When a capsule is launched into space, the initial rocket gets it off the ground. However, that rocket can only get it so high. Eventually it runs out of fuel and the structure needs to drop off. At that time, a second rocket booster ignites and continues to propel the capsule into space. In the world of startups, getting your company into orbit usually takes a few power boosters to get there...
A few days ago, while I was discussing a rather critical business solution with one of my colleagues, I noticed that there was a strange circularity to our conversation. I kept trying to convince him of the importance of deploying such a solution,but I seemed to fail at eliciting a sense of urgency or enthusiasm from him, even though he did not disagree with me. It might have been slight vexation...
Just over 12 years ago, I sat on the sofa outside my office in Infosys, and explained to Tom Friedman about how the playing field was getting levelled through technology. This inspired him to write ‘The World is Flat,’ an international bestseller that sold millions of copies and captured the zeitgeist of the era. It was an era where technology and political change brought everyone closer. The...
(Originally posted here) Vijay Mallya, the Chairman of United Breweries, exited the country on March 2nd 2016 – defaulting on loans worth Rs.9000 crores to 17 banks. The media storm which subsequently rained down upon the Mallya name would befit the crime, if it wasn’t painting an incomplete picture. Given the frenzy and the weight of the government apparatchiks brought down to bear on the...
Why some well funded/big companies miss business targets? Companies tend to focus 80% of their analytics effort on analysing “Historic Indicators” versus identifying “Leading Indicators” to grow business. This is biggest mistake I see wrt how some companies leverage Analytics. 3 Examples of how Analytics Numbers should be used: Spot Contrarian Points: Usually, consumer businesses experience low...
(Our petition against India’s late payment culture can be found here) The Late Payment Problem We’re going to keep this short. Now that 97% of Indian SMBs were reportedly paid late in 2015, the late payment culture in our business environment has gotten out of hand. Today, India officially carries the longest average payment delays in the Asia Pacific for B2B SMB invoices, 51% of...
When you analyze successful consumer and small business products, they succeed as a part of eco-systems and not just stand-alone products. Consumers and small businesses don’t buy products, the engage in an ecosystem. Facebook is an ecosystem. It is a network of users, groups, businesses and advertisers. Email is an ecosystem, smartphones are an ecosystem, even computers are an ecosystem. This is...
Lesson one in succeeding at customer management: don’t treat them all alike. Whosoever said that the customer is a king, didn’t tell us which customer! And until you know which customer deserves your very best, you’re not likely to have a very effective customer management strategy. In this post, I want to share a framework which will allow you to understand how to holistically look at your...
SoftwareSuggest is an online software discovery & recommendation platform. We provide free consultation on software and help SMEs select the right software for their organization. As a part of our business, we collect customer requirements, which when analysed can serve the industry with deep insights. Our learning for the eCommerce industry are presented in this report. Below mentioned are...
It’s to the credit of policymakers that they have steadfastly refused to kiss this pig called ‘software patents’, despite it being dressed up in the lipstick of ‘innovation’. Lipstick on a pig” is a popular Americanism for making superficial or cosmetic changes that disguise the true nature of a product. The pig in question is the regime of software patents being advocated by some multinational...
