How many times do we complain to others about the potholes, poor maintainance of parks, dirty roads, endless constructions nearby our area but have found no solution rather than cribbing about it. This article does indicate that the Indian government is spending good amount of money for the making the roads better  !!! Also, it does make a difference when many people “shout out” about the same issue rather than one person talking about it… Well in such situations VocalBee , an Android/iOS based app can come to your rescue.

VocalBee is a “Location Based” app that uses the strength of crowdsourcing to empower the user to do just one thing i.e. “BE HEARD“.  Be it sharing feedback about good customer service at a nearby restaurant, to complaining about the bad condition of roads or complaining to the government authorities about street lights etc., VocalBee helps you to close the circle i.e. it ensures that your query/complaint/feedback reaches the right destination

VocalBee has three target segments:

1. Consumers – Provides a platform to voice out their opinions/suggestions/complaints & ensures that it reaches the right destination so that the consumer can keep a track of the same.
2. Government – Helps them to cater issues raised by the consumers & keep them informed about the progress of their issue; which in turn would help to reduce the overall cycle time.
3. Businesses – Acts as a collective medium to take “Honest Feedback” from the consumers which would help them to improve their service & in turn get more business.

Installation

I installed the app on my Android device as well as on my iPod Touch & installed without any hassles. Now we would walk through the features of the app & it’s usefulness.

Startup Page

The “Introduction” page explains the complete idea behind the app and how it would be useful to the users as well as for local businesses.

Usage

With VocalBee, you can either submit an Idea, Question or Feedback. Just like other location based apps like FourSquare, VocalBee shows the list of the nearby places for which the user can submit either of them.

There is an option to click a photograph and attach it to your query which also acts as an evidence of your problem. I posted couple of issues e.g. endless construction of roads nearby my apartment & many people did give a “thumbs up” to the issue & this is where the real power of VocalBee can bee seen i.e. Community Involvement.

Social Media Integration

VocalBee does a good job of integrating Twitter & Facebook through which users can share their “queries” on these Social networks. The UI is clean and makes the app very easy to use. The user also has the facility to keep a track of their queries online through the VocalBee website

Final Verdict & Suggestions

I have been using VocalBee for few weeks & it looks a great tool where you want your unattended issues to be solved & that is the power it gives to the consumers !!! However, there are a couple of suggestions -

1. Photos taken real-time can only be attached to your query/suggestion/complaint which means the App does not allow to “attach” an already taken photo from the Media Gallery. This feature would really be helpful in cases where you have already seen a problem but forgot to submit the complaint to VocalBee. Also, problems can be seen at any place & at anytime !!!
2. The life-cycle of the query was not very clear for eg. If I file a “complaint” for potholes against my local authority; to which department the complaint has reached i.e. the flow of the query from “new” -> “In Progress” -> “Closed” can be made a bit transparent.
3. A further extension could be allowing the users to post “Videos” as well in which case, VocalBee would act just like a Citizen Journalist for consumers

VocalBee can be downloaded from the Android Market from here. You can also download it on your iPhone or iPod Touch from here. Do give VocalBee a spin and share your feedback in the comments section…

It has almost been around a month since my last article and it was time to get along with my blogging and here [Courtesy- Indiblogger] is the “appealing” reason which motivated me to get back to it !!! So, as you might have already guessed, I also thought of giving a shot to the “Samsung Blogger’s Contest”  & if this entry wins, it would be a privilege to be one of their “Mobilers”

Before, we get into the review; I want to share that my first brush with Samsung Galaxy Tab 750 [henceforth referred as "Galaxy Tab 750"] which happened at the Best Buy store during my Visit to US in June,2011. Though, I had already purchased the killer beast Apple iPod Touch but Galaxy Tab 750′s amazing experience left me aghast and wanting for more [Unfortunately, I could not purchase it due to budget constraints]. So, here comes my hands-on review [which I had for half an hour] with this amazing piece of beauty named “Samsung Galaxy Tab 750“

Android 3.1 [Honeycomb]

As we know that Android 3.1 is the tablet optimized version of the open source operating system – Android. Though there were several enhancements made for tablets, the top one on my list is definitely the “UI Enhancements“. Below is a comprehensive Google IO presentation which touches every nook & corner of Honeycomb [Slides:17-22*] over it’s predecessors.

