hi,
there is an interesting conversation between two talented guys in d5 conference:
http://d5.allthingsd.com/20070531/video-steve-jobs-and-bill-gates-highlight-reel/
hope you all enjoy this one....
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Friday, June 1, 2007
Can we think on this?
Why there is no Google from India??????????
Why there is no Microsoft from India?????????
Why there is no IBM from India??????????
can anybody get answers for this, i will be really happy...
Why there is no Microsoft from India?????????
Why there is no IBM from India??????????
can anybody get answers for this, i will be really happy...
Thursday, May 31, 2007
13 Year old Entrepreneur
Elementeo’s 13-year-old CEO, highlight of TiECON 2007
Elementeo Executive Team
Venturebeat writes :
The buzz on the expo floor was about Silicon Valley gaming startup Elementeo and its precocious 13-year old founder and chief executive, Anshul Samar. “We inject fun into education,” the fast talking entrepreneur confidently proclaimed, touting his new fantasy role playing board game which he believes will change the way kids learn chemistry.
The conference featured keynote presentations from the likes of Marc Benioff (Salesforce.com), Vinod Khosla (Khosla Ventures) and Tim O’Reilly (Web 2.0 thinker), but the young Samar better represented the theme of this year’s conference: “The New Face of Entrepreneurship.”
VentureBeat interviewed the diminutive executive at Elementeo’s TiECON booth. Like other charismatic Silicon Valley CEOs – think Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison or Marc Benioff – Mr. Samar exudes confidence, vision and a passion to change the world. He’s more articulate than many CEOs four times his age.
Click here to see VentureBeat’s video of Mr. Samar delivering his elevator pitch.
Samar argues that textbooks are boring and kids would rather spend their time battling enemies, blowing things up with bombs, and yes, even giving their opponents lead poisoning. So he created a fantasy role playing game that combines the rapturous teenage joys of competition and carnage with the exciting properties of the periodic table of chemical elements.
Here’s how the game works: You command an army of chemical elements, compounds and catalysts — represented within a 66-card deck (the fire and brimstone card at left is for “Sulfur,” for example). Your opponent has his own deck with the same number of cards. Your goal is to battle your competitor and reduce his IQ down to zero. Pit your oxygen card against your opponent’s iron card, for example, and you learn that you create rust. Score one for oxygen. Kind of like rock-paper-scissors, but with chemicals, dice and 66 impressively illustrated cards featuring monster-themed caricatures of chemicals.
Samar would kick my butt in this game. At least I’d probably learn more about chemistry in an hour of game play than I learned in my high school chemistry class a couple decades ago.
Like all good Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, Samar was taking orders at the show even though he won’t start shipping product until he either receives his first 2,500 orders, or he closes a decent round of funding, whichever comes first. As of Saturday, he had already booked 450 pre-orders.
Elementeo’s initial seed funding, which was used to design prototypes, came in the form of a $500 grant from the California Association for the Gifted.
Now Samar says that if he can get $100,000 in funding, it will help him achieve his goal of $1 million in first year revenues by the time he graduates eighth grade in June 2008 (Unlike most Silicon Valley companies, Mr. Samar’s fiscal year ends at the start of summer vacation).
So what happens once the company secures funding? Will Mr. Samar and his team follow in the footsteps of Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg who famously dropped out of school (in this case, Lawson Middle School in Cupertino) to pursue their ventures full time?
Elementeo Executive Team
“We’ll still be in school, but we’ll be richer,” joked Mr. Samar’s 13-year-old team member Daniel Tan, his big smile exposing a mouthful of braces.
Samar’s sister, who at age 11 serves as the company’s vice president of sales, jokes that after they’re rich, they can hire someone to do their homework. “Just kidding,” she emphasizes.
The company is considering an online version of the game, as well as extending the brand to include games for biology, math, and other school subjects they’ve identified that have “boring textbooks.”
