YES!! YOU GOT IT RIGHT. The title of the post says: Warning: The Air You Breathe Here is Charged Up With Entrepreneurial Particles!!
I am talking about nothing other than The TiE Entrepreneurial Summit 2010, undoubtedly one of the largest extravaganza, year 2010 witnesses. A perfect setting for the end of a decade.
TES marks the Enterprising India’s largest gathering of some of the most exciting souls on earth, a class, a breed called: entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurship is not just a word, its a way of living, its a common passion which binds enterprising minds together who come on board with a common aim of creating and delivering value. People who dream of a future not just for themselves but create opportunities for many others, who become a part of success stories.
And without a doubt, India as a country is blessed with great minds. We have had some of the best enterprising ideas right from the bottom of the pyramid, from the rural parts of the country of over a billion people to the well networked metros. Starting from a global success story of a man who did not have food for 5 days and traveled on a goods train after being left by the security saying that he is from a friendly country India, this man decided to build an institution we know as Infosys today. There are many such inspiring stories of grit, determination, hard-work, hanging on and creating dreams.
At TES we are going to bring forth such stories while creating an opportunity and a strong ecosystem for many more to flourish. December is going to bring with it a whole new wave of energy which is going to create many new directions for many more achievers to come.
Its 2:04 A.M, as I am sitting at the Until ROI office, and looking at dreams outside the balcony on the third floor. Its the Delhi skyline, I am looking at and its a quiet time, when nothing sounds except you and your heart and those many sleepless dreams!
And as I sit here, at such a time, I am doing two things:
Working to make sure all the deliveries to our clients are completed on time
I just saw the entire 12 part series of “Inside The World Trade Center” by Discovery Channel on YouTube
“And as I just finished seeing the series, I am filled with anger and hope, death and life and many other emotions at the same time”
Well, and as they say you can never predict the future, just keeping the thought in my mind, I write this post, and to start with I want to thank everyone from my family to friends, some people who I have been really close in life, all whom I have respected more than my life and many others, who I know I remember deep down in my heart! Especially I thank my family and Suhita Poddar, who has kept the ultimate faith on me and Until ROI and being from London School of Economics still offered to join a rising start-up rather than go in for a great comfortable job!
THANKS FOR WHAT?
Well, thanks for making me the man I am. Thanks for giving me the heart to proudly say, that today I am an entrepreneur, not because I wanted to make a lot of money and be rich and famous, but actually if I share the real story in my heart, its about, how I always wanted to join the Indian Air Force and achieve the dream called INDIA.
I COULD NOT BECOME AN AIR FORCE OFFICER, I CHOSE TO BE AN ENTREPRENEUR!
Due to whatever reasons that I could not become one, I found my calling in the purpose which I have deep inside my heart since I know of myself, which is, to see my country, my INDIA as one of the fastest and the biggest superpowers in the world. That no-one, and I mean no-one ever calls us the 3rd world country.
And today for the first time in my life, I want to share it with the world. I became an entrepreneur, well, to make INDIA a superpower. YES! to many it may sound weird, and this may come as a statement to just boast on, but I challenge you, to join Until ROI, I will promise you one of the fastest growing careers, though we are a very small company right now!
You know why I can confidently say this? well, because you will be joining this company with a vision of INDIA and when INDIA grows, we will anyway grow up and that too much faster!
INDIA IS MY STORY!
INDIA is my story, Iv always been passionate about this one feeling called INDIA in life. After not succeeding to become an Air Force officer, I decided to be an entrepreneur earning a meager 15k a month, living in Delhi, being responsible towards the family. I knew being an entrepreneur would be one of the best ways I can really fuel the fire. Create employment, Create New Dreams, Empower other people’s passion and get the real determination out of them!
I CAN GET A COMFY JOB
Yes, I can get a very comfy job, leading marketing for a major corporate, but well, where is the empowerment of thousands and millions of others? That’s my calling!
WHAT WILL THEY SAY WRITING MY OBITUARY?
