My ramblings...

Predictablly irrational... part II

2010-08-10T19:02:00.000-07:00

Our maladies of predictable irrationality have roots deeper than we have acknowledged thus far...

Watch Laurie Santos' TED talk to learn more

Steve Jobs' answer to 'What is object-oriented software?'

2010-02-04T17:49:00.000-08:00

Found this gem of an explanation via @rabois

Steve Jobs explaining what OO software is in a Rolling Stone interview given in 1994

Would you explain, in simple terms, exactly what object-oriented software is?

Objects are like people. They're living, breathing things that have knowledge inside them about how to do things and have memory inside them so they can remember things. And rather than interacting with them at a very low level, you interact with them at a very high level of abstraction, like we're doing right here.

Here's an example: If I'm your laundry object, you can give me your dirty clothes and send me a message that says, "Can you get my clothes laundered, please." I happen to know where the best laundry place in San Francisco is. And I speak English, and I have dollars in my pockets. So I go out and hail a taxicab and tell the driver to take me to this place in San Francisco. I go get your clothes laundered, I jump back in the cab, I get back here. I give you your clean clothes and say, "Here are your clean clothes."

You have no idea how I did that. You have no knowledge of the laundry place. Maybe you speak French, and you can't even hail a taxi. You can't pay for one, you don't have dollars in your pocket. Yet I knew how to do all of that. And you didn't have to know any of it. All that complexity was hidden inside of me, and we were able to interact at a very high level of abstraction. That's what objects are. They encapsulate complexity, and the interfaces to that complexity are high level.

Thus, Silicon Valley.

2009-09-19T17:28:00.001-07:00

" Thus, Silicon Valley." Yes, that's a complete sentence and I find that fascinating.

For more context head over to Caterina's blog, the sentence is about half way into the post.

Build what you cannot afford to buy...

2009-09-04T00:46:00.000-07:00

My previous company's product was a sync and backup consumer product SugarSync.

With SugarSync we wrangled constantly with our cost of storage as we launched the service, designed incentives for referrals, tried to figure out optimal duration for free trial and so on.

So I was delighted to see a post on how another start-up is dealing with this issue. It is fantastic that they are able and willing to share their solution in such detail on ther blog.

Short list of lessons from Jeff Bezos

2009-07-22T14:34:00.000-07:00

Short list of 3 items (full video here):

Obsess over customers - Pay attention to competition but remember customers first.
Invent - Listen to customer, invent for them, innovation is panacea.
Think long term - Critical. 5-7 years time frame perspective. Be willing to be misunderstood. Be willing to change on feedback.

Bonus item:

It is always day 1. Always, opportunity exists to innovate/obsess over customers.

Seth's blog on dashboards

2009-07-19T13:11:00.001-07:00

I found some gem's in Seth Godin's blog post on dashboards/metric and their relevance to marketing.

"Building good dashboards isn't difficult, but it's an excellent marketing strategy. A few brainstorms:
If you can add a digital dashboard to your service, do it.
If you can make the dashboard public, it gets more powerful.
Highlight data that changes behavior.
Allow the user to highlight the information that matters to them."

In my experience, the last two points are often not even articulated clearly much less thought through and implemented in products.

How are folks discovering apps for their iPhone?

2009-04-16T20:24:00.001-07:00

We are trying to understand how are people discovering apps for their iPhone. If you have 2 min to take a short 6 question survey, that would help us out. Just follow the link below

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=nfKMk6P9qNg4VWmIcS7NzQ_3d_3d

The survey is anonymous but do remember to add your email address at the end - we will do a lucky draw on May 1st for $25 Amazon gift certificate and announce the winner on the company blog at http://appletics.blogspot.com

Thanks!

Scary stuff...

2009-03-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

The amount of data about us out there is simply phenomenal!

I have barely used Twitter. I have less than a dozen tweets, have a few dozen friends who follow me and a few dozen who I follow and yet this is what TwitterSheep can tell about me:

I have been marginally more active on Facebook (again primarily accepting friend requests or sending out friend request, pretty lame - I know). And see how well TouchGraph can describe me and my network.

With so much information about each of us and how we are connected, what we like/dislike, our political views, our brand preference, institutions we are affiliated with, places we have worked, lived and travelled to and a long list of other things... it is only a matter of time before Facebook, Twitter and other figure out how to monetize it.

Don't you think?

Highly recommend: Predictably irrational

2009-01-22T15:30:00.000-08:00

Highly recommend reading "Predictably irrational".

Some random notes I made while reading the book

Influencing choice: A and B being arbitrary options, creating and providing an additional option A' which is closer but inferior to A, influences people to chose A more often.
First impression: First impressions count, initial anchors are persistent.
Endowment effect: People value what they have more while selling, they focus on loosing ownership rather than gaining cash.
Power of free: Free has great power and appeal. Free falls in a different mental account and is an order of magnitude more powerful than giving away something for cents.

E.g. iPhone Application store: Releasing lite/paid app pair results in higher revenue via paid app download and conversion from free to paid over revenue generated from releasing only paid application.

Market vs. Social norms: Social norms and market norms often collide, market norm wins.

Social norms: Social norms are very powerful and can be used instead of market norms in many situations to much better effect in less costly way.

E.g. Motivating employees bonus versus promoting culture of hard work by giving plaques to most hardworking employee.

A name for the venture...

2008-11-23T18:17:00.000-08:00

I have harassed many friends about a suitable name for the new venture and they have obliged. After discussing many candidate names, some thinking, a little philosophizing (along the lines of what is in a name...) we decided to go with 'Appletics'.

We have something to do with mobile applications... hopefully that draws some connection.

We have the company website at www.appletics.com and the company blog to go along with it at - so head over there and add it to your feed reader if you are interested in my exploits. I plan to mix my my personal observations and commentary with the typical company announcements there.

A new venture...

2008-10-15T11:55:00.000-07:00

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

-- Confucius

And that step is leaving the sheltered existence of a well defined job and plunging into the unknown... (in spite of warnings).

The journey begins from the ominously named conference room called "Swinging Doors" at Sharpcast which now is a sparsely furnished office of 'yet to be named' mobile venture.

I am working on some exciting ideas in the much hyped mobile application space. I am looking for a co-founder with following attributes/skills:

- never-say-die attitude, bias towards action, hands on
- passionate and exuberant about evolving mobile landscape.
- smarts and deep technical chops
- experience with iphone sdk/android sdk, objective c, c++, java, python, linux, mysql.
- bonus traits: sense of humor, humility

If this piques your interest and you fit the profile or know someone who does, drop me a note at ashishchordia AT gmail.com

Ominous...