‘We are trying to build expertise in management, strategy consulting’
Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro speaks about Wipro's growth strategy in Hindustan times:
Azim Hashim Premji, the 61-year-old chairman and CEO of Wipro Ltd, owns more than 80 per cent in the company, which has transformed itself from making vegetable oil to a global software services business with annual revenues of around $3 billion (Rs12,300 crore). In a wide-ranging interview at Wipro’s Bangalore campus, Premji, who chooses his words very carefully, spoke with Pankaj Mishra about Wipro’s acquisition strategy, its ambitious plans to establish centres in the US, the ongoing controversy over H1B visas in America as well as how being “humble” and not being an overt posterchild of Indian technology is actually helping Wipro differentiate itself from rivals. Edited excerpts:
We find many Indian companies today expanding their global footprints by making big-ticket acquisitions that are over $1 billion in size. What is your philosophy for inorganic growth?
Unless it has a lot of strategic value for us, we will not look at a $1 billion kind of acquisition. But we are looking at acquiring companies larger than the eight firms we have acquired in the past, certainly those between $200 million and $300 million in size. We are looking at companies employing 50 to 300 professionals. Good companies are never cheap; the issue is whether they can add value to our company in terms of the existing customer base, or a new technology.
Even though you serve global customers, your workforce is still almost 90 per cent Indian, based in the country. What is the offshore story beyond India?
What is an Indian company and what is an American company? Take Accenture, for instance. They have around 37,000 professionals in India today. At the end of this year, they will employ 40,000 to 45,000 people in the country and there are around 42,000 employees globally. So, is Accenture an Indian company? IBM has already got 48,000 people in India, and they say that they want to go up to 75,000 professionals in the country. They are downsizing in America and laying off people in other locations. So, what is IBM two or three years from today? I think we need to get ourselves branded as a global company, which works in a global set-up and has a work-force which is reasonably global. Today, we employ around 3,500 people in Europe, out of which around 1,300 are locals. Foreign workers outside India account for 7 to 8 per cent of our total workforce currently, and we would like to take this up to around 20 per cent in the coming few years. We now have a centre in Shanghai, and are looking at another one in China. We have a centre in Romania, Brazil, and Mexico. We are now looking at three centres in the US.
The three centres coming up in the US will employ anywhere between 250 and 1,000 professionals in each of the states.
One advantage companies such as IBM and Accenture have over you is their business and management consulting expertise, which helps them in getting those long-term engagements with clients. Do you find it a challenge to get into the consulting space?
We have today about 2,000 people in the consulting division, which accounts for about 6.5 per cent of our revenues ($195 million) currently. Our objective is to have 15% of our revenues coming from consulting in three to four years. We have a central consulting team for Europe and America, headquartered in Boston.
What keeps you up?
Maintaining the solidarity of the company’s culture is a huge challenge, which requires huge amount of time and effort. I spend a lot of time doing this at open forum, question and answer sessions with employees even when travelling. Fighting complacency and retaining the same hunger with the growing size are other big challenges
You and your family own around 80% of the company. Will you have a significant say in the company going forward?
We have a significant stake in the company and its strategy going forward. I think you need to divorce the ownership issue from management of the company. Enlightened owners don’t shoot themselves in the foot. We have consistently displayed a very high degree of professionalism, in spite of very high concentration of ownership.
How sustainable is the restructuring of your top management that resulted in four CEOs for each of the business units? Will you ever have a group CEO or a similar position at Wipro?
There is no immediate succession plan for me, nothing immediate that we will announce. The idea is to engage with clients more comprehensively.
Azim Hashim Premji, the 61-year-old chairman and CEO of Wipro Ltd, owns more than 80 per cent in the company, which has transformed itself from making vegetable oil to a global software services business with annual revenues of around $3 billion (Rs12,300 crore). In a wide-ranging interview at Wipro’s Bangalore campus, Premji, who chooses his words very carefully, spoke with Pankaj Mishra about Wipro’s acquisition strategy, its ambitious plans to establish centres in the US, the ongoing controversy over H1B visas in America as well as how being “humble” and not being an overt posterchild of Indian technology is actually helping Wipro differentiate itself from rivals. Edited excerpts:
We find many Indian companies today expanding their global footprints by making big-ticket acquisitions that are over $1 billion in size. What is your philosophy for inorganic growth?
Unless it has a lot of strategic value for us, we will not look at a $1 billion kind of acquisition. But we are looking at acquiring companies larger than the eight firms we have acquired in the past, certainly those between $200 million and $300 million in size. We are looking at companies employing 50 to 300 professionals. Good companies are never cheap; the issue is whether they can add value to our company in terms of the existing customer base, or a new technology.
