "expert" level books and cross-compiling into an appropriate target language. Awesome work again, and we got to present this and interact with end users for whom this could be potentially very very useful. But, as is the <i><a href="http://qna.rediff.com/questions-and-answers/english-meaning-of-fitrat/15685652/answers">fitrat</a></i> of R&D projects, that, was that. Of course, with a coupld of more patent applications filed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Yahoo was a huge opportunity and next step in "impact". I got into the fascinating realm of machine learning, information retrieval and text mining that I had no formal training in, yet took to - more pragmatically than most with formal training - instantly. We did a great job of our project - coming with lots of innovative ideas, techniques and solutions than solved more than just our immediate problem. It was a joyride and even had impact as it got rolled out as a new property for Yahoo India. Of course, where that went then became a question. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another zoom-out followed as yet another R&D effort where we were trying to model visualize and deal with messages, chats, mails, blogs etc as one : conversations - with social authority and impact used for ranking. This was way before buzz/facebook etc had made an appearance. Good work again. R&D project again :)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Then Ziva happened. An amazing exciting journey that started with ideas, design, implementations, customer interfacing - but took me way beyond code. The scale of problems and impact assessment grew to envelope the software/development bit of it as one part of the solution, not the whole of it. Not that we succeeded in doing all we started to - but the neurons were pushed hard everyday, and the breadth of skills and ability to deal with fuzziness grew tremendously.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So much so that I became what I refer to as a "Product Manager". This is a much abused term and means a lot many things to a lot many people. To me its the guy who's got the 360 around a product in his head, and driving his life. Needs people to build, sell, hire etc etc - but the one who's marrying the strategic to the tactical, and keeping track of the story.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://lingerleisure.in">Linger</a> is an effort at product management too. The code-writing is very different. But fundamentally, the ideas are the same. A product needs to be designed, created, tweaked continuously. The team has expanded, and the vision has grown.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">What I've realized is that each plateau, there's been an urge to see if the problem solving effort made any real difference - and the next level was subconsciously desired, and found. Its not the coding, or the designs, or the rollouts that mattered. The question about what they became - or led to - eventually cropped up. Managing to score on somebody else's report card did not satisfy at all. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Is entrepreneurship the culmination of this ? Is this freedom to think, create, follow a path the ultimate path to satisfaction ? Dunno, but so far, its better, and I have found in me an urge to keep doing this despite its not insignificant costs. Amazingly, all the old rules of "hard work" (as measured), killer instinct, dog-eat-dog etc seem to not apply. Yes it still takes work and getting around a lot of procrastination - but those are by-products of a bigger desire, not drivers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As always - "lets see how this goes".</div>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-79541692629795049452011-01-04T11:00:00.001+05:302011-01-04T11:00:31.528+05:30Product Strategy & Management<div class='posterous_autopost'><p>While I'm working more or less fulltime on <a href="http://lingerleisure.in" target="_blank">Linger</a> I do miss the excitement of product creation (i.e. in the software space - Linger's a product in its own right!) and do think I have enough to offer towards this.</p> <p> </p> <p>Of course I'm not likely to take up a "fulltime job" so please do not offer me one. I'm not looking at being co-founder and what not - thats a step one can take only after a decently long engagement and if all the stars are aligned. But I like solving interesting problems, and I like the challenges that product roadmaps bring. </p> <p> </p> <p>So if you think you're could do with some help/inputs on this front, ping me at get.sameer AHT gmail.com and let me know what you're doing.</p> <p> </p> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://entrypreneur.posterous.com/product-strategy-management">workFront</a> </p> </div>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-68942030170902082010-09-21T14:09:00.001+05:302010-09-21T14:58:43.040+05:30When Starting Out<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(66, 64, 55); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21px; ">Do not burden yourself with <b style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Scale </b>upfront. <p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">It comes when it does, and will match the level of your ambition and effort. Do not make the success of your idea contingent on huge scale, and an eventual, delayed payout. Of course, some ideas will need that. But do not get discouraged if it appears that it'll never be a Google. Even old-world, seemingly unscalable brick and mortar ideas have been grown. They don't all have to grow the same way. Linear growth is just fine too. And paths, ideas and opportunities will emerge as you deep dive into something that you really care about.<p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Don't worry about having to <b>share</b> it. </div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Its cliched, but a small part of a large pie is better than all of nothing at all. Sharing is not just about "attracting talent" but about truly transferring ownership, authority and demonstrating trust. Its a tough one, but one very important if you want to be part of a team that can help create something much larger than what you might, individually.