They will write, this was that man, who showed us how to see dreams and fight till the very end, even if all hell broke lose, even then, fight it out and he empowered us to create the dream called INDIA.
WHAT AM I DOING AS OF NOW TO JUSTIFY ALL I AM SAYING?
At Until ROI we have a mandate, set by me as the Founder and CEO, that every 10 paying clients that we get at Until ROI, we sponsor the education of a poor and DESERVING child! And I will make sure that we take personal care in raising that child and chose the best out of them to hone them into leading organisations of tomorrow’s INDIA. And mind you, we are still a small company, a start-up as they call us!
I CALL YOU TODAY!
I call you today – yes, the one reading this post, if you feel there is some part of your heart, which is screaming out to achieve your dreams after reading this post, well, give me a ping and we will talk about exploring opportunities of working together to achieve this dream called “INDIA”! Write to me at careers@untilroi.com and we will live the dream we call INDIA!
Today is 26/11, a date in India’s history which we will all remember for times to come. One fateful night when the country was shaken by a few young men who took hostage poor souls who had absolutely nothing to do with them or with any of their motives.
While writing this, I am filled with mixed emotions, enraged yet trying to calm myself. Tearful for the many people who lost their lives, their loved ones, and yet being strong at hwo we have out grown the past and we are surging ahead.
YES, I DAMN those few cowards….those bast***s, who have nothing else worthwhile to do in life and then we have a kasab asking for forgiveness and showing emotions by writing to his mother
The PAST is no more and we all have moved on, but memories still remain, forever and ever….and I think my emotions and answer is well captured below:
I salute our brave soldiers, the great souls, the relatives who are still there and with a tear of happiness, rememberance, future but NO FEAR in my eye, I dedicate my support, to my life – my India!!
Well, I am back from a very good trip to Bangalore. Met some old entrepreneur friends, some interesting people. Connected with some very established people and re-fueled my engine for my entrepreneurial journey ahead!
Though while on the way I connected with some online marketers on the flight back and here I am writing a piece which I have wanted to since sometime now!
Let me start by saying: Branding and Obscenity are Pretty Much the Same
Why do I say this? Well, the guy sitting right next to me looked at a book I was reading, which was about Branding and how radical concepts have changed consumer perception overtime. I was reading a few case studies and making notes, for a couple of Offline Branding Campaigns I am working on. Now suddenly this guy shoots, about how he is an Online Marketer and does handles campaigns online and how his firm has been doing lots of work.
Without an introduction, I heard him as a client, and asked queries, and he started telling me about how Google helps, SEO, PPC and SMM works. Especially SMM, which we also know by Social Media Marketing. Since I was in the Case Study mode, I posed a question:
Give me 4 solid case studies with the ROI that you have generated for the client or where you have actually gone back to the client telling him that he needed offline/ other marketing techniques as well, and how did you execute it!
And this gentleman starts discussing the best works he has done. A viral campaign, which had x number of hits…Helped a company generate these many leads online (which he had no ideas, of how much was the conversion).
Anyway, being a good listener, I patiently heard him, and then asked another question:
What is the difference between Branding and Marketing and why did some of his campaigns did not survive and what he then suggested to those clients?
I am NOT generalizing this, but I have been interacting with Online Marketers, majority of them in their late 20′s and early 30′s who have had no experience of raising a brand. Who have not seen the entire cycle, boasting about serving the Indian SME in scaling up.
I have been into the Social Media scene, since sometime now, and have struggled with the statistics, which I could really go back with, to a client and suggest him, this is where you should increase/ decrease your marketing spend and this is what you should look at diversifying.
I have NEVER heard from an Online Marketer that they have ever gone back to the client telling them, that look you product needs this, as this is what you customer is looking for on the internet
Majority of Online Marketing companies optimize campaigns according to what the clients are searching a product/ service with. Well, I challenge this thought. How do you that it was the right consumer who was searching this term which you just took from suggestions which Google Adwords provide you.
