Eco-system Archives - Page 16 of 26

20/01/201421/01/2014

The trouble of selling to BigB

I was talking to one of the CEOs of an enterprise product company who sells to CIOs of enterprise. The typical industry classification for them would be B2B, a business selling to business. When you read it that way it seems like a fairly balanced relationship between the two. However as we discussed his situation further and I learnt about the realities of what he has to go through I realized that it was not just a simple B2B but it was SmallB to BigB. He wanted to target big enterprises with at least 1000+ people, as a result he was selling to IT departments and CIO’s had to sign off on the purchase on business value basis.

In his mind my friend had a innovative product, it would lead to significant business value and cost savings and there should be a desire to make the paradigm shift. As he explained his value proposition I was convinced of the same and the thought that struck me was that he must be very successful and for sure is raking in huge bucks. To my surprise he hardly had any POC candidates let alone real customers. I was shell-shocked. After more conversations over a few beers I realized that it doesn’t matter what product or value proposition you are selling to large enterprises when it comes to SmallB selling to BigB is a huge challenge. The major reasons why it is a challenge (definitely not an exhaustive list) are:

Getting to meet CIOs is a herculean task and to be able to navigate the murky waters of the organization before you get to them is very time consuming(and expensive). From an experience basis in most situations getting to meet them at a client’s place for start-up solutions has a 1 in 20 probability.
There are not even a handful of events that have Indian CIO’s focused on Innovation, Most of them are very expensive when you calculate the total costs incurred by start-ups. Entry itself is north of Rs 50,000, then to add a stall and have staff there to man it and put up collateral costs upwards of Rupees. If you do not have a stall then one is left chasing people and handing them business cards – that surely does not lead to sale. You add travel and other costs to it, the costs go up so much that it is impossible for a startup like ours to participate (most events happen in Mumbai, Delhi or Goa)
There are many other inexpensive smaller events and they promise CIOs as part of their promotion. However the reality is that mostIndian CIOs never turn up for such events and in tune they send their IT folks who generally don’t have the decision making powers.
Assume somehow you did make contact to these CIOs and you were able to mention the value proposition and they liked it, you later need to do several trips to their head office to meet several stake holders, get all their approvals and finally get a nod to do a pilot; all such trips add up huge to your expenses
Worse inspite of the value propositions you show, remember the tag line – you can never lose your job if you go with IBM. Even when you manage to get through that almost insurmountable barrier the progress of pilots is slow. One ends up making trips to demonstrate commitment and to push for progress on the the Pilot. Unfortunately sometimes the start-ups get play to justify other purchases as they will never pass the smell test of strong financials or references for procurement departments of large enterprises..
On the other hand big brands have deep pockets, large sales force, strong reseller base and reach out to these clients easily. The clients find it easier to trust them due to their relationships and safety trumps agility and foundation of innovation of startups.

If these are a sample of challenegs that you have to go through to try to get a Pilot then imagine the travails of having international clients take you seriously. Imagine trying to do all of the above for potential Global customers. Also one of the situations he ran across was people in the Indian IT departments advising him to try and get some global customers for credibility.. It seems contrary to the saying that says win at home first to win outside! –To be able to do the same would require significant funding or leap of faith! Interestingly some of the VC’s loved his product and were ready to invest but with a caveat – they say can you possibly get some Pilots in US and demonstrate success there – – WHAT????

Just a return ticket to Mumbai and a couple of days stay costs me more than 25K and these people are talking about attending CIO events in USA and then doing pilots in the US market. Interestingly attending CIO events in USA is not cheap and most of the big ones there (Evanta, HMS, CIO Summit etc.) require vendors to pay hefty sponsorships (starting at US$20,000 to attend)Does this mean that SmallB with small budgets should just not have the vision to build enterprise products even if they have the ideas to solve some of the pressing problems?

Wish there was a way to enter bigger markets that were more focused on innovation and were willing to try out new ideas to make a big difference. . Wish there was a way to showcase to Global CIOs in a manner that did not mean dipping into all the savings in one trip. Keep wishing…

Thankfully I got to meet another CEO of a successful product company from India who passed this litmus test. He was a case in point that a SmallB can actually sell to BigB. Today his revenues are upwards of $100M but it takes time, patience & money. He achieved it by doing services on the side and investing that money into marketing the product. His mantra is, there is no shortcut for a SmallBto sell into BigB. You have to spend quality time with CIOs who are willing to see the vision of the start-ups and drive decision making to make things happen. Face time and getting early customers is the trick and he concluded by saying that SmallB selling to BigB is where the real money is 🙂

That’s when I ran into InTech50. They are bringing 25 Global CIOs and 25 Indian CIOs , Product M&A folks, VC’s and media all under a single roof. They are also bringing the entourage to Bangalore and will utilize their skills and knowledge to select the 50 that get to be at the event to present to them. In effect they have already expressed an interest in your company if you are selected to be there. There is no cost to apply!

I think we – the enterprise product companies from India should grab this opportunity and make every effort so that we make it to the list.

Would love to hear comments form entrepreneurs who are playing in the enterprise product selling into big enterprises.

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

04/01/201404/01/2014

Innovation in India: Where do we stand at the end of 2013?

As the new year approaches, its customary to review the year that has passed. Here is my take on where we stand on innovation at the end of 2013.

Positive Highlights of the Indian Innovation scenario in 2013

Innovation in the public/strategic sectors took two important strides. The first was the successful launch of the mission to Mars (Mangalyaan) which demonstrated India’s ability to undertake complex scientific and technological projects at low cost. The second was the initial operational clearance for the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft by the Indian Air Force.