</div><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Keep thinking of <b style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">revenue</b>. </div><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">This means a bunch of things. For one, you're not thinking of investors but of customers, and paying ones at that. No business is "too small right now" to be making revenues. Ever. Every Rs.10/- is validation. And it also keeps you alive to the business model, and tests the assumptions and hypotheses you started out with. </div><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">At the same time, <b style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">don't obsess</b> about revenue. </div></div><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">There is usually a larger picture and story than your current sales flow, or even product offering, might suggest. You might have thought of it upfront (but hopefully, aren't building/creating that all at one go), or it might present itself as you start assembling the idea and product and market together. So while revenue is important, its ok if its not as high as you expected. Do not let it take up ALL your time for sure. A CEO must do some amount of sales, but one who becomes focused only on that is very very dangerous in the not-short term.</div><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Keep <b style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Values</b> Intact, and commincate clearly.</div><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Be it to partners, co-founders, vendors, employees. Its easy for motivations, aspirations and desires to diverge as business grows, and creates pushes and pulls in different directions. If its all built on the platform of some core values, which are then never compromised for immediate gains, then you stand a better chance of these pulls being reconciled into a single vision. Else you lose time, trust, people.</div><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Network, connect, <b style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">get out of the door</b></div><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Yeah that website can be improved. And code optimized. Or delivery made more efficient. Or whatever. But as your business grows, your eyes and ears need to be out there. Personally, while you're small. You need to learn how to keep fishing for opportunity, great people, customers; you need to know what they think/feel; you need to know it way before the sh*t hits the fan.</div><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Of course, be <b style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">flexible</b></div><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Its not like you might be wrong about many things. Its more like you surely will be! Its about persisting with the idea, moving from plan A to B, experiment X to Y and backing yourself to try things out even as you're unsure. Of course, you need a very decent eye on <b style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">personal cash flows</b>, expense patterns as you do this if you do not want to find yourself in a pressure cooker all of a sudden. </div><p style="margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Go ahead, entrepreneurize!</div></span>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-51510594493827801932010-09-19T08:11:00.000+05:302010-09-19T08:12:32.578+05:30Linger Leisure is live!<div style="text-align: left;">What started as a one-off experiment last year is a bigger now.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://linger-at-coorg.in/images/Linger.png"><img src="http://linger-at-coorg.in/images/Linger.png" border="0" alt="" style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 159px; height: 167px; " /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://lingerleisure.in/">Linger Leisure is live,</a> with 2 locations, and the hope of many more to come. And <a href="http://www.facebook.com/prabhuav?ref=ts">Vijay</a> is part of the Linger team now.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Its not just about adding places and rooms and accommodation, but experiences - as local and authentic as we find them. Its about exploring these ourselves. Its about learning, being surprised, the unfamiliar and unknown - these are what make travelling worth it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">We're looking out for more pretty places, different experiences, and even folks who're keen to do this sort of a thing. </div>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-75014277362274486882010-07-15T17:20:00.001+05:302010-07-15T17:20:41.736+05:30Standing To Fly<div class='posterous_autopost'>Almost exactly a year ago, I'd blogged about <a href="http://entrypreneur.posterous.com/disruptive-fly-standing">disruptive innovation using a possible example from the airline industry.</a> <p /><div>Well, if <a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2518680/Ryanair-boss-wants-passengers-to-stand-on-flights.html">RyanAir has its way</a>, this might become reality! Ryan's been disruptive in its operational models, and now is extending the same to questioning the basic design that runs the aviation industry itself. I'm impressed, and honestly had not imagined that the far-out thought I had last year would get a shot at being reality this early.</div> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://entrypreneur.posterous.com/standing-to-fly">workFront</a> </p> </div>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-35922970995897284102010-07-13T09:47:00.001+05:302010-07-13T09:47:31.857+05:30Money, Governance, Entrepreneurship. What's Your Metric ?