ProductNation

20/02/201421/02/2014

Meet the Rickshaw Rising Challenge Winners!

The Rickshaw Rising Challenge finale took place in the first week of February 2014 in Mumbai. Fourteen entrepreneurs representing 8 teams went through a two day long boot-camp. Read more about Day-1 and Day-2.

On Day 3, they pitched their business to Robin Chase (ZipCar), Harish Hande (SELCO), Judith Pollock (Shell Foundation), and Madhav Pai (EMBARQ India).
We are truly excited to announce the results of the Rickshaw Rising Challenge.

Ubida
The first award of $50,000 and 6-months business support went to Mukesh Jha and Janardan Prasad of Ubida from Pune. The company addresses auto rickshaw hailing problems on the consumer side and optimizes rides and income for drivers.

AutoRaja
The second award of $25,000 and 6-months business support went to Aishwarya Raman and Anubhav Agarwal of AutoRaja from Chennai. AutoRaja runs auto-rickshaws on call with the aim of creating dignified lives for drivers by increasing business and facilitating access to finance, healthcare, and education.

Three Wheels United
The third award of $25,000 and 6-months business support went to Ramesh Prabhu of Three Wheels United from Bangalore. TWU addresses problems in the auto-rickshaw ecosystem through financial services, alternate channels of revenue, and bringing in a shift to cleaner engines.
We would also like to congratulate our 5 other finalists and 38 other applicants to the Challenge.

We look forward to finding other channels to support and work with you.

Guest Post by Jyot Chadha, Embarq India.

06/02/201412/02/2014

Sales Wisdom from Million Dollar Product Companies

Why Buy Mine? This is the question I have kept asking myself ever since Pallav and Paras did their “Global Lean Sales” session at the #PNCamp in November. I used to send a long email before and often had to explain a lot to why we charge higher. Now I just use the below message and it does the job. There is nothing different from what we were doing earlier. But our message to our market is now very different and converts them into trusting buyers faster .

“Industry Leaders like Freshdesk ( Customer HelpDesk ), WebEngage ( On-site Customer Engagement), Flipkart’s Payzippy ( Online Payments) have chosen MyPromoVideos for their videos because we were able to consistently deliver “magic” to our client’s brands, not just videos.”

I was so much in love with two of their slides from their presentation that our team here decided to do a beautiful “Info-Graphic” around the same. If you are not satisfied with just 10% growth every month and want to grow exponentially on steroids, you need to build your sales team. This is the infographic to keep by your desktop.

Thanks to Pallav, Paras and the Product Nation for helping Entrepreneurs succeed.

Guest Post by Gopal Krishnan, MyPromoVideos. Gopal is the Co-Founder of www.MyPromoVideos.com and takes care of Sales and Marketing. He builds trust with his Sales Systems and brings in the customers

for MyPromoVideos

21/01/201421/01/2014

Ezmove – Redefining the Movers and Packers Services

Businesses succeed with a mission to serve customers and related ecosystem. Ezmove is following the same path.

I recently got a chance to catch-up with Ezmove co-founders – Anand & Vishwajeet. Ezmove aims to be a guiding agent, to whom consumers can just outsource their movers & packers requirements.

Q:Why do you guys feel there is need of guiding agent?

Founders: Most Movers & Packers lack professionalism, accountability and efficiency. Also, Majority of players are not equipped with solution to deliver as per customer preferences. We are here to address all such basic issues.

Q: How Ezmove plans to deliver? Any success till now?

Founders:To begin with, we have been able to process 200 Moves till now in 3 months. Here, I can talk about the process we followed to deliver these movements.

On behalf of consumers, EZMove filteredmovers through stringent screening. A dedicated Relocation manager took care of the movementfrom request until completion. In addition, we have built CRM & Enterprise products for our vendors to achieve backward integration& produce cost benefits for the industry. Hence, our aim is to make our vendors more efficient through technology. In turn, producing value for the customers.

Q: How big is this market? What’s the average revenue per customer?

Founders :In India, We believe its $2 billion to $5 billion. AverageTicket size is about $300.

Q: What’s the customer conversion rate till now?

Founders: Conversion rate is around 24%

Q: Considering such a huge market, what are your plans?

Founders: Our focus is to resolve problems & set new trends with innovation. We wish to empower the customers as well as Packers and Movers with better tracking & communication tools. Team has a vision to introduce the usage of data analytics techniques to foresee demand & make estimates.

Last but not least, Ezmove plan to make your relocation or home shifting or vehicle transfer a promising and optimal experience.

Guest Post by Gaurav Lakhani

09/01/201410/01/2014

Raja of v-shesh on how social impact can be “greater through a business model”

Mr. P Rajasekharan (Raja) is the founder of v-shesh, a social impact enterprise that enables people with disabilities find employment. Working with both job-seekers and employers, v-shesh has placed over 90% of its trainees in banks, ITES, hospitality and manufacturing sectors. Prior to founding v-shesh, Raja worked in development sector and project finance at Japan Bank for Regional Cooperation (JICA) and IDBI. He is also the India advisor to American nonprofit Corstone. He has an MS in Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University, an MBA from NMIMS, Mumbai and is an engineer from VJTI, Mumbai.

[Innovate Delhi] What prompted you to start v-shesh? Tell us about your idea to start a for-profit social enterprise for people with disability?

[Raja] Shashaank and I knew each other, both personally and professionally for a long time but we had had no idea regarding what we wanted to do. We always thought that we should do something that resolves the dichotomy that we see all the time in India but we never decided on anything for several years. Both of us were doing well professionally – Shashaank was a corporate banker and I had a cushy job in a development bank. We wanted to do something that was professionally challenging, had a clear impact element and was run business like because that is where our strengths lay.

