20% world population yet handful global brands from India

India has been long associated not with the word "outsourcing" - though only few decades, but seems like centuries. No matter how hard we try, we have been associated with a stigma of "cheap labor outsourcing country" in the global market and hence very little attention is given to the brands originating from India. Though we can'r change what happened in the past and is there as our legacy, but what we can surely do is the awareness towards creating a "Brand" - which comes with a promise that brand puts in front of the customer.

Though we have seen some positive swing by the leading Indian brands like Tata, SBI & ICICI towards creating a global brand, yet we are faraway from even grabbing 2% in the list of global brands.

Intuitions are priceless!!

Perfect business idea, Perfect business plan, Perfect management team (skill sets), Perfect execution skills, Perfect market conditions, Perfect financial support - tons of "Perfects" together at one place, yet a failed enterprise. Wondering why? Do you think lot of big companies or big ideas, with tons of business experts at their disposal that fail, are not worthy of being the successful ones - who knows? since they never reached the point of success and speak out and in this world only success speaks and defines the rules. People might try to justify one reason or the other for the failure, and no one would know for sure whether that piece of "Perfect" would have saved the company.

I believe that this list is endless and can add up to lots of Top 10 or Top 100 lists posted by many great leaders - yet when it comes to the falling enterprise at present, we add up one more concept to the current list. May be that is called "evolution of science". But with this concept may be Akbar would have never been a great King to rule the country many centuries ago. What I truly believe is that every entrepreneur is gifted with a power of intuition, very much like Lata Mangeshkar is gifted with a magical voice. 

We just don't realize the power of Intuition. Lot of times, important decisions are taken by thought leaders based on mere intuition, and that differentiates success from failures. This might sound common sense to some and bullshit to others, but at lot of places innovation is curbed, and a lot of emphasis is given to procedures (may be it is correct for the employees to follow it), but if the same is followed at the management level then you are slowly drifting towards failure.

Successful companies are run by true leaders or consultants who are gifted with the power of intuition and they truly believe in their powers. They take a note of their intuitive inner voice while making any decision and destiny leads them to the true path. Ignoring it won't take you anywhere since it is beyond our reach - it is some thing we are gifted with... Intuition

The Inevitable "Change" - Is it really surprising?

A lot of "change" is happening in India these days and trust me it's the best time to be part of this change, atleast we get to see 'how exactly things actually "change" in a country'. And that too in a country like India (with world's 20% population & world's largest democracy), a country which has always been believed to be run in a particular way. A common saying in India has always been, 'Yahaan aise hi chalte aaya hai, aur aise hi chalega'. To all those smart chaps who believed in this saying like the last generations, here comes the "change" - atleast to the law and order situation.

Like we all see in newspapers and television these days, a lot of large scale scams are in limelight, and a lot of finger pointing is happening all over the country. Seems like all the big agencies, news channels, political parties & large corporates of the country are involved in some way or the other. Is it surprising, really? I am not surprised and I know you are not surprised either, since we all have been brought up with the lesson that in India, we will have to pay some "under the table" charges at all the levels. What do you think these all charges add up to - simple 1000 rupees for 100 crore people makes 1 lakh crores.. Huh! I never thought it that way.

Then why is there such a big fuss about all these scams, and why are they confusing us? May be because we all as a nation have always been part of them, but never really accepted them as existent, and now every one is playing the "innocent game". Or, may be because some of us were so busy in our own lives that we never really bothered about these scams, and now are surprised how is it possible when so many legal agencies exist. Or, may be because we were brought up with the philosophy that everyone is doing some thing wrong, ignore that and focus on your own development, and now we are all confused when so called "accepted norms" are being punished. 

If with these scams, 90% people want to say - "what a shame to them and the country?" May be we should check our own records and see how many times we or our parents have paid 'extra' bucks or used 'extra' powers to influence some decisions for our advantage. It's fed deep in our roots, where we pay 100 rupees at the traffic signal to the Pan shop, or 500 rupees for the driving license to the license broker or 1000 rupees for other day to day documents. This entire system is existing right here, and we all as a nation have always been part of it. 

But there is a subtle difference happening fundamentally. We never accepted these facts as a nation and I think it's part of the "change" that this all is happening, since I believe that the first part of any change is the acceptance of facts in the real world, and that's what all these scams are really doing. These scams are looking at us directly in our faces, and saying it's the right time to bring everything to transparency, and contribute to the change. May be we all are corrupt, may be we all have been corrupt, but let's not take that ideology to the next generations. May be this finger pointing by the highest court of our country to the Prime Minister, Chief Ministers, CBI, Media houses is a right step forward. May be this is really called "democracy". May be there is a message that not every one is corrupt yet. May be there is a message that a "change" is knocking at our doors. Lets welcome the first step in the "change", and see the new legislations/rules or the steps of development that will follow. The one who orients in the direction would lead the nation.