Branding – YES, Social Media helps You do Just That
Okay, so now I have my Branding lessons on. I get to know how Branding is established, online:
a page/ profile on facebook
an account on twitter
targeted Ads on blogs/ sites
ghost writing on discussion forums etc.
videos on YouTube
ppts on Slideshare
photos on flickr
And if you still cannot achieve traffic numbers, well, go and post this content on various multiple platforms which are identical, so your content will be looked upon by more and more people an chances by simple probability to achieve are higher.
Okay, so I understand probability, but I am still not convinced with this number generation method, I remarked.
I am a Social Media guy and I have a problem with how things are going in India today
Okay, so for all those, who feel I have a personal bias, I have explored the online media to a good extent and hence I write my thoughts here. Majority of bloggers, social media experts/ evangelists/ marketers, strategists, have not had any Branding experience and talk Brand all the time. I have a particular issue with this, as many a times, what they dont realize is they can grow only if their client(S) grow.
Online is the new thing – you have to get on Social Media coz DELL made 3 million dollars from twitter
This is what I have heard from every religious online marketer, I have interacted with, who is pitching to any business from technology to holiday to whatever. Coz DELL did it, hence the opportunity exists and as in India, a small company thinks, even if I can achieve 30% of this, at a low cost, well I will make decent numbers.
And what happens month on month when you go ahead with Online Marketing for your business
MONTH 1
Both the online marketing agency and the client are excited, many things happening around, online training, blogs building up, google ads, higher listing on search engines WOW
The marketer goes back and shares the numbers:
number of blogs, number of blog posts, google ads numbers, how they got the company(s) site(S) listed high on search engines on specific keywords
Month2
Create content | POST it – HOST it – Virality!
Lets do it! Pictures, PPTs, Blog posts, Videos and what not
We will post it here – there – everywhere and wallah this will happen and this
Conversations are not happening – says the client!
Lets do ghost writing
Lets do ghost profiles
Lets do ghost comments
Month3
Houston We’v got a PROBLEM
Firefighting mode
What did you till now, after a quarter?
Well, Sir, look at your brand, look at how many people came to this landing page, look at all of this. Sales will start happening soon.
Lets See – the client now is thinking of how to convert the contract into a pay for performance?
Well, and this is where problems start. Retainership goes down and performance kicks in, knowing well, you dont even know what GAP EXISTS (if any) between the following parties:
Senior management
Existing (employees and clients)
Prospective (employees and clients)
The majority of online marketers, go ahead with no such GAP analysis, and without knowing what exists in the market and what needs to be addressed, just go ahead because they have a medium to connect people with, because out of the 300 million plus people on facebook, there will always be some who will be looking for your product/ service.
Well, I have no inherent bias against anyone, but if I strongly feel, if you are not clear of something, well, dont fluke and sell, coz what you don’t realize is anyway, after 3 years, there are only the better ones, who will be having the repetitive business, because you will be out of market to which you have been marketing.
I landed back from Mumbai just yesterday and surely it was great LIVE Blogging the biggest Leadership event ever in India. Out of my many experiences in the financial capital of India and the city of dreams. Bollywood stars and the rest, I found this very amazing example of simple yet striking innovation by an entrepreneur.
This is what I found:
What you see in the picture above, no its not a Google van! Its the freshest and the best Gola (ice candy) made of fresh mineral water and fruit juices called Gogola India.
I bumped across this van while I was going for a meeting on the Hill street near the Globus mall in Mumbai and just for the fun of it and to interact with the van guys, I did buy two Golas from the van. The van looked pretty okay (a second hand maruti van) with all the electrical machines inside to make a good gola in seconds.
Interestingly, the menu is like an IE page, which gives you all the options of the various flavors available simple, yet unique!