The emergence of a new generation of Indian technology companies like Vigyanlabs, winner of the Nasscom Innovation Award in the Technological Innovation category for 2013 was another positive development. Vigyanlabs solves an important problem (high consumption of power by data centres) with a system solution that is backed by a US patent.

Some of the most important innovations took place in the political sphere. Two new entities demonstrated the potential for such innovation. The success of a young political party, the Aam Aadmi party, in the Delhi elections demonstrated the value of a grassroots approach to politics backed by creative use of the social media. In Bangalore, the Bangalore Political Action Committee B.PAC seeks to be a catalyst for “good politics” by supporting candidates with a clean record. B.PAC also trains aspiring politicians.

Another timely organizational innovation was the launch of the Indian Software Product Industry Round Table (iSPIRT), a think tank devoted to the promotion of India as a power in the software product industry. Two initiatives of iSPIRT – one to connect Indian product companies with the requirements of India’s large small and medium enterprise (SME) sector, and the other to create a vibrant market for acquisition of software product companies (“M&A Connect”) have shown the potential of efforts to close the gaps that hinder the emergence of a vibrant product ecosystem [Disclosure: I am associated with iSPIRT as a member of its Founders’ Circle.]

Market-driven innovation efforts by large multinational companies such as Renault (with the Duster) and Gillette (with the Guard) showed that some MNCs are coming to grips with what it takes to innovate for the Indian market. Yet, the overall MNC innovation scenario in India was mixed with some companies scaling down their efforts to use India as a base for emerging market innovation.

The Indian Industrial Innovation Scenario

2013 was a decidedly mixed year for industrial innovation in India. One of the mainstays of Indian industrial innovation, the transportation sector, had a poor year. Despite several efforts, Tata Motors was unable to revive the fortunes of the Nano, and sales remained muted. Mahindra’s earlier success in the SUV market with products like the Scorpio and XUV 500 was eclipsed by determined efforts by MNC automotive companies (Renault with the Duster, and Ford with Ecosport). By all reports, the initial results of Mahindra’s acquisition of Reva (India’s pioneering electric vehicle company) have not been great either with their first post-acquisition product, the E20 seeing only moderate success. Neither Tata nor Mahindra had successful launches during the year. In contrast, MNCs had several successful launches including Honda’s Amaze and the SUVs mentioned above.

Zydus Cadila successfully completed trials for what may become India’s first new chemical entity to reach the market. But the Indian pharmaceutical industry faced several setbacks as prominent companies came under the scanner of American and European regulators, and big names including Ranbaxy and Wockhardt faced regulatory action. Since, their ongoing operations in the bulk drugs (APIs) and generics space provide the cash to fund their innovation efforts, any setback to these businesses could have a long-term negative impact on the Indian pharmaceutical industry.

Traditional Indian business groups have begun to realize the importance of a more structured approach to innovation, but are struggling to evolve appropriate processes to do so. My co-author, Vinay Dabholkar and I received enquiries from such companies in different sectors, but few of them translated into specific assignments.

The Innovation Ecosystem

Reflecting India’s overall struggles with enhancing innovation output, India slipped two positions on the Insead/WIPO Global Innovation Index in 2013. India’s biggest weaknesses are in the institutional environment, and in higher education and R&D.

The latest available R&D statistics (pertaining to 2009-10, released on September 2013) show that India’s R&D expenditure as a proportion of GDP is static at around 0.88% since 2005-06. But, there are two important changes to note. The sectors accounting for the largest proportion of industrial R&D spending – pharma and transportation – continue to be the largest, but their share has come down to 27.7% and 14% respectively from 45% and 17% respectively earlier. This is a positive development as it shows other sectors increasing their R&D spend faster. The other interesting development is that private sector industry now accounts for 28.9% of all R&D expenditure and the entire industrial sector (private + public sector) for more than 34%.

One piece of good news is that the proposed Inclusive Innovation Fund has taken a step forward with an in-principle approval of the first tranche of funding. But the operational details still seem some distance away. It looks unlikely that the Fund will be put in place before the next general elections, and it remains to be seen whether the next government will see it through to fruition.

During the year, the Department of Scientific & Industrial Research re-jigged its schemes for supporting R&D by industry. New schemes include “Patent Acquisition and Collaborative Research and Technology Development” (PACE) and “Promoting Innovation in Individuals, Start-ups and MSMEs” (PRISM). As far as I can make out, the PRISM scheme is not too different from the TePP programme that was quite popular earlier. The PACE programme provides loans for companies to acquire patented technologies and then work on them further. In the past, the common problems of government support schemes included processing time, centralization in Delhi and inadequate scale. Let’s hope the government is able to address such issues this time.

Another useful development is the incorporation of innovation into the Results Framework with which the Performance Management Division of the Government of India measures the performance of government ministries and departments. This will hopefully result in a greater focus on innovation in the government.

Conclusion

2013 wasn’t a great year for innovation in India. Industrial innovation, in particular, seems to be at the crossroads. I hope that a focus on innovation will return once we have a new government in place later this year.

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

23/12/201321/12/2013

Innovate Delhi Entrepreneurship Academy: Apply to the June 2014 class.

One of iSPIRT ProductNation central goals is to build a vibrant ecosystem for the next generation of Indian software product statups. That is why we are so excited to partner with Innovate Delhi Entrepreneurship Academy. The three-week long academy, which takes place in June, works with aspiring entrepreneurs to hone their skills in innovation, team-building, and strategy. Complementing the great one or two day startup events that seem to take place nearly every weekend in India, Innovate Delhi offers a more comprehensive and in depth experience. Members of the June 2014 class will have the chance to learn cutting edge design and business frameworks, hear from successful entrepreneurs, build long-lasting relationships and perhaps even meet a co-founder and secure some initial seed funding!