7 Habits of effective Entrepreneurs

Source: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey

Highly successful people have exactly seven habits according to Stephen R. Covey. 

Get involved - Standing on the sidelines does not befit an entrepreneur. Involvement in not just your own business but also the segment you are in will be beneficial. Sitting in your own office and hoping people will seek you out is just wrong. Go to conferences, meet people socialize, and who knows you might just find inspiration or the next best thing a mentor… 

Prioritize - Learn to attack your work from a priority point of view. Some things are more necessary than others. Often the curse of success is that you have no idea where to focus because you have so many projects going at the same time. Sit down with your team, find out what needs immediate attention, and get cracking. First priorities first will get you though a mountain of work in a jiffy…

Delegate - For an entrepreneur to handing out responsibilities may seem a very natural thing to do but most of our ilk refuses to give up the reins. The other extreme of no involvement is the perfectionist who tries to do everything… Learn to place trust in people, choose a team that inspires trust and is worthy of it. Delegate responsibilities and free up time for yourself to focus on the matters you are good at. You cannot possible be an expert at everything so DELEGATE…

Inspire - An entrepreneur is the ring master of the circus that is their start up. You have to be the one who gets everyone fired up when the going gets tough. Remember everyone looks to you for leadership so learn to be inspiring. Get to work before others, be the change that you want to see in your employees, set examples and push people to be the best they can be.

Read between the lines - Learning to understand what is not being said is an important quality for an entrepreneur to have. Imagine of you could tell which employee is disgruntled just by reading their body language or tone. Would it not be great if you could gauge the reactions of investors just by glancing at their expressions?  Deciphering Body language may not be for everyone but if you stay approachable then people will open up to you be they employees or prospective investors.

Hiring talent - Someone once told me that great idea with a mediocre team will fail but a mediocre idea with a great team will inevitably succeed. The reasons are simple your idea is not a stagnant entity but grows with the inputs that are made to it. The better the caliber of the people who are making the inputs the better the end product will become…Hire smart responsible people, run background checks keep a close eye on your hires and that should do the trick.

Share success - An entrepreneur is only as good as the team that backs them up. Share the limelight with them whenever possible, make your team feel wanted and not as if they are slaving away for you for just a paycheck in a 9 to5. If they believe in your vision give them assurances that they are a part of it. Sharing profits is great but sharing the limelight too is even better.

Gen Next!!

Written by Gaurav Gupta


What do you used to do before the invent of irctc.co.in, redbus.in, makemytrip.com, bookmyshow.com, eBay.in or several other portals which bring all the stakeholders at one platform and make the services centralized? Well most of us used to pay a hefty sum to the brokers or we used to avail the services by facing lot of hassles. Before the birth of these portals it used to be very difficult for us to know about all the information about all the available options. Well nobody ever thought that this information would be just a click away. Instead of running from shop to shop to know about the availability of such services these portals give you the overall picture and provide us lot of options to choose from.
Centralization of things be it offline or online brings better price discovery as well as efficiency into the system, but the ever increasing e-savvy population demands for online services. As the internet penetration is increasing at the rapid pace the need for such services which are online in nature is increasing in the direct proportion. The common link between all the above mentioned revolutionary ideas is the nature of these services i.e. online.
One more such revolutionary idea is http://www.irtex.in/ , it is in area of logistics sector, this idea claims to bring efficiency into the system. It is a brainchild of 3 young highly energetic and ambitious entrepreneurs from IIT Bombay. The idea is to bring all the stakeholders of the road freight industry such as shippers, booking agents, transport houses and the companies on to a common platform. Irtex is India’s first organized freight booking service and they want to become the biggest aggregator of truck or freight in the county.
All these services are bridging the gap between the next gen population of the country & the available services and are the next wave of growth in India. Next Gen prefers to bring e tickets to train, planes or even cinema halls.


This blog post is copied from Gaurav's blog --  http://writergg.blogspot.com/2010/06/gen-next.html

India to sign trademark protection treaty

India would join the World Intellectual Property Organization's Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks this year. This would enable the owner of a registered trademark to protect his brand in the member countries.

"There is a big process to join the Madrid System and India would come [on board] in 2010," WIPO Director General Francis Gurry said. He said more countries from South America, particularly Colombia, Mexico and Brazil are expected to join the trade mark protection system.

