Just happened to speak to my friend Manish and guess what “He happened to meet Dr C K Prahalad, the author of the book “Fortune at the bottom of the Pyramid” and was he was lucky enough to ask him few questions”.But the points that Dr Prahalad has stressed upon in this short conversation is excellent and definitely according India has a very bright future lol

The most interesting and motivating parts of the conversation are given below:

Availability of resources in India:
As per Dr Prahalad, these are types of resources in India
1. Misallocated resources
2. Trapped resources
3. Wasted resources

For effective utilization of resources , “we have to convert our asset to capital

Strengths of India:
a. Remote Delivery:
The actual progress in India is not only IT but also Medical Transcription,Call Center.An excellent example : “Now it is very simple to make a Jyoti to speak English in an American Accent , all due to call centers in India biggrin

b. Global scale:
There are no of problems like water,power but we need to export it.There is excellent infrastructure to combat these problems and we need more companies like Reliance.

c. Emerging Competence Base:
Post-liberalization era has opened up the door for competition in the global market. We have opportunities in India also to utilize that same developed competency.

Manish’s Q&A session with Dr. Prahlad:

Q. Your views about brain drain?
A. First of all, I do not like this word, brain drain. Let me remind you that Mahatma Gandhi was also NRI. When you are abroad, you can see the India form outside. You do not have to face day to day problem that you are facing here. You can see the phenomenal great strength of India.

Thanks Manish for sharing this wonderful piece of information with us.You can find the entire coverage of this interesting talk here

It was just a few days back while watching CNBC , I came across the new show called “The Entrepreneur” which would be hosted by my favourite hostess Shereen Bhan(of the Young Turks fame).

Nothing much has been revealed about the show on the CNBC website, but the main aim of the show is “To bring out more entrepreneurs from India and hence promote the feeling of Entrepreneurship among Indians.

Now I guess,if the idea of any Entrepreneur is good than would it be funded by VCs?If this is a case, than surely it would be one of the most eagerly awaited shows in my list biggrin

In one of my previous post,I had covered the companies which were covered in Proto.Just felt worth putting the current post on my blog, which has the list of the 10 companies which were showcased in DEMO 2007.

The 10 companies which were showcased for DEMO 2007 in US are listed below:

a. eJamming:
eJamming provides the musicians to be in synchronization over the internet.A lovely website for online music collaboration and a must for music lovers biggrin

b. Jaman:
Jaman is the way people discover, enjoy and share world cinema. Jaman’s global on line community is pioneering social cinema. It is a new destination for movie-goers to watch and discuss the world’s best films.
More information on Jaman Blog

c. MyDesignIn:
In plain words MyDesignIn is “A social planning and design site that simplifies any remodeling project”.MyDesignIn allows users to collect home design ideas and artifacts online using browser buttons.

d. OurStory:
OurStory has taken one step ahead in the photo revolution.Now you can organize your favorite stories, photos, videos, quick notes, and letters once and for all.So why was OurStory founded, this is what Andy Halliday,CEO has to say:

Even when I was younger, I dreamed of having some place, some way to hold on to my memories and those life lessons gathered along the way. With each passing year there was more I wanted to record, but also growing was the feeling that I would never catch up with telling my story, the stories of the people I had learned from, or even be able to recall the moments and memories that had mattered most so far.
As I began to lose some of the important people who had been part of my life journey, I longed even more for a way to tell their story so that I, and those who came after me, could understand and learn from the people that they were. And that’s where OurStory began.

e. BlogWerx:
Their post Sentinel is targetted to combat blog theft and plagriasm.Sentinel monitors the blog content, scans the net use proprietary algorithms and informs the blog owner of full or partial content reproduction.There are more reasons to use Sentinel here

f. SplashCast:
This is what SplashCast says about itslf “SplashCast enables anyone to create streaming media ‘channels’ that combine video, music, photos, narration, text and RSS feeds. These user-generated channels can be played and easily syndicated on any web site, blog, or social network page. When channel owners modify their channel, their content is automatically updated across all the web pages ‘tuned’ to that channel

g. Total Immersion:
Total Immersion’s software enables the real-time integration of interactive 3D graphics into live video flows.Applications range from media/entertainment to toys.And there is lots more to see which you can check on Total Immersion

h. TrailFire:
This is what TrailFire says about itslf “Trailfire enables you to discover the web through the expertise of others. Follow a trail and find what you need. Or share your own expertise by making a trail of web pages.

i. Whisher:
This is one of the coolest and unique facility given by any company.This is what Wisher says about itself “It’s a software application that you install on your computer and helps you get free WiFi access all around the world.Additionally it offers a range of tools and services that will take your wireless experience to a new level
More information on Whisher Blog

j. ZoomInfo:
This is what ZoomInfo has says about itself “ZoomInfo, the premier summarization search engine, delivers fresh, comprehensive information on over 34 million business professionals and 2 million companies across virtually every industry.ZoomInfo finds, understands and extracts information from millions of online sources such as Web sites, press releases, electronic news services and SEC filings and summarizes the information into a comprehensive format. Basically, ZoomInfo creates structure out of the chaos of the Web“.

