All Posts by Himanshu Sheth

|In: Technology|Last Updated:

“Search for “Search Engine” on Google and you would be amazed to see 86,700,000 searches and I think with Web 2.0 on the move, this number would be on the rise.

There are search engines like Google, Ask, AltaVista, WebCrawler,DogPile (to name a few) yield different results.I had also mentioned in my earlier article about the new interactive search engine ChaCha.There is a new search engine on the block – Kakle.com

Search for “Himanshu Sheth” on Kakle and you get the following results(in the image):

There are many reasons to watch out for Kakle:
a. A free 5 GB email account
b. Comparison of different search engines eg. The relative rank of the sam search in search engines like Google, Yahoo, AltaVista
c. Kakle messenger
d. Mobile downloads
e. Uploading of videos free of cost

So, now you can say “Happy Kalking” instead of “Happy Googling”!!!

|In: Technology|Last Updated:
Searching for a patent was never so simple!!!After Google Book Search, Google now brings Google Patent Search and it is based on a similar technology as Google book search.

Google Patent Search(currently in the Beta stage), can currently search through more than 7 million US patents dating from 1790. The site, which will add additional patents over time, uses the same underlying technology as Google’s existing book search.

So, now it not only easy to see the creativity of others but also get creative.This would definitely help lots of young creative minds in filing patents.

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|In: Proto.in|Last Updated:
After BlogCamp(2006),this is another effort by the KTF(The Knowledge Foundation) to bring Entrepreneurs,Tech-enthusiasts under one roof and this time they have 30 startups and 25 VCs with them.I am sure Proto.in would be a great event and I would be there on January 21st,2007.

Business World covered Proto.in and below is a small excerpt from the article(Got it from the Proto Blog):

So,from this you can feel it would be a great event and registrations are still open on proto.in/register

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|In: Blogging|Last Updated: | 8 Comments

Many a times, when I try to market my blog, people ask me “What is the worth of your blog?” or “What are the various ways in which we can earn money by blogging?”. May be a better question to start with could be “What do you blog about?” and than they could have asked the previous question. And damn,”Who cares how much money I earn as long as I get visitors and comments”.

The thing which pains here is that there are so many like these who are interested only in making money and not for making meaning. I do agree, money is important for everyone but idea is more important. Most of the entrepreneurs think that the primary motive of starting a company is just making money but that should not be the case. If you have a good idea definitely you will make money. But this post is not about starting a company but blogging for a reason.

Below are some of the points that would make Blogging meaningful, effective and advantageous:

a. Never blog against your employer:
It is very important not to blog against the organization with whom you are associated with. During my BlogCamp visit in September-2006, this was the first question “Are there any people who have lost jobs due to blogging”. Also, check out my post previous post “Be careful while you blog”.So check if your manager is around before you start blogging!!!

b. Meaning makes a difference:
Choose a particular theme for your blog. If you blog on meditation, stick to that else people won’t be interested in what you write. Also, if you find some good stuff on the Internet, which comes under the same category do not hesitate to put it on my blog (provided you supply a link to the original post else it would lead to copyright issues).This would increase the no of readers who come back to your blog.

c. Make better contacts:
I recollect the early days when I started blogging and it was just a hobby. But now, I love to blog and read other’s blogs. One reason to this is “I get noticed because of my blog which makes me feel more positive. It helps me make more friends and I feel I am somewhat ahead than the normal crowd (who are not taking the full advantage of the internet)”. I got many contacts on Linked In (the business networking site) and the sole reason is my blog.
This suggests that there are some secret readers of your blog and you are able to send your message to the world.

d. Blogrolling good blogs:
Never hesitate to blog roll good blogs. This has four advantages:
a. People would find a centralized database where they would find good piece of information.
b. It would tempt people to come back to your blog and believe me they would yearn to read your blog.
c. This would help more bloggers linking to your blog and your rank will go higher in Technorati blog search.
d. This is the most important. It would demonstrate your business and marketing sense since, business is nothing but building new relations.

