The last few years of my time I spent in IBM was in the space of B2B. Here are some of my observations during my consulting and interactions with the B2B companies over the years. What is B2B? B2B and B2C are often used terms in the Startup space. Let me begin by explaining these two. B2C (Business to Consumer) are those companies who have products or Platforms that are used by end consumers like...
September 22, 2014
Understanding tech play in the B2B (business to business) Space
22September
September 19, 2014
Up your sales in a down economy
19September
Given the slow worldwide economic recovery, it’s an appropriate time to review our core tactics. Many of us are finding our clients and prospects are risk averse. Here are some effective strategies you can proactively use to increase your sales, no matter what the economic climate brings. You might be asking “Who will buy from me now?” when so much seems to be at risk. The ValueSelling Framework®...
September 18, 2014
9 Things that I learnt while bootstrapping in India
18September
Bootstrapping is hard especially in India! It takes a toll on founders as well as people around them. No fancy corporate trips, no room for slack, myriad things that can go wrong and on top of it, no wiggle room financially. Here is what I learnt during past 3.5 years of bootstrapping SocialAppsHQ and now, Shimply.com – 1) Cash flow is the only thing that matters – I have people who...
September 17, 2014
How to hire like a hacker
17September
In my past several years of running Themeefy, I have gone through many hiring cycles. Over time I have learnt that there is a particular strategy or set of things, that work really well — especially if you are an early to secondary stage start-up, and want to attract good talent, without necessarily paying a lot. Be clear on who you want — Do you want a CSS / HTML guy ? Do you want a server-side...
September 16, 2014
Need 9 months to get baby out
16September
One of the pressures and challenges of working on products is to get it out soon – the release. But I often recollect one of the leaders that I have worked with saying “need 9 months to get baby out”. What’s the right time for a product release – Some Considerations? Build for market, not a customer Remember products are not built for one customer, its built for several of them, for a...
September 15, 2014
Product Aesthetics, Community Development and the Step-wells of Gujarat
15September
If you have had a chance to visit the state of Gujarat in Western India, you have almost certainly seen atleast one of the famed step-wells in the region. Known locally as “baori” or “vav”, there are hundreds of these architectural masterpieces dotting the state. The most famous ones are the Rani ki Vav (queen’s step-well) in the town of Patan and the Adalaj Vav (pictured below) at Adalaj, about...
September 12, 2014
If you are bootstrapping, you are not alone here – Sridhar Vembu(@svembu), @Zoho #BootUpINDIA
12September
Sridhar Vembu is a simple person, and most of what he says are tweet sized bits of wisdom. He inspires you almost instantly when you start conversing with him. That was the first impression when I spoke to him for the first time. He wanted to get into action as fast as possible. Before we recorded this video I was trying to make him comfortable with what I am going to ask but then he almost...
September 11, 2014
M&A: Why small exits matter? The big value of small exits (#iSPIRT-OEQ)
11September
iSPIRT Open Ecosystem Questions(OEQ) Series. The conversation around this exciting session was lead by Sanat Rao (iSPIRT) and the speakers were Jay Pullur (Pramati Technologies), Sanjay Shah (Invensys Skelta), Pari Natarajan (Zinnov), Karthik Reddy (Blume Ventures) & Vijay Anand (The Startup Centre). Sanat initiated the conversation with an observation that it was only the bigger exits that...
September 10, 2014
Take a Step Towards Denmark Presenting The Next Step Challenge
10September
Denmark is located in Scandinavia in Northern Europe and of the easiest places to start and grow a business. The World Bank has rated it as amongst the easiest countries to do business in and as a fledging business, is that not ‘music to your ears’. Denmark is also a hub for cutting edge technologies widen a variety of clusters including ICT, Clean Technologies, Life Sciences & Design. Some...
September 9, 2014
Bootstrapping is certainly possible until and unless the business model requires exponential growth in a short span of time, Nikhil Nath – CEO, Knowcross #BootUpINDIA
09September
Last week I got a chance to speak with Nikhil Nath, Founder and CEO of Knowcross that provides technology solutions to leading hotels of the world in over 30 countries. Started in 2002, Knowcross has built a range of smart and intelligent products that address specific problems of running Hotel operations. From systems that allow Hotel staff to quickly respond to complaints raised by guests...