2008-10-10T16:37:00.000-07:00

Sequoia presentation to the portfolio company CEO's.

Must read for every start-up CEO. Very ominous...

Sequoia Venture Capital Warning to CEOs - Get more Business Plans

The threat of a TB pandemic

2008-10-03T10:51:00.000-07:00

It should be a shock to most in the Western world that TB (short for tuberculosis) an ancient disease can raise its ugly head again.

I learned about XDRTB while reading Mountains Beyond Mountains, the bibliographical sketch of Paul Farmer (a must read by the way).

The fact that the disease is taking its toll with over 1.5 million people dying every year is shocking, specially considering that most people die within weeks of being diagnosed.

Doing my bit here by linking to a short slide show put together as a TED prize.

Apple drops iPhone NDA

2008-10-01T09:34:00.000-07:00

Apple's NDA has been causing iPhone developers some headache, today apple dropped the NDA, IMHO this is another small step that helps foster innovation.

From the apple iPhone Dev Center

We have decided to drop the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) for released iPhone software.

We put the NDA in place because the iPhone OS includes many Apple inventions and innovations that we would like to protect, so that others don’t steal our work. It has happened before. While we have filed for hundreds of patents on iPhone technology, the NDA added yet another level of protection. We put it in place as one more way to help protect the iPhone from being ripped off by others.

However, the NDA has created too much of a burden on developers, authors and others interested in helping further the iPhone’s success, so we are dropping it for released software. Developers will receive a new agreement without an NDA covering released software within a week or so. Please note that unreleased software and features will remain under NDA until they are released.

Thanks to everyone who provided us constructive feedback on this matter."

I will buy it if it is free

2008-09-29T13:12:00.000-07:00

I wonder what do people mean when they say they will 'buy' something?

Quoting a review from iPhone AppStore...

2008-08-12T13:22:00.000-07:00

A reminder to self:

Failure and fallure. The difference is subtle, but it is all the difference in the world. In fallure, you still do not get up the route, but you never let go. In fallure you fall; in failure you let go. Going to fallure means full commitment to go up--even if the odds of success are less than 20%, 10%, or even 5%. You leave nothing in reserve, no mental or physical resource untapped. In fallure, you never give yourself a psychological out: "Well, I didn't really give it everything. . . . I might have made it with my best effort." In fallure, you always give your full best--despite the fear, pain, lactic acid, and uncertainty. To the outside observer, failure and fallure look similar (you fly through the air in both cases), but the inner experience of fallure is totally different from that of failure.

Leadership Lessons of a Rock Climber by Jim Collins

We are on CNBC!

2008-03-28T13:07:00.001-07:00

We are on CNBC!

Check out New York Times technology columnist David Pogue raving about SugarSync!

Long time no post...

2008-03-16T13:51:00.000-07:00

Over the past few months this blog has fallen to the way side... and that's bad, but a few good things have happened since.

I have joined Sharpcast in the product management group. We have a fantastic team and have been working on the 'future of sync' which we are very close to launching at SugarSync.

If you are curious about what SugarSync can do take a look at this. And if you still need more convincing this should do it. (-:

I will keep posting on this blog for sharing interesting tid-bits and things outside of work, to follow the progress of SugarSync head over to the official product blog where you will find me chiming in from time to time.

A talk that tingles the brain...

2007-10-25T22:21:00.000-07:00

From Ted website:

In a wide-ranging talk, Vilayanur Ramachandran explores how brain damage can reveal the connection between the internal structures of the brain and the corresponding functions of the mind. He talks about phantom limb pain, synesthesia (when people hear color or smell sounds), and the Capgras delusion, when brain-damaged people believe their closest friends and family have been replaced with imposters.

Randy Pausch's speech

2007-09-23T10:44:00.001-07:00

Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University computer-science professor. He has pancreatic cancer and expects to live for just a few months. He gave one last speech, 'the last lecture' which is on Google video.

A must watch.

India poised

2007-08-26T21:16:00.000-07:00

Sharing a video doing the rounds.

iPhone - 99, Treo - 70: A rank for every product

2007-08-16T15:45:00.000-07:00

Wize.com the product research site gives a rank to every product from 1 to 100. 100 being top of the charts, and an assurance to the consumers to unhesitatingly buy the product.

So for instance, if you were in the market for a smartphone and wanted to know the gist of how iPhone compares to say Treo 650, Wize tells you the score a.ka. the WizeRank for each of these.

iPhone 99

Treo 70

(-:

Wharton Club of Northen California (WCNC) has invited Tom Patterson the CEO of Wize.com to speak about the company. As always my interest is to learn not just about the technology, product or idea but about the process of forming the company, the pains of building the venture, ideas for finding talent and like minded team members.

If this sounds exciting do come by, grab a lunch and hear Tom talk on August 30th in San Francisco.

Here is the link to the event.

A blog for MBA wannabes...

2007-08-08T22:01:00.001-07:00

My blog get quite a few visits from aspiring MBA candidates even thought there is practically no content on this blog that could be useful to them. Sometime feel the urge to write a post for that audience just because I am getting so much traffic from various bschool blog aggregators. Maybe I will do that sometime, in the mean while would like to offer link to Marquis's blog. Marquis is a Stanford MBA with background in IT. His blog is dedicated to answering questions that many of you might have. I don't know Marquis personally, I do think he is doing a great job of helping those considering applying to business school especially those who have a technology background or other non-traditional backgrounds.

The Golden Treadmill

2007-08-06T20:33:00.001-07:00

A NYT article worth reading - talks about the gazillion millionaires in the valley who don't feel like one.

Secrets of success in 8 words...

2007-07-14T18:13:00.000-07:00

TEDstr Richard St. John gives away secret of success in 8 works and 3 minutes.

Why apple is apple...

2007-07-10T21:36:00.001-07:00

Simplicity is a mantra to live by. Apple gets it, AT&T does not. A case in the point, the iPhone rate plan. Look at the rate plan matrix which is on AT&T's website. Simple? Why would you have the non-differentiated information repeated?

How does knowing that every plan offers essentially the same number 200 SMS text message change my preference for the plans in any way?

Does AT&T understand how consumers compare rate plan? Or any two things for that matter? Humans compare by contrasing, by trying to identify what is different? We look for patterns in things. How does the matrix below help in that context?