Then came the question of what we wanted to do. Coincidentally, we got an opportunity to spend time with each other through an assignment not related to our day jobs. That is when we decided that jobs or something that allows people to earn income is very powerful. Additionally, it has a very strong ripple effect among one’s peers, cohorts and society. By providing income to people, we could bridge the opportunity divide that exists in the society around us.

We came back from the assignment with the seed planted in our heads. From there on, it took 5 months for v-shesh to materialize. I worked on the weekends and holidays. By working remotely and part time, we gained some traction and realized that these are issues required far more engagement and close interactions. After 6 months of running small projects we decided to go full time. I quit my job and took up v-shesh full time. I moved to Chennai and the story started in 2008.

Frankly, we were always highly confident and highly motivated. There was no question of failing. We had to succeed.

Did you intend to go full time? Or did you gain traction along the way that inspired you to go full time?

We always intended to go full time. It was a question of when. The only issue I had to resolve was financial security for my family and myself. To study in the US, I had taken some loans. I essentially had to get rid of my loans before I could make the jump!

What other challenges you faced while starting v-shesh?

Being an entrepreneur in India is itself a challenge. Selling the story to your family- your parents, your spouse – is very difficult. It did take a while. As an entrepreneur, you are essentially a loner. So getting the family onboard is nice but also challenging. Ofcourse there were other challenges in building the enterprise but getting the consensus from family was the most important and difficult one.

While having your family alongside you is critical, what is the importance of having a professional network before starting one’s venture?

Both of us did well in our jobs and had good professional relationships that gave us the confidence to go ahead with our plans. We knew that they were people we could fall back on incase something went wrong. Frankly, we were always highly confident and highly motivated. There was no question of failing. We had to succeed. Only health reasons would prevent us from doing so and for that scenario we have insurance. There was a good support base that we were able to leverage in the start.

And once you started, was that network of people helpful or did you have to build a new network of people who were more embedded in the entrepreneurship ecosystem? Were there crossovers in those sets of people?

As bankers we had no idea about disability, hiring, HR and such. But we had our networks that we used to build newer networks. I still continue to have networks from jobs I had fifteen years ago in JICA and IDBI. So it was a combination of the two.

v-shesh is a for profit enterprise which is a relatively new model for social enterprises in India. How did you resolve the for-profit v/s non-profit debate and what would be your adice to an entrepreneur who wants to start a social enterprise?

For us, there was no debate. For profit was what we knew. We knew how markets worked, how to acquire customers, how to deliver goods. At the same time, having worked for a development bank, I knew the structure of NGOs as a legal entity did not serve the needs of the people at the required scale. We knew that our impact would be greater through a business model.But for people entering the system, my advice always has been that it is upto the individual to make the decision. Whatever model you choose, nonprofit or for-profit, the end goal – to serve the customer – should be met. For us, profit was the best way to attract the best talent and capital. So we chose that route.

We knew that our impact would be greater through a business model.

What is the culture at v-shesh? How do you ensure that your big picture values translate into day-to-day operations and you don’t lose sight of your larger goal in dealing with the red tape?

That’s an excellent question! Maintaining the culture of the organization is the biggest responsibility of the founder, especially for an impact enterprise. We are a team of 20 and we are 5 years old. I am proud to say that we have no attrition. Nobody quit v-shesh. We look at people who have passion for serving the unreached segment and some skillset that we can hone over a period of time. We want that careful blend of understanding the customer’s needs as well as that of the workplace, because our job is to put people in the workplace. Usually, everyone spends 3-4 months familiarizing themselves with the culture before the final offer comes. While we have social harmony, we are also a very diverse group. We have six people with disability, people from different geographical regions and people speaking different languages. We know 30 languages amongst my team!

I am proud to say that we have no attrition. Nobody quit v-shesh.

If you were a judge at Innovate Delhi, what would be the top three qualities you will look for in an entrepreneur?

I will look for people with a spirit of enterprise. Secondly, a sound understanding of how to run a business. One need not have done an MBA or an accounting degree but understanding of the basics, such as cashflows, is critical to keep the business running. The third is the ability to build a team. It’s all about the power of the people. If someone can’t build a good team, he can’t build a good enterprise.

What do you when you are not building an equitable workplace?

Spend time with my daughter! Frankly I do v-shesh all the time and the only time I spend away from it is when I am with my daughters and my family. I have very happy brought what I do into my kids and they like what I do which makes it much easier for me.

This blog post was written by Sonal J Goyal for Innovate Delhi Entrepreneurship Academy. Innovate Delhi is a three-week long academy that works with aspiring entrepreneurs to hone their skills in innovation, team-building, and strategy. Applications are due on 1st February. Apply at www.innovatedelhi.com/apply

01/01/201401/01/2014

iSPIRT wishes you a Happy New Year!

Since our inception a year ago, we have been relentlessly working toward the cause of creating an amenable ecosystem for software products development in India. We greatly appreciate your support in helping us reach where we are in such a short time.

We have done a great deal over the last one year to implement and achieve our goals and the pursuit of our vision is our primary and unwavering focus. Whether you have been an iSPIRT member or are just following us, we want to assure you that our first priority is to serve the cause of software product industry in India.

As we welcome 2014, we are both proud and grateful for all we have achieved thus far with your invaluable support – be it in terms of ideas, inspiration, guidance or feedback and look forward to our mutual successes in the future.

With best wishes,
The iSPIRT ProductNation Team

31/12/201310/06/2014

“Potential of Software Products from India” – Insights from an interview with Prof. Rishikesha T Krishnan, IIM Bangalore

In an interview with Govindraj Ethiraj on the changing paradigm of the Indian software industry, Professor Rishikesha T Krishnan, IIM, Bangalore, talks about how the software industry is getting transformed from a services oriented model to creating successful products. He cites FusionCharts as a great example of finding a niche market and moving to the cloud as an efficient mechanism to deliver and service customers.