You can apply to the program at www.innovatedelhi.com/apply. Applications are due by February 1st. More information about Innovate Delhi can be found below and at their website www.innovatedelhi.com.

What is Innovate Delhi?

A three-week academy for aspiring entrepreneurs to be held on the campus of Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology – Delhi from June 1 to June 22, 2014. Innovate Delhi is funded by grants from Stanford University’s SEED institute and IIITD. During the three-week academy, participants will learn from professors (from Stanford GSB and IIITD), entrepreneurs, and industry experts about design thinking, marketing and branding, competitive strategy, venture design and leadership. Each week, participants will complete a project with three of their peers that will help them learn how to identify market opportunities, iterate on product ideas, and effectively start and grow their own companies. Teams with the best projects can win big prizes—over the three-week program Innovate Delhi will be giving away prizes totaling 4 lakh Rupees to help participants fund their startup.

Why apply Innovate Delhi?

Three simple reasons: 1) Learn the latest startup frameworks from professors, entrepreneurs and experts; 2) the chance to meet startups that will be recruiting great talent; and 3) a chance to win 4 lakh Rupees in prizes that will help you turn your vision into a startup.

Who should apply?

We look for men and women who are smart, creative, and passionate about changing people’s lives by creating innovative products and services. There are are only three formal criteria for applying. You should be: 1) fluent in written and spoken English, 2) be 18 years or older, and 3) own a laptop that can run Google Chrome and connect to wi-fi. This year, Innovate Delhi will be accepting 300 applicants. We expect to receive many more applications than there are spots available, so apply early at www.innovatedelhi.com/apply Applications are due by February 1st, 2014.

When and where will it be held? Innovate Delhi will be held from June 1-22, 2014 at the campus of IIIT-D in the Okhla neighborhood of New Delhi. Housing will be available on campus.

How much does it cost?

With funding from Stanford’s SEED Institute and IIIT-D, the only cost will be a small materials and technology charge totaling Rs. 3,000 and for students staying on campus, there will be a Rs 11,000 room and board fee. You can apply to the program at www.innovatedelhi.com/apply. Applications are due by February 1st.

21/12/201321/12/2013

The evolving roles in product ecosystem

I was catching up with Avinash (@avinashraghava) earlier today and we were chatting about product startups in the country. If you’ve been in this ecosystem, and seen the evolution of product companies, some interesting changes happened over the past few years.

Back in 2001, at AdventNet, the Product Manager role was created, and so was the Usability Engineer role (which were primarily UX Designers). There used to be debates about project managers and product managers and I’ve had a chance to see these debates well into 2007-08.

While interviewing with Yahoo in 2004, the recruiter was not quite sure of what they wanted me to highlight (since i didn’t come from a software programming background) and asked “have you taken any short courses on programming languages, that you can highlight in your resume?”. I had to politely decline modifying the resume – it would’ve also meant not highlighting the UX-related work I’d done while at AdventNet. Guess that was a time when the tech world was still coming to grips with the need for Product Managers in product companies.

Those days, Yahoo had a good bunch of UX Designers, and not enough companies felt the need to have good UX Designers. I was lucky and fortunate to work with some very smart designers while building products such as Yahoo! Maps, Yahoo! Local etc. Those days, there were conversations about 2-pizza teams (at amazon), 3-people teams (PM-UX-Dev at google) and emerging agile teams.

By 2006-07, the ecosystem had recognized they needed product managers and many product companies started looking for pm talent. And they were getting started on hiring User Experience Designers.

When I moved to InMobi in 2008, we built the PM team, the UX team and also realized that the way to build great products was by leveraging the data we had, to generate analytics and insights. Helping the user with understanding of what’s happening in the system with respect to their work/needs was a great way to get the user engaged with the system. This starts initially (at low data scale) with basic reporting tools – tables, charts etc. As the data grows (and boy, does it grow fast!), these tools have to evolve into more sophisticated ones. The decision systems also crunch lots more data to generate their outputs. And who better to help with those than data scientists.

By this time, most companies and the recruiting world were familiar with and looking to hire UX designers.

Getting a lead on understanding data and building newer insights helps Product Managers think about smarter ways to solve user and business problems. It also helps UX Designers to visualize newer ways to portray information as well as overall experience. It’s no surprise that companies are now looking to hire Data Scientists quite early in the game, especially the ones that want to build world class products. The VCs are also paving the way with roles like Data Scientist in Residence.

I did a small experiment last year, looking through the websites of various companies in the data services spectrum (data warehousing / analytics / data consulting etc). I went through their archived websites of 2008-09 and saw that terminology such as “data warehousing”, “data analytics” etc had given way to “Big Data” starting 2010. I think this is an important trend to understand – tech businesses are prolific at creating data. To leverage that, they need a pretty significant set of people who can understand and make sense out of it.

Now that the world’s all mobile + tablet, the new challenge is “user acquisition”. Growth hacking anyone?

18/12/201316/12/2013

DNA mysteries of Products and Services

It has been an interesting coincidence on the last few occasions in different discussions and industry forums I participated in, they have attracted a good amount of the classic “Products and Services” in IT deliberation. As such, this is not a new debate. It is common to see patrons from the products world root for it by generating IP and for the services gurus illustrate how they are able to tailor deliveries as per customer need to make good revenues.