Though India has been holding consultations with WIPO for several years about joining the Madrid System, the government was unable to take a final call till now, analysts said.

Infringement of trademarks is a huge problem in some of the Asian countries, especially China, Vietnam, and India, where pirated goods with well-known global marks are easily available at a fraction of the actual price.

China ranked first among countries most designated for trademark protection last year. Close to 15,000 trademark owners chose China for designation of their marks, followed by the Russian Federation, the United States, Switzerland, and the European Union.

The members of the Madrid Union notified 303,344 new designations (contained in new registrations or extension in other countries) last year, a drop of 20 per cent compared to 2008. In submitting a trademark application, an applicant has to indicate where the goods or services are designated for protection.

The global economic downturn has had an adverse impact on trade mark filings last year, said Gurry. "International trademark filings took a hit in 2009," he said, "this is not surprising given the difficult financial conditions and restrained consumer demand facing countries around the world."

Last year, the number of applications for international trademark filings dropped by 16 per cent, from 42,075 in 2008 to 35,195 last year, a development vindicating that companies are more cautious about bringing new products to markets when there is considerable economic uncertainty.

D Ravi Kanth

Source: 

Weblink: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/india-to-sign-trademark-protection-treaty/389111/

Preserve company vision during tough times

Most of you who visit my blog are either entrepreneurs or are interested in being part of the startup ecosystem. With this blog post, what I have tried to share is a philosophy that, I believe, differentiates start-ups from one another in a long run.

Every start-up team today starts with a business plan - company vision, mission, problem, solution, revenue projections and how the team plans to tap in the market opportunity. In most of the cases, the business plan changes a lot as startup proceeds and meets the real world. A lot of valuable inputs come from the side of customers, investors and advisors.

Startups face lot of challenges everyday and most of the bandwidth of the management team is taken up in solving these issues. Important tasks, like product roll-out strategy, investor relations, marketing & sales strategy, become the focus of the team. What gets lost in the middle of all these tasks is the vision of the company... the team becomes result oriented, starts focusing on revenues and new business laterals than ensuring that the decisions being taken are in synergy with the vision and philosophy of the company. 

At times, when the startup is money crunched, the management team takes detours or takes up tasks which have nothing to do with the vision of the company. Though nothing is wrong in taking the detours while the startup is money crunched, but it is extremely important that the management team gives a serious thought to the problem. At times like these, a quick help can come from the panel of advisors and mentors. 

A visionary start-up would know the value of a good advisor panel who could help the management team in preserving the vision of the company. A good mentor ensures that the bigger picture of the company is preserved during tough times. But only being visionary doesn't help in protecting the company vision, it also requires lot of strength and character, as at times, the team needs to fight against challenges of real world like saying 'No' to quick money or project that doesn't gel with the company philosophy. I guess that's where the character of a start-up team is tested.

I believe that a start-up is only as good as its team and advisors, and the team can only progress towards excellence if the team is clear about the vision of the company. While there are many factors which make a company successful in a long run, I believe having a clear company vision and preserving it can move a start-up from the list of good start-ups to the list of excellent start-ups.

This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta

Approaching a VC? Here is a checklist

By   Sikta Samantaray

Bangalore: Seeing the growth of Indian software market, Ravi Varma started its own software venture in 2005, but could not go long and had to shut company's door in 2007, as he failed to raise fund from venture capitalists (VCs).

Currently working as a Vice President - Strategy in an IT firm, Varma graduated from IIM, Bangalore in 2004. After running the business for two years without any financial support, Ravi thought that his company had all the right credentials needed by venture capitalists, but when he pitched his ideas to around 10 VCs, he realized that his idea is premature and cannot be funded by any venture firm. 

Not only Varma, there are several such start-up entrepreneurs, who are in a race to raise VC funding. So, to help these emerging entrepreneurs, SiliconIndia talked to some of the VCs to know the important factors that can help these entrepreneurs to improve their chances of getting funded. Here are some important thoughts being given by VCs:

Do you have a Team to lead?

A company may have a big business idea, but working individually may not help it to achieve the objective. It is the team which may help one's idea to convert into a profitable product or service. Anurakt Jain, Analyst, Draper Fisher Jurvetson India said, "VCs invest in a team, so sell the team. A start-up should know well about their team members before pitching to VCs."

Pitch

The process of raising fund can be one of the more physically and emotionally draining parts of starting a business. It can go on for weeks or months, taking away focus from business. As an entrepreneur seeking funding, one need to demonstrate that he/she is very clear about his/her idea and how he/she would build an economically viable business around it. Rajesh Vakil, Head, Siemens Venture Capital, India said, "Put together a good investor presentation that covers all aspects of the business plan. A weak presentation can put off VCs easily." Speaking on the similar lines, Jain said, "The first 5-10 minutes of pitch to VCs are very crucial - get VCs on the hook. Describe the company in one-two lines - that would be helpful in running the business as well."