26/12/201326/12/2013

CricketNation to ProductNation

Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement was a event marked with a great outpouring for the man and for Indian Cricket. Our cricket team has come a long way and we are both the commercial power and in many format ; the leader.

Sanjay Anandaram shared an article which has a more balanced take on Tendulkar.

It is useful for us to be realistic in our appreciation as well as criticisms. Infosys a former darling is getting the harsher treatment these days and that too for plunging into “non-linear-growth-strategy” a tad early!!

Product business is a marathon race and odds of having a difficult time getting growth are fairly high. But with the right ecosystem and preparation and teamwork we can make a difference.

I would invite comments on what we can learn from Cricket. There are many. One that I wanted to pull out is the expanded team. In modern cricket a whole ecosystem is needed. It is interesting to see the support staff for limited over’s Cricket . See Mumbai Indians

Chief mentor: Anil Kumble

Head Coach: John Wright

Assistant Coach : Robin Singh

Fielding Coach : Jonty Rhods

PhysioTherapist: Nitin Patel

Trainer: Paul Chapman

Video Analyst: N Harishankar

Team Manager: Rahul Sanghvi

The #PNCamp promises to be a good addition to the support system for Product companies.

However the defining change is the “can do” attitude and ability to fight back. In my younger days We thought of the Indian team as snatching-defeat-from-jaws-of-victory as they crumbled one too many times. A mischievous observation is the changing nature of our cricket icons:

Nobility : Tiger Pataudi
Diplomat: Gaveskar

Fine Guy : Sachin
Gentelman: Dravid

Rustic agression: MS Dhoni

BadAss ( Attitude) : Virat Kohli

Lets watch the poster boys of India’s Product Community to see the evolution….

Guest Post by Arvind Tiwari, Founder at SangEnnovate

24/12/201323/12/2013

The Emergence of a Product Nation

In the last ten years, IBM, perhaps the world’s most iconic maker of the personal computer did two things that made people sit up and take notice. First, in 2004, it sold its PC division to China-based Lenovo Group in a deal valued at $1.75 billion. Then, around nine years later, it sold Daksh, its voice-based BPO to Synnex Corp. Both sales had one glaring similarity: They both involved flogging commoditized businesses with increasingly low margins and a questionable future.

Today, both the computer hardware business as well as the voice-based BPO business is in peril. Computer sales have flattened while smartphones and tablets are experiencing scorching growth rates in excess of 150% in Asia. Meanwhile, the BPO business continues to face the twin challenge of rising costs in India and new, competitive destinations like the Philippines who continue to place more downward pressure on prices for voice services.

IBM’s experience is a crucial one to internalize, as the kind of upheaval that has taken place in the PC industry and the BPO one is going to inevitably rock the foundations of yet another which leverages cheaper labour as its core competitive advantage—namely, software services. The one harbinger of this change: The rise of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), also known as ‘the cloud’ that has revolutionized how we use software today.

Much like India churned out world-class software services firms in the 1990s and 2000s, it is already proving to be a major generator of globally competitive SaaS companies across all spheres—in the enterprise space, the B2C arena as well as those targeting SMBs. These are companies with small teams and unique products sold under their own brand—strikingly dissimilar from their IT services predecessors that have dominated the technology space so far.

In other words, these are companies that have climbed up the value chain where their core offerings are not so easily disrupted by a cheaper wage rate. Here, the elegance of the product, the stability and novelty of its solution and, most importantly, the unvarnished benefit that allows the customer to become infinitely more efficient for as little a cost as possible through enterprise software is what is making this revolution a reality. And India, with its legions of technology graduates, a vibrant app developer community and a coterie of battle-hardened entrepreneurs is pushing the envelope even further. Suddenly, a 40-member team can churn out a platform or a service that can compete on the global stage with the likes of an Oracle or an IBM.

This is a brave new world for buying and selling things. For one thing, the internet has become a dominant channel used to either sell products or attract and engage new customers. This means that marketers need to widen their net through plug-and-play IT solutions that are at their fingertips rather than waiting for their IT department to weigh in. They now have to deal with new ways of managing customer relationships, orchestrating cross channel marketing, and implementing digital advertising

Then, there is the aspect of nimbleness. Winners and losers today are determined by solutions that have as quick a time to market as possible, with unlimited scalability and access to reports on the mobile. Enabling this imperative are sophisticated tools to mine and analyze volumes of data arising from these activities to improve decision-making. Therefore, embedding technology in every business process is more than just an effort to stay competitive—it’s a basic survival ploy that allows for faster turnaround, better customer service and improved monitoring of the health of the organization.

Till now, though, being able to do all of this meant heavy in-house customization and up-front capex spends. The ‘pay as you’ go and ‘rent versus buy’ approach of SaaS has upended that reliance on customization, making even the most complex operations available on the net and easily integrated with other tools and apps for a fraction of the price. A company can now also try as many tools as possible rather than be handcuffed to a single one.

In a product revolution sweeping the country unlike no other, the makers of many of the world’s most innovative products are right here in India. Whether it is the collaboration space, enterprise applications or business intelligence in the cloud, for the first time in India’s history, software products are being made for the global audience and widely appreciated and used by global consumers.

