HNY

Here's wishing y'all a great Zero Eight.

Wishlist:

* Rise of the mobile search
* Ladakh Ride
* Improvement in Bangalore Traffic
* The stock market repeats the 07 story

Well, one can always wish for all, cant one :) ?

Mint Condition (Press coverage)

Ten start-ups to watch for in the new year - livemint

Ziva got picked for Mint's 10-to-watch for 2008, plus theres a decent mugshot of Ajay and ur truly too.

[ Sadly, Gowri got missed out as one of the co-founders, and the pic too. ]

[ And, just to remind y'all again - we're hiring ]

Ziva's search for people!!

Ziva : Innovative mobile search startup engaged in

• whats so different about mobile search (interface)
• what will ppl be looking for (data)
• where will that come from ? (I cannot give too much away here)

We were incubated at IIM-Bangalore and have graduated out of there recently. We are beginning to go big on Zook (http://zook.in) - our own service, after multiple b2c data deployments for various customers.

Looking for:

Engineering:

1. many ppl with 3-7 years work exp
2. a few with <3 yrs

The number of years above should be taken as indicators of expertise alone. Not set-in-stone.

Skills/Domains for the above:

Common skills (one/more of) -

• Core Java (server side, middleware, large systems) development
• Scripting, web services
• OOPs
• Distributed computing/scalable systems
• For leads, experience with a complete product cycle, from conceptualization/prod spec to rollout preferred
• Lead - Information Retrieval/Text mining
• Lead for search platform development (java, java, more java)
• Sr Dev/Lead for our monetization engine - core java, business rules engines, advertising platforms experience will be great to have

1-2 Consulting/Support:

• Customer engagement for integration, deployments, consulting support for our platforms
• Requirements collection and analysis, interfacing with Engineering
• 2-5 years customer facing exp will be very useful

1-2 Senior mktg/sales people with a good exposure to one of :

• The Indian Mobile Industry
• The Search/Online industry - someone whos either done mktg for an online/mobile property, or has ad-agrregation/distribution experience.

We are also looking for a senior person to head Engineering - a very strong technical background, especially in the consumer products is desirable.

If you're looking for a challenging yet sane, fun place to work at, send me a mail at getDOTsameer AHT gmail.
If you can refer ppl, there's decent, good candy to be given :) Lets talk.

Bannerghata -> Koramangala

We have moved. Our blissful stay at NSRCEL and all its accompanying serenity has drawn to an end, and we're in the software-commercial heart of the city, upmarket restaurants and it all - Koramangala

Ziva Software Pvt Ltd
817, 2nd Floor, "Girija"
20th Main, near 80 feet Road
(opp Police Station)
Koramangala 8th Block
Bangalore 560095
Ph: +918025704510 +918041618943

Still at http://zook.in for all that really matters, and on 5757LOOK on sms.

Here's an idea of a usual day at work (oh well, our interior guys taking wayyyy longer than we thought he would):

Ad to subtract

Trust you with my money? I don’t think so! | Domain Maximus

Sidin takes a funny look at an ad gone awry. Methinks they had a different storyline/dialogues to start with - where the roguish-looking fella was trying to pull a fast one over the poor lost soul, and ShareKhan's punchline was probably something to the effect "trust us, not his ilk"

Oh well :)

Update. Zook. Phew.

Zook-2 is almost there (yeah yeah not the 'couple-of-weeks' one expected). There will be a long post update, but here's the long and short of it all:

• Every Qn Answered - Zook is now more community focused than before, and since we do not claim to be know-it-alls - we look forward to letting people help other people. We're, as always, part of the community! Of course, not every answer will be instantaneous, but extremely relevant, it sure will.

• Shining new numbers
• Zook on 5757-5665 - thats 5757LOOK!
• ASK/TELL on +91-984-551-9665 - thats 984-551-zook. This is at regular SMS costs, not premium - so go ahead and build/use/help your community.

• Dazzling new mobile-web UI (soooon). We got some experts, lots of feedback, and hopefully you'll almost fall in love with the new interface. It sure is more navigable.
  

So go ahead and Zook. If you're out there somewhere and need to know anything (I've answered someone's qn about why one should go to school!! :) ) - just Zook it on 5757LOOK. You'll get an answer.

Oh, we're also on IdeaFresh now. Lots of Idea users have already found us there.

And we should be starting to maintain, finally, our official blog too !!

Social Networking By Any Other Name

::boast alert:: This post is so full of yours truly....

Is Email The Ultimate Social Environment? « GigaOM

Somehow, gigaom has been espousing some of my closely held beliefs (soc networking in just a tool, and not this) a few months after I've brainstormed on them within the team. Ok I just lost a few modesty-points there but really, I'd love to see people - and especially Yahoo people - respect the fact that they've been sitting on the best social networks forever, irrespective of what they were called or not called then:

• email
• yahoogroups

And if you're willing to pay me big $$, have a cool idea that can define how soc nets should've been done in the first place ;)

Have you lived your dream ?

Your Job: Have you lived your dream? - Team-BHP

Hmm interesting discussion here. On common refrain amongst the software types is the drudgery of the job. What can fix that ? Perhaps too many jumped into the "current hot thing" and of course, till not long ago - and even today for a large percentage - following your heart was not an option.

Hypothetical question : Won't we all rock if we basically do what we love to do ? I mean there will be little by way of 'just doing my job' ... of course its a naive statement and things are rarely static - but its still a thought worth considering when hiring/creating workplaces.

Entreprenuership

BumsOnTheSaddle

Some startups are not about scale, but pure passion. They are about something you believe in, and want to grow. They're about doing it, not planning it. There's something to be said for that which transcends biz plans and term sheets.

I wish Nikhil and Rohan success, for that also means more Bangaloreans pedalling to work, or for pleasure. Either way, it'll be a healthier city.

Take a Hike

AFP: Reverse outsourcing takes off as rising costs hit Indian IT firms

Hate to say it but "I told you so"..... is a correction around the corner ? It may not be a bad idea for the Indian IT industry and brand as a whole.

Alternatively its being predicted that as more biggies chip in to improve the supply side, salaries will get sanitized and the spiralling growth in costs will steady, if not reverse.

One way or the other, our Hondas and Hyundais - fine cars in their own right - are beginning to ask for Lexus, Merc and Porsche level premiums. That always comes at the cost of sustainable volumes. For a smaller segment, higher end, niche work and greater levels of productivity can justify increases, but the spiral in last year and a half has not necessarily been accompanied by these factors, but is purely a function of demand. Beyond a certain mark, the cost is high enough such that the pain of managing language issues and even a slightly lesser trained workforce (given the headstart India has now) is worth it.

How can these factors be effected ? And how can a larger pool of industry ready grads be enabled to improve the supply side of things ?