In the various roles that I have been involved in be it front line sales, to working with target customers, to addressing markets through the channel, or driving product management for products of different types right from enterprise to small and medium businesses that are deployed on-premise or delivered as a service; I have realized it is more than “this versus that”. At the face of it, running “product or services” businesses largely seem to be two different ball-games. They do have different DNAs. However, in addition to the different focuses that are essential on some aspects; these also involve some common influences that need to be capitalized upon. And no, it doesn’t end there. An important element of success viz the customer expectation is undergoing an interesting shift. A customer increasingly expects…a solution! They are neither looking for a product or a service in isolation, but instead for a solution that delights and delivers timely value. In this post, we will explore the characteristic differences—the DNA differences between IT products and services; and some common factors that have a bearing on the business opportunities and performance.

The landscape—A holistic view

Let us start with a holistic look at some key characteristics of what constitutes a product and a service. The marketplace typically includes an offerings continuum. At one of the two ends are pure-play products and at the other pure-play services with combinations in between. It can be illustrated as below:

The DNA differences—A closer look

If we take a deeper look and closely evaluate this in context of IT products and services, around which this post is primarily focused, it involves some common influences, but with distinctly different DNAs to run both businesses. The evaluation of key indicators across these businesses includes consideration for common factors, but with different approaches. For instance, both product and service type of offerings involve evaluation and use of technology, assets and resource planning, cultural bearings and so on. A comparison of DNA differences for some key indicators is included below:

Common influences—A quick digest

As we can see, there are some distinct DNA differences. For instance, meeting a market need versus single customer requirement; transactional approach versus relationship driven, internally focused culture and processes versus tailored to customer. At the same time, aspects like technology, people, and processes are the common influences that can either enable or inhibit effectiveness in either model. They serve both as an opportunity and a challenge! The previous section has covered how the approaches vary across indicators. Let us now briefly assess the common aspects that can greatly influence outcomes.

Technology: Technological advancements are constant. With every technological paradigm shift, right from main-frames to distributed systems to the cloud, with the change in technology capabilities available, businesses have looked at methods to leverage these for maximum benefits. So for a provider, irrespective of the nature of business, they have to constantly find ways to stay abreast of technological advancements to be in a position to lead the market or advise a customer with right solutions. For instance, if we take a look at one of the hottest shifts around SMAC (social, mobile, analytics and cloud), it is not prudent for either product or services companies to ignore those. Products need to evolve to cater changing customer preferences, interaction methods and deployment models. This is not just limited to product companies. These shifts need service companies to ensure their offerings weave these in to truly to ensure customer delight in-line with newer preferences.
People: One of the most significant contributors to the success of any business is the people assets they have. Knowledgeable, motivated, productive and enlightened workforce is needed for runnnig both products or services successfully. Ensuring the workforce it kept current with the market and technology demands and on the soft side ensuring they’re productive is of paramount importance. This of course is an obvious one. But going wrong with this could have the entire game go south even if all else is right.
Process: Processes are a great tool any company can have through which preferred frameworks can be pressed into action for a more consistent and repeatable outcome. These could be applied to internal focused activities like training and development, knowledge sharing, documented development methodologies (e.g. Agile, etc.), sales methodologies and so forth. Processes can help with managing OpEx for both frameworks. Similarly, they’re applicable even to external focused aspects like processes to demonstrate thoroughness of approach, for compliance and so forth. How far to adapt really depends on appetite and culture; which varies from company to company.
Success factors: While the measuring metrics might differ across lines of business, it is a fact that there is no better way to walk towards success than to be driven by results that ensure customer success and delight. This is an essential metric to keep track of that cannot be overriden or ignored in either business.

Looking at all of above, one can think of products and services as two separate circles having distinct DNA differences with some overlap of common influences. All of these put together, put organisations in a position to meet the need of tomorrow. Let’s take a look at an illustration that highlights these put together:

The Ultimate structure—Solutions shift

At the same time, given the economic challenges, the markets becoming buyer markets, general shifts in buying patterns, need to respond to businesses faster, and need to demonstrate value and return on investments (ROI), the focus is increasingly on the “customer” than just a product or a service that is up for offering. Customers today carefully evaluate every penny being spent. They expect to realize value from investments faster. Customers are tired of siloed approaches either by just having a product deployed and not having a working solution, or having a solution frame-work, but the underlying products not being stitched to deliver the value the customer expects from the investments made. Gone are the days where companies could deploy a product and take months or even years to tweak it to customer need. Or suggest a service without having their own skin in the game when it boils down to technology or products involved. Customers today expect product companies to not just deploy a product, but to provide a working solution tailored for their needs. Customers today expect services companies to have the required levels of expertize, coordination and relationships with involved products and technology stacks, to effectively tailormake a solution to meet their needs faster. They do not expect the ball to be dropped in either of the cases to have prolonged deliveries. Customers today are looking for working solutions. Customers today are looking for faster realization of value. Customers today are looking for a positive experience to respond better to business needs rather than being tied up with large IT projects. They need to be delighted—truly!

The shift is really towards using products and services together effectively to deliver effective solutions. Irrespective of their primary DNA, every company will need to evaluate how they can work out the entire DNA strand to have a solutions structure!

17/12/201316/12/2013

Fireflies lighting up the sky

Some years ago, Infosys and Wipro put Bangalore on the global map. Now, Bangalore is once again marching ahead. It is creating a new kind of technology ecosystem, which is culturally different from what exists today.

Today’s tech-ecosystem is about a few ‘hathi’ firms doing IT Services. Metaphorically, this is about manicured lawns, straight rows of carefully planted flowers and an occasional oak tree. In contrast, the new ecosystem is about hundreds, nay thousands, of small tech product startups. It evokes the image of a vibrant forest with fast running streams, wild flowers and bamboo shoots. If you think of the current ecosystem as a cathedral, then the new one is a bazaar.