First you give information that is different (minutes), then a few rows of ticks telling us a couple of options are the same, then throwing a curve ball to see if we understand 200 is same number for all the rate plans, then another one with a number and text and just to make things interesting color it orange, then back to regular ticks so as to reassure us that things are indeed the same. Followed by a number that is in slightly smaller font making use suspicious of fine print which follows in bulk right below. Fantastic!

Compare that to this next matrix. Essentially provides the same information. Most of what might be relvant to consumer information is presented clearly right upfront. As you would have probably guessed, it is from Apple website.

One has to accept that both the rate plans are probably put on the website by teams that are responsible for website design/administration. We can assume that the creative folks designing the fine iPods/iPhones are not the once who created the layout for the matrix at Apple, and that the folks who come up with terrifying convoluted pricing plans for voice/sms/data plans at AT&T are not responsible for the final rate plan matrix on their website. Ample proof that the mantra of the company runs much deeper than just in the design or R&D organization. It has to be part of the DNA of the company, every employee adopting and applying the principle in their own unique way to their own unique task.

For all the wannabe Management Consultants reading this blog...

2007-07-09T14:35:00.001-07:00

Checkout yesterday's Dilbert.

Enough said. (-:

Inside iPhone

2007-07-04T14:41:00.001-07:00

I am, admittedly, a geek. If you are too - check out the detailed pictures/post on TechRepublic on 'cracking open the Apple iPhone'. Cool!

Marc's blog

2007-06-28T02:01:00.001-07:00

For those of you who have not yet discovered Marc Andreessen's blog, check it out. I have been enjoying his posts for past few weeks and highly recommend it for all aspiring entrepreneurs.

A must see TED-talk...

2007-06-15T01:14:00.001-07:00

A friend pointed to the talk at TED by Hans Rosling. Mind blowing. If you have not seen the talk - do it now!

Are we in a bubble?

2007-05-22T02:01:00.001-07:00

When too many people keep asking the same question - "are we in a bubble?" we probably are. And now it is not just my gut feeling or a random rant, the kingmaker of web2.0 world admits he feels the same way.

A start-up moving out of India

2007-04-25T01:15:00.001-07:00

Munjal writes about dismantling Riya operations in India. He talks about many of the problems I have observed over the past few months trying to recruit and retain talent in India. I sincerely hope this is not the beginning of a trend...

Sometime I wonder if we can estimate how much value is being eroded by service sector companies! I know that sounds rather negative but it is true. For creating value in a start-up environment you need long term commitment, you need to be able to sweat it out, you need to persist through the highs and the lows. The ability to make a lot of cash in the short term as part of a services organization trumps the dreams and the possibility of creating something big by being part of a start-up. There seems to be little scope for fostering valley type culture where entrepreneurial pursuits are appreciated. And that is eroding the future value top notch talent in India is capable of creating...

The story of India

2007-04-09T14:56:00.001-07:00

Came accross this nice article by Gurucharan Das on the story of economic development of India.

After being shackled by the government for decades, India's economy has become one of the world's strongest. The country's unique development model -- relying on domestic consumption and high-tech services -- has brought a quarter century of record growth despite an incompetent and heavy-handed state. But for that growth to continue, the state must start modernizing along with Indian society.
GURCHARAN DAS is former CEO of Procter & Gamble India and the author of India Unbound: The Social and Economic Revolution From Independence to the Global Information Age.

Long but worth a read.

The complete line-up

2007-04-03T19:59:00.001-07:00

Here is the complete line-up for the Stanford/Wharton E-Trek this weekend.

Martin Eberhard, Tesla Motors
Rajeev Madhavan, Magma Design Systems
Colin Roache, PenAgain
Zaw Thet, 4INFO
Ross Mayfield, Socialtext
Ajit Nazare, KPCB
Scott Weiss, IronPort Systems
Samir Arora, Glam Media
Hans Peter Brondmo, Plum.com
Andy Stack, Mozes
Saroj Sahu, Deeya Energy
Terrapass, Tom Arnold
David Sifry, Technorati

I am so excited... cannot wait to hear the stories of these entrepreneurs...

New york, NY to Dublin, Ireland

2007-03-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

Check out driving directions from New York to Dublin, Ireland.

#23 in particular (-:

A plug for San Francisco Trek

2007-03-07T09:19:00.001-08:00

Boston E-Trek was hugely successful, and we are working hard to get things in place for the San Francisco E-Trek which will be jointly hosted by Stanford GSB and Wharton (at the Wharton West campus) on April 6th and 7th.

Here is a partial list of the entrepreneurs we have confirmed for this trek...

Martin Ebhard, Co-Founder/CEO, TeslaMotors
Scott Weiss, Co-Founder/CEO, Ironport (acquired by Cisco)
Colin Roche, Co-Founder/CEO, PenAgain (check out the story on WSJ )
Rajeev Madhavan, Co-Founder/CEO, Magma Design
Ashmeet Sidana, Venture Partner, Foundation Capital

and more to come over the next few weeks.. so stay tuned.

A note on behavioural economics

2007-03-04T22:13:00.001-08:00

I just finished taking a course in behavioural economics and before I forget wanted to share an article that I recently came across. This nice article in Harvard Magazine follows the development in behavioural economics.

Worth a read if you can spare the time for it.

Boston E-Trek

2007-02-19T15:13:00.000-08:00

Finally it is coming together... after months of work, co-ordination with other schools, nailing down the schedule with the speakers and so on, our team is now set for the entrepreneurship trek to Boston.

This promises to be a fantastic event. We are being hosted at HBS and will have students from both HBS and MIT Sloan participate.

Take a look at the impressive list, we are fortunate to have such quality speakers.

Paul Conforti, Finale Desserts, www.finaledesserts.com
William Richmond, Broadband Directions, www.broadbanddirections.com
Leon Amariglio, Rhythmia, www.rhythmia.com
Dan Thibeault, Graduate Leverage, www.graduateleverage.com
Ben Campbell, OurStage, www.ourstage.com
Arijit Sengupta, Beyond Core, www.beyondcore.com
Wai Kit Lau, ScanScout,
Phuc Truong, eRecruiting
Furgan Nazeeri, Pivot Solutions. www.pivotsolutions.com
Alexandra Novakovich, Get Connected, www.getconnected.com
Al Kapoor, TiE VC Boston
Colin Mahony, Bessemer Venture Partners, www.bvp.com
Philip Guarino, Arclinea Boston, www.arclineaboston.com
Dan Wittner, Satisfaction Services New England, www.satisfactionservicesinc.com
Steven Papa, Endeca, www.endeca.com
Mike Zhang, Diet.com, www.diet.com
Robert Fleming, Prism Ventures, founder, www.prismventure.com
Stephen Schrodel, Isis Maternity, www.isismaternity.com
Jonathan Roosevelt, My Healthy Fit, www.myhealthyfit.com
Ian Chan, US Genomics / IE Labs, www.usgenomics.com

Stay tuned for news on San Francisco trek that will be a Stanford GSB/Wharton trek. We have some great things brewing...