Here’s a snapshot at some of the players who are leading this charge:

23/12/201321/12/2013

Deepinder Goyal of Zomato on “ethics, respect, attitude and skill”

Deepinder Goyal is the founder and CEO of Zomato, India’s first online food guide to go global. Founded in 2008, Zomato recently raised Rs. 227 crore from Sequoia Capital and InfoEdge in one of the largest funding rounds for a consumer internet company in India. This deal values the company at over Rs 900 crore ($150 million) and has “best positioned” Goyal “to build a formidable global internet company out of India.” Prior to founding Zomato, Goyal was a management consultant at Bain and Company. He holds an integrated masters in Mathematics and Computing from IIT Delhi.

This post was conducted by Innovate Delhi, a three-week long academy that works with aspiring entrepreneurs to hone their skills in innovation, team-building, and strategy. Applications are due on 1st February at innovatedelhi.com/apply

[Innovate Delhi] What prompted you to start Zomato? What made a graduate from one of the most prestigious colleges in the country working at one of the prestigious companies in the world start a restaurant discovery website and mobile app?

[Deepinder Goyal] Back in 2008, I was working at Bain and Company, one of the largest management consulting firms in the world. At Bain, I noticed that my colleagues used to line up to view the stack of restaurant menu cards in the cafeteria during lunch hour. There was a rule that you cannot take the menus to your desk since people generally ended up losing these menus causing inconvenience for everyone. Looking at the queue, and to save the trouble for everyone, I just scanned these menus cards and put them online for everyone to use. This small intranet website started getting a substantial number of hits from people within Bain. That is when we realized that we can build a business out of scanned menus. That is how Zomato was born.

You told your parents about your decision to quit Bain only after quitting. What was their initial reaction? As an entrepreneur, how important is having family on your side?
My parents don’t really think about things once they have happened. So when I told them that I had quit my job, their reaction was “Ok, whatever”. They asked me to tell them if things get difficult for me financially. My wife Kanchan has supported me right through – she is a big believer in Zomato. It is important having family’s support in your entrepreneurial pursuits. If one is focused on their goals, everything eventually falls into plan.

To preview out next interview with P Rajasekharan of v-shesh, we found out that he frequently brings his daughter to his office. Do you see yourself bringing your daughter to Zomato and blending your personal and professional lives?
I don’t know. I don’t plan such things. If it does happen, it will not be because I planned it to be that way. It will be because it has to be that way.

One thing that sets apart an Indian company from US-based companies is that Indians are willing to work harder. People here can and would work 24×7 to accomplish something. That’s the sort of advantage we have here in India in terms of people.

You believe in hiring “good people.” What has been the best and worst hiring decision you have made?
We look for qualities like ethics, respect, attitude and skill – in that order. Looking back, all the people that we have asked to leave have either failed at Level 1 (Ethics) or Level 3 (Attitude). Mostly at Level 3. Similarly, the best hiring decisions we have made have been in being able to identify people with energy, focus and persistence.

Deep Kalra, our first interview for the Innovate Delhi blog, told us that an entrepreneur should be ready to do anything and everything in the initial years. What have been some memorably crazy challenges that you have met and not met?
The major challenge we have faced so far has been making sure that we have covered each and every street in the cities where we launch and have information for each restaurant in the city. Ideas can sometimes matter less than the execution. Hiring the right people has also been a major challenge. When we hire, we try our best to ensure that people are cultural fits – skill alone does not cut it for us.

For global internet corporations too, India is now the preferred choice for new investments.

In your corporate and entrepreneurial journey, how do you think the Indian entrepreneurial space has evolved and what are the most promising trends today?
A lot has changed in India over the past few years. Let’s look at three things first: Start ups, venture capitalists (VCs) and the market. There are a lot of good start ups that we see nowadays. We have many role model firms and entrepreneurs today and people are looking up to these role models to build up their companies. The ecosystem has evolved quite a lot, though it still needs to do much more. In terms of VCs, there are many entry-stage and growth funds coming in and they are more willing now to take risks with their money than they were earlier. Thirdly, the local market has changed a lot. Earlier, consumers were very rare to find. But now, it’s relatively easy to hit scale.

One thing that sets apart an Indian company from US-based companies is that Indians are willing to work harder. People here can and would work 24×7 to accomplish something. That’s the sort of advantage we have here in India in terms of people.

Now with the growth of internet penetration with over 200 million Indians logging onto the internet, there is a huge opportunity for web-based start-ups in the consumer space. VC money flows to markets which have large problems to be solved with start ups solving them, India is one such market. For global internet corporations too, India is now the preferred choice for new investments.

One of our key goals for Innovate Delhi is to build a community of like-minded entrepreneurial individuals. To that end, how have you fostered and maintained your professional relationships throughout your career? How has the changed or evolved since you started Zomato?
Networking and building strong professional relationships is important for any entrepreneur. I have built a strong network over the years that has been very helpful. It always starts with alumni networks and grows from there.

If you were a judge at our program, what would be the top three qualities you will look for in an aspiring entrepreneur?
Focus and clarity on what needs to be achieved. It has been the one principle we have followed in everything at Zomato right from product to sales to hiring. Well, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’. Persistence and consistent effort are required in order to translate an idea into a business. Also, to follow through is important – to deliver on what you set out to do.

Well, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’. Persistence and consistent effort are required in order to translate an idea into a business.

12/12/201312/12/2013

Breaking the Status Quo: Takeaways from a Revolution Taking Wings #PNCamp

It’s not often I find myself in a roomful of people driven by a shared vision. Inspiration was inevitably seeping in. It took me not more than a couple of minutes to realise that I should count myself lucky as I was in the same room as the bravehearts who were changing the world one product at a time.

The inaugural ProductNation Camp at Pune was a movement taking shape. More than 120 startups were brought together in the most unique of formats resulting in 2 days of high-quality discussions, learnings and mindshare.

The message behind the format was loud and clear. “No sage on stage”. Entrepreneurs never learn based on a pre-defined syllabi structure. They love to disrupt, destroy and re-build. The 2 days were filled with gems of knowledge, actionable insights and conversations from the heart.

