Recently GSTN invited application for becoming GSTN Suvidha Provider (GSP) under GSTN for enabling much awaited Goods and Service Tax. GSTN received total 344 applications. CEO GSTN reported in GSP workshop on 25th October that about 98 of these applicants are qualified for further evaluations according to them. The GSP application process, when started created …
Launching Pune Chapter of iKen, pre-Entrepreneur bootcamp !
After much experimentation elsewhere we feel confident and glad to Launch iKen in Pune on November 13th. Please check the original blog posts on iken history at the blogs below. https://pn.ispirt.in/launching-ispirt-pre-entrepreneur-program/, https://pn.ispirt.in/kicking-off-the-second-edition-of-pre-entrepreneur-boot-camp-arthasiddhi/ At a high level iKen is a 6 mandatory weekend (and access to an year of sessions) toastmaster style bootcamp around entrepreneurial skills. We …
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Is your product stuck with biased feedback?
Product Management be it for Internet world or otherwise is an interesting job. One gets exposed to multiple business functions be it marketing, sales, customer support or general management. The only result that is desired from Product folks is to ship a product that users will love and then it should have a network effect — i.e. …
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Internet of Hacks? Minimal prevention steps
Friday 21st Oct 2016 has been billed as the first large scale cybersecurity incident from the IoT world. The widely reported attacks involved inserting malware into devices to turn them into a network of controllable bots that was directed to attack websites. One of the principal targets was Dyn the DNS provider to Twitter, Reddit, …
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iSPIRT & the India Stack pilot – commercialization of techno-creative innovations
iSPIRT invited select companies to leverage the IndiaStack API’s and collaboratively construct a pilot program, as a demonstrable proof of concept. Broadly, the pilots were established to transfer the invented technologies and expertise to the market. In addition to creating sufficient and supportive infrastructure for technology transfer; to embolden entrepreneurs and businesses create profits based on …
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Because Sometimes Free is Valuable
Whenever I have helped someone I believe their thanks is sincere and heartfelt. Can’t beat that wonderful feeling, so I do my best to make time and pay-forward. Amongst the many that pay-forward, I was really intrigued by the iSPIRT community. A group of best-in-class entrepreneurs (and one could say even, celebrity entrepreneurs) coming together …
Talking Software Products in Bangalore
Bangalore was the next stop for the iSPIRT product round-table around the theme of “Getting Traction for Software Products”. The goal of this round-table, hosted by Niraj Rout (Hiver/Grexit), Natwar Maheshwari (Around.io) Avinash Raghava and me, was to get peer feedback from a group of startups at a similar stage. In this format, around ten …
Product Owner and/or Product Manager – Don’t Debate the Wrong Issue
Recently I was called into a mid-size software organization – and got right in the middle of a heated debate that had obviously been going on for some time. Development wanted to move to a Scrum-like agile model, and put pressure on the established Software Product Management (SPM) department to change their name to Product …
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Is your user story really about the user?
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, lived a grumpy old wizard who loved spending time throwing stones at little kids who played near his mansion… In just a few words, good stories transport you to a different place, stoke your imagination & involve you in the life and activity of someone …
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Demystifying Growth Hacking
Too much has been already written about ‘Growth Hacking’. Having been into product space for quite some time, I believe growth hacking is probably the most confused jargon being used in the business world (mainly product businesses). Hence, thought of writing down my perspective on growth hacking by clearing out few notions around it – …
Takeaways from the Second ProductNation Boot Camp #PNCamp #Pune
iSPIRT put together its second Product Nation boot camp for product people, by product people on 8th October 2016 at Persistent Systems’ Office in Pune. It was a day-long coming together of doers: ones who have been there, done that; and ones in the journey of getting there. The format was simple: Successful product entrepreneurs …
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The payment gateway friction in cross-border trade of Software products
The payment gateway problem in exporting online from India It is not easy for Indian Software product companies to export products online and receive payments in India. This is true for both the downloadable Software product or Software as a Service (SaaS). Experts say there is no legal or policy hurdle from RBI. Yet, there is friction. An …
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Here seasoned founders make bulbs flash in the heads of newbies
“Are you an accounting company or a finance company?” The question was addressed to Baskar Ganapathy, co-founder and product head of Numberz. It’s an early stage fintech startup with a software product to help small businesses manage their invoices and cash flow. What makes it different is an add-on feature that lets businesses get a …
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Ease of Doing Business – Is India Game?
Conducting business in one’s own country is never easy, let alone conducting business overseas, where rules, regulations and business environments differ. ‘Ease of doing business’ is also an Index created by the World Bank. It ranks economies from high to low, with the former indicating easier, simpler and better conditions for business as compared to …