Now the question which arises is that the “Samsung Galaxy Tab 750″ is not the ONLY tablet with Honeycomb, there are many other alternatives like the XOOM, Asus Transformer, Acer’s Iconia etc but the points below would prove that “Samsung Tab” is a clear winner …… so read on ……

Impressive Specs

IMHO, any “Embedded” device is nothing but a “Board with components like registers, capacitors etc” if it’s processor [CPU] cannot handle enough load. After looking at the Galaxy Tab 750′s specifications, the only thing that would come out of your mouth is WOW !!!

The Galaxy Tab 750 is powered by the Nvidia Tegra-2 1GHz processor which runs on the “Dual Core ARM A9″, and even when I launched multiple applications;there was not much change in the performance. As you read-on, you would realize it is not second generation TAB from Samsung but a new avatar of it’s predecessor “Samsung Galaxy Tab 7“

The complete specs can be found here but here are my favorite picks -

Weight – 595 grams.

Display- Size : 10.1 inches

Color & Resolution : 16 Mn & 1280×800 Pixels

Faster Processor – Nvidia Tegra 2 Dual-Core 1GHz Processor

Expandable Memory – micro-SD card slot expandable upto 32 GB [though the USB adapter has to be bought separately ]

Browsing – Flash support

Image Courtesy Gadget Technology News

Design, Design & Design [all the way]

Design is the key to anything, be it website or consumer product like a tablet & this time around, Samsung has definitely gone head-to-head with Apple[termed Design Guru] and won us over with Galaxy Tab’s sleek design.

As specified above, the Tab weighs just 595g and it is just 8.6mm thick which makes it a easy & lighter device to carry when we are on the go!!! It has become a routine that whenever a tablet is released [be it the bottom of the Pyramid tablets like latest Reliance 3G Tab or the most popular one in the higher range Apple iPad2], it is always compared to the iPad2 … so here we go with our comparison…

Samsung Galaxy Tab 750 with iPad2

Image Courtesy PC World

Here goes my feature list on where Galaxy Tab 750 wins over iPad2

In a nutshell, for any heavy duty user of Google Services like Gmail, Reader etc., the Galaxy Tab 750 is definitely a better pick as it comes bundled with all of those services !!!

IMPROVED TouchWiz UX [for TABLETS]

Samsung has always been using it’s proprietary “TouchWiz Interface” for phones like Samsung Galaxy S2 & it’s other Android phones. But like many others, I did not like the TouchWiz experience on my S2.

However,  Samsung has made an extra-ordinary effort and customized it’s TouchWiz interface for tablets… and boy, it looks quite amazing & intriguing on the Samsung Tab 750.

Below is a short video from our friends at GadgetExperts reviewing the new TouchWiz UX

There are many enhancements made, but here are my favorite picks :

Mini Apps Tray – There are six tools on top of any running application namely Task Manager, Music Player, Calendar, World Clock, Pen Memo and Calculator. The tray would fade out once when you are using the main application and would again re-appear when you tap on it.

The list of apps however is customizable and I am sure this change would definitely be there in Samsung’s To-Do list…

Motion Control Zooming – This feature is more of fun and a very nice alternative to Pinch & Zoom [Video: 5.15 - 5:45]. Just click a photograph and move your Galaxy Tab 750 back & forth to experience this feature

I am sure that apart from the features which I liked the most, the Galaxy Tab 750 would definitely provide me with BETTER:

1. Web Browsing
2. Speed
3. Reading
4. Music
5. Communication
6. Office
7. Multimedia
8. Imaging
9. Accessories
10. MUCH BETTER ME …..

I would like to share the Galaxy Tab 750 India’s launch video, enjoy it

Thanks for reading the review & making it this far I hope you liked the review and had a “TAB”bing experience just as I had writing the same…

Finally, I am back with blogging in 2011 !!! With the number of internet users expected to reach 237 million by 2015,  it has become a medium which is hard to ignore. No matter the nature of business e.g. selling home made chocolates, sweets etc. having at least,  a “Minor” web footprint is required.

