|In: Blogging|Last Updated: | 1 Comment
It has been almost five months since my last blog post. Lots of things have changed now, the good news is that I am now married to Janukin [engagement news here]
In May 2009, I left the startup I was associated with [updates here] and have now relocated to Bangalore. In order to gain some stability, I have again rejoined Mphasis. The entire post is full of updates i.e Marriage, relocation, job however there is one update which is very important for me[as a blogger and for you as an end-user i.e my loyal readers].

The content of this blog is now moved to my new domain https://blog.himanshusheth.net [which is using WordPress and the theme is developed by V.V.K Chandra [again our contact happened through this blog, not to mention “He has done a phenomenal job to design a simple & sleek theme”]. I am sure, before you move to the new destination; you would want to be connected to this blog, so go ahead and update your feeds:

Subscribe via Reader [Courtesy- Feedburner]

Subscribe via Email/Twitter etc. [Courtesy- Feedblitz]
http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=642472

|In: Marketing|Last Updated: | 1 Comment
How many times, we feel like talking to someone but can’t even take the first step. It starts with “How to approach” and once you approach “How you build a meaningful conversation”. If the conversation goes like flowing water, than it is of no worry but if it does not, “the onus lies on the initiator to transform a talk into a conversation”.

I had an interesting experience during my association with a startup where we handed over free gift to each person who helped testing our product. The free gift was definitely priceless for us since it would help us to spread our word [as our name was printed on the gift] but very few people noticed it. That is where each one of us started interacting with every person during the testing process[spending an extra minute or so] to explain about our product and startup through the “name” which was printed on the freebie.

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|In: Books|Last Updated: | 3 Comments
Earlier on ThoughtsPrevail; we reviewed Sramana Mitra‘s book Entrepreneur Journeys-Volume I here & here, in this article we review her book Entrepreneur Journey’s [BootStrapping : Weapon of Mass Reconstruction]

Like her previous book, Sramana follows the same format where she interviews successful entrepreneurs however this time around they are the ones who have successfully bootstrapped their business. The interviews provide vital answers as to whether a startup really needs VC funding or it can be entirely bootstrapped. It also gives some insights into why mentorship is so important for any startup.

Notably the book includes interviews of the so called sultans of blogosphere-Om Malik of GigaOm and Rafat Ali of paidContent [which was acquired by Guardian for $30M].

Though there are many inspiring interviews, the only downside of the book was that the focus was mainly on US based startups but this does not take away the core message delivered through the book i.e “How to bootstrap a business”

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|In: Business|Last Updated: | 3 Comments
Few days back, I just had a short chat with one of the co-founders of an IIM-A‘s Iaccelerator startup and our conversation diverted to an article that was published in Outlook Business. The article tells about how a simple SMS is helping the Indian farmers plan their farming better and in turn helping them generate more profits.

Just came across a very insightful presentation which talks about why rural India is so important & how one can tap the rural market. The most interesting point from the presentation is the statistics about Rediffmail –

Out of 20 million Rediffmail signups, 60% are from small towns. 50% transactions from these towns on Rediff shopping site.

|In: Brand Building|Last Updated: | 3 Comments
Last week, I was holidaying in my home place – Mumbai and we went out shopping for my marriage which is due on 23rd November, 2009. We were shopping at Bandra which is considered as a very posh place & there we can across a small chat [???] outlet. With the scare of swine flu, customers normally avoid from going to such places and this is where it becomes important for the shop owners to win back the customers confidence.

But what if, we use a household name to brand our small product. This is what MIGHT make the customer to purchase & use the product. And the chat outlet did exactly the same. The brand which was used was none other than Google and the product – Gola [????] was named Gogola, some interesting pictures below:

Considering that Internet explorer is the most widely used browser in India, using it effectively would be considered as “Another feather in their cap”. Just like the glass, the menu card was also shown in a very geeky manner in an IE window [picture below]:

I had a chat with the shop owner and he told that “They came out with this strategy mainly to get customer’s confidence” and as Google & Microsoft are household names[no matter you use them or not, but you definitely know them] using them ignites a spark in the customer’s mind. This trust indirectly builds the Gogola brand.

This is a lesson from a small time shop owner on “How a product can become a brand, sometimes by smartly re-modeling an existing brand“.

|In: India|Last Updated: | 3 Comments
In the previous article, we spoke to Amarjit Batra, country manager of OLX India on OLX, Marketing, Online Classifieds etc. In this episode; we speak to him on Web, Startups, Entrepreneurship. Hope you enjoy the interview.

What are some of the Web 2.0 features that OLX promises to it’s users ?


OLX is a Web 2.0 product and users can easily design rich colorful listings with pictures and videos and display their listings on their social networking profile [Facebook, Myspace].Some of the features that make us different from others are:

  • 100% free (forever) even in jobs and real estate
  • Ability to include videos and pictures in listings
  • A city, neighborhood and zip code database so the entire country is covered and not just pre-selected cities
  • Ajax “WYSIWYG” rich-text editor for richer listings
  • Ability to comment on listings to create a stronger community
  • Advanced search functions with sliders allowing searches at variable regional settings
  • A distance field allowing you to see postings near your zip code wherever possible
  • Ability to post listings in any language in any country
  • Ability to view the site in any country in any language
  • Global reach
  • Mobile version: The mobile version http://m.olx.in is unique as one can do everything that can be done on the web

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|In: India|Last Updated: | 8 Comments
Online classifieds has been a growing business and is expected to grow 100% YOY. Be it marriage, Real Estate etc, all of use either of these services in day to day life. In this article, we speak to Amarjit Batra, Country manager of OLX,India which is 100% FREE classifieds site.

The interview is divided into two parts, with this one focusing on OLX, Online Classifieds, Marketing etc.

Before starting off, can you give a small pitch about yourself & OLX ?
OLX is a next generation classifieds site present in 90 countries and 39 languages. We are present in India on web http://www.olx.in as well as mobile http://m.olx.in. There is an option to use OLX India site in English as well as Hindi. We are live in most Indian cities and we already have users from 900+ cities in India. OLX is 100% free to search, list and transact. We have all the key classifieds categories like Jobs, Real Estate, Cars, For Sale, Matrimonial, Services, Education and Community. OLX has integrated many Web2.0 features to the product and we aspire to be good in every vertical.

I have been in the internet space in India for the last nine years and am a strong believer in the online marketplace model. India is an important market for OLX, and I hope that we can make a difference to the lives of the Indian populace through our Free Classifieds site. I am delighted to be a part of the OLX Global Classifieds team and join them in this exciting journey.

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|In: Management|Last Updated: | 3 Comments
There is a general tendency of we humans to compare whatever we can. One thing that gets compared first when someone joins a new company is the “Company Culture“. Culture becomes SO very important especially if you are a startup.

Just came across quite an interesting presentation that describes NetFlix‘s winning culture especially focusing on it’s core points which are listed below:

  • Values are what we value
  • High performance
  • Freedom and responsibility
  • Context, not control
  • Highly aligned, loosely coupled
  • Pay top of market
  • Promotions and Development

As you can see it is more for reading than for presenting; hope you enjoy reading the same.

Thanks to JoeManna for the tweet