Behind the cacophony of the new tech ecosystem are two powerful trends. The first one is about Software as a Service (SaaS). Gone are the days of buying big servers, expensive software licences and bulky implementation services. Increasingly, business software is just rented and used by employees much the same way you and I use Yahoo mail. This seemingly small shift has momentous implications.

Since a software company doesn’t need an army to sell and deploy its business application anymore, size is not an asset; focus is. So a plethora of small single-minded startups have emerged. And some of them like Zoho, InMobi and Fusion Charts are making waves around the world.

The best days are still to come. SaaS is spreading like wildfire. Doctors’ offices are using it for less than a price of a Café Coffee Day latte. Apartment complexes are using ‘ERP’ type SaaS business software for Rs15 per apartment per month. Lots of small companies in Peenya and Okhla are using world-class payroll and leave management SaaS business software for Rs10 per employee per month.

Basically, SaaS is going into nooks and crannies where no business software has gone before. Just like mobile phones brought telephony to the masses, SaaS is bringing useful business applications to all SMBs. Indian startups are at the forefront of this emerging revolution.

Complementing this SaaS trend is a grassroots movement for strengthening the tech ecosystem. Gone are the trade bodies; in its place have come in volunteer-driven think tanks and communities like iSPIRT and HasGeek. Much like the Aam Aadmi Party, they use bottoms-up participation to fuel a collective process of creating public goods that everybody consumes.

Entrepreneurs help other entrepreneurs by putting their winning (and even losing) playbooks in the public domain. All this is inspired by the amazing success of the open-source movement that created Linux and Wikipedia. Based on all this, a new glow is visible. Look out for the fireflies lighting up the sky.

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

29/11/201328/11/2013

What is win or loss means in the game of enterpreneurship

I have been interacting with various startup teams over the last several years, predominantly around ideation, product-market fit, funding, scaling, and strategy aspects of the companies. Before I was an investor, I spent a lot of time around product creation with two successful startups in the Silicon Valley and managing business in a large Internet company. In recent times, I have been spending a lot of time on the board of several Indian companies who are starting to scale. Over many years of this engagement with startups, I have come to believe in few things, and one of it is what I call “Rules of the Game”. The sporting analogy is deliberate, as I use it throughout this article.

The Rules of the Game

In India, most of the founders get into their entrepreneurial journey with very little preparation and knowledge. In fact, it looks like most of them jump in based on how their friends have done or the founders in the company they work have done. Some of the serial entrepreneurs are starting to plunge in their second attempt, much more prepared and know a lot more about how the game of entrepreneurship is played. However, most of the entrepreneurs haven’t thought through the rules of this game, especially, the difference between a win, a draw and a loss in the game of entrepreneurship.

What is a win, draw and a loss?

Most of the entrepreneurs start their journey with an intention to solve a problem that they have identified is important and useful. If one has setup a small company with a tiny team, has solved the problem well and has great number of customers, and customers are paying, the game is already looking interesting for you. If you are making profits, and you are paying yourself a market salary, and you are self sufficient with enough room to grow, make no mistake about it, you are winning the game.

If you have raised money, built a great team, an outstanding product, a defensible growing business and you know how to take the company to profitability, and you are geared towards an exit or have already done, you are a role model. This is definitely a BIG win.

On the other hand, you invested time and effort in building the product out, you made attempts to find product-market fit, you learnt how to market, sell, and support customers, hired few good team players, and overall you have done every thing possible. However, you come to know that the business model is not viable and you cannot service customers within the budget. After all fixes to business model, if things don’t change you may decide to shut down and look for your next gig. From my point of view this is definitely a “draw”. It is draw because in the process, you have learnt a lot of things around entrepreneurship; the rules of the game and you come out very strong in your next gig.

A loss is when you are caught in a rut. You have built some sort of a solution, you have few customers, but they are not very happy. You are not able to scale the company as the product-market fit is not yet accomplished and at the same time you have just enough revenues to pay your bills and manage your employees. You know at the bottom of your heart that you can continue the way it is for several years, but you don’t see a big change. This is a classic “loss”.

I’ve always believed that the loss is where you don’t want to be, because of the uncertainty about which direction you need to take. Conversely, a draw can be bounced back from. Everything you’ve learnt and gone through is invaluable. You’ll be a far better entrepreneur the next time around.

But is there a better way to learn, to get the experience of the win, draw, loss without actually playing the game? That would be brilliant, wouldn’t it?

Ideation vs. Execution

Of course there is a better way to learn. In fact, there are reams of startup literature out there; the best of them are free, actually, and your first step should be to read them and read up on your domain as much as you can. In fact, I have even counseled people to do nothing except read for a month before getting into the game. Read interviews of very successful entrepreneurs and grasp around “why” they were successful. What was the context under which these folks operated and how they tuned their operations to be successful against others is a great learning. This knowledge is out there. You just need to take it and apply to your world.

However, most of the time, reading and understanding isn’t going to be enough. Reading about it and executing it are two completely different things. This is where the value of the ecosystem and mentoring becomes very useful. A mentor can take all that knowledge you have imbibed and help you translate it into meaningful, decisive actions in your context. And again, the quality of such mentors matter. A mentor who makes a business out of ‘guiding’ startups is not a mentor. An excellent mentor is very articulate, keen observer, and some one who has gone through their own iterations of their idea, started a company, learnt every thing possible about their customers, and eventually was able to scale the company. Your best bet is to find such mentors and interacting with them is of significant help.