Speakers at Wharton West tonight

2007-02-15T11:33:00.000-08:00

Feng Deng and Jeffrey Lee, the two general partners from Northern Light Venture Capital will be at Wharton West tonight to speak with current students and alums.

Feng and Jeffrey are WEMBA alumni and were classmates. They co-founded Northern Light Venture Capital in 2005, a China focused fund. The firm is backed by leading venture firms in the US such as NEA and Greylock Partners.

Before Northern Light, in 1997 Feng co-founded NetScreen Technologies, which has become one of the world's leading network security equipment vendors. NetScreen went public on NASDAQ in 2001 and was acquired by Juniper Networks in 2004 for $4 billion.

Look forward to hearing their thoughs on investment climate in China and on raising a new fund

Something to remember....

2007-02-10T18:46:00.001-08:00

"We don't know where have come from, we don't know where we are going, all that matters is the journey" words for wisdom from Bala S. Manian who was guest speaker today at Wharton West.

Bala mentioned he was lucky to have a mentor in Eugene Kleiner the famed founder of Kleiner Perkins. Bala currently is the CEO of ReaMetrix .

Speaking about inspirational leaders, big ideas and sutff like that... check out the videos on BT's Big Thinkers series.

Looking forward to another season...

2007-02-02T00:07:00.001-08:00

I have been volunteering with Team Asha, the marathon training part of Asha for Education for a little while now. The coordinators are furiously working to launch yet another successful year of training hundreds of lethargic Indian guys (very much like me) and girls to conquer their first marathon.

Some volunteers have put together a fantastic video, a little longish for my taste but well done.

Go Team Asha!

Is grey any different from grey, you bet!

2007-01-30T21:02:00.001-08:00

A popular idea in Behavioural Economics is reference dependence. The idea that perception depends on changes not levels. A good way to explain what that means is to give an example that one can see. So in the context of visual system reference dependence means that our perception of shade depends on the context of the surrounding objects and not simply level of contrast.

Check out the fantastic set of illusions that very aptly drive home the point.

Enjoy!

Want $100,000 for free?

2007-01-28T09:49:00.001-08:00

Calling all sport fanatics...

Serial entrepreneur David Wu (who is my classmate at Wharton) is launching RotoHog.com.

It is a new way to play fantasy sports, it's fair, it's fun and it's free. What more could you ask? Bragging rights - well you get that too!
But wait, it gets better - you can win ton's of prizes - just for playing what you enjoy and being the best at what you love doing.

What are you waiting for? Pre-register since they have limited the number of registrations for this season. Check them out!

Too cool!

2007-01-26T21:10:00.001-08:00

Check out this self-referential formula. Way too cool!

just what I need...

2007-01-17T22:48:00.001-08:00

Every Starbucks and Tim Hortons mapped just in case my intravenous caffeine drip is running low on supplies. (-:

http://www.findbyclick.com

They have a mobile version that one can download and use on the run.

Introducing FindbyClick's Mobile Service. With the click of a button, you can download the finest roasted java links right on to your very own mobile. From there, the world is yours. Never again will you be lost without your faithful cup of Java.

Amen!

Some more tid-bits on Joost (aka The Venice Project)

2007-01-16T10:37:00.001-08:00

Skype guys renamed their online video distribution offering Joost.

CNet reports:

A menu allows users to switch channels with a click of a link. Users will also have TiVo-like control of the content and access to any show offered regardless of time of day. They can also can skip ahead or backward within a show.

The have some interesting screenshots on their site.

VC valuation 101

2007-01-09T13:48:00.001-08:00

Check out Don Doge's post on alleged $10 M purchase of MyBlogLog by Yahoo!

For all the wannabe VC's this is a great post that illustrates really well a few different thumb of rules the industry uses to value early stage venture without revenues.

If you have a few minutes to waste...

2007-01-08T20:41:00.001-08:00

Check out this creative and funny animation.

66,795 push-up's

2007-01-07T00:34:00.001-08:00

That's exactly what Dan Ciruli claims he did this past year. His resolution for last year was to start with a push up on 1st Jan and keep adding one every day ending with 356 the last day of the year.

Reminds me of a story of a young man who could lift a bull, the story goes the young man started lifting the bull when it was just a little calf. He did so every day and as over the years as the calf grew and turned into a bull the young man could still lift him.

I am not sure if this legend is true. I do find Dan's achievement inspiring.

A memorable quote

2007-01-06T23:47:00.001-08:00

Yvon Chouinard in Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman quotes Antoine de Saint Exupery, the French aviator.

Have you thought, not only about the airplane but whatever man builds, that all of man's industrial efforts, all his computation and calculations, all the nights spent working over draughts and blueprints, invariably culminates in the production of a things whose sole and guiding principle is the ultimate principle of simplicity.

It is as if there were a natural law which ordained that to achieve this end, to refine the curves of a piece of furniture, or a ship's keel or the fuselage of an airplane, until gradually it partakes of the elements purity of the curve of the human breast or shoulder, there must be experimentation of several generations of craftsmen, In anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer any things to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away, when a body has been stripped down to its nakedness.

Jack's predicitons..

2007-01-05T16:04:00.001-08:00

Jack Biddle a.k.a Southeast VC of Novak Biddle Venture Partners predicts collapse of Web 2.0 and ad supported business models. I am not sure I agree with him and his outlook for 2007, but I do completely agree with the last thought in this post. Working for passion, creating value, having fun and all that leading to monetary reward - now to me that rings true not just in the end of 2007; I think that is timeless.

My prediction is that by the end of 2007, people won't venture for profit. They will venture to do really cool things, because they can.
And 10 years later... the best of the best will get paid despite the fact they had the time of their lives.