You can find more detailed information on Alex’s Blog

Hey guys, if you remember I had participated in the startups.in contest which was targeted towards “promoting entrepreneurship”and the give away from the contest was my eagerly awaited book “Art of the Start” by Guy Kawasaki

Guess what, Thoughtsprevail was selected as one of the winners,with an overall rating of 4/5 by the elite panel of judges Ashish Kumar of Tekriti Software, Deap Ubhi of Burrp and Preeti Shah of CopperPages lol

Thoughtsprevail is the winner with rating 4/5All the contest entries can be found here and my entry is at location#10 in the comments section(see the image below).Do not miss my complete article which was sent for participation here

You can check what the other winners had to say about “Promoting Entrepreneurship” from the startups.in winners post

Also,my heartiest congratulations to my fellow participants Alok Srivatsava and Nigam.Way to go guyz!!!

Celebrate the spirit of EntrepreneurshipIndia is celebrating the Entrepreneurship Week from February-March,2007 at the National Entrepreneurship Network.Before participating in the events you need to the Entrepreneurial Pledge after which you can register here.

Guess what,there are various contests ongoing on the National Entrepreneurship Network , but one which caught my attention was the One Liner Contest.The contest question(shown below in blue) is simple(yet difficult):

What does entrepreneurship mean to you?’ in your own words (carefully chosen sentence with a maximum length of 110 characters including spaces).

You can find more details about the One Liner Contest here

LinkedIn in a BoxLinkedIn is one of the best Business Networking sites which I have encountered till date.In the Indian scenario,we have TechTribe which is definitely hot among the Indians.

LinkedIn now has gone one step further and this time it has come with the LinkedIn widget which contains your LinkedIn information in a box.The settings of the widget are also configurable and it definitely gives a royal look smile

You can check out LinkedInaBox Official Blog for more information.

Time to see my LinkedIn profile in a box.Just click on the information appearing inside the box and there you can see the entire information in just a small box lol

Just thought of writing this article four days back but had a very busy schedule.So let me go to the past tense and try to recollect my thoughts and put them in this post.

Dated 16th February,2007: It was just a normal working day and guess what “I walked all the way from Koramangala to my house in Indiranagar(which is around 15KM) and this where I tried to recollect some memorable things in my life that have changed my professional and personal life.” and this post was born.So here it goes:

Lesson 1:
It was very difficult getting a good job after passing out in the year 2001.Yes,dot com bust and Y2K were responsible for this and to some extent even I was responsible!!! Imagine a situation where a middle class boy living in Mumbai is not getting a job even after doing his so called (computer) engineering and damn I finally got a job where I was getting paid mere 4000 bucks(there is nothing to hide here).It was in 2003 when I decided to quit my job and move to Bangalore, which was one of the biggest risks in my life and now I feel my life has traveled a full circle.
Learning:
I never thought of having any kind of entrepreneurial skills but this incident made me realize that I can take risks which is in the genes of Entrepreneurs.And yes,this blog has been my friend, philosopher and guide in this journey.Remember “The biggest risk in life is not taking one”.
Did you know “N R Murthy was refused a job in Wipro before he started Infosys

Lesson 2:
This incident would rather seem funny to you but I taken guts to write the truth.The same day,I got a call from Citibank officer for a credit card and he asked my Driving License as a proof(since,every person knows how to drive,isn’t it?).I replied in negation and believe me,he was shocked after hearing this.But this is a truth which I have to accept.I still have to learn driving a car or a bike,but I don’t regret this since,it opens a world of opportunities for me.
Learning:
I like going by bus and also by auto rickshaws since, I get to know more about a common man’s thinking(though I am also one of them smile).You would really know your worth from these people and they are your best teachers.This in turn helps in understanding consumer needs and also helps you building a network which you might have never thought about biggrin. I would be learning driving very soon but even after learning it,would prefer the other mode of transport since,“Business is all about relations,no matter with whom you are trying to get connected to”.
Did you know “N R Murthy of Infosys also doesnt have a driving license and he had publicily announced on TV” and he was never afraid what people would think about it.

Lesson 3:
Be it my job,my blog or playing cricket,I do all the things with full enthusiasm and with a winning attitude.I have one thing in mind “I want to win(but by fair means)”.I have lots of heroes(motivators) from different fields of life eg Sachin Tendulkar from cricket,Sunil Mittal of Bharti as an entrepreneur,Guy Kawasaki as a blogger/VC/entrepreneur but at the end of the day,it is me who has to perform.
Learning:
Enthusiasm is very important for your success.Do everything with a full heart and good results would follow soon.You need to be motivated to achieve something , but the first person with whom you should be motivated is yourself(ie. you need to be self motivated).If you are not motivated, no one else can be a source of motivation for you.
Did you know “Gururaj Desh Deshpande failed in his first venture but he stood up tall and started his next big successful venture Sycamore Networks

Lesson 4:
Everyday,when I look at myself , I feel there are lots of improvements that I need to make and I need to work(a bit harder), in order to achieve my goals.I need to fight against my weaknesses,capture my dreams,work for other’s betterment etc. Improvement is a continual process and would continue until the end of my life.I never thought that I would reach this stage(though I have a long way to go to achieve my dreams) but continuous improvement has helped me achieve it.
Learning:
Success is a journey and not a destination.Take small steps towards improvement and it would lead to a larger improvement(over a period of time).Try to celebrate your achievements but never be satisfied with them and learn from your failures.
Have a look at what Mr Laxmi Mittal has to say “He has not under achieved in life but there are more things that he wants to achieve” and this is what makes a successful person

Hope this post was motivating enough for you and all the best for achieving your dreams.