If you are a business, looking for a web presence  you have BigRock to your rescue. BigRock is a part of the Directi group of Businesses which is mainly targeting the Small & Medium Businesses (SME) & individuals. They offer the following services:

• Domain registration
• Email services [Anti-Spam & Anti-Virus services]
• Web-hosting services
• Website builder products
• E-Commerce Solutions
• Digital Certificates

Good Services are “Best” when they are coupled with ROCK bottom prices and that is what BigRock promises to offer. You can get a website at as low as Rs. 99 !!! They promise round-the clock support and while writing this article, I gave it a try To my surprise,  support was even available at 10:30 PM on Sunday, chat transcripts below [click to enlarge]

The exchange with their customer support department made me very happy since they deliver what they promise !!! As a reader of this blog, we have “Rocking” offer from BigRock awaiting for you…

Up to 50% discount on Hosting, Email and Do-It-Yourself Website builder  products.

10% discount on all other products.

To avail this fabulous offer [which is only valid till 28th February,2011]  just head to BigRock and use the coupon – thoughtsprevail . Along with their service, I even liked their advertisements that are appearing frequently on TV, the best of the lot is the one below

If you are availing this offer, it would be great to hear from you about your experience with BigRock… just drop an email to himanshu.sheth@gmail.com

In this article, we speak to Max Aengevelt, co-founder of UK based startup myhomepage. Here Max shares his thoughts about the company, it’s core offering as well as his insights on entrepreneurship.

Can you give a small background of you and your start-up and its founders?

My name is Max Aengevelt. I am one of the two co-founders of myhomepage. I am a recent graduate of European Business School of London; the other co-founder is Massimo Agostinelli who still attends EBSL. Massimo originally had the idea for myhomepage together with his younger brother when working on his Apple Macbook. The way your windows can be displayed all at the same time is something that really inspired Massimo. Why not be able to view the web like this? Myhomepage is a personalized homepage, online password manager and bookmarking service that users can use as a start page. We are particularly proud to have an auto login capability that allows you to automatically login into your websites. From the original idea of being an interactive start page, we have really grown to be a one stop shop to start your online browsing. Myhomepage is a personalized start page.

There are lots of other competitors. What do you see are your strengths and weaknesses compared to them and what the future is like for these services? What is the USP of myhomepage over competitors?

There are several players in this market and we have analysed every single one. Therefore we can say with confidence we have the most complete product. To begin with we are not a widget based news aggregator, nor are we a pure bookmarking website. We offer a lot of different features that make it safer and easier for the user to navigate the web. 70% of websites require a username and password to fully operate the site, myhomepage is place that lets you organize these websites and automatically access them through our auto login feature. I personally would not be able to use the web without the clarity myhomepage gives me. One of our main competitors or alternatives is browsers. Browsers also allow you to store and organise bookmarks as well as passwords which are two of our main features. However, unlike browsers we are online. This means, wherever you are you will be able access all your favourite bookmarks and logins at any time and from any computer using any browser. Also browsers are not a safe place to store your username and password, someone could steal or hack your computer. And unlike other password managers, you do not have to download anything or pay for it. We use a patent pending technology to safely encrypt your account and passwords.

Secondly, as mentioned before, we are well aware of our competitors and no other service offers all the features we offer in one place. There are competitors offering one or two of our features but no one else offers them all in one place. Furthermore, it is designed with a simple, clean layout. We have a lot of great features which make using the website fun – we use thumbnails to display bookmarks, have a unique auto login feature, have drag and drop functionality, bookmarks are organized by tagging, you can import bookmarks and you can easily email bookmarks to your friends. Adding up all these features, myhomepage is a product that stands out from the crowd! Furthermore, ‘myhomepage’ is a great name and brand and one that is you can easily relate to and most importantly trust.

There are 3 people who commonly fund start-ups 3F’s Friends, Family or Fools; so who gave you the first set of investment myhomepage?

Haha sounds familiar…. Our families, in particular our mothers, who believed in the project from the start but we have also invested a lot of our own money and the last twelve months of our life into this venture. Currently we are in the market to get the next stage of investment from institutional investors.

What is your revenue model?

