Last week was a landmark week for all Indians and by sheer coincidence; the country witnessed the launch of two generational shifts. The one that has everyone excited is Jio, a pure, data-only high-speed mobile network. The other that perhaps will have equal transformational impact is its peer in the world of digital payments, the Unified Payment Interface (UPI). As soon as I had my first...
For those who don’t know what CTR or Click-Through Rate is, it is the number of times visitors click on the ad placed on your blog divided by the number of views your blog gets. The business rules are simple. You get paid per click that is made on an ad placed in the blog. But, there are certain factors that control the way users click on such ads. The prime reason for placing such ads is to...
Starting up is hard, make no mistake about it, while media romanticizes startups and mostly talks about the glorious success stories, what goes behind is months and years of toil, frustration, fighting all kinds of odds. Cliched as it might sound but overnight success is the culmination of years of hard work. Bootstrapping a startup is even tougher, apart from challenges of building right...
The year is 2030. India is a developed, happy democracy. With a population of over 1.5 billion, it has become a role model for other nations, both developed and developing, in putting public digital infrastructure to enable paperless, presence-less, frictionless transactions. The new generation does not know what a government office looks like and has not encountered government bureaucracy...
In the highly competitive market today, it seems like a trick question on whether a startup should focus on scalability, which seemed to be a trend until last year, or sustainability. Though one might toss for scalability at the very outset, facts speak otherwise. This year, a lot has been written on the high “cash burn rates” of the star online startups and predictions of doom in the areas of...
You are what you measure. This is especially true for SaaS businesses. Our goals and endeavors center on user growth, delivering consistent value, and profitability. This again depends on the efficiency with which customers can be earned, and nurtured. All this begs a question: how do you know and measure the most crucial KPIs to achieve said goals? Well, I know this is subjective. Because it...
There is today in many countries a proliferation of new digital credit services. These have been especially prominent in mobile money markets in sub Saharan Africa. The poster child has been M-Shwari out of Kenya; though there are a burgeoning array of new varied services in many places. The signals of deep interest from India are strong and India Stack may well position this market for an...
The emotions of independence and freedom are flowing around in our hearts; hence it is befitting to discuss the same in a domain where most people haven’t pictured these yet. Let us talk about the product that is eating the whole world – yes, we are talking about the world of ‘Software’ after all. Even the people who are new to this part will notice the sheer amount of change that has come around...
India has come a long way since its Independence on 15th August, 1947. One industry that has really shined for India is IT/ITES and that really have put India in a global map. The major contribution has come in the form of Software services with names such as Infosys, TCS, Wipro & HCL being the torch bearers. However, be it due to lack of media attention or for the lack of sheer scale, India...
Harbouring an idea in your head is one thing. Taking the leap of faith to execute, nurture and grow the idea is an entirely different ball game. It calls for a tribe of people that we call Entrepreneurs. Fortunately, this breed is on the rise. They make this game look deceptively simple. Apart from the fact that you have to face a fair amount of social ire and family grumpiness, launching your...