e. Market your blog:
Any succesful product without proper marketing is a waste!! The best tool to market your blog is the good old word of mouth marketing. Also, It would be better to include your blog in your email signatures, business cards etc. I have found a different way of marketing my blog ie. Very soon, I would be rolling out T-Shirts with my blog and the theme of my blog written on it and believe me, this idea is not coming from the marketer’s book 🙂

PS: There are some points which I would have missed, please include those in the comments or mail me on himanshu.sheth@gmail.com

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated:
Ever since I have read about Guy Kawasaki , MD of VC firm-Garage technology ventures on the internet , I have been very much impressed only with his attitude but also the books which he has written on Startups, entrepreneurship post is a small piece of information from Guy’s new book “Art of the Start” which focuses on entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship.
Below are the 10 reasons (listed by Guy Kawasaki) for starting a company and things which entrepreneurs should keep in mind during the entrepreneurial stage.

1. Make a Meaning:
The best reason to start a company is to make a meaning and to make the world a better place to live in.

2. Make a Mantra:
Mission statements are very long and very difficult to remember.So make mantra’s for your company and it would take your company to a higher stage.

3. Get going:
Start creating and delievering your product and service.

4. Business model:
Innovate on technologies but do not innovate on your business model.

5. Weave a MAT(Milestones,Assumptions and Tasks):
Compile three lists: a. Milestones which you need to meet b. Assumptions which you need to build in your business model c. Tasks you need to create to start an organization.

6. Follow the 10/20/30 rule:
You should 10 slides in your PPT(your business plan). You should be able to present it in 20 minutes. You should have a 30 point font.

7. Hire infected people:
Hire pople who are infected(ie they are in love) with your product.Hire people better than yourself-A person hires B,B hires C.Apply to the shopping center test.

8. Lower the barriers to adoption:
Flatten the learning curve.Also, dont ask someone to do something which you also cannot do.Embrace your evangelist.

9. Seed the clouds:
Let a 100 flowers blossom. Enable test drives-let people take your product home and test your product.Find the true infuencers.

10. Dont let the bozos grind you down:
There would be people(so called BOZOS) who are losers in themselves(some of them are losrs)who would try to pull you down.So beware from such kind of BOZOS.

|In: Management|Last Updated: | 16 Comments

Yesterday(13/01/2007) , me and my good friend Alok had been to Mani Ratnam directed movie “Guru”. The movie is related to one of the early stage entrepreneurs and very successful industrialist late Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani(of Reliance Industries) .
In the movie, there were many key learnings(from a business point of view) , some of which are given below:

  1. If a person has the will power , fire in his belly and capability, he can succed and will succeed in any way.For eg. Abhishek Bachchan(who played the lead role) was not a literate and it was only due to his will power and his risk taking abilities that he was able to create a big business empire.
  2. Always take feedback from your colleagues. This would help you improve in your day to day life.
  3. Always retain and reward the good performers and trusted employees in the company.
  4. Make a proper study of your business plan and also your competitors in the market(who are into a similar business)
  5. Build good relationships and always keep your customers happy.Business is nothing ,but relation building.
  6. Always know the value of time.Do not leave anything for tomorrow.Think as if there is no tomorrow , since ‘A stitch in time saves nine’.
  7. Very important to have a good supportive life partner[if at all you are married :-)].For eg. Abhishek Bachchan had Aishwarya Rai (as his wife) , who gave full support to him(even in the time of crisis).
  8. Last but not the least,”Do not under-estimate your capabilities“.There would be lots of people(so called BOZOS in Guy Kawasaki’s style) , who would try to pull you down , but you need to keep on moving and moving…..Remember, Success is a journey,not a destination.

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 5 Comments

Read the interview of Shaadi.com CEO Anupam Mittal on PaagalGuy and found he has pointed out many key points like:

  1. Importance of a proper revenue model
  2. Knowing about your consumer base
  3. Future of Social networking sites and
  4. VC funding

Some of the excerpts from the interview is given below:

You come from a background in textiles (his family business), how and when did the idea of an online matchmaking portal come to you?
Incidentally at that point(when the internet was not so popular) I met a pundit and got really intrigued by what he did, but soon realized that he could visit only a few people and carry a limited number of biodatas in his bag. Thus the choice for a life partner depended solely on the number of Biodatas he could carry and the number of individuals he would meet. This is when the idea of taking all this and putting it on the Internet came around and we launched Shaadi.com.

