I remember this TED talk by Hans Rosling as he echoed the sentiments that I’ve heard working closely with Market Research firms: Even with quantitative data, you have to be careful because as much as they are hard numbers, they usually are averages of two extremes – and the markets are full of extremities. Truth is, if you […]
MobilePOS – a few questions
One of the primary reasons for this post on mobilePOS – is that we as a company are being inundated with requests from various mobilePOS start-ups from India, Europe and US, who seem to be replicating/inspired by the Square Inc. model and want to leverage , ‘Our network of merchants’. To explain ‘Our network of […]
Does your product have a market?
Unfortunately not all new ventures end up as success stories. The reasons are plenty and well known. But start-ups continue to commit those very same mistakes. Ensuring success involves implementing the critical parts of the business plan in a systematic way. Like, identifying the product functionalities that will have takers; building a scalable sales process; […]
Stars Aligned to Foretell Future of Indian Private Equity & Venture Ca
Dear Colleague, In 2004, the buzz around one mega exit – of Private Equity investor Warburg Pincus from Bharti Airtel – got institutional investors across the world excited about the Indian Private Equity opportunity. Naturally, there was a boom in PE fund offerings from India- typically focused on minority growth capital type investments – to […]
Indian Ecommerce 2013
My views on what to expect from Indian ecommerce sector in 2013 – the profitability challenge, the financing challenge, and the differentiation challenge. Read here.
Tata Social Enterprise Challenge – Call for Nominations
Tata group and IIMC have launched the Tata Social Enterprise Challenge. Key highlights: • National level competition to find India’s most promising social enterprises • Identified social entrepreneurs to be offered mentorship support, funding opportunities and an opportunity to be incubated at IIM Calcutta’s Incubation Centre • Teams need to have an early stage venture […]