If you are a startup, jugaad is the key to get things done. The most important element of jugaad is the way to start conversation and pull the deal towards your way. And to start conversation, the first thing you need to do is TALK. Very candidly ask what and...
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Companies too suffer from this bias. They believe their own PR and marketing hype and ignore dissonant customers and negative market feedback till it is too late. They don’t hear the little boy who shouts about the lack of clothes on the emperor! All of us are guilty of this bias. But what’re we...
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The mystery of startup valuations has existed since the day 1st startup was born! This topic is fundamental, emotional, scientific and artistic at the same  time. I have been asked this question often, and in different forms like "What is my idea worth?", "How can I get 10 crores funding, but retain control of...
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The startup was in a tizzy. One of its largest partners who sourced the startup’s products, bundled them with other offerings and sold them to customers had decided to make the products itself. The partner was much larger than the startup, had more money and reach. About 10% of the startup’s revenues came from this large...
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I started sharing my mobile number on Pluggd.in around November of 2009 and here are quite a few weird calls I received in the last few weeks/months. Why am I sharing this? Read on for details.
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Writing a business plan is a time consuming and challenging effort and takes significant management bandwidth. Though there are a number of excellent resources/templates/articles on “how” to write a business plan, many times, people who are writing it for the first time get too involved in the “process” of writing and as such may...
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In a Hierarchy Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of Incompetence. The onus, unfortunately, therefore is on leadership to discover those individuals with poor managerial capabilities before they’re promoted! It is also important to keep in mind that many technical people may be very valuable for their skills but poor managers, and...
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One of the biggest challenges that startups face is undoubtedly – exposure. As a startup, you may offer great products and services but, unless people are aware of your offerings, it’s hard to gain any amount of business. Building a well rounded online identity can take your business to great lengths. While most Indian startups...
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Who sells the largest number of cameras in India? Canon/Nikon/Sony? Well, the answer is Nokia. As far as music sales is concerned, Airtel makes more money than SaReGaMa. Is Indian Railways into the business of train travel? Or Travel? Is Video Conferencing service really in the business...
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“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” -Alvin Toffler One of the reasons why many startups fail to cross the chasm is founder’s ability to unlearn and relearn. If you have been working in corporate world, you were used...
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Running a Startup is quite a sexy thing to do, but building a business is boring. Look at Google. The amount of boring work that goes in running the money making business – adwords and adsense (two sides of the same coin) Purely Operational. Need to setup the logistics partnership (even though it’s outsourced, G has to manage...
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At some point in their existence, many startups have to confront certain existential questions – about themselves and their future. Some of these typical questions: “Are we on the right track? Are we likely to reach where we wanted to? We need to grow fast but how? Should we acquire and grow? Should we...
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Lack of a boss. Period. The lack of a higher authority to give you your next todo item is the single most-important factor that makes entrepreneurship so hard. In school, you have a clearly defined schedule and you have teachers who give you homework which provides something concrete to do everyday. Then they have exams, a...
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I received a letter by courier yet again last week from a well known financial institution. It took me a while to reach the letter since the envelope in which the letter was enclosed had been fortified by no less than 9 staple pins. In addition, the envelope was tightly sealed with gum and...
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Here is presenting the top 10 articles published in 2009 under the category Entrepreneurship. If you notice, majority of these articles are contributed by startups as well as VCs and we urge you to read them/share with other entrepreneurs.
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Great economists will always say that education, food and medical industry can never be hurt by any recession. If you dig deep you would find that these are the industries where over consumption can never happen and also, these being a bare necessity can never be compromised irrespective of financial abilities. So what about the...
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1991 was when India achieved its second independence – that of economic liberalization. But, in retrospect, one has to say that it has been far more than just economic liberalization. It also liberated the mind of the baggage of self-doubt, low confidence and ignorance. It has therefore been my belief that those born around...
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Recently released movie “Rocket Singh” may or may not be hit among the movie buffs but it surely has a message or two to take away which can benefit entrepreneurs, especially in India. Not everything is practical but things which are can really make a difference. Don’t strive to get Customers, get evangelists. Buyers today are...
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Seth Godin, better known for coining the word ‘permission marketing’ has launched a free ebook ‘What Matters Now’, that brings together 70 big thinkers and each one of them shares an idea – 1 page: 1 author. The book is free (download it from here, also embedded towards the end of this post), but the...
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There are innumerable articles and templates for preparing a business plan for start-ups. But what I found is that most of them are too exhaustive and so a strong de-motivator for an enthusiastic individual who wants to pen down his ideas and present it to his potential investors/advisers. Immaterial of the scale of the business...
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