We have a few different revenue model options. Firstly, there is advertising. We can offer highly targeted ads as we naturally have a lot of statistics about user habits when using the Internet. Advertisers will be able to accurately target users interested in very specific markets. And as the ads are target accurately, users are more likely to click them and so we will have higher CTR and will be able to charge a higher CPC. We are also engaged with an application developer to create a smart phone/device application for myhomepage.

Where can people find more information about myhomepage?

Please visit our website for more information on us, our security information, or send us an email. You can also join our Facebook fan page, follow us on twitter, or check out our profile on CrunchBase.

Both of you attended European Business School; could you please tell us about it and what you studied?

ESBL is a prestigious business school in London that has an international student body, which is great as it allows you to interact and become friends with people from all over the world. I have received my BA in Business Management with a Finance major; Massimo is still enrolled in the same course.

What are the major challenges that young entrepreneurs face?

It’s great being an entrepreneur. This is what we always dreamed of. Obviously start ups are very difficult and involves many challenges which often require us to multitask. It’s important to keep motivated and always push for the best every single day. Being young makes no difference, people will always judge you by your work.

If you have any questions for Max, please send them to himanshu.sheth@gmail.com & we would include the same in our article.

During our childhood days, all of us would have read about “Hare & Tortoise” fable. The famous lesson from the fable was “Slow & Steady wins the race” however, most of the times; the first mover advantage holds true [except in some cases like the Apple iPod !!!]

It is a universal truth that “Teams always win” hence, the term “I” carries less weight age than “We” since, “I WILL NEVER WIN” only “WE CAN WIN”. The presentation below, which is an updated version of the old fable gives an excellent insight into Teamwork

1. Never give up when faced with failure
2. Fast and consistent will always beat slow and steady
3. Work to your competencies
4. Compete against the situation, not against a rival.
5. Pooling resources and working as a team will always beat individual performers

This article is the result of an email forwarded by a friend of mine and after reading the email, I was sure it would qualify for this blog . The email was about the learnings of Dhirubhai Ambani, founder of Reliance narrated by his close friend A.G. Krishnamurthy of Mudra Communications. Inspired by the characteristics of Dhirubhai, Mr. Krishnamurthy coined the term “Dhirubhaism“ , which consisted of the insightful lessons from Dhirubhai. Some of the inspiring Dhirubhaism’s are mentioned below:

Note: ”I” in the article refers to Mr. Krishnamurthy. ”He” refers to Mr. Dhirubhai.

Roll up your sleeves and help

You and your team share the same DNA. Reliance, during Vimal’s heady days had organized a fashion show at the Convention Hall, at Ashoka Hotel in New Delhi.

As usual, every seat in the hall was taken, and there were an equal number of impatient guests outside, waiting to be seated. I was of course completely besieged, trying to handle the ensuing confusion, chaos and protests, when to my amazement and relief, I saw Dhirubhai at the door trying to pacify the guests.

Dhirubhai at that time was already a name to reckon with and a VIP himself, but that did not stop him from rolling up his sleeves and diving in to rescue a situation that had gone out of control. Most bosses in his place would have driven up in their swank cars at the last moment and given the manager a piece of their minds. Not Dhirubhai.

When things went wrong, he was the first person to sense that the circumstances would have been beyond his team’s control, rather than it being a slip on their part, as he trusted their capabilities implicitly. His first instinct was always to join his men in putting out the fire and not crucifying them for it. Sounds too good a boss to be true, doesn’t he? But then, that was Dhirubhai.

Be a safety net for your team

There used to be a time when our agency Mudra was the target of some extremely vicious propaganda by our peers, when on an almost daily basis my business ethics were put on trial.  I, on my part, putting on a brave front, never raised this subject during any of my meetings with Dhirubhai.

But one day, during a particularly nasty spell, he gently asked me if I needed any help in combating it. That did it. That was all the help that I needed. Overwhelmed by his concern and compassion, I told him I could cope, but the knowledge that he knew and cared for what I was going through, and that he was there for me if I ever needed him, worked wonders for my confidence.

I went back a much taller man fully armed to face whatever came my way. By letting us know that he was always aware of the trials we underwent and that he was by our side through it all, he gave us the courage we never knew we had.

