Business 2.0 has a list of startup ideas they like. For India, a mobile based ad network, and wine imports business make it to the list… I would have thought there are far better ideas available as well — not that these ones are not good. But I like these guys for being specific rather […]
BW – Venture Capital: The Good, Bad, and Ugly
A very well balanced article in businessweek on what value VCs add, how they constraint the team, and what can go wrong. I think its useful to link this back to the objectives of the core team in terms of building scale versus lifestyle businesses, timing issues to scaleup and associated competitive threats, and so […]
No ease of use – Service Tax
As an advisor to FINO I have to collect service tax on my advisory fee and pay it to the Service Tax department which is part of the Central Excise Department. I need to get registered and get a service tax number. By now I know I should just ask my tax advisor to do […]
Ease of Use – You Tube
I came across this article on why You Tube is getting such high usage. A quote from the article…… ” Then comes YouTube. The first thing you notice about YouTube is the lack of barriers to entry. You can sign up quickly and upload anything in any format right away. YouTube’s computers then transcode (convert) […]
Battery Ventures in India
Hi Everyone, I recently joined Battery Ventures to help with their India investment strategy and wanted to reach out to the Venturewood community with this post. Battery Ventures made its first investment in a purely India based product company in Jan 2005 in Tejas Networks India Pvt Ltd. We are close to announcing two additional […]
Momo Delhi – Panel Discussion
Momo Delhi had their first event yesterday. Great show, and I hope this become an ongoing activity. Personally, I would prefer a more discussion oriented format — 5-6 10 minute presentations on new ideas, and then one specific discussion, with participants who can rip apart that topic, and something thats actionable. I was part of […]
Breaking Oligopolies
The oligopolistic power that telecom operators have in India is probably slowing innovation in the mobile space. Discount broking made trading volumes grow exponentially so if SMS were very cheap or near free we would see much more use and much more spam as well. Similarly if the rev share on VAS were to be […]
I would buy one
I just came back from the inaugral MMS ( Mobile Monday on a Saturday) get together sponsored by Adobe and Value First. Kudos to the organizers. I know very little about this space so I just went to listen and learn. I have a “smart” phone and an old mobile phone and strangely ( or […]
Matrix Partners India Launches $150 Million Fund
First Consumer Services Risk Capital Fund in India Matrix Partners India, co–founded by Avnish Bajaj and Rishi Navani in partnership with Matrix Partners US, today announced the closing of its first fund. The $150 million, multi-sector, multi-stage fund will focus on early to growth stage businesses in the Internet, mobile, financial services, media & entertainment, […]
Canaan Teams with Yahoo! Inc. in an $8.6 Million Investment in Bharat ...
Canaan Partners Makes Investment in New India Office Canaan Teams with Yahoo! Inc. in an $8.6 Million Investment in Bharat Matrimony, an Online Marriage Service Canaan Partners, a leading international venture capital firm, today announced the funding of Bharat Matrimony Group, the leading online matrimonial service in India. This is an exciting new investment by […]
Cell Phone to Blog
Erik Sundelof who is mentioned in this article is a Reuters Digital Vision Fellow at Stanford University. I am an alum (2002-03) so I got mail from the program. I do not know the cell/SMS domain well but this leads me to believe that with ring tones and premium SMS we may only scratched the […]
FINO
I will be an advisor to FINO with a brief to act as a coach to a team that will focus on scaleable business architechture. FINO is looking for two management trainees, located in Mumbai who will be 100% dedicated to this effort and report to Niket Kamdar who has overall responsibility for this deliverable. […]