In a fledgling software product ecosystem like ours, finding enough successful mentors to support many of our startups is very tough. This is where, I see the value of efforts like the inaugural #PNCamp. Throwing in just-started practitioners with experienced practitioners and having them help each other is in my view, the best thing that can be done to push the ecosystem to accelerate faster. I am hoping that many other such practitioner lead hangouts happen in the country to boost our eco-system to next orbit.

Looking at the agenda and participants of #PNCamp, it looks like there will be an incredible amount of exchange of practical knowledge among attendees and also bit customized as each session being small (around 20 folks).

If you want to see an example of practitioner-lead-mentor, see the movie “Miracle” based on the real-story of US Olympic ice-hockey team winning against the invincible Russian team. The credit of the win goes to the player who turned coach; Herb Brooks who guides and empowers the team for a win that no one thought was possible.

All the best for the #PNCamp and thanks to Sairam for putting this together.

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

18/11/201318/11/2013

Piracy and freemium killed the Indian software buyer

Nobody in India buys software.

If the above sentence draws your attention, read on! If you are based out of India, think of the last time you bought software (yes packaged products). Now think of all your friends and guess when they bought software. Now, here’s the clincher, “When was the last time you bought software made in India?”. 99% of the people, irrespective of their socio-economic status will respond in the negative.

Product evangelists will now talk about the cloud/SaaS and the subscription economy, and how it is the great leveler when it comes to software products. As an entrepreneur selling a SaaS software in India, let me be the first to tell you that it is really hard work. Most entrepreneurs have told me that the Indian customer is price sensitive, I say, a majority of them are insensitive. Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t wish to rant. I am trying to catalog and present reasons why selling SaaS software is hard. Here’s what I think it is:

Let’s talk a little bit about the Indian software market

In the last two decades, India has seen two revolutions which helped create a large software market. Firstly, the economic deregulation in the 90s which enabled a steady growth of the economy, disposable income and import of technology. Secondly, the telecom, and subsequently the PC and mobile revolution that has created a (supposedly) large software consumption market. PCs, Laptops and tablets are now commonplace in Urban and Semi-urban India and the latest numbers indicate 15 Million broadband and about 100 Million mobile internet users. A look at these gargantuan numbers and you might begin to assume a large consumption market, but to give you a sense of reality, let me ask you the same question one of my mentors asked me – “Name 5 large Indian software product brands selling in the Indian market”

Enterprise software is probably your best bet

If you are selling software, the enterprise market is probably your best bet. Bharat Goenka, co-founder of Tally solutions, said that “In developed economies, SMBs act like enterprises and in emerging economies, SMBs act like consumers“[2]. Many of our customers are SMBs who are looking to use technology to grow some component of their business. And most of the times, we don’t deal with the company, but with empowered employees. The ones who have a budget at their disposal and are forward looking in their outlook. What we found was that the same stigma that existed in the 70s and 80s in the US software markets exists in the Indian SME customers of today. A lot of them look at software as something that will displace them in the organization and are extremely defensive in the matters of adoption. But we all know how that worked out in the US and UK markets and I am hoping India follows a similar trend.

Oh wow! I never knew you could do this

A lot of people we have met have been genuinely surprised at what our product does. It’s tough to manage these customers because we spend a lot of our acquisition time on sensitizing them about the problem before we present the solution. Even if you are doing something radically new, it is easier to bucket yourself into a genre that is popular and accepted. For example, we are a customer conversations player, but it helps if we refer to ourselves as a Social CRM or a marketing insights product. Ignorance about a genre of products has a big pitfall – customers don’t know how much to pay for the solution. This is really tricky because it usually leads to a customer deliberating on paying for the solution.

“But we can do this for free on Google”

Freemium is both a good and bad thing. Almost every customer of ours expects a free trial for a few days. In the products eco-system it’s become a norm, but a lot of productized service companies I know have been asked for a free trial on bespoke software. Most users don’t understand the price they are paying when using services like Google or Facebook and usually expect the same when we tell them about our “use on the browser” service. Usually this means we have to get into a lengthy explanation about why our product costs so much. The best experience I have had was when a customer, who understood the online advertising economy, asked us if he could use an ad supported model of our service for free!

Freemium might be a viable option early on but when looking at growth and scale, I don’t believe freemium is a sustainable economic model. It is a marketing tactic at best!

“muHive crack codes”

One morning, while peering through our website analytics, we were surprised to find a search keyword “muHive crack codes” in the list. This was a good and a bad thing: good because some customer actually found our service good enough to look for a cracked edition, and bad because we knew this customer wouldn’t pay. And yes, if it’s crack worthy, then it is probably good software – that’s the Indian psyche. Industry estimates put the total value of pirated software used in India to be upwards of $50 Billion[3]. Why won’t we pay for software? That’s a long post in itself, but to be brief: piracy was not controlled in the early days of the PC revolution and hence the assumption that software is free. Also, cost of software has always been calculated based on the affordability and costs in developed markets. To illustrate my point, I will end this section with a question – If Microsoft Windows were to cost Rs 1000 instead of $149 (Rs 9000) would the piracy numbers be different?

The pricing slope

Researchers put the Indian middle class at earning $10/day or roughly $300/month. To give you an estimate of why this matters, the urban poverty line stands at $14/month – yes, a month. The Indian middle class is about 100 million people and $300 per month usually supports 2 to 3 people on an average. Now when you think in these terms, you can imagine what the cost of ownership of a $149 software sounds like. Add the fact that software is a non-tangible artifact and you understand why Indian customers are extremely cautious when it comes to software purchases.