The silent benefactor

This was another of his remarkable traits. When he helped someone, he never ever breathed a word about it to anyone else. There have been none among us who haven’t known his kindness, yet he never went around broadcasting it.

He never used charity as a platform to gain publicity. Sometimes, he would even go to the extent of not letting the recipient know who the donor was. Such was the extent of his generosity. ‘Expect the unexpected’ just might have been coined for him

Dream big, but dream with your eyes open

His phenomenal achievement showed India that limitations were only in the mind. And that nothing was truly unattainable for those who dreamed big.

Whenever I tried to point out to him that a task seemed too big to be accomplished, he would reply: ‘ No is no answer!’ Not only did he dream big, he taught all of us to do so too. His one-line brief to me when we began Mudra was: ‘Make Vimal’s advertising the benchmark for fashion advertising in the country.’

At that time, we were just a tiny, fledgling agency, tucked away in Ahmedabad, struggling to put a team in place. When we presented the seemingly insurmountable to him, his favourite response was always: ‘It’s difficult but not impossible!’ And he was right. We did go on to achieve the impossible.

Both in its size and scope Vimal’s fashion shows were unprecedented in the country. Grand showroom openings, stunning experiments in print and poster work all combined to give the brand a truly benchmark image. But way back in 1980, no one would have believed it could have ever been possible. Except Dhirubhai.

But though he dreamed big, he was able to clearly distinguish between perception and reality and his favourite phrase ‘dream with your eyes open’ underlined this.

He never let preset norms govern his vision, yet he worked night and day familiarizing himself with every little nitty-gritty that constituted his dreams constantly sifting the wheat from the chaff. This is how, as he put it, even though he dreamed, none of his dreams turned into nightmares. And this is what gave him the courage to move from one orbit to the next despite tremendous odds.

Dhirubhai was indeed a man of many parts, as is evident. I am sure there are many people who display some of the traits mentioned above, in their working styles as well, but Dhirubhai was one of those rare people who demonstrated all of them, all the time.

Leave the professional alone

Much as people would like to believe, most owners [even managers and clients], though eager to hire the best professionals in the field, do so and then use them as extensions of their own personality. Every time I come across this, which is much too often, I am reminded of how Dhirubhai’s management techniques used to be [and still remain] so refreshingly different.

For instance, way back in the late 1970s when we decided to open an agency of our own, he asked me to name it. I carried a short list of three names, two Westernised and one Indian. It was a very different world back then. Everything Anglicised was considered ‘upmarket.’

There were hardly any agencies with Indian names barring my own ex-agency Shilpi and a few others like Ulka and Sistas. He looked at the list and asked me what my choice was. I said ‘Mudra’: it was the only name that suited my personality. And the spirit of the agency that I was to head.

I was very Indian and an Anglicised name on my visiting card would seem pretentious and contrived. No further questions were asked. No suggestions offered, just a plain and simple ‘Go ahead and do it.’ That was just the beginning.

He continued to give me total freedom — no supervision, no policing — in all my decisions thereafter. In fact, the only direction that he gave me, just once, was this: ‘Produce your best.’

His utter trust in me was what pushed me to never, ever let him down. I guess the simplest strategies are often the hardest to adopt. That was the secret of the Dhirubhai legend. It was not out of a book. It was a skillful blend of head and heart.

Change your orbit, constantly

To understand this statement, let me explain Dhirubhai’s ‘orbit theory.’

He would often explain that we are all born into an orbit. It is up to us to progress to the next. We could choose to live and die in the orbit that we are born in. But that would be a criminal waste of potential. When we push ourselves into the next orbit, we benefit not only ourselves but everyone connected with us.

Take India’s push for development. There was once a time our country’s growth rate was just 4 per cent, sarcastically referred to as the ‘Hindu growth rate.’ Look at us today, galloping along at a healthy 7-8 per cent.

This is no miracle. It is the product of a handful of determined orbit changers like Dhirubhai, all of whose efforts have benefited a larger sphere in their respective fields.

In a small way, I too have experienced the thrill of changing orbits with Mudra. In the 1980s, we leapt from the orbit of a small Ahmedabad ad agency to become the country’s third largest ad agency — in just under a decade.