Next generation newscast

2006-12-27T15:28:00.001-08:00

Is it time for cyborgs to deliver all news? All automated with no auditing or editing from humans?

Check out News at Seven - a project by Nate Nichols and Sara Owsley, Computer Science graduate students at Northwestern University's Intelligent Information Laboratory (InfoLab ).

The site claims,

News at Seven is an automatic system that crafts daily news shows. It finds the news you are interested in; edits it; finds relevant images, videos, and external opinions; and then presents it all using a virtual news team working in a virtual studio. News at Seven is a uniquely compelling experience that can present traditional news--augmented with supplemental images, videos, and opinions from the blogosphere—all without human intervention.

Techcrunch has some comments on them, basically saying that they did not find it useful for anyone. Nonetheless the technologist in me is thrilled. It is a pretty good news product. Services such as News at Seven have the potential to form the bridge between the way *majority* of people across the world are used to consuming news and the evolving new way in which news is being delivered.

Mercury new's slide show on India

2006-12-27T13:40:00.001-08:00

Worth a quick look.

Happy XMas, new year and all that...

2006-12-25T21:26:00.001-08:00

How complicated can it be to wish your friends and family? Check out the most complex greeting ever posted by Vinny. Here is an excerpt to pique your interest...

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, nonaddictive, gender neutral celebration of the summer solstice holiday, practiced with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

As for me, I simply wish you all Happy Holidays!

Computing on thumb drive

2006-12-22T14:10:00.001-08:00

I had talked about this idea before in a post earlier... now some undergrad in India has done it with OpenSolaris. Fantastic!

A great piece - Failure and fallure

2006-12-21T14:03:00.001-08:00

I remember reading the essay by Jim Collins where he draws leadership lessons from his experience with rock climbing when it was first published.

Re-reading it now, I find the timeless piece just as inspirational and perhaps resonating all the more strongly...

Joe meet's Bill G

2006-12-20T18:19:00.001-08:00

A *really* old post from Joe Kraus that I found entertaining... worth checking out if you have some time to waste.

A little bit of inspiration...

2006-12-19T10:39:00.000-08:00

LiveBooks helps professional photographer create online presence, control content and connect with audience. While browsing their site and offering I stumbled upon August Bradely's portfolio (a must check-out!).

As I enter the final few months of my MBA experience, I have been contemplating various career options and dealing with the possibility of taking up widely different jobs. August's brief bio hit home an important point - to pursue your passion!

The Venice Project

2006-12-18T12:18:00.001-08:00

From the The Venice Project Blog

We are in the process of launching a secure P2P streaming technology that allows content owners to bring TV-quality video and ease of use to a TV-sized audience mixed with all the wonders of the Internet. All content on The Venice platform is provided by content owners directly, and it's all protected with the highest standard of encryption and we are working within the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) framework to ensure that it complies with appropriate content protection and ownership regulations.

These are people who were behind success of Skype so definitely worth keeping an eye on...

MediaTube from CBS,NBC,Viacom,News corp ...

2006-12-18T08:50:00.001-08:00

NYT writes about recent effort by media companies to create a competing offering for YouTube.

"I think people have been trying to figure out: 'Do we take a check from Google, or do we create our own game?' " said another executive who has been in the negotiations said. "But that Google check comes only once. The other option is to create something that is capable of becoming a big asset and controlling our own game."

While no one can dispute the value of sitting on a huge pile of content. That is undeniable a great asset for media companies, I am skeptic about any effort that has so many players trying to put together a simplified product for end users. Almost always each player has his own agenda and alignment of interest is difficult, to add to this Google factor, various partnerships that Google has and the check's that it can write today. I think this effort will turn out to be a good negotiation card for the media players to play against Google/YouTube, and that does have value, but nothing more.

TV to Go

2006-12-14T13:24:00.001-08:00

Recently came across this site Zattoo.

Interesting offering... they describe the product as high-quality, long-play video delivery with plenty of channels to choose from and delivered via browser, i.e no downloads required.

I have not be able to try it out as they are available only in Europe for the moment but if they deliver all the things they promise, they might be on to something...

Fighting identity theft

2006-12-12T22:17:00.001-08:00

A few classmates of mine have been working on ideas to prevent identity theft.

Here is a plug for their recently launched website - http://www.consumeradoption.com/index.html

Snap...

2006-12-12T12:57:00.001-08:00

Trying out Snap on this blog.. I think it is cool. (-:

We are smarter than me - part II

2006-12-11T20:43:00.000-08:00

A few days back I wrote about efforts by Wharton Publishing to involve a large community in one of it's publishing projects. Now Guy Kawasaki is planing to write another book and this time he is 'open sourcing' the content.

Is this the new way to write books? How does the 'wisdom of crowed' reflect the content? How well will the books be received? How much room will these efforts leave for brilliant insights from an expert - the author?

Begin it now...

2006-12-11T20:42:00.000-08:00

Loved the quote so much that I am reproducing the entire post from Silicon MBA's blog

Graham Weaver, who founded a very successful fund (Alpine Investments) when he was in business school, came to speak to a class of mine the other day. He related a remarkable quote from Goethe as he urged us to take the plunge and commit to a road less travelled. The quote really reasonated with me so enjoy!

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back-- Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."

Begin it now...

2006-12-11T19:18:00.000-08:00

Loved the quote so much that I am reproducing the entire post from Silicon MBA's blog

Graham Weaver, who founded a very successful fund (Alpine Investments) when he was in business school, came to speak to a class of mine the other day. He related a remarkable quote from Goethe as he urged us to take the plunge and commit to a road less travelled. The quote really reasonated with me so enjoy!

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back-- Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."

Begin it now...

2006-12-11T17:42:00.000-08:00

Loved the quote so much that I am reproducing the entire post from Silicon MBA's blog

Graham Weaver, who founded a very successful fund (Alpine Investments) when he was in business school, came to speak to a class of mine the other day. He related a remarkable quote from Goethe as he urged us to take the plunge and commit to a road less travelled. The quote really reasonated with me so enjoy!

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back-- Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."

We are smarter than me, part II

2006-12-11T15:23:00.000-08:00

Capital efficienty the holy grail for building software companies

2006-12-07T20:22:00.001-08:00

Will Price has a good post on how capital efficiency is the holy grail for building software companies. Another aspect that I like about the post is that it proves the point with some good data and does that in an efficient manner.

Cognitive Dissonance

2006-12-04T17:08:00.001-08:00

WSJ has a nice piece on cognitive dissonance. I won't say much here except it is well worth the read.