The Revenue figures of a single van which stands since 12pm till late in the night and keeps rotating in between two streets in Mumbai are:
Daily sale (golas): 300 (in good times) 150-200 (in normal business days)
Price per gola : INR 30
Positioning of van is changed on weekdays and weekends
There are more than 10 vans in the city, doing the rounds
My Feedback and Comments as an Incubation Consultant:
Good to see that the logo has been duly trade-marked (good asset)
Good revenue model (taking in consideration, all operational costs, costs of building the supply chain, maintenance of vehicle etc.)
Simple and effective!
The Gola I had, was pretty good and was surely packed in a healthy manner, with properly kept juice/ color bottles.
I very strongly feel, the kind of Innovation we have in India, is amazing! Its simplistically brilliant and a concept which can surely become into an auto-generating proposition, and once your brand is recognizable, and you have a size, you can diversify.
Here I am, LIVE blogging Mr. To Peters, Management Guru and Author at The Leaders In India 2009.
We said somethings 25 years ago about basics and we are in this mess today. I said to a MIT graduate, that shut down MIT and we can go a long way in bettering. Since 1996 of my time, I have focused on the issue on women in leadership and women in management. Now it is not an issue of social justice, but its that woman buy things!
I am pretty much able to give a guarantee that I will dissapoint you this morning
If you have reached the age of 66, you know for sure that the only secret is there are no secrets! Tom starts by giving an example of Conrad Hilton’s answer to “what was the most important lesson you’ve learned in your long and distinguished career” and he said, remember to tuck the shower curtain inside the bath tub!
The art of war does not require complicated maneuvers; the simplest are the best and common sense in fundamental. From which one might wonder that how it is that generals make blunders; it is because they try to be clever – Napolean
Interestingly Tom shares how he has learned from his life and the neighborhood talking about one of the issues that India faces today with its growth, which is continuing the growth.
I am often asked by would be entrepreneurs seeking escape from life within hgue corporate strcutures, How do I build a small firm for myself? The answer is: Buy a very large one and WAIT – Paul Ormered
If you are not pursuing incredibly aggressive strategy, your days are numbered. And Tom shares his experience of working with Mckenzie with one of his colleagues. Interestingly Tom shares some very amazing statistics from the US and how companies have failed over years. if you look at the world’s largest exporters:
No.4 is Japan
Tie for 2nd and 3rd : American and chinese
No 1: Germans
I am a strong strong strong believer of middle sized companies. I believe that medium sized enterprises are the future for us. I think if you look at the US economy, which continues to have a significant productivity lead than the rest of the world, fundamentally every automobile plan has the same productivity!
Everything in existence tends to Deteriorate – Norberto Odebrecht
If you have to make a sizeable company, you have to go to war against yourself. The only thing that beats a company is ITSELF PERIOD! I have read Tom before, and I feel this is an absolute truth, which was also supported by Mr. Subroto Bagchi yesterday at NASSCOM.
Giant mergers destroy value. PERIOD
Execution IS strategy – Fred malek
The three magical words that are crucial for an enterprise. And Tom is giving this perfect example referring to the Blue Ocean! I am impressed Tom What’s the point of looking outside if you can’t do anything with your assets?!
Two point strategy by Tom in life:
Execution is strategy
You only find OIL if you drill wells
**My apologies for not being able to blog the entire session by Tom, due to an urgent call by the Co-founder of my company!
But here I am again covering the question and answer round with Tom.Tom just spoke about the lessening of the cultural differences and how we should be working towards getting the systems right! The CEO is NOT teh best strategist, but he is the guy who would get the best Strategist on board to do the right work.
Tom very strongly puts how the best of the projects fail due to lousy execution specs in the proposal. The Chrysler Americans and the Daimler Germans may not be the best strategist in the history! It is the little stuff that matters with significant multiplier effects, says Tom, giving a very interesting example of surgeons.
A professional listener is as same as a professional pilot
Business schools are a scurge of the world! Many of you went to Bschools and so did I, but I like thinking of the fact that I outgrew it!
In my perfect world you should have someone on Board your company under the age of 25! Things are changing and you I can challenge, dont realize it! You are as good as the people you spend your time with.