However, when you change orbits, you will create friction. The good news is that your enemies from your previous orbit will never be able to reach you in your new one. By the time resentment builds up in your new orbit, you should move to the next level. And so on.

Changing orbits is the key to our progress as a nation.

The arm-around-the-shoulder leader

I have never seen any other empire builder nor the CEO of any big organisation do this [why, I never adopted this myself!].

It was Dhirubhai’s very own signature style. Whenever I went to meet him and if on that day, all the time that he could spare me was a short walk up to his car, he would instantly put his arm around me and proceed to discuss the issues at hand as we walked.

With that one simple gesture, he managed to achieve many things. I was put at ease instantaneously. I was made to feel like an equal who was loved and important enough to be considered close to him. And I would walk away from that meeting feeling so good about myself and the work I was doing!

This tendency that he had, to draw people towards him, manifested itself in countless ways. This was just one of them. He would never, ever exude an air of aloofness and exclusivity. He was always inviting people into sharing their thoughts and ideas, rather than shutting them out.

On hindsight I think, it must have required phenomenal generosity of spirit to be that inclusive. Yes, this was one of the things that was uniquely Dhirubhai — that warm arm around my shoulder that did much more than words in letting me know that I belonged, that I had his trust, and that I had him on my side!

The Dhirubhai theory of Supply creating Demand

He was not an MBA. Nor an economist. But yet he took traditional market theory and stood it on its head. And succeeded.

Yes, at a time when everyone in India would build capacities only after a careful study of market expectations, he went full steam ahead and created giants of manufacturing plants with unbelievable capacities. [Initial cap of Reliance Patalganga was 10,000 tonnes of PFY way back in 1980, while the market in India for it was approx. 6000 tonnes].

No doubt his instinct was backed by years and years of reading, studying market trends, careful listening and his own honed capacity to forecast, but yet despite all this preparation, it required undeniable guts to pioneer such a revolutionary move.

The consequence was that the market blossomed to absorb supply, the consumer benefited with prices crashing down, the players increased and our economic landscape changed for the better. The Patalganga plant was in no time humming at maximum capacity and as a result of the plant’s economies of scale, Dhirubhai’s conversion cost of the yarn in 1994 came down to 18 cents per pound, as compared to Western Europe’s 34 cents, North America’s 29 cents and the Far East’s 23 cents and Reliance was exporting the yarn back to the US!

A more recent example was that of Mukesh Ambani taking this vision forward with Reliance Infocomm [which is now handled by Anil Ambani]. In India’s mobile telephony timeline there will always be a very clear ‘before Infocomm and after Infocomm’ segmentation. The numbers say it all. In Jan 2003, the mobile subscriber base was 13 million, about 16 months later, shortly after the launch, it had reached 30 million.

In March 2006, it has touched 90 million ! Yes, this was yet another unusual skill of Dhirubhai’s — his uncanny knack of knowing exactly how the market is going to behave.

Money is not a product by itself, it is a by-product, so don’t chase it

This was a belief by which Dhirubhai lived all his life. For instance when he briefed me about setting up Mudra, his instruction was clear: ‘Produce the best textile advertising in the country,’ he said.

He did not breathe a word about profits, nor about becoming the richest ad agency in the country. Great advertising was the goal that he set for me. A by-product is something that you don’t set out to produce. It is the spin off when you create something larger.

When you turn logs into lumber, sawdust is your by-product and a pretty lucrative one it can be too! It is a very simple analogy but extremely effective in driving the point home. Work toward a goal beyond your bank balance.

Success in attaining that goal will eventually ring in the cash. For instance, if you work towards creating a name for yourself and earning a good reputation, then money is a logical outcome.

People will pay for your product or service if it is good. But if you get your priorities slightly mixed up, not only will the money you make remain just a quick buck it would in all likelihood blacklist you for good. Sounds too simplistic for belief? Well, look around you and you will know exactly how true it is.

Since then,  I have built several other internet services and my latest project is Colabolo, which is a light-weight issue-tracking software for small teams.

Can you give an insight into your flaship product Colabolo  ?
Colabolo grew out of my own needs for a better way to manage the tasks and communication within my company. Email is very flexible tool but lacks organization and sharing. Excel or MS-Project have structure but no communication. Colabolo is a communication & collaboration tool that fits somewhere between email and project management software. It is perfect for simple task delegation and assignment between team members.