<div class='posterous_autopost'>The Government is beginning to talk more and more in terms of user fees, revenue targets, cash positions, etc. Even the citizenry takes comfort and pride in the fact that, say, the BMTC runs at a profit. Its surely a good thing - fiscal responsibility is key to sustainable development.<p /><div>Yet, these targets, numbers, metrics are not the end for governance - merely a means. Its critical to ensure those numbers are healthy, but its even more critical to measure the change that is sought to be made using the money. It has little merit, otherwise. The goal of a state is not to get rich directly, but indirectly. That it needs to be in very healthy financial situation is a side effect.</div> <p /><div>Is the same true for a lot of entrepreneurs ? Money is a good metric, but isn't what you started out to do more important as a goal ? As in, would you rather let the effort try hard and die or would you be ok completely changing the nature of the effort so cash flows look better ? Don't think of a state of crisis, but of a steady, decent revenue state doing what you started out trying to do versus a much better cash cow if you switched to something that was not really close to your heart or part of the vision.</div> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://entrypreneur.posterous.com/money-governance-entrepreneurship-whats-your">workFront</a> </p> </div>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-56353319099631237572010-07-05T15:55:00.001+05:302010-07-05T15:55:34.989+05:30Focus, and the Doors You Have in Front<div class='posterous_autopost'>Today, I understood first hand what focus implies. Its not necessarily about doing only one thing. But about doing whatever you are for the right reasons, with the right expectations, the opportunity costs understood and appreciated well, and the risks clearly known. <p /><div>Opening certain doors, and shutting the others, then makes a lot more sense.</div><p /><div>Can't say one does with 100% levels of certainty. But it does help one think hard about one's options and choices. It helps one become utterly honest and transparent. Its helps move, execute, and not get paralyzed.</div> <p /><div>Enough rambling. Now to get started on work. </div><p /><div>[ <i>Hope I did the right thing!</i> ;) ]</div> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://entrypreneur.posterous.com/focus-and-the-doors-you-have-in-front">workFront</a> </p> </div>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-22843735707197002432010-06-19T11:20:00.000+05:302010-06-19T11:21:41.203+05:30New Idea : A Chicken and Tech Problem<div style="text-align: justify;">I have a new idea that I totally think has potential, is worth pursuing, and building technology around.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The urge, as an engineer, is to first build the site + functionality, and then "roll it out". But after years of being in tech, and having seen many never get out of their comfort zone and, as a result, having built too much in isolation, its an urge I need to resist. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So the first tasks ? Go sign up the stakeholders. Create enough functionality and documentation to sign them up. then go find other stakeholders as users - give them just enough so they can appreciate the core value of the offering.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Then</i> think of the code.</div>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-17301662202014064552010-06-19T11:18:00.001+05:302010-06-19T11:20:21.217+05:30Earning It<p>Been about 4 months since <a href="http://linger-at-coorg.in/">Linger</a> went operationally live - including some test runs. </p><div>Its been a major journey - entrepreneurship wise. </div><div><ul><li>First up - its a very different feeling when you create something someone likes enough to pay for, and gives positive feedback later. I think this <em>defines</em> entrepreneurship, in a sense.</li><li>Next, an entrepreneur's main challenge is to live with, and manage <em>uncertainty</em> almost all the time. Doubt too, often, though one might not admit the same.</li><li>You will make mistakes, despite your best efforts. And there will be some goof ups that you did not plan for, and cannot control. There is little time for regrets, introspection. Get over it, fix what you can and get on with it.</li><li>Your venture is often you! It takes your <em>personality</em>, and what you like and do not like, how you do things starts showing up everywhere. So figure out early if you're in a business where your interests and personality resonate with the business success parameters. </li><li>Its <em>rewarding</em>! Only, for an entrepreneur, the reward is rarely monetary alone. In fact, that bit may not happen for a while as your spreadsheets start making less and less sense :)</li><li>Honesty works. With customers, employees, your own self. Don't pretend to be what you're not.</li><li>Defensive pricing is a bad signal. And you do not want to attract the wrong customer or keep the right one away. Even if its slower, build the brand/attributes right.</li><li>The expenses are always more than they seem to be :)</li></ul><div>I've also learned I enjoy the hospitality part of it a lot! I love it when people tell me they read a book, or spotted a bird, or were surprised by the stars in the sky. I appreciate it when they appreciate the raw, warm but with-no-formally-training service provided by the staff. </div></div><br /><div>Its a tough journey, but it seems totally worth doing. </div>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-81822005754412041522010-06-19T11:17:00.001+05:302010-06-19T11:18:39.455+05:30Tech, Non-Tech and All That<div style="text-align: justify;">By and large, in the startup space and media, startups, VC funding, and the entire ecosystem is more or less is assumed to be about technology, software products, code, platforms, etc.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>In real life, entrepreneurship is all about businesses, deals, real needs.