I am supporting this survey by YouGov, which is aimed at Promoting Entrepreneurship in India and getting more funds to the country, to support entrepreneurs!
I particularly want the level of primary education to increase in India and be supported by entrepreneurs.
If you share such a DREAM, I CALL UPON ENTREPRENEURS to take this survey and SHOW SUPPORT to the CAUSE of ENTREPRENEURSHIP in India!
The Indo International Business Achievement Awards at The Leaders In India Business Forum 2009 are going to be one of the most extravagant awards ceremonies involving the stalwarts of the Business World globally and honoring the Global Indians who have created a niche for themelves and have displayed exceptional entrepreneurial and innovative talent and effective and responsible leadership and management.
Setting new standards within Indian and global business, the awards also acknowledge organisations that have spearheaded meaningful socially responsible practices within India, and internationally.
Leaders In India
The IIBAA are presented by Informa which is the brains and soul behind The Leaders In India Business Forum 2009. Leaders in India is a two day forum dedicated entirely to the business community, and is expected to be India’s largest single meeting point of global and Indian corporate leaders. In addition to providing an excellent opportunity for peer-to-peer networking, the ‘Leaders’ team prides itself on providing the most thoroughly researched and solution-focussed points of discussion in its series of interactive audience Q&As with key business leaders.
Categories for the IIBAA
Indian Business Leader 2009
International Business Leader 2009
Indian Company of the Year 2009
International Company of the Year 2009
Young Business Leader 2009
Leader In Corporate Social Responsibility 2009
Nominees for the IIBAA
To VOTE for your favored in each of the category click on the image above
The PanIIT 2009 Global Conference to be held form October 9-11 at Chicago, IL is one of the biggest and the most extravagant events of this year with delegates expected in thousands.
Theme of the PanIIT 2009 Global Conference
With the theme of the event touching the chords of one of the most important and the most emerging section of the society, that of Entrepreneurs. The PanIIT 2009 will be discussing ‘entrepreneurship and innovation in the global economy’. With India poised to be a reckoning power in the global stage and with the Indian economy slated as one of the biggest and the most emerging economy in the global stage, Indian entrepreneurs are defining and re-defining the global economic scene.
Share space with global thought leaders
Some of the confirmed speakers at the PanIIT 2009 Global Conference who shall share their experiences and provide enough motivation and inspiration towards cretion of new possibilities with the emerging global entrepreneurs are:
Jim Owens – Caterpillar – Chairman & CEO, Head of US Business Council
Subodh Bhargava – Tata Communications – Chairman
Aneesh Chopra – US Government – Chief Technology Officer
Raghu Rajan – University of Chicago – Eric Gleacher Professor of Finance /Former Chief Economist, IMF
Sonal Shah – US Government – Director of Social Innovation
Duvvuri Subbarao – Reserve Bank of India – Governor
Meera Shankar – Embassy of India – Ambassador to the United States
Desh Deshpande – Sycamore Networks
Madhu Pandit Das
Akshaya Patra
Carl Schraam – Kauffman Foundation - President
Sam Pitroda – Knowledge Commission – Chairman
Sharing space with such eminent personalities is a once in a lifetime opportunity surely not to give a miss to, PanIIT invites the entrepreneurial and business community to join in and be the possibility of taking India to the next level.
Here I am Live Blogging the second Un-conference session of the NASSCOM Friday’s 2.0 at the NASSCOM HQ in New Delhi. This session is the second in the series of the initiative by NASSCOM for creating a common ground for the Product companies in India. The topic we are discussing today is: Solutions by Product Companies.
We have Ankur Lal, CEO Infozech Software, leading the session along with Arvind Jha of Movico Technologies. We also have Mr. Sharad Sharma – Chair, NASSCOM Product forum.
Okay so we have Mr. Sharad starting the session with a few laughs. Like many of you Im in the mode of becoming an entrepreneur again! I am also currently an entrepreneur in residence with CANNAN PARTNERS.