Even though you serve global customers, your workforce is still almost 90 per cent Indian, based in the country. What is the offshore story beyond India?
What is an Indian company and what is an American company? Take Accenture, for instance. They have around 37,000 professionals in India today. At the end of this year, they will employ 40,000 to 45,000 people in the country and there are around 42,000 employees globally. So, is Accenture an Indian company? IBM has already got 48,000 people in India, and they say that they want to go up to 75,000 professionals in the country. They are downsizing in America and laying off people in other locations. So, what is IBM two or three years from today? I think we need to get ourselves branded as a global company, which works in a global set-up and has a work-force which is reasonably global. Today, we employ around 3,500 people in Europe, out of which around 1,300 are locals. Foreign workers outside India account for 7 to 8 per cent of our total workforce currently, and we would like to take this up to around 20 per cent in the coming few years. We now have a centre in Shanghai, and are looking at another one in China. We have a centre in Romania, Brazil, and Mexico. We are now looking at three centres in the US.
The three centres coming up in the US will employ anywhere between 250 and 1,000 professionals in each of the states.
One advantage companies such as IBM and Accenture have over you is their business and management consulting expertise, which helps them in getting those long-term engagements with clients. Do you find it a challenge to get into the consulting space?
We have today about 2,000 people in the consulting division, which accounts for about 6.5 per cent of our revenues ($195 million) currently. Our objective is to have 15% of our revenues coming from consulting in three to four years. We have a central consulting team for Europe and America, headquartered in Boston.
What keeps you up?
Maintaining the solidarity of the company’s culture is a huge challenge, which requires huge amount of time and effort. I spend a lot of time doing this at open forum, question and answer sessions with employees even when travelling. Fighting complacency and retaining the same hunger with the growing size are other big challenges
You and your family own around 80% of the company. Will you have a significant say in the company going forward?
We have a significant stake in the company and its strategy going forward. I think you need to divorce the ownership issue from management of the company. Enlightened owners don’t shoot themselves in the foot. We have consistently displayed a very high degree of professionalism, in spite of very high concentration of ownership.
How sustainable is the restructuring of your top management that resulted in four CEOs for each of the business units? Will you ever have a group CEO or a similar position at Wipro?
There is no immediate succession plan for me, nothing immediate that we will announce. The idea is to engage with clients more comprehensively.
A leader must catch the wave of change
Vivek Paul, Former President and CEO, Wipro Technologies wrote about leadership in Business Standard:
As I think about the essence of leadership, the first thing that comes to mind is that different circumstances sometimes throw up leaders who are right for that situation. But even if you hold aside the situational leader, there are many threads in common for those who lead through all seasons, and I'll share a few here.
Progress owes itself to the demands of the unreasonable man: To be reasonable is to accept the status quo, to accept small gains. You must be unreasonable — have a vision, a change agenda, something that most people would not see or be willing to push. So look around you — what do you see changing that requires a different approach. Learn to pick up on the weak signals —change descends equally on everyone, but a few realise it faster than others.
Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself: This skeptical view has checked many a leader in his or her tracks. Leadership can only be successful by example. If you expect hard work from others, you have to work the hardest. If you expect breakthroughs, you have to show a few yourself. Never let a formal designation lull you into thinking that you no longer have to contribute. Always balance your time between directing and excelling as an individual.
If it is not important to make a decision, it is important not to make a decision: There is this stereotype of this macho leader spewing a barrage of decisions. The reality could not be more the opposite. You have to learn to live with ambiguity for about as long as needed. There are only two ways to get this mix right. First, use a lot of data for every decision. Irreconcilable differences vanish when enough data is mined. Second, is listen — respectfully and with an open mind to your team. And here the diversity of your team is truly an asset.
Have an infinite faith in yourself: In the jungles outside Bangalore there are many elephant camps where one can see huge elephants chained to a tiny stake. I wondered why the elephants do not just pull them out of the ground. I was told that as calves when they are tied to this stake, they try very hard to pull, but cannot, and reconcile themselves to being tied down by the stake. But as they grow bigger and stronger, they are mentally still tied to that stake and do not even try to break free. This then brings me to the next leadership idea — have an infinite faith in yourself. The problem in being a leader is that there is no one to say 'well done', no one to reconfirm your agenda against the whirlwinds of uncertainty you face every day.