Even with enterprise customers, your pricing strategy has to be “just right”. And you have to account for discounts. A majority of the Indian customers we meet ask for some form of special pricing. Now, this might not be a trait which is unique to the Indian market, but understanding the cultural and economic context of the demographic becomes very essential when it comes to pricing. Marketers talk about using tricks like prepaid accounts (India has a large prepaid mobile subscriber base), daily subscription and data based pricing but all of them have the underlying assumption that the customer is willing to pay and understands the cost of the solution.

In conclusion

All these are what we have found to be the issues with selling software in India. Even though we have good answers to some of the questions our customers pose, in my opinion, it will still take a long time for the Indian software buyer to evolve and for good product companies to make a mark. Rather than end on a dismal note, I will now list down what actually seems to be working for us, and also some insights from other producteers.

– Customer don’t mind paying for bundled software. Hardware, especially mobiles and tablets might actually help in software sales.

– Customers will pay for immediate utility. What someone referred to as “First order business” solutions; meaning something that can make them more money instantly. Example: Email and SMS marketing solutions. Customers don’t mind paying for advertising and reach.

– Customers usually pay when they feel they are missing out on revenue or an opportunity. A loss averse technique to selling is what we have seen work best.

References:

15/11/201315/11/2013

Sachin Tendulkar has Retired. Can we now convert a Cricketing Nation to a Product Nation?

All Institutions seek to influence the behavior of people. Nasscom Product Council and iSPIRT today, are associations, which as Institutions are seeking to influence the consumption and production behavior of Software and Technology offerings in India. Our nation is in a dire need of grass-root level, production of value-added goods/services/experiences and its consumption. As articulated previously in Gandhigiri to the Software Entrepreneur, the industry and market developments further command that we dig deep and bring our Nation back on track to be known as Incredible India.

Can iSPIRT influence the mindset of an entire nation towards Products via Education and Information? What initiatives are responsive to the needs and aspirations of a budding young India? Are we in unchartered waters?

No, we are not in unchartered waters. For the past 24 years, one man showed how he can influence the behavior of a Nation. Every time he went out to perform his duty, the nation watched. But alas, all good things come to an end. If there is one silver-lining with Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar’s retirement, it is that now, we can all focus on doing our jobs.

However, can we work with the same level of passion, intensity and commitment as the master-blaster? There is a lot we have seen about the Internal motivations and abilities of this man who mesmerized the nation and we all just indulge in the religion of cricket, when he is playing. But how many of us realize, how BCCI the Institution behind Cricket in India, has had an equally important role to play.

What role has BCCI played in influencing the behavior of the Cricketing Nation? Are they not the ones that control the entire apparatus to influence? Are they not the Institution that responsibly influences cricket lovers, and have they not effectively done it in a sustainable way? The answer is an emphatic YES, and its anybody’s guess. What are the lessons we can learn from BCCI?

Lessons from BCCI – Creation of the GOD of Cricket

Let us look at some basic things which BCCI does brilliantly.

Crowd Sourcing and Talent Recognition: Players from all over the country are crowd sourced, and are carefully curated and recognized for talent.
Incubation and Mentoring: Provide Academies where the talent, can then get nurtured to a product-offering and help them attain international standards.
Organize Marketplaces: Enable opportunities for the product-offering to be show-cased – Whether it is the One Day matches, IPL, Champions League or other matches. Each Match Venue is an Offline “marketplace”, and each match streamed is a Virtual Marketplace, either on Television or on the Internet.
Create Winning Products and Sustain them: Whether it is Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly, Dhoni, Kholi, make sure there is a steady supply of “heroes”
Maintain a Monopoly: Kill Competition (this strategy however is questionable and debatable).

So, what can we learn from BCCI? Do we focus on the Structures, the Processes and the methods that they have employed to institutionalize the religion of Cricket? No. Focus on people. The key takeaway is, Sachin was once a consumer of Cricket, just like all of us. He was later transformed into a Product by the exogenous support of an Institution, and of course with his endogenous hunger, hard-work and determination.

We now understand how both the internal motivations of Sachin, and the external support of BCCI captured the imagination of nation. We now know how a game meant for amusement, became a religion universally adopted by the length and breadth of the country. We now understand how Sachin became the GOD of Cricket.

From a Cricket Pitch to a Startup Pitch

How do we go from a Cricket Pitch to a Startup Pitch? How do we become a Product Nation from a Cricketing nation? How do we find the GOD of Products? Do we not have enough Entrepreneurs who are as hungry, as dedicated and as hardworking as Sachin? In fact in our field, we have both Men and Women who can become the God of Products. Can an Institution like iSPIRT not influence the same level of commitment and passion towards building and selling products, like BCCI did for Cricket. Yes it can!

There is nothing new in the idea of influencing a Nation. But there is certainly something new in what we know about, how best to do it. Lots of research and studies, especially in behavioral economics and behavioral science show that approaches based on Education and Information do not actually work as well as intended. Education is a two-way street, only 50% of the work is done by the Provider. The other half, which is the art of Internalizing the Information and Education, and putting it into everyday practice, is still at the behest of the Consumer, which is where mostly the approach of Information and Education fails. How do we nudge people to complete their end of the bargain? How do you enable India’s transformation into a Product Nation. Has our own BCCI not shown a better way?

Undoubtedly it has. But first, as Entrepreneurs, each of us need to have a burning desire to become the God of Products. Each of us need to take our imperfect skills/ideas to the field everyday and test them out. Each of us need to play with our local teams, our local communities to build a grass-root movement towards becoming a product nation. Each of us need to learn the spirit of team-play and the benefits of camaraderie. Each of us need to get Involved. When we all do, we will recognize that the external support from Institutions are available to Influence us.