What follows are some which hit me hard:

Pick your battle and fight it out: A product can’t solve all the problems of the world. Shashank ND, Co-founder at Practo emphasised the fact that a startup needs to focus on a single problem to solve first and fight it out in the market with that one product. This approach ensures a laser sharp focus and allows for the best of resources to be spent towards creating value for the customer.

Tell your own story, avoid drawing an analogy: I heard few founders introduce themselves saying “I run a startup ____ which is like ____ but with ____. Think of it as Dropbox meets YouTube meets Facebook.” Such a narrow vision or outlook of one’s own product has huge ramifications in the way people react. Not the best way to build trust and confidence. Write your own story, be proud of it and build on it.

Build an experience, delight the user: The most successful of web products have delightful and simple design at their centre. Harshit Desai insisted that designer(s) and developers should work closely in a team to build the product. Have an inclusive design, avoid focussing too narrowly on a set user profile.

Being shameless is truly being human: Entrepreneurs are not a differentiated human race. They are brought up in the same systems, and often many of them carry the “What will others think” baggage. “Self-doubt and fear of failure take many down”, said Kunal, Founder at Freecharge.in. Being true to your product and your vision is about losing the baggage and being ‘shameless’. Perhaps a sales attitude often overlooked.

Two wheels and an engine, the sales hack: Shashank led perhaps the best session of the camp as he dived into the sales philosophy and concepts which he believes in. A photograph of his bike was up on a slide (he still uses it to reach customers). Hit the ground running, talk to customers, no one refuses a cup of coffee. “Spend a lot of time with the end-user of your product and convince them that it’s THE solution they seek.”

An engaging story comes before a good copy: “Good storytellers, writers are born, not trained”, said Girish, Founder at Freshdesk. Experience counts for little if you are looking to create content as a marketing strategy. Don’t just talk about your product, share your ideas, opinions and learnings with a broader context. With content, be there out-to-educate, not out-sell.

Technologists are great sellers by-the-way: Ashish Gupta, Senior MD at Helion Ventures is a technologist to the core and he took upon himself to convince us that selling is a challenge and not a handicap. Look around… Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs! Something common? – all techies who rose up to the challenge of selling products (isn’t it about that at the end of the day?).

If I can speak up for many like me, we couldn’t believe that we were in a room of like-minded individuals who shared similar challenges, had fought through and risen up with their head held high. I guess that was the vision behind the format. These startups are sure to change the world in their own little/big ways. As the camp drew to its inevitable close, I was invigorated by the inherited treasure house of learnings, experiences and friendships. The team behind the initiative should be proud and I hope the movement only gets stronger by the day.

Guest Post by Tejaswi Raghurama who is helping build Entrepreneur Academy at the National Entrepreneurship Network.

11/12/201311/12/2013

Three Waves of Indian Software

When I started JamBuster with Suneeta in 2004, I wanted to build a technology management software products company in India. Little did I know, that we would be part of a three-wave phenomena in software industry in India.

The first wave of this is the software outsourcing, now a bit old story, but still the legend by itself. By different accounts, the outsourcing of software development by global multinational companies started in mid-1980s. This trend while definite was still very slow, but steady as seen by the fact that Infosys, the iconic harbinger started in 1981 had grown to only $20 MM by mid-1995 with about 900 people. The Y2K fears fueled an unprecedented growth, so much that by March 2000, the revenues grew to more than $200 MM – a ten-fold growth in 5 years. The exponential part of the S curve has just begin. By 2005, revenues grow from $200 MM to more than $2 B. The Infosys employee population grew from 20,000 in 2005 to more than 100,000 by 2010. The break necking growth created it challenges and by 2010, it was clear that the Software Industry has entered the final leg of the S curve, with growth tempering off.

By 2010, Indian software outsourcing pioneers of 1980s, Infosys, Wipro and TCS had become multi-billion dollar giants, each with more than $4Billion+ in annual revenues, 100,000+ employees and ADRs on global prestigious stock exchanges. The Indian Software Outsourcing Wave that started in an apartment in 1981, now has turned into a $100B+ IT outsourcing industry. The Indian Software Revolution, however, was just starting with the second wave.

The pioneering success of Citibank and GE in leveraging India for business process back office work, paved the path for global in-house (GIC) or captive India Software Centers. GE was one of the first multinational companies to outsource back-office work, data center and call center operations to a subsidiary in India, and its outsourcing operation, with a staff of 17,000 by 2004, is one of the largest set up in the country by a multinational company.

Next wave was just beginning to gather the steam- the multinationals opening their captive R&D centers for software and other expertise. By year 2000, thus global giants were starting not only to look at India for outsourcing, but also for permanent resources for in-house software development. Between 1995 to 2000, more than 50 companies had opened their dedicated software development center in India. More than 500 companies had opened captive software offshore development centers in India by 2005.

According to NASSCOM, by 2012, 750+ Indian Captives of multi-nationals had reached annual revenues of USD 13.9 Billion. With more than 450,000 employees, it is now 21% of IT export revenues and 1% of India’s total GDP in FY 2012. Of the 750+ captives, about 28% of them have multiple locations in India. NASSCOM reports that by category, 50% are Engineering R&D, 40% hybrid, 5% BPO and about 5% IT. What is staggering that in last two years about 200+ Engineering R&D captives.

What started as maintenance or testing jobs, Y2K fear, had permanently opened India as a key resource destination for multi nations. The focus to use these resources to get better value means that with over 700 software captives that employ 400,000 employees, India houses critical technology hubs for some of the largest corporations in the world.

