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 …
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, …
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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 …
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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 …
Launching ProductCast – Podcast of Interactions with ProductPreneurs
Come 2014 and we will launch ‘ProductCast’ – the interactions with ProductPreneurs. These will be in podcast medium and will get to hear from iconic ProductPreneurs on their journey. Certain to provide inspiration and valuable education based on first-hand experience, these sessions will extend the experiential learning to your mobile device, for your consumption at …
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The curse of the horizontal solution or what to do when you think you have the product that can solve Global Warming?
There are many solutions that are targeted at a niche, that solve a specific problem. Selling these is relatively easy. You know the target, you know the problem. The challenge comes with the horizontal solutions, or ones that apply to wide variety of industries and business problems. There is tremendous potential opportunity there and yet …
Learnings From Building A Consumer Facing Web Product
Before we got started with PriceBaba, both me and Tirthesh had almost zero experience of building a product. We are passionate about Internet and web services that create an impact. Building PriceBaba over the past two years has been a learning experience and we have been blessed to have some amazing friends who have guided …
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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 …
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 …
Role of a Product Manager
Ensure that the right things gets done in the right sequence A product manager helps a company to achieve its goals by helping customers get their jobs done in an unique and delightful way, and getting customers to payin some form (money, attention, information). Let me elaborate on the key responsibilities encapsulated in the above definition. Getting jobs done: A parent purchases your …
What You Missed at the #PNCamp
In case you are one of those who did not make it to the iSPIRT PNCamp for Product Entrepreneurs at Pune on December 4 and 5, 2013, here’s an overview of what happened during the two-day event. Over 128 delegates took part in the camp that brought together entrepreneurs, developers and experts under a common …
Startups and Product Managers
Who is a product manager and what does a typical development cycle with a product manager look like? Product managers are often the most overlooked job descriptions in startups. The “let’s hack together” mindset is great but might not scale after a certain point. It becomes imperative that someone is incharge of defining the “what …
What Can Entrepreneurs Learn From Arvind Kejriwal’s Start-AAP?
Aam Aadmi Party’s success in the recent Delhi elections is nothing less than magical and as a geeky analogy, quite similar to a consumer startup hitting 1 million unique users mark in just few months of launch. Arvind is no less than an entrepreneur and AAP is no more than an early stage startup. Arvind …
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Product warriors, pick your battles!
The first question that I asked iSPIRT volunteers running PNCamp, the first ever bootcamp exclusively focused on product entrepreneurs in India, was why Pune? They pointed to Dilip Ittyera whose greying strands of hair masks his passion to firmly perch Pune on the product map of India. Later during many conversations, it became evident why …
Announcing the CIO Mentorship Program for Enterprise Product Startups
A ‘startup’ is a company that is confused about – 1. What its product is, 2. Who are its customers, 3. How to make money. – Dave McClure As a startup we all struggle either with the Market Fit, the right price for the product and finally the sales. There have been times when we …
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