Sharad, is now sharing his thoughts on how the community can come together in creating an ecosystem. We as NASSCOM ahould also be looking at the other side of the table. i.e. he demand side and not just the delivery side of the equation. Sharad shares an interesting side story of 3M. In the early days of the CD media becoming popular this man he went to the chair and showed the CD and he was turned down. But the next time he did by positioning it the way that its the surface and not the CD/media that is there. Wallah, the rest is history.
What’s Cooking?
Mr. Sharad is now sharing on how NASSCOM is looking to create possibilities for the industry. interestingly Sharad is sharing some very bright ideas which he and the team at NASSCOM are trying to implement specifically aimed at SME’s and SMB’s. Sharad is surely sharing some really good ideas which if given life, could surely lay down a good path and make the journey smoother.
And since this is an Un-conference session, we now have the participants sharing their thoughts on what Sharad just shared with the community.
Sharad: One of the request that often comes back to NASSCOM from product companies is “Can you help us get buyers”. What we have found is, ther real value that NASSCOM can bring is to really grow the market and hold events where buyers and sellers could meet. What we can do is examine on behalf of these companies we could promote the voice.
Lack of project management and product marketing talent in India is a point shared by one of the participants in the room. Its because of the ecosystem. I definitely dont want NASSCOM to sell my product, I need help in developing the ecosystem.
Sharad: Our buyers are afraid of buying products from the small companies.
“No product that I know of has been successful, that has not been developed in the shadow of friendly sophisticated users”
Sharad: What is happening is that we dont have traction to the products, services are not present like force which could help us reach out.
Arvind: Product management and marketing is going to come out of your domestic customer knowledge. I believe that we will have the largest success for a product in the mobile side as we are the largest user base of mobiles.
Participant: Why not think about launching the next Google/Yahoo from India.
Arvind: There is nothing restrciting us from being there.
Ankur: We are the leaders in terms of these 400 million users. I would not be surprised if we have these small Google(s) coming out of India in another couple of years from now.
Participant: I see more and more companies fading out to the more lucrative services space. The DNA of the Indian industry to reamin/focus into the services domain is something which impacts the product.
Ankur: The challenge is that a small product company has to be dealt with safe hands. In the US there is this small companies fund. the government there supports these small businesses. What you need is a forgiven customer.
Challenges faced by Product Companies
So now we are discussing the challenges faced by product companies which we also did discuss the previous session on the product companies here at NASSCOM. Arvind is leading this part of the session, with the entire room being concentrated to the challenges and surely everyone in the room is agreeing to the same.
Arvind: In the spirit of what has worked, we should look at what companies can look at from these successes.
And now we have companies sharing with the room, their products and experiences
Participant: The planning that we do for the product business cycle is not complete. We dont really understand what to do after we have built the product.
So we have Tarun Anand, CTO, mScriber, its s speech training application. Tarun shares how they have been working on the same for the past 2 years and how they realised that its just the tip of the iceberg. We were lucky to get some early customers, but its harder for us to get the second set of customers.
You just have to wait it out and you have to watch what happens
What we realised, is that even if you have an engine, you still have to go to the customer with the 4 wheels, and the rest so that the customer just plugs in the key and moves on. So we partnered with companies which helped us achieve our objectives, and since we did not have the complete product stack, and hence these partners helped us reach there.
Its really important to see what your route to market is
Our biggest challenge right now is cash flows and we need to address the same.
And now we have RateGain, a company into the Hospitality and Travel Technology Products Company and we have the CEO and Founder sharing his thoughts.
We operate in these niche areas, these products have these niche requirements as a result of which we are pretty successful. And now we have RateGain sharin gthe various offerings they have.
While we were gaining knowlegde, we found that every hotel was published on some website, and we took the intelligent way out, which was more of creating a channel in between for the hotels to reach out with their information.