How do we go and get Involved?

Crowd Sourcing and Talent Recognition: Today we have enough startup pitch sessions, hackathon competitions. Take your skills and ideas there, participate and get recognized.
Incubators and Mentors: Just like cricket summer camps and bootcamps, there are camps conducted by many bodies. Product Nation itself is running a boot camp in December. Have you registered yet?

There are some systemic gaps, which I am sure Institutions will quickly enable. Infrastructural Interventions are much easier than Motivational Interventions.

Organization of Marketplaces: Whether we choose the IPL format, Champions League format or the One-day format, we need marketplaces.
Creating the GOD of Products: We need to build and sustain our heroes, who draw, inspire and influence ordinary people to become GOD of products.

Conclusion

The true products of a Product Nation are not the Routers, Switches, ERPs, Office Softwares or Productivity Softwares. The true products are the people who believe that we can create a Product Nation. True products are those you perform on a Startup Pitch, with the same intensity that Sachin played on a Cricket Pitch.

Inform me and I might forget, educate me and I might remember, Involve me and I will transform, is the mantra. The Cricketing Nation found its GOD of cricket in Sachin Tendulkar. Can a Product Nation find its GOD of products, like Steve Jobs? If you get Involved, its only a matter of time!

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

06/11/201309/11/2013

Bend Me, Shape Me, Anyway You Want Me – Responsive Design in Action!

Bend Me, Shape Me, Anyway You Want Me – Long as you love me, It’s alright! – goes the catchy song from American Breed in 1968. It captures the essence of Responsive Design! Do not make people adapt to your web or mobile experience on various devices.. You make the user interface adapt to the device that is being used. And talk about adapting? Watch the drummer also play the saxophone towards the end! This song was so catchy and appropriate they used it for Flexon flexible eyeglass frames and Gap Stretch Jeans ads! Let’s enjoy that song first, shall we?

Why is responsive design needed? Let’s start with a simple example of what happens when I access the IRCTC website on my iPhone:

Here the website is not doing anything except display the desktop version in a smart phone with small fonts. I can barely see anything.

I will have to zoom in and locate the login section to login. The web page is doing nothing to adjust to my device. It is up to me to zoom around different parts of a static, same sized page and do my work.

To see Responsive Design in action, I took a good example of how they have done it at worldlife.org, the US web site of World Wildlife Federation. I visited them on my laptop, ipad and iphone and here is what I saw:

First my laptop:

Next the ipad when I hold it in a landscape mode:

Most of the details are still there in this rendering.

In the iPad Portrait Mode the browser adjusts and is able to show more of the screen; all fit within the available screen real estate automatically! Since it’s an iPad, the real estate is still big enough for them to fit everything in.

Now when I look at the same site through my iPhone Safari browser, the site strips it down to the bare essentials – the logo, the picture of the snow leopard and the two most important links to them – Donate and Adopt.. More of the picture is also visible in the Portrait mode.

In the iPhone Landscape mode the picture adjusts automatically all of the elements.

How do we do Responsive Design?

There are many different ways to do Responsive Design and all of them have pluses and minuses – You offer information and functionality only through browsers and make the pages be responsive to the device – laptop, tablets, smartphones or feature phones. Or on smartphones you can create apps that replace webpages or a dedicated mobile website. Initially the whole movement started as Responsive Web Design but the movement has spread to include mobile devices also since users are transitioning a lot of the time they spend doing things on those.. Ethan Marcotte has written a very good book, Responsive Web Design, that outlines a number of techniques to achieve responsive web design:

Specifying design elements in terms of percentages instead of pixels
Sensing the width or the browser and using different CSS Styles accordingly
Extensive use of server side enhancements to enhance the user experience on mobile devices that have narrower bandwidths than an ethernet or wireless connection at home.

Responsive Design is not a single, monolithic approach. You don’t need to rigidly try to offer ALL of the functionality on every device. Like this blog entry on the facebook developer pages indicates, it can be optimized by different companies for different purposes for different devices. Luke Wroblewski writes in a compelling way that different devices like laptops, tablets and mobiles have different contexts of usages – some on your sofa at home, some in a hassled situation on the move on your mobile. What you would like to accomplish in those two situations are very different and so your user experience could be limited or more, depending upon this kind of context.

Clarissa Peterson provides a number of additional compelling examples in her presentation here.. If you are worried only about Mobile Responsive Design, the underlying approaches may be the same but the tools may be different. They are outlined here in this article with other references from there.

As with anything, any approach comes with their own pluses and minuses. This article – The Truth Behind Responsive Web Design: Is It the Next Great Hope or All Hype? explores some of the minuses in greater detail.

Benefits of Responsive Design

Consistent user experience, same URLs on every device
Single website/code base to create/maintain for a variety of devices
Support for a variety of screens and also future-proof – New screen sizes are automatically accommodated

Drawbacks of Responsive Design

Sometimes developing one app for each platform may be the right way to go! And sometimes for News, people prefer browsers over apps! You may have to look to your own application for an answer. Responsive design may not be applicable if you decide to go the app route!
Not very efficient and can be slow on mobiles with slower connections. All elements may be downloaded whether they are displayed or not.
Initial development cost could be more than developing just for a browser
Consumers may not necessarily want the same user experience on every device

So next time you design something remember the song – Bend Me, Shape Me, Anyway You Want Me!

Simplify before you suppress. If it’s not worthwhile to show to mobile users, what value does it have to other users? – Ethan Marcotte