These centers have evolved into doing more IP-driven work, including product architecture and complete design, apart from fully owning the product or product line. Their contributions to global parent is getting recognized from a recent trend. Global in-house centers (GICs) or captive units in India of major multinational companies such as Target, Bank of America and HSBC are starting to shift lower-end services such as application maintenance and testing to vendors, and are focusing on more complex product development projects, according to industry experts.

It is therefore not a surprise that by 2010, next wave was starting to gather steam. Having tried outsourcing and built software captives, true software techno-entrepreneurs were starting to look at a new challenge. This time, it was nothing less than the holy-grail of any company calling itself a technology company – the product R&D.

Today, more than 1000 software product start-ups are trying their luck in India that are looking to leverage software in their core offering. Indian software product companies like Quick Heal, Tally, FusionCharts, Zoho have made their mark with their products and productized services, each in their own way!

Quick Heal was essentially a customer focused PC maintenance services company, when its owner Kailash Katkar realized that the customer PCs needed more maintenance due to growing spread of viruses from internet. Quick Heal’s story could have been legendary just on how Kailash saw an opportunity for an Indian made anti-virus software, given the high cost of imported Symantec and Norton offerings at that time, and that his brother Sanjay developed not only the initial versions of their anti-virus but also the innovation that followed, and it became a huge success. But it is their decision to go head-to-head with global giants, get them to reduce price in India and then Quick Heal to start moving on to their global competitors’ backyard, is what seals its leadership place in this third wave of Indian Software Revolution.

Tally has grown from an accounting package for SME’s to a complete business software for all types and sizes of businesses. Today, the company providing innovative and easy to use business solutions to more than 20,00,000 businesses across 94 countries. Pallav Nadhani’s FusionCharts is a story still in making in that the wonder kid’s charts for grown-ups continues to grow their share of the market segment worldwide. These early examples demonstrate that Indian Software Product makers are capable to build some of the most technically complex software for local customers and then take them global.

With the experience of outsourcing, knowledge from the captives, Indian Software Industry is getting its the third wind, propelling it into this third wave – Indian Software Product Companies with product R&D done in their backyard. If Bill’s Microsoft was disruptive to brick and mortar global giants, Kailash’s Quick Heal and Bharat’s Tally are providing a preview of how Indian Software Product wave is about to disrupt the world again. Get ready for the software products and productized services from India.

Guest Post by Satish Kamat, Jambuster Technologies

07/12/201307/12/2013

Approaching Mobile UX – A Product Manager’s Perspective

When building the mobile interface for their existing products, Product Owners are faced with quite a few perplexing questions, especially related to the user experience on mobile. A report from ZDNet says UX is one of the most critical concerns for enterprises looking to develop mobile apps while another study points out that users prefer usability and good user experience over brand names.

Before we start discussing about Mobile UX, let us first understand what User Experience is. User Experience is not only about visual design. It is actually much broader — it involves the scientific research of users and can answer important questions about the audience for both new and existing products. These include:

• Who are your real users and what do these real users care about?

• How do they actually interact with your existing product?

• How will users interact with a new version or new feature?

While there are several UX design best practices from the desktop world that can be brought to mobile, this piece focuses on mobile specific issues.

The foremost thing to remember when building a mobile interface for your product is that while mobile UX design has similarities with web and software design, simply stripping down your desktop or web experience is not going to do it. While drilling down is fine on the Web, mobile users tend to act more linearly a mobile application. To design a good app, you need to start from grounds up, identifying the customer experience you want, and enhancing it with the right features of your existing product. Great mobile apps are uniquely mobile, they couldn’t be done the same way anywhere else.

When choosing whether to design for brand or device, put your preference on device. Your users have been using the device much before they start using your application. Developing custom interfaces will confuse users, slow down adoption, and put a significant obstacle in the way of engagement. Instead, take the principles of the OS-native interface kit, and subtly style your interface elements without altering the underlying functions.

A classic example is the Password Engine iPhone app. iPhone users are used to certain ways to access settings or placement of the Back button. By not following them, the app increases the learning curve for users.

Mobile apps will always be subjected to interruption, whether by an incoming call or the user’s station arriving. Design your applications such that it is easy for users to pick up from where they left off – save states, break larger tasks down into smaller chunks, and put context throughout. Usually users on mobile will on the move, and hence subjected to lots of distractions. Organize content in a way so that it is easy for consumers to browse through. Take the example of the Gmail iPhone app.

All the fields and Call to Action (CTA) are vertically aligned on the left side and thus the user’s eye needs to move in one consistent direction.

While the iPhone app from eFileCabinet forces the user’s eye to scan all around the screen. It has less CTA’s and hence a lot of the real estate on phone screen that could have been used.

Mobile devices generate a lot of information about the user apart from the traditional data generated from a web solution. This includes things like movement, location, sensor data etc. Think about using this data intelligently to pleasantly surprise the user. Customer satisfaction is great but customer delight is even better.

Yelp has recently updated its Nearby feature that now offers suggestions based on user’s location, previous Yelp check-ins and reviews, and Yelp friends as well as other data like the time of day and even the weather. This is a great update because it allows Yelp recommendations to be truly contextual. On a cold morning, it can recommend a good coffee shop while on a sunny day it can point to ice-cream parlours near you.

And finally, understand the limitations of mobile devices – constrained hardware resources, screen size and network bandwidth. Consuming too much power or designing buttons for cursors rather than fingers and thumb will lead users to delete your application. Prioritize and present core features from other channels that have especial relevance in a mobile environment and enable mobile users to navigate to the most important content and functionality in as few taps or key presses as possible.