We are smarter than me...

2006-12-04T15:29:00.001-08:00

Wharton School Publising is experimenting with Wiki style involvement for a book on management. The press release mentions that over a million business professionals an scholars have been invited to participate in this effort. I am not sure what the time line is but it would be interesting to follow how this effort pans out...

More Than a Million Invited to Write and Edit First Collaborative Book on Management Best Practices
Taking a page from Wikipedia®, publishing giant Pearson, under its Wharton School Publishing imprint, has embarked on a new book publishing project that could involve tens of thousands of authors and editors. Starting last month, more than a million business professionals and scholars -- including faculty, students, alumni, and newsletter recipients from Wharton and MIT's Sloan School of Management -- started receiving messages inviting them to collectively write and edit the book, tentatively titled We Are Smarter Than Mewww.wearesmarter.org). The book's content will examine how Web 2.0 technologies such as social networks, wikis, and blogs can benefit the business enterprise.

10x in 2 years

2006-12-03T12:35:00.001-08:00

Cannot agree more with JSharp on how start-ups need to be aiming for 10x in 2 years.

Life at a hyper-ventilating, highly-strung, unstable startup is entirely different. At a startup, you are expected to work 25x harder for 5 times the return - in 20% of the time. Put simply, your target return is 10x growth in the value of the equity within a *two* year period from product launch. 10x in 2 years.
....

Building a "ten-bagger" (a startup that grows 10x in value within two years) is not hard. Every month, someone comes along and shows you how it can be done - YouTube, Skype, PayPal, Google. The key is making sure the people at your startup *understand* the 10x in 2 years rule.

However, I am not sure if it is as easy to be a 'ten-bagger' as JSharp suggests. I guess finding, recruiting and retaining people who share this mentality is very hard, and maintaining the culture, momentum and focus of the team over two highly uncertain years is harder.

Touching...

2006-11-28T13:41:00.000-08:00

A reminder of how things still are for some children in India, found at the unlikeliest place Digital Video Editing

It is also interesting to read how the idea for movie was conceptualized and executed.

DMN: You are in software development yet you made a very interesting film. Have you had experience with filmmaking in the past? Do you intend to make more films in the future?
AD: Yes I am into software, but we all are into films, because we know how to pick the right film. I had no experience in filmmaking before. This is the first film I made, thanks to the electronics technology because of which a film can be made with very less cost and of course thanks to the Internet technology, my film has reached to you and all. Yes I want to make more films in the future. Thank you for liking my film

Alexis Dias made a movie because he was into films and knew how to pick the right film. The story is a good example of empowerment of 'average' consumers and the powerful message that can be delivered in user generated content

Traffic in India...

2006-11-26T22:44:00.001-08:00


Came accross a video that provides a peek at the traffic situation in India. I suspect this video is running 2-3x faster than the recorede frames and hence it makes the traffic look as if it is moving much faster than what it usually is. Nonetheless you can see all the unwritten traffic rules in full action. (-:

I admit - I don't get it either...

2006-11-18T10:30:00.001-08:00

Daniel writes in PEWire:

*** I understand Second Life like I used to understand Dungeons & Dragons. Not my cup of tea, but clean escapist fun for those who fancy themselves dice-throwing sorcerers. What completely confounds me, however, is the Second Life economy, in which people can make real money by selling fake things. Examples include pixilated designer dresses or "real estate" on fantasy islands (they actually make "Linden dollars," which have a L$300-US$1 conversion rate at Second Life currency exchange centers).
I'm not passing judgment, but rather just passing on my incredulity.
The reason I bring it up at all is that Second Life today is launching a business plan competition for "resident" entrepreneurs. The grand prize isn't terribly large – L$350,000 in seed Monday, which works out to less than US$2k), but it does involve some advisory participation from real VCs. The winner also will get complimentary marketing advice from PR firm Edelman.
If you're interested, there will be a kick-off panel this afternoon at 1pm EST, with panelists including Susan Wu of Charles River Ventures. I can't believe I'm relaying this but… Attendance will be limited on a first-come, first-served basis so please arrive early to Edelman Island. You can IM Hank Hoodoo with any questions.

Unlikely allies - PG&E and VMWare

2006-11-16T16:11:00.000-08:00

Or so you would think.

Computer world writes: PG&E will pay millions to companies that virtualize

A PG&E official announced the program to a stunned audience of 7,000 or so at VMworld 2006 in Los Angeles last week. Not even the VMware people had much advanced notice. The PG&E guy threw out some numbers just to make sure attendees could believe what they were hearing. Basically, PG&E will "pay" incentives of roughly $750 to $1,350 per virtualized server, up to a whopping $4 million per customer. In other words, PG&E will pay you to take a bunch of servers and consolidate them onto a larger one running virtual server partitions. What a virtualization slam-dunk for IT folks. CFOs out West should be jumping all over this one.

While the article does not suggest that this is a strategic move planed by folks at VMWare and on the contrary reports that they were pleasantly surprised by the development, I will not be surprised it if was.

Recruiting MBA's a sure sign of impending doom....

2006-11-14T19:56:00.001-08:00

If MBA's from top schools are salivating for a job with your company it is a sure sign of impending doom for your business - this is the premise of this Forbes article.

So recruiters beware! You have been warned, while you might believe that we MBA's are bright and hardworking and, bring energy and talent to your business, we might just be forbearer of doom for your enterprise.

On the bright side we MBA's should be happy, the story could have been worst, it could have claimed causality! Where would we hide then?

What an intro...

2006-11-14T14:49:00.000-08:00

The security geek in me totally loved the introduction of Richard Dawkins by David Cowan.

Richard Dawkins was at Kepler's Books in Menlo Park reading excerpts from his book 'The God Delusion'.

It is a must watch no matter on which side of the argument you are on.

More on product placement

2006-11-14T14:29:00.001-08:00

My previous post mentioned google encouraging product placement. I received the following email from Jumpcut, clearly the product placement in user generated content is increasingly a hot area and we will see the players try out different schemes to increase participation.

With cash prizes and other incentives, I am looking forward to a few better, slicker and humorous clips.

Update: I should have noted, Jumpcut is basically Yahoo!

Hi everyone,

We've been busy here at Jumpcut, working away on new features and contests.
Here's the latest.