Sharing the Business Model
We have something called the rate tracking tool, so anybody selling anything online, you would want to know if there are competitive products on competitive prices available? Well, we customized this for the hotels. We found one commercial use of this technology and hence we started with hotels, but now we are launching it for different variants.
Interestingly what we now have is a screen shot of the reports that the product generates for the user. And I must say, is pretty interesting for a good competitive analysis.
How did the product come about?
In the US at a point when I returned from there, there were travel sites emerging, and I wanted to build the technology targeting the US consumer and build a metasearch site. And we flipped the Bmodel and created the product for the hotel industry.
If you are working on something new and innovative, customers in the US are pretty collaborative and understanding
Why did it work?
Emerging market need
Niche area/ No limited competition
Recommendation for others:
MR, Market sizing
Test market the product
Agile in bringing product to the market
Greenfield opportunities
SME on board
Passion
We leverage a great great Channel Strategy. We have identified strong players in the hospitality domain and tied up with them.
Okay and now we have RAWZOR standing at the line
Our’s is a product which is similar to winzip but for photographers. We spoke to all the photo editing softwares, to add support to our format, though there was no money involved, but it helped us gain industry support.
There was a lot of resistance from the market, you cannot go on day 1 to Adobe and expect them to support you.
Why did we try this?
First few friends looking to join a startup.
Where did it fail?
Lack of experience
Lack of discipline
What worked and Why?
Multiple discoveries of the right things to do
I believe we should look inside the team. If you are not good enough in what you are doing, then the level of integrity, honesty and discipline takes a hitm which surely was a challenge for us. People dont know the right things to do and the right things. Its putting people in the right framework to get the right things out of them.
And now we have the founder of Busy Software, Mr, Dinesh, sharing his success story. We have never had big hurdles, though profits have not been huge but somehow things have been moving smoothly.
The problem that we have is that of scaling up. Our challenge is that this market is dominated by Tally which is almost similar to the market and it is available at Zero price.
Now there are benefits to this situation and there are the problems. Such a situation increases the market size, which was good for us. Our pricing strategies is being focused on what Tally has dictated till now. Now the difficult thing is how to sell and how to get into the considerable field of the consumer.
How to get into the consideration set of people – this is our major challenge
Initially we kept the price very low almost 50% of what Tally was. We were not the smartest marketing guys around, but we were sure that we could get the product replicated and we were fool enough to replicate a free software. For us the differentiating factor was getting “Sales Tax” as an inclusive offering.
Our objective was to make people use the software, and we started spreading 90 days free software trial with full functionality on. People tried our software because he has a pain point, thus we pointed on this aspect of the consumer thought process.
Did Tally not include those features?
Well, yes they did, more than 8o% of the features are available, but since we are architectured right from the beginning, and hence that gives us the edge over Tally.
Ankur is now leading the discussion, and we have a request from participants for Ankur to share his story!
What is it that keeps your customer awake at night, if you know this and your product answers the call, well, you have your business – Ankur Lal
And now we have Ankur Lal, sharing his experience. The big problem is, its ironical, software development costs are cheaper in India, if they were expensive, we would not have been discussing this. If you can replicate and duplicate, that is product business.
Participant: we purely lack strategic planning, you begin with a myopic vision in starting out. Interestingly we have people sharing through product management and project management.
The discussion in the room has now shifted to how the ecosystem is getting shaped and it finds people like us at these platforms. And now we have Ankur concluding the session introducing the EMERGE community, and the NASSCOM EMERGEOUT Conclave which is also the 50th session of the NASSCOM Friday’s 2.0.
I am glad to be LIVE blogging the 49th session of the NASSCOM Friday’s 2.0, as today I complete one complete year, LIVE blogging the NASSCOM Friday’s 2.0, surely all thanks to Avinash, NASSCOM
"We thought we understood social media marketing and seo optimization fairly ok but after our one on one session realized many of the fundamental mistakes we were making plus learnt many new tools. Overall an investment I would recommend every entreprenuer to make"
- Nidhi, Founder CEO, Pinnacle Works
simple, yet unique!