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;">VCs go right ahead and fund companies based on a product seen (despite what they claim) and more or less hope the team will learn about the actual business they are engaged in serving. A travel portal is more about travel and the food chain in the industry, and less about the technology powering it. Very few software businesses are about usage of the software itself - BaseCamp etc come to mind. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, when funding non-IT businesses, a question about the team's lack of experience will promptly raised! How's a bunch of guys who can write code to create a site tracking brand reviews more equipped to understand branding, brand management budgets, advertising, than, say, a geek starting a restaurant is to having a good knowledge of how that space works ? Yet, the ecosystem does look at both differently!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I am hardly suggesting that people start doling out cash to geeks starting restaurants, or <a href="http://linger-at-coorg.in/">getting into hospitality</a> randomly, but quite the opposite. When we stitch up teams to create businesses, and write up plans and models, and invest in these companies, we consider the business cases, needs, and think of the software as infrastructure that is needed for the execution of that business. The search engine that managed to then grow an advertising business just happened, and chasing that as a model is fraught with dangers. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">First, figure out the business first. Next, whether its interesting enough for you through its ups and downs, and does running it have by-products that make it worth it for you? </div><div><br /></div><div>And if you understand and relate to the above it, does not matter whether you want to code it or not, or build the house, or cook the food. Those are details. Details which can make or break the business, and must be executed right, for sure. But they come after you've figured out the business, and your passion for it. Technology itself - the love of it, or the need to create it freely - cannot be a healthy, sustainable enough basis for entrepreneurship for a large percentage of cases.</div>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-19174548011996671422010-06-19T11:15:00.000+05:302010-06-19T11:16:35.046+05:30Twitter, Next ?<div style="text-align: justify;">GigaOm had a post on a more open Twitter like universe: <a href="http://gigaom.com/2010/06/17/what-would-a-more-open-twitter-look-like/">http://gigaom.com/2010/06/17/what-would-a-more-open-twitter-look-like/</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I quite like the thought and would like to extend it</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><ol><li style="text-align: justify;">Use twitter's downtime to "fill transient need"</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Support Closed communities/groups, workgroups, signed up customers. Yammer, for instance, could also support Twitter accounts with a failover option for account holders! So folks from co X, Y, Z can still communicate beyond workgroups using @twitter-id@twitter etc</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Create add on functionality that makes it valuable for specific interests. E.g. a cycling community that also has syntax/an interface/smart parsing for logging, planning rides, in-community classifieds, etc. Some sort of an enhanced forum on the same channel ? Again, keep the links alive with Twitter and other open standards.</li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some of the above do exist - but there's clearly a space for niches. Twitter has essentially helped establish a habit of and create a market for a new mode of communication on the web and mobile. The next round of innovation to piggyback on this is just waiting to happen!</div>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-4544592669273406892010-04-07T09:32:00.000+05:302010-04-07T09:33:30.054+05:30A few things I've noticed/felt<ul><br /><li>CRM is broken. Sure, I have almost no knowledge of formal CRM systems etc, but having sat through a few presentations and discussions on this, feel strongly that both the Customer and the Relationship are completely missing from this - its from a sales force pov, completely. There's a startup idea in this somewhere - ping me if you're keen and can help find a market. </li><br /><li>Hyperlocal will be big. Sure its been a jittery start, but there's no other way to go. And the JustDials of the world ain't cutting it.</li><br /><li>Search will be more about how Soc Nets/people's heads are crawled (/trawled?). Realtimeness is one attribute, reactively looking for things, opinions, thoughts, ideas will be another. <a href="http://entrypreneur.posterous.com/google-makes-the-right-move-aardvark">Aardvark</a> has already been one small tiny step in the direction - there will be more.</li><br /><li>Skills : breadth is catching up again. For a while the world was too taken up with specialization - at the cost of wider skillsets. Specialists are very critical, as are those who can do 5 things well.</li><br /><li>I'm guessing a lot many in our generation (ok, I'm already old, so maybe half a generation downstream from us) will have second/alternative careers. Workplaces, HR practice needs to factor this in, starting now.</li><br /></ul>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-44122077338045395912010-02-12T09:30:00.000+05:302010-02-12T09:32:45.278+05:30Google makes the right move: Aardvark!<div style="text-align: justify;">I've <a href="http://entrypreneur.posterous.com/community-and-trust-search-discovery-qanda">been following Aardvark</a> (and similar social search efforts) and in fact, had mentioned to someone as a follow-up discussion to the post that Vark would be a very likely candidate for a buy-out by FB or Google or anyone with an eye on the next generation of search. <a href="http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/internet/0,39044908,62061159,00.htm" target="_blank">Bingo!