Always reinvent yourself and start afresh: Jack Welch, previous chairman of General Electric, said that he loved international trips, because every time he came back he would pretend that he had just been appointed CEO, that this was his first day at the office and that the guy before him was quite a dud. He would come up with scores of things he would do differently. And this brings me to my last leadership idea — always reinvent yourself.
So in a nutshell, catch the wave of change for therein lies opportunity...
As I think about the essence of leadership, the first thing that comes to mind is that different circumstances sometimes throw up leaders who are right for that situation. But even if you hold aside the situational leader, there are many threads in common for those who lead through all seasons, and I'll share a few here.
Progress owes itself to the demands of the unreasonable man: To be reasonable is to accept the status quo, to accept small gains. You must be unreasonable — have a vision, a change agenda, something that most people would not see or be willing to push. So look around you — what do you see changing that requires a different approach. Learn to pick up on the weak signals —change descends equally on everyone, but a few realise it faster than others.
Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself: This skeptical view has checked many a leader in his or her tracks. Leadership can only be successful by example. If you expect hard work from others, you have to work the hardest. If you expect breakthroughs, you have to show a few yourself. Never let a formal designation lull you into thinking that you no longer have to contribute. Always balance your time between directing and excelling as an individual.
If it is not important to make a decision, it is important not to make a decision: There is this stereotype of this macho leader spewing a barrage of decisions. The reality could not be more the opposite. You have to learn to live with ambiguity for about as long as needed. There are only two ways to get this mix right. First, use a lot of data for every decision. Irreconcilable differences vanish when enough data is mined. Second, is listen — respectfully and with an open mind to your team. And here the diversity of your team is truly an asset.
Have an infinite faith in yourself: In the jungles outside Bangalore there are many elephant camps where one can see huge elephants chained to a tiny stake. I wondered why the elephants do not just pull them out of the ground. I was told that as calves when they are tied to this stake, they try very hard to pull, but cannot, and reconcile themselves to being tied down by the stake. But as they grow bigger and stronger, they are mentally still tied to that stake and do not even try to break free. This then brings me to the next leadership idea — have an infinite faith in yourself. The problem in being a leader is that there is no one to say 'well done', no one to reconfirm your agenda against the whirlwinds of uncertainty you face every day.
Always reinvent yourself and start afresh: Jack Welch, previous chairman of General Electric, said that he loved international trips, because every time he came back he would pretend that he had just been appointed CEO, that this was his first day at the office and that the guy before him was quite a dud. He would come up with scores of things he would do differently. And this brings me to my last leadership idea — always reinvent yourself.
So in a nutshell, catch the wave of change for therein lies opportunity...
New media, new ad opportunities
Hindustan Times writes about New Media, New ad opportunities:
Sundararaman K, head of sales, Google India, informs, “The campaign built the concept of a fantasy land that the Axe consumer could visit and be a part of, by registering himself. One of the campaign objectives was to drive consumers to the Axeland website www.cometoaxeland.com.” The Mindshare (HLL’s media agency) team adopted a unique search strategy, choosing keywords that mapped the Axe product and lifestyle, and led to the Axeland website.
Atit Mehta, media director, Mindshare Fulcrum, says, “While Google AdWords accounted for 13 per cent of all impressions, it delivered 37 per cent of the clicks. The targeted nature of AdWords advertising generates a higher response rate and a higher ROI than other modes of Internet advertising.” The average cost per click from Google AdWords was Rs 5.33, but keywords “Axe” and “Axeland” had an average CPC of about 50 paise. The campaign success was evident with 18,000 hits to the website and 1,000 registrations in a single day.
Vivek Paul, director operations, Sound buzz India, states: “Our online and mobile properties around the Asia-Pacific, including India, saw an advertising upturn from Nokia, Motorola, Siemens, MSN and Samsung. Our direct advertising clientele increased 100 per cent in a year.” The Internet and Mobile Association of India estimates ad revenues of Rs 400 crore by end-2007.