Initially what was your revenue model and how have you improvised on it? What was your conviction with respect to Indians paying online? How do you sensitize your consumers in order to build trust and make online payments?
I am aware that there are several Indians living abroad who are disconnected from home and they needed a way to meet like-minded individuals. Hence there is lot of information, experiences and analysis that led us to realize that there is a potential business model.
I agree it is harder to get Indians to pay online but we need to realise that Indians are very value conscious consumers. For example when they go even to a supermarket they deliberate a lot before they make their final purchase. Online one cannot have a sales person thus it is harder to convince them. Hence the way we sensitise them is by providing them a lot of services free, the reason being only when you provide them with a lot of value will they be willing to pay.

How did you spread the word about your brand? What advice would you give to a budding entrepreneur in order to build a brand for his products and services?
Distribution of th brand is very important.Once the distribution was taken care, the second thing we did was that we went mainstream very quickly. We launched television campaigns in USA and India.According to me what really helps creating and building a brand is consumer experience, which then leads to word of mouth and buzz.

The first time when you received venture capitalist funding how did you plan your spending? And when an entrepreneur gets funding what all should he keep in mind?
According to me VC funding makes you more accountable and it forces you to think about planning, organizing, allocating resources, which are truly very important aspects of managing a business.One needs to think a lot before deciding how much money is required, as a VC will always want to give you more than you need, as that will give them a bigger part of the pie.

Whats your take on the whole debate between web 1.0 and web 2.0?
In my mind there is no debate. According to me all good and successful companies will incorporate new technologies as and when they will feel the need.

If risk taking ability is a given, what according to you are the top prerequisites one should have to be an entrepreneur?
One needs to be persistent as bad things may happen but still one has to continue to strive, work hard and come back into action. An entrepreneur should be prepared to accept failure, get up and take another punch of failure.

What is your take on the Indian entrepreneurial scene? What is it that in your opinion, entrepreneurs from India lack/have? How are they different from the hotbed of entrepreneurship- the bay area!
There are two scenarios in case of the Indian entrepreneurial scene. Firstly there are individuals who have the capital to fund their business plan and secondly there are those who build and work upon their business models with the help of institutions. According to me both are fine because earlier there was hardly any capital available so only individuals who had the fire in the belly, perseverance, determination to go against all odds were the ones who managed to accomplish their goal. Whereas the others are concerned they required money and certain resources without which they could not really do anything much.

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|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 7 Comments
Gandhi-The father of the nationEver since Google acquired YouTube , it has always been in the news , but for the wrong reasons. This time , an NRI named Gautham Prasad who by profession is a clown , Standup comedian and a Yoga teacher posted a video of Mahatma Gandhi(the Father of the Nation) doing pole dancing , stripping , dining with two beautiful women and also fighting.

This video was available on YouTube and also on his own website SkinnyIndian but by the time , I could see the video on YouTube , it had already been offloaded from the site.But I managed to get a look at the comments given for the video and believe me , by the comments I feel that the quality of the video would have been disgusting.

Apparently,it is not only this video,but many other videos like this one which states “GANDHI…A THREAT TO OUR FREEDOM”.

Comments on Youtube video featuring Mahatma Gandhi

As per the reactions , some people including Tushar Gandhi,the great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi has told to Mid-Day that he is tired of all such things and that action should be taken against Gautham Prasad.But being an NRI , Gautham Prasad cannot be given penalty under the Indian law and hence,it is upto the US government to take some action against him.

There are many other videos on YouTube , which are against Mahatma Gandhi and may be all of them would be offloaded after this controversy.

Also,imagine the amount of (UN)popularity he will gain from this particular controversy.The no of hits in his website and also his YouTube account would increase which would be in Gautham Prasad‘s favour!!He would also come on the front page of all the newspapers and also like me many bloggers would have covered this issue.

Now the question remains not only about videos but as I have posted in my earlier article , YouTube should try to monitor the user comments as well to stay away from such controversies!!!