Jason Calacanis has started a new pet project which he is determined to drive to the scale of the Yahoo, Google or Microsoft search in the area of web information categorization. It’s the Mahalo Project. The case apparently seems to be simple: There are lots of algorithm based search engines that, thanks to all the […]
Radio Stations: Pervasive Entertainment Everywhere
It seems that Mumbai is the only place in India which has a 24/7 English Radio station. Most of the other cities have these partial stations where there is english programming in certain times of the day, mixed with other regional-language programming. First question: Why is that? Secondly, Let me go to a bit extreme. […]
Canaan invests $5.25m in Cellcast Asia
Happy to share our investment in Cellcast Asia Holdings – Cellcast is in the business of participation content. They create interactive shows that run across TV, internet, radio and other media, and allow consumers to participate through SMS and IVR. The users pay to participate. Quite of few mobile VAS investments have been in aggregation […]
Why are we not gaga over Zoho?
Zoho is arguably the ONLY global product to come out of India from ANY company, and its a sweet product. It gives mighty Google Apps a run for their money; and Zoho’s Creator is a path breaking innovative product. So why is VentureWoods not talking more about Zoho? Is it because of lack of awareness […]
Eko
We have taken the first baby step in what we hope will be a long journey to build a global world class company in India . ( Kind of like Don Quioxte tilting at windmills) We are still in stealth mode . On our website you can find details of our team and vision. We […]
Facebook app sells for $3m
It had to happen! We have talked about widget apps and the facebook platform on venturewoods before. A pure play facebook app “Where I’ve been” reportedly got acquired for $3m. It might seem like a small amount compared to the billions that make headlines these days, but IMHO its just the starting point — this […]
Debtor Nation
A good overview from the Harvard Magazine of the building debt crisis in the USA, and its implications for the global economy. Consumerism is as American as cherry pie. Plasma TVs, iPods, granite countertops: you name it, we’ll buy it. To finance the national pastime, Americans have been borrowing from abroad on an increasingly stunning […]
Idea Generator
An amusing take on generating new ideas — try your luck, this might work better than a slots machine. On a more serious note, there are several “structured innovation” techniques that actually work — the one that I had a chance to study sometime back is TRIZ. Check it out! 0
Viral Marketing and Community Building: The Basics
Viral Marketing is still the best way to go when it comes to launching a startup product, in creating that buzz, and in getting filtered and quality feedback before making the big bang of unleashing your product/service into the world.
Happy 60 years of Independance – and welcome to 250 Square kilometre S
Some reflections on the importance of informal tech-ecosystems- and why when trying to regulate and control commercial activities it’s important to not throw away the baby with the bathwater.
A reflective post… with references to Turqoise Cottage Delhi… and Nisarga Gardens at Infantry road, Bangalore…
Event Notification: Bangalore Open Coffee Club Meet
Hello all, Open Coffee Club at Bangalore is hosting its debut meet this Sunday ( 19th August 2007) at Brewhaha. Open Coffee Club is one of the small steps to develop an ecosystem in Bangalore for Entrepreneurs, VC’s, startup evangelists, other interested folks to meet and exchange thr thoughts. The meetup details are as follows […]
Back to the Basics: Bootstrapping, by Definition.
“Hi, I am Bob, and I am bootstrapping a startup.” “Oh, great!. What do you do?” “Well, we are building this service which does that in a different way” “oh” (with a little disappointment) “So bob, how can I help?” “I would like to run my business plan with you. Is that okay?” “Sure, go […]