Rajiv Hiranandani, co-founder and country head, Mobile2Win, says mobile phone advertising is around two to three per cent of ad budgets. “Mobile advertising is relatively new. It’s up to us to evangalise mobile marketing to brands and media owners.” But mobile phone-based adver tising is catching on. Hiranan dani points to the ongoing Chlormint shortcode campaign.” This is a great way to drive sampling of a new product in very large volumes.” He says that Perfetti, Coke, Pepsi, HLL, Standard Chartered, HSBC and YES Bank have yearly budgets for mobile advertising. “Our car racing game for Castrol where, during the Formula 1 season, we actually embedded the Castrol branding in the form of a pit stop, was effective. Coke has been working with us on various wireless initiatives ranging from shortcode-based campaigns to games, like the Thums Up challenge mobile game. Whirlpool has made mobile marketing a part of every campaign on the shortcode 8558.” Hiranandani says that WAP-based mobile marketing, mobile games with brands embedded into them, and location-based targeting through mobile advertising will do well in the future. He’s very hopeful about growth, given India’s youth power.
New media advertising – Internet, mobile and eventually media-converged digital options – has the power to chart its own course in the future, without competing for space with conventional media. Certainly, it will compete for more advertising budget. The initiatives are just beginning to emerge.
Sundararaman K, head of sales, Google India, informs, “The campaign built the concept of a fantasy land that the Axe consumer could visit and be a part of, by registering himself. One of the campaign objectives was to drive consumers to the Axeland website www.cometoaxeland.com.” The Mindshare (HLL’s media agency) team adopted a unique search strategy, choosing keywords that mapped the Axe product and lifestyle, and led to the Axeland website.
Atit Mehta, media director, Mindshare Fulcrum, says, “While Google AdWords accounted for 13 per cent of all impressions, it delivered 37 per cent of the clicks. The targeted nature of AdWords advertising generates a higher response rate and a higher ROI than other modes of Internet advertising.” The average cost per click from Google AdWords was Rs 5.33, but keywords “Axe” and “Axeland” had an average CPC of about 50 paise. The campaign success was evident with 18,000 hits to the website and 1,000 registrations in a single day.
Vivek Paul, director operations, Sound buzz India, states: “Our online and mobile properties around the Asia-Pacific, including India, saw an advertising upturn from Nokia, Motorola, Siemens, MSN and Samsung. Our direct advertising clientele increased 100 per cent in a year.” The Internet and Mobile Association of India estimates ad revenues of Rs 400 crore by end-2007.
Rajiv Hiranandani, co-founder and country head, Mobile2Win, says mobile phone advertising is around two to three per cent of ad budgets. “Mobile advertising is relatively new. It’s up to us to evangalise mobile marketing to brands and media owners.” But mobile phone-based adver tising is catching on. Hiranan dani points to the ongoing Chlormint shortcode campaign.” This is a great way to drive sampling of a new product in very large volumes.” He says that Perfetti, Coke, Pepsi, HLL, Standard Chartered, HSBC and YES Bank have yearly budgets for mobile advertising. “Our car racing game for Castrol where, during the Formula 1 season, we actually embedded the Castrol branding in the form of a pit stop, was effective. Coke has been working with us on various wireless initiatives ranging from shortcode-based campaigns to games, like the Thums Up challenge mobile game. Whirlpool has made mobile marketing a part of every campaign on the shortcode 8558.” Hiranandani says that WAP-based mobile marketing, mobile games with brands embedded into them, and location-based targeting through mobile advertising will do well in the future. He’s very hopeful about growth, given India’s youth power.
New media advertising – Internet, mobile and eventually media-converged digital options – has the power to chart its own course in the future, without competing for space with conventional media. Certainly, it will compete for more advertising budget. The initiatives are just beginning to emerge.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
The making of Naukri
Here is the earlier days of making of job portal naukri.com by its founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani
http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/jul/23spec2.htm
and his podcast interview about his success
http://www.podtech.net/home/1824/naukricom-founder-sanjeev-bikhchandani-what-does-it-take-to-start-a-company
Share your views guys...
http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/jul/23spec2.htm
and his podcast interview about his success
http://www.podtech.net/home/1824/naukricom-founder-sanjeev-bikhchandani-what-does-it-take-to-start-a-company
Share your views guys...
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