Compared to other software in this category, it is much simple to use and integrates with email so it can automatically create tasks from incoming email. It can reduce the volume and clutter of email. You can find a 40-second video demo of Colabolo here

Who are the target customers for Colabolo ?
Colabolo’s current feature set is useful for freelancers and small-medium size teams.  It is ideal for teams that collaborate using computers or mobile phones sharing a large volume of tasks that need to be completed.

How would Colabolo be useful for the SMB(s)  ?
You can create issues and assign to other team members, later comment and share files, till you can resolve and close the issue. Everyone knows what they or others are working on, what is remaining to be done. For example, for web development or sales tracking.

You can also use it as a customer-facing tool since you can receive/send emails from Colabolo so it can be used as a help-desk tool. It shows the project manager a snapshot of the entire project as well as a shared schedule of tasks. It helps your team get things done !!!

What are some of the additional offerings/features of Colabolo as compared to Base Camp[from 37Signals] and other project collaboration tools [e.g pricing, features etc]  ?
If you try Colabolo and Basecamp, you will see they are very different products and approaches.  In Colabolo, you comment on issues in the same place where you assign issues to others. It looks like an email client, so it only takes a few minutes to get familiar with it.  It can receive and send email, you can customize the workflow, there is a built-in gantt chart, you can share files by drag-and-drop.

It offers functionality which has so far been only available in very expensive software and offers it at low price and a simple-to-use.  No server-side install in needed,  you simply pay $9.99/month [approx Rs 500/month] for virtually unlimited use.

Which are some of the other products rolling out of ImaHima ?
There is still a lot to be done on Colabolo.  We have also been working on a iPhone client for it. Being a small company,  my limitation is the speed at which new ideas can be implemented.  That is why I am always on the lookout for like-minded people who have a passion for creating innovative services and try to develop ourselves and our society.

How different is the Japanese market as compared to India ?
Well, completely different. This question can be answered by writing a book but lets just say that it is a big market [second largest economy in the world] whose IT infrastructure is still lacking compared to other rich countries.

How much has recession affected the Japanese market ?
Since Japan does a lot of business with US, there is an impact but it also has a very strong domestic market, just like India. However, India is growing much faster.

What prompted you to start a company in Japan ?
Since I ended up in Japan after finishing MBA from USA, after a few years of experience, I was ready to go independent and really implement new ideas rather than simply talking about them. After a while, I began to see how innovation can bridge the gap between rich and poor countries.

Is ImaHima venture funded  or is it self-funded ?
It is self-funded.

What are your key advices to people who want to startup ?
Again, a question that can be answered in a book, but simple answer is go for it, you will never regret the experience.

Can you comment on the Entrepreneurial ecosystem of Japan ?
Its tough, but no tougher than any other place.  The challenges are the language, costs, shortage of skills but that is also the opportunity.

Since Japanese being the major language, how simple/difficult does it make for startup to expand it’s service ?
I would say you must speak Japanese in order to succeed in Japan.

You were planning to open a centre in India, can you let us know about those plans ?
Yes, I am in the process of setting up software development in India and have had very good experience so far with the Flex developer we found. We are currently looking for senior Java developers  [and more Flex developers],  who might be interested in working with the Google App Engine and with the team in Japan.

We are looking for freelancers who will work with other team members over the internet.  If anyone is interested in working with me, please write to <neeraj@imahima.com>

I am also interested in sharing my experience with other entrepreneurs in India, who want to do business in India or Japan and with those who want to contribute towards the evolution of entrepreneurship in India, via academic-industry collaboration,  seed capital,  global partnerships and education for all.

All the best!

If you have any questions for Neeraj, do leave them in the comments section and the same would be added to the main article.

Design has always been one of the key aspects of any product. It is one of the foremost reasons why consumers want to grab a glance of the beautifully designed Apple Products. This also holds true why all of us love Gmail !!!

While reading about Design, I came across an interesting presentation that highlights it’s various aspects which can be split in four stages

1. Approach
2. Rapport
3. Desire
4. Commitment

I am sure you would really like the presentation just as I did.