Measuring UX performance

Like any product feature, you need to constantly measure UX and keep improving. A couple of ways to measure UX are:

1. Data

Identify some of the key KPIs for your app. Example of some of the common ones are:

Adoption: Track data such as DAU or 7 day actives
Retention: Analyze the users who are coming back
Engagement: Number of visits or time spent are good indicators of engagement
Task Success: Use the funnel analysis to figure out dropouts

2. Usability Test

Observe users using the product. Ideally, you would compare these usability tests to ones done on your prior product. Does the new design achieve the intended goals, such as being more intuitive and driving users towards specific actions?

Resources

A great resource to start learning about the UX principles for mobile is the iOS Human Interface Guidelines. Another great resource for learning the basics of iOS UX and UI is Tapworthy: Designing Great iPhone Apps: Josh Clark. Android too has a few Design Guidelines, and it is always good to have a look at them when developing apps for Android.

Conclusions

The mobile user experience encompasses the user’s perceptions and feelings before, during and after their interaction with your mobile presence. Creating mobile user experiences that delights a user forces us to rethink a lot of what we have taken for granted so far with desktop design. Mobile user experience is still a developing field, and opportunities for improvement continue to emerge. But dissecting the mobile user experience into its key components, and placing the user’s expectations at the centre, gives us a conceptual framework for building and evaluating good mobile experiences.

Guest Post by Rajat Harlalka at PlayApps Inc He has over 8 years of experience in the mobile industry in different roles – technology, strategy and product management. He has worked with companies such as Marvell, ST Ericsson and Exicon etc. and is currently a Product Manager developing mobile educational games and apps. You can find him on Twitter @RajatHarlalka

25/11/201324/11/2013

MakeMyTrip’s Deep Kalra on bowling, resilience and going against common sense

Deep Kalra is the founder and CEO of India’s leading online travel company MakeMyTrip.com. Founded in 2000, the company is now the largest e-commerce business in the country and listed its shares on NASDAQ in August 2010. Prior to founding MakeMyTrip.com, Mr. Kalra has had corporate stints with GE Capital, AMF Bowling Inc. and ABN AMRO Bank. He holds an MBA (PGDM) degree from IIM, Ahmedabad and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi.

Read on to find out about the true test of an entrepreneur, the importance of knowing dhanda at a startup and going against common sense.

[Innovate Delhi] You believe in turning what one loves doing into a business model. How did you figure out what you love and turned that into India’s leading online travel company?

[Deep Kalra] For all entrepreneurs you have to focus on something that you love. But it definitely took me three jobs to figure out what I loved – I worked in banking, I worked in a very entrepreneurial role at AMF Bowling and I worked for GE Capital. Between these three roles, I figured out that I enjoyed the untrodden path. I was excited by stuff that had not been done before or at least not been done before in this part of the world. My second role was very entrepreneurial and I enjoyed that the most despite the fact that it was not financially a success. But I really had the time of my life which made me realize that I rather be doing my own thing.

What did the failure at AMF bowling teach you? How important do you think failure is in an entrepreneur’s journey?

AMF Bowling was a game changer in my own mind in terms of approaching different problems. Here was a problem that had not been thought about – How do you sell a family entertainment center around bowling which had not existed before? Addressing this problem was a learning curve in doing dhandha which is different from corporate business. Overall, it was a good learning experience in terms of a start up and solving problems that had not been solved before. It was also very personally fulfilling to me and I didn’t want to give it up. In hindsight, common sense would have dictated that I called quits within a couple of years but I worked with AMF Bowling for four years. So it also taught me that I can keep my head and chin up during a period when things are not working.

How is doing dhanda a unique challenge in itself? I read that you have bribed repairmen with bottles of rum to fix rat chewed cables. What challenges does the Indian entrepreneurial space pose and how do you deal with them while ensuring that you don’t lose sight of your larger goals?

I didn’t make a habit of bribing repairmen with alcohol but did so some unconventional stuff! The important lesson is that in the first many many years an entrepreneur should be ready to do anything and everything. And a lot of people are not. It’s better to start your entrepreneurial journey earlier than later because you have lesser hangups. At the same time, there is something to be said about good work experience. I don’t know what is a good amount. For me it was 8 years. But some entrepreneurs have never worked for someone else. I would recommend, especially in the Indian context, to work for a couple of years in a good company. It will help you later in life- you want to hire good people, you want to keep them motivated, you want to do the right things. I don’t think any amount of education prepares you for those kind of decisions.

In the initial years, an entrepreneur spends most of the time doing non-core business because you don’t have a team. And in India, things take longer. But hopefully with more interest and infrastructure in this space, the processes will get shorter. For instance, its getting easier to hire good talent. A startup is no longer a very unusual career. As an entrepreneur you have to be an excellent seller because you are selling all the time. Even if you are not doing the traditional selling of your product, in the early stage you are selling to get good talent. You are selling your story, your company all the time. You have to convince people to give up their great job at GE Capital or a think tank or Unilever etc to join one’s company. And then you need to sell to raise money. Each time you go out to meet current investors and potential investors, you are selling without realizing. And you have to work harder to sell your story in India because there are fewer startup success stories here.

You have clearly done a great job of selling to potential hires, MakeMyTrip has consistently been ranked amongst the the Top 10 “Great Places to Work for in India” by The Economic Times in the last four years. What is the culture at MakeMyTrip that make it such a great place to work?

The culture at an organization is related to the founding team or founder. One of the titles that the founder carries through life is Head of Culture. The founder has to walk the talk. I think it really comes down to passion and personal values of the founding team. Because then you end up hiring people for values. Then you start percolating down those values among similar minded people into a “culture” or whatever you want to call it. Over time it becomes established and you can talk about it.

In your corporate and entrepreneurial journey, how do you think the Indian entrepreneurial space has evolved and what are the most promising trends today?