NEW CONTESTS

Doritos: Crash the Super Bowl
Try using Jumpcut to create a Doritos commercial and you could win $10,000 and
a private Super Bowl XLI viewing party. If you are voted the favorite by
America, your commercial could be aired as a real Doritos commercial during
the Super Bowl. Imagine that. Go to http://www.jumpcut.com/groups/crash to
enter.

Matisyahu: Video Remix Contest
We've partnered with Sony/BMG to bring you new music contests. Remix
Matisyahu's music video "Jerusalem" for a chance to win an autographed CD and
a lithograph! According to Matisyahu himself, this song is about being in awe
and being fully alive. Mix in images and clips from your life that shows what
that means to you. Go to http://www.jumpcut.com/groups/matisyahu to enter.

Vega4: Life is Beautiful Contest
If you're looking for a great tune to throw together with your favorite photos
and video clips, this is it. Go to http://www.jumpcut.com/groups/vega4 and
remix the audio track. When you're done, post it on your MySpace page or use
our new feature to post it on your Facebook page!

NEW FEATURE

Share your movies on Facebook:
With this new feature, it takes you about five seconds to share your Jumpcut
movies with your friends on Facebook. Go to the movie you want to share,
click on "Post to Website", choose "Share on Facebook" and your movie will
play right inside your Facebook page.

AND WE HAVE WINNERS

Ruediger Post from Berlin, Germany was our My Cubicle Contest winner.
Ruediger won some vintage Jumpcut schwag! Check out his winning video at:
http://www.jumpcut.com/view?id=E6ABF8444B1211DBB95D1EE329CBD869&type=

Mike Anderson from Layton, Utah was the Grand Prize winner for the STARZ Stand
Up or Shut Up contest. He wins a video iPod pre-loaded with the entire season
of Stand Up or Shut Up plus much more! Here's his winning video:
http://www.jumpcut.com/view?id=041D93F0300C11DB8657F64154DE9F6D&type=

Reminiscent of old times.. .

2006-11-13T16:15:00.001-08:00

Check out Vedana's post "this is a hack", it reminds me of all the trails I have left behind (-;

Performance benchmarks in knowledge organization

2006-11-11T09:35:00.001-08:00

Joel write about performance benchmark in knowledge organization. Measuring and benchmarking this stuff is hard. Using external help to do it makes it even harder.

While I have all the respect for the brainpower and sheer analytical abilities of the management consultants, as Joel points out this is one area where I would not recommend using their services.

Expect more out of people

2006-11-10T12:07:00.001-08:00

I think, James McNerney is one of the inspirational business leaders of our times. Recently came across his interview and a few things he mentions strongly resonated with me.

On expecting more from people...

One of the things I've taken away from that is that I'm unafraid to expect a fair amount from people. It makes them so much better - you're doing them a disservice if you don't.

On conscious and continuous self-improvement

I have this idea in my mind - all of us get 15 percent better every year. Usually that means your ability to lead, and that's all about your ability to chart the course for [your employees], to inspire them to reach for performance - the values you bring to the job, with a focus on the courage to do the right thing. I tend to think about this in terms of helping others get better. I view myself as a value-added facilitator here more than as someone who's crashing through the waves on the bridge of a frigate.
....
....
I don't know if it comes from the toilet training, if your parents do expect a lot of you and you're always restlessly trying to grow and meet their expectations. That's a component. Another is that success and achievement can feed on themselves. It feels good to keep succeeding. It feels great to see the people you work with grow and achieve.

Read his entire interview at CNN.

Talk about product placement

2006-11-08T13:48:00.001-08:00

Watch this. Could there be a better way of promoting product placement in user generated content?

Our smart friends at Google are launching a program around it called The Domino Effect.

No wonder NBC is laying people off while Gogle profits soar.

What has economic incentive got to do with Weight loss?

2006-11-07T13:00:00.001-08:00

Mr Wave Theory writes :

"Ian Ayres and Barry Nalebuff, two professors at Yale School of Management, write a fascinating article abou Weight Loss Bonds.

....

Here's a diet system that literally pays you to lose the weight. If you miss your goal weight one week, you still have an incentive to get back on track to collect the next payout. If $60 a weigh-in isn't enough to get your attention, then buy two or more bonds.

How can one be a Marxist and still own a Jacuzzi?

2006-11-05T16:22:00.001-08:00

That was the question posed by Mark Albion who was at Wharton West this weekend to strike a dialog with MBA students in an attempt to save their souls.

Mark is an inspirational speaker and has written many books on the topic. I have put his "True to Yourself" on my must read list and cannot wait to get to it.

Mark is a social entrepreneur who has co-founded seven organizations, including Net Impact, and has spoken at over 100 business schools worldwide. He was a professor at Harvard Business School, was profiled on 60 Minutes and has been called the "savior of b-school souls" by Business Week. He wrote the New York Times Business Best Seller, Making a Life, Making a Living® in 2000, followed by the 2002 3-CD audio series, Finding Work That Matters. He has also been writing a monthly newsletter for the last 12 years that serves business professionals in 87 countries. You can find more info on his website: www.makingalife.com.

Realizing the value of Wharton West EMBA

2006-11-04T22:07:00.000-08:00

This weekend we had a fantastic panel on the topic of realizing the value of Wharton West EMBA. It was a terrific event, read the post by Ron if you are curious to learn more about it - ExecMBAJourney

Knowledge@Wharton Announces Launch of India Version

2006-11-01T12:57:00.001-08:00

Check it out at www.ikw.in

The begining of the end?

2006-10-31T17:43:00.001-08:00

WSJ reports:

Both MySpace and Facebook lost visitors in September, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, a Web-tracking service. The number of unique U.S. visitors at MySpace fell 4% to 47.2 million from 49.2 million in August, and the number of visitors to Facebook fell 12% to 7.8 million from 8.9 million.

Makes me wonder if we are indeed starting to see the beginning of the end of exuberance around 'social networking'.

Google/YouTube deal...

2006-10-31T08:15:00.001-08:00

Quoting an anynomous author Mark Cuban posts a different take on Google/YouTube deal.

An interesting question to ask...

2006-10-30T13:07:00.001-08:00

With the money slushing around in Web 2.0 area, Brian Wards ask an intersting question.

Will Web 2.0 dollars trickle down?