</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Of course, it would have been great if I'd gotten around to doing it myself, but thats the thing with lost opportunity :)</div>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-46827678407754448072010-02-05T09:34:00.000+05:302010-02-05T09:35:18.880+05:30What I Need On Facebook<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-top: 8px; margin-right: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 8px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=287542162130" _mce_href="http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=287542162130">Facebook is up to 400 million users</a>. Thats almost 6.7% of the world population! Awesome. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">What does it mean to me ? </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On the plus side, I've "reconnected" with a whole lot of folks from my past life. school, college, hometown - they're all in there. I've also connected with a lot many new connections that I forge through cycling, or other activity I participate in these days.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Amongst these, I get to know on an ongoing basis who's working in what part of the world, and who's had kids, and partied last night, and even the political, social views of many of these folks. Sometimes, I feel like an inadvertent voyeur!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Too broad a social landscape ? Too much info ? Some of these are context specific contacts, and while I do share some interests with them, I do not need to know every little detail in their lives, their friendships, their views on everything! In fact, with many there's little beyond the "Add as friend", and apart from having access to their inboxes, or walls, etc, there's little else by way of friendship or any sort of relationship. The context's too weak, and too distant, and its a farce, really. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I certainly am interested in a smaller, tighter circle of friends, and have been actively thinking I need to keep my 'active social circle' much smaller, and more meaningful. Sure, I do interact with the larger set of people on specific interests, and <a href="http://entrypreneur.posterous.com/community-and-trust-search-discovery-qanda" _mce_href="http://entrypreneur.posterous.com/community-and-trust-search-discovery-qanda">it would be great to tap into their collective knowledge and wisdom on a need-basis</a> - but without the full duplex intrusiveness of every little update from each others lives, social circles, etc. I might be old fashioned, but Facebook is not how my social life - at least the meaningful part of it - really operates. This was NOT that much of a problem when the number of connections was smaller, but the amount of fluff has grown manifold since. And turning a request down has since become some sort of a social <i>faux pas</i>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There's opportunity for a different layer atop Facebook - which is reducing to some sort of a storage and archival medium for one's entire social graph - personal, hobby-derived, official, formal, etc as well as the activity on it - that helps consume the data from this store in a more meaningful, natural way. Either Facebook could add features to enable this (they were kinda forced to handle the Twitter deluge using the "Live Feed" vs "News Feed" split) or a 3rd party app/site will spring up sooner or later to do this. The noise in there is getting a little too much, and I've been wondering if it really matters whether I'm "on Facebook" or not. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Those who really need to find me or talk to me, will, anyhow. The rest is often just noise/PR.</div></div></span>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19584631.post-42386150315379066482010-01-19T10:36:00.002+05:302010-01-19T10:42:02.155+05:30Startup, Salaries, Risk, Entrepreneurship, Payoffs<div class="posterous_autopost">No, those aren't tags for the post, but the cluster of words that should go together, but often do not.<p>Entrepreneurship implies risk and the <i>possibility</i> of a payoff.<br />A startup, as we know it, is one for of entrepreneurship.</p><p> In this context, the concept of market salaries has no meaning at all!</p><p>More and more and more startups I see, hear, read about are trying to behave like larger, more structured organizations. The worst part is that they model "compensation" (oh, how I hate that word - its what accident victims get, not motivated people working towards a dream) and other "HR practices" on how-its-done-at-big-co-X. Where <i>is </i>the innovation there, people ?</p><p></p><div>Here's some ideas and thoughts that are worth remembering/attempting</div><div><ul><li>Market salaries : this is an absurd phrase for anyone in even a partly decision-making position in a startup. </li> <li>You need <a href="http://entrypreneur.blogspot.com/2009/08/hiring-motivations-pay-structures.html">empowerment, ownership</a>, flexibility way more than you need processes</li><li>Try this : Keep a very small 'retainer' component, and then a percentage of <b>profits</b>, not equity stake etc. Sure, do that as well for the early ones, but since you're small and all, nothing like direct participation in profits, and nothing quite like that to keep folks 'real' and focused on the bottomline. It'll build a business like nobody's business :)</li> </ul><div>Don't ape the last big company you work at. You never know whats going to work, so at the least give it a shot! And just because you need people, do not "attract" those who're in it just because ots cool to be seen as 'taking risk' without actually wanting to take any.</div><br /></div> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com/">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://entrypreneur.posterous.com/startup-salaries-risk-entrepreneurship-payoff">workFront</a> </p> </div>sameerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01832302260129482241noreply@blogger.com0