There has been tremendous change in the last 3-4 years. The quality of entrepreneurs is improving. People have a much better overall view of what they want to do and what they need. There are lesser and lesser people who want to do something that’s cool. So folks are coming in for the right reasons. I love that there has been a great increase in the amount of angel funding that is available but there is big gap between angel and early and Series A and Series D deals. You can get your first round of capital fairly easily if you are an individual with a good plan but you have to be ready to perform in the next 12 months to get your Series A.

Do you think entrepreneurship can be taught or are entrepreneurs born?

I think its largely inherent. When things are going well, anyone would rather work for themselves everything else be equal. But that is typically not the case. Everything else is not equal. Let’s say you are going to make 50% of the money. Then what is it that you really want to do. And I think that is the test for if you want to be an entrepreneur or not. And yes, entrepreneurship can be taught but I think entrepreneurship has to be learnt more than it can be taught. And you learn it on the job. Ultimately, if you are happy being on the job, everything will work out.

If you were a judge at Innovate Delhi, what would be the top three qualities you will look for in an entrepreneur?

Agility and flexibility is one. There is a fine line between stubbornness and resilience. You have to believe in your idea but also be practical enough to make changes as you go along. You have to be wired analytically. I don’t know of any other way to run business. Creativity is important but if you are not fundamentally analytical then you will end up making decisions that are sub-optimal. And the third one is being a very good people’s person. It goes back to culture and teambuilding and it is something that comes to entrepreneurs naturally.

This blog post was written by Sonal J Goyal for Innovate Delhi Entrepreneurship Academy. Innovate Delhi is a three-week long academy that works with aspiring entrepreneurs to hone their skills in innovation, team-building, and strategy. Applications are due on 1st February. Apply at http://www.innovatedelhi.com/apply/

24/11/201324/11/2013

RickShaw Rising: Submit your Innovative Ideas to Transform the Auto-Rickshaw business

We are pleased to support an initiative led by EMBARQ which focuses on sustainable transport. They are expanding their work to engage with entrepreneurs in this space. EMBARQ has launched an initiative – RickshawRising Challenge in partnership with Shell foundation.

The Rickshaw Rising Challenge 2013 recognises that the auto-rickshaw sector is ripe with the opportunity to implement innovative business solutions that can create large-scale change.

India’s rapidly growing cities demand safe, reliable and efficient public transport. The humble auto-rickshaw serves the mobility needs of millions of city folk. Yet the sector remains largely unorganised, with poor quality of service, poor safety and environmental performance, and low earnings for drivers.

The organisation is inviting applications from early-stage businesses that can bring large-scale change to the unorganized rickshaw sector in India. The challenge offers upto $50,000 and six months business support for winners. Last date for application is 20^th Dec 2013. You can find more details about it on http://www.rickshawrising.com

13/11/201312/11/2013

Cross-Border Alliances: Strengthening India’s Cyber-Entrepreneurs

India’s product-thinkers in the cyber-domain are a unique breed of cyber-warriors that could significantly benefit through cross-border partnerships. Credited with being one of the first nations to possess an IT road map, India has devoted additional focus to create a secure IT road map. Cybersecurity remains a critical concern for not only governments or businesses, but also for individuals.

Our increased connectivity has produced increased vulnerabilities, and has subsequently amplified cyber-attacks. Grey and Black-hat hackers choose targets indiscriminately, and are not necessarily loyal to specific foreign governments, competing corporations, or other organizations. On the contrary, India’s cyber-entrepreneurs are capable of demonstrating undying commitment to a vision – a vision to secure India’s cybersecurity ecosystem.

The Indian government has repeatedly underscored the significance of public-private partnerships (PPP), and conception of international governmental partnerships. However, our cybersecurity ecosystem seems unable to intensify active cyber-partnerships within the private sector itself. Undoubtedly, the government has proven to be instrumental in recognizing cybersecurity as a challenge, but, the private sector must spearhead change through global partnerships.

India’s modern cyber-entrepreneurs are our nation’s cyber-warriors; individuals who exceedingly need innovation and an exchange of ideas from foreign counterparts to secure our cyberspace. Indian cyber-thinkers must focus on formulating cross-border partnerships to engage in revolutionary activities such as joint-product development, formulation of joint ventures, and other forms of high-impact cooperation.

India’s cyber-entrepreneurs have undoubtedly developed a handful of world-class cybersecurity solutions, but clearly, the emphasis seems to be more on delivering services rather than creating innovative products. Living up to India’s reputation of being a leader of IT services; Indian cybersecurity companies continue to successfully service needs of various governmental, corporate, and academic entities. Nevertheless, this trend must not be viewed as a problem, but as an opportunity to reflect on the massive scope to conduct more meaningful activity!

Most product-based Indian cybersecurity companies primarily contribute to defense of our cyberspace by providing indigenous products/solutions for hardware and software entities. However, our cyberspace is an arena where deploying offensive cyber-tools is easier than conduct of cyber-defense. Increased collaboration with foreign counterparts could be a rewarding venture to enhance existing products, or develop new products to address multiple cyber-threats.

Such cross-border collaborative activity by India’s product-thinkers in the cyber-domain can stimulate productivity for respective cybersecurity organizations. More importantly, creating cross-border ties with capable cybersecurity firms will serve as a catalyst in enhancing India’s existing cybersecurity ecosystem.

Vishal Dharmadhikari is the Founder and CEO of India Cyber Connect, an organization that envisions filling gaps in India’s cyberspace through formulation of cross-border ties for the conduct of meaningful collaboration. Vishal is also the concept initiator of a business-event – India-Israel Cybersecurity Connect (IICC), an event featuring governmental and corporate leaders along with start-ups to promote Indo-Israeli cybersecurity cooperation