The Art Of Possibility

2006-10-28T14:50:00.000-07:00

The Art Of Possibility on the practice of enrollment:

The practice of enrollment is about giving yourself as a possibility to others and being ready, in turn, to catch their spark. It is about playing together as partners in a field of light. And the steps to the practice are:

1. Imagine that people are an invitation for enrollment

2. Stand ready to participate, willing to be moved and inspired

3. Offer that which lights you up

4. Have no doubt that others are eager to catch the spark.

A "no" can so often dampen our fire the world of the 'downward spiral'. It can seem like permanent, implacable barrier that presents us with limited choices: to attack, to manipulate our way around it, or to bow to it in defeat. In other words, a "no" can seem like door slamming instead of merely an instance of the way things are. Yet, we were to take a "no" less personally, and ourselves less seriously, we might hear something else. We might hear someone saying, "I don't see any new possibility here, so I think I'll stick with my usual way of doing things". We might here withing the word "no" an invitation for enrollment.

Average looks to billboard model... and back

2006-10-24T13:49:00.001-07:00

The Dove commercial is doing rounds - an average looking person to billboard model... here is a way to go the other way...

Bruce writes about " Expensive Cameras in Checked Luggage"

2006-10-15T09:32:00.001-07:00

Bruce Schneier writes about a smart solution to not loosing expensive cameras:

Expensive Cameras in Checked Luggage

This is a blog post about the problems of being forced to check
expensive camera equipment on airplanes:

"Well, having lived in Kashmir for 12+ years I am well accustomed to
this type of security. We haven't been able to have hand carries since
1990. We also cannot have batteries in any of our equipment checked or
otherwise. At least we have been able to carry our laptops on and
recently been able to actually use them (with the batteries). But, if
things keep moving in this direction, and I'm sure it will, we need to
start thinking now about checking our cameras and computers and how to
do it safely. This is a very unpleasant idea. Two years ago I ordered a
Canon 20D and had it "hand carried" over to meet me in England by a
friend. My friend put it in their checked bag. The bag never showed up.
She did not have insurance and all I got $100 from British Airways for
the camera and $500 from American Express (buyers protection) that was
it. So now it looks as if we are going to have to check our cameras and
our computers involuntarily. OK here are a few thoughts."

Pretty basic stuff, and we all know about the risks of putting expensive
stuff in your checked luggage.

The interesting part is one of the blog comments, about halfway down.
Another photographer wonders if the TSA rules for firearms could be
extended to camera equipment:

"Why not just have the TSA adopt the same check in rules for
photographic and video equipment as they do for firearms?

"All firearms must be in checked baggage, no carry on.

"All firearms must be transported in a locked, hard sided case using a
non-TSA approved lock. This is to prevent anyone from opening the case
after its been screened.

"After bringing the equipment to the airline counter and declaring and
showing the contents to the airline representative, you take it over to
the TSA screening area where it is checked by a screener, relocked in
front of you, your key or keys returned to you (if it's not a
combination lock) and put directly on the conveyor belt for loading onto
the plane.

"No markings, stickers or labels identifying what's inside are put on
the outside of the case or, if packed inside something else, the bag.

"Might this solve the problem? I've never lost a firearm when flying."

Then someone has the brilliant suggestion of putting a firearm in your
camera-equipment case:

"A 'weapons' is defined as a rifle, shotgun, pistol, airgun, and STARTER
PISTOL. Yes, starter pistols -- those little guns that fire blanks at
track and swim meets -- are considered weapons...and do NOT have to be
registered in any state in the United States.

"I have a starter pistol for all my cases. All I have to do upon
check-in is tell the airline ticket agent that I have a weapon to
declare...I'm given a little card to sign, the card is put in the case,
the case is given to a TSA official who takes my key and locks the case,
and gives my key back to me.

"That's the procedure. The case is extra-tracked...TSA does not want to
lose a weapons case. This reduces the chance of the case being lost to
virtually zero.

"It's a great way to travel with camera gear...I've been doing this
since Dec 2001 and have had no problems whatsoever."

I have to admit that I am impressed with this solution.

http://blogs.lexar.com/mattbrandon/2006/08/tighter_securit.html

Guruji...

2006-10-13T11:41:00.001-07:00

PE Week Wire reports:

Guruji.com, an Internet search engine focused on the Indian market, has raised $7 million from Sequoia Capital India. www.guruji.com

An excellent write-up on commercializing academic research

2006-10-12T16:11:00.001-07:00

Commercializing research from university is an exciting area for me. I often wonder how this can be accomplished in India? How the brain power at various IIT's can be unleashed.

This excellent write-up by Ravi Belani presents many good insights.

Another way to look at YouTube valuation

2006-10-12T15:36:00.001-07:00

Seth Levine posts about YouTube valuation:

That means that YouTube viewership alone is reducing productivity by over $52 million per day or $19 billion per year.

Yahoo needs to fix it's advertising system

2006-10-12T15:11:00.000-07:00

TheDeal writes:

I don't think it's future will be determined by its ability to purchase this social network or another. Yahoo already has expertise in that area with Flickr, Delicious and a slew of other internal projects. Yahoo must sort out its advertising system so that it can start generating a similar amount of cash that is really powering Google's surge.

Who do Chinese see themselves competing against?

2006-10-05T15:02:00.001-07:00

Who do Chinese see themselves competing against?

CNet writes:

It turns out that the Chinese don't view themselves as operating in the same league as the U.S. or Japan. Instead, the country that is most often in their sights is India.

And it is that competition with India that weighs often on Chinese minds. While leaders in China feel that their infrastructure and sense of aspiration is greater than India's, they are acutely aware of how the Indians have educated themselves and prepared for a global economy. In particular, they envy India's advanced English-language training, and the fact that Indian schools have been better at instilling creativity and innovation in students. Failure to master those language and applied learning skills is thought to be a key factor holding China back.

Now you can join Facebook!

2006-10-05T13:32:00.001-07:00

Seems like Facebook is opening it's doors. It will be interesting to watch how the current user base reacts considering that many have complained about MySpace being not exclusive and overcrowded.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Facebook <register@facebook.com>
Date: Oct 5, 2006 1:16 PM
Subject: Now you can join Facebook!

Hi ABC,

Now you can join Facebook! You tried to register last April, before we allowed everyone to sign up.

To register for Facebook using abcdefg@gmail.com or any other email address, go to:

https://register.facebook.com/r.php?fr=asdfasfasfasfasfasdf

Thanks,
The Facebook Team

Maybe not...

2006-10-04T05:40:00.001-07:00

In my earlier post I linked to some statistic that suggested better IPO prospects of venture backed companies.

TheDeal reports that while things have improved in the last quarter, things are not quite rosy.