What is your USP?

While explaining about the product or service, a company need to avoid using jargon and adjectives. VCs say that startups should explain the product or service in simple language and emphasize its competitive edge or USP. Manav Sethi, COO BigMaps said, "The basic objective of a start-up should be to show that there is a need of this product or service in the market."

Business Plan

For any start-up, the purpose of presenting a business plan should be to show the potential to investors that if they invest in its business. Vakil said that a business plan must have a very effective executive summary, and in that summary a company should highlight the market, the product or service, management team, stage of the startup, location, market, market size, business, business model, capital structure, capital required and exit options. He also asked these startups to critically evaluate the business plan and do a market opportunity analysis to determine scalability of business. "Ask honestly "Will you fund this if it was someone else's business plan," added he.

Customer Base

Before presenting to VCs, a company needs to evaluate the customer business case, benefits and payback. Also, it needs to know in details about its existing customers as well as its potential customers. Any company can’t have any better evidence than customers to prove its claims about the marketability of its product/service.

A company needs to understand that it is in the market to sell a product, its business idea, which can't be sold unless its customers are satisfied with the product, which they plan to buy. Raghu Batta, Partner, Ojas Ventures said that startups should always make something or sell a service that people want.

 Revenue Model

To make it easier for VCs to understand the financial plan, a company need to do a proper thought out strategy that may also help in company's growth plans. Vakil says that preparing a sound financial plan is very necessary for long run, and also a company needs to keep an eye on the total funding requirement over subsequent rounds till scale up and its impact on investor's ROI.

He also advices companies to analyze its present and future margins in detail, bearing in mind the potential impact of competition. The monetary projection should also include the sale prices or fee charging structures of your product or service.

Marketing Plan

Having everything, but no marketing plan can force any start-up to taste the failure soon. The objective of marketing plan should be to convince the VCs that the market for its product/service can be developed and penetrated. Also, the marketing plan should have all the details including pricing, distribution and promotion strategy for the product or service. All these details must be supported by verifiable data. 

Apart from these few thoughts, VCs feel that in India first time entrepreneurs are unclear in their own heads about what their idea is about. In fact, many are even not able to articulate it in an easily understood manner either. Adding to this, these VCs also think that startups should raise the fund at right time. Vakil said, "VC funding taken prematurely can be very expensive capital, and company may end up giving up its ownership to the VC." He also thinks that startups should never think of raising fund if the business is not scalable. It will probably waste time unsuccessfully trying to raise finance. The real danger however is that, incase it succeeds; it does not only lose an opportunity to run a lifestyle business that is personally lucrative but is stuck with an unhappy investor. 

This article was originally posted at SiliconIndia.

Weblink: http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Approaching_a_VC_Here_is_a_checklist-nid-66252.html/1

Reverse the chase game

This post might sound weird to some and 'General Gyaan' to others, but I guess some would like it and I am happy with that proportion. Like they say - it's all common sense once shared.

I have been through some very basic challenges of the start-up life and 'm waiting for many others. Infact, I have been associated with lots of start-ups and I noticed one thing in common with most of them. All of them were chasing some one - some were chasing investors, others were chasing customers /clients and some else were chasing money. I think focusing on the chase makes it a bit easier but there is still a better way to ensure the end result and that is don't chase et al. What would you do then? 

Try to focus on longer term perspective of the company. A catch here - most of the start-ups don't have a long term goal and that prevents them from gaining a focus for the company. So, what would you do if you stop chasing - 'Improve yourself till the point people start chasing you - invest in your brand, your people, your product and market it well.'

Here the question comes back to me on the very basic needs of mankind - roti, kapda, makaan .. we can't get these things with the general gyaan and I totally accept the logic, but so does some sensible people around. If you invest your time and money in creating a valuable product and if you have the right focus, then people start getting associated with you. Get investors as part of the team who share your vision, your approach and who stick with you for a longer term. Get people on board who trust you, who trust your approach towards work and your working style, than just the product or solution. Product changes with time, target market changes with time, infact entire ball game in the real world changes with time. For eg. - scooters market is wiped out and bikes are ruling the two-wheeler market now or Toyota is ruling the automobile industry and GM is history now. Did investors of Bajaj Scooter or Toyota plan all that while investing? May be, may be not.

The very basic point I want to share is to stop investing time and energy in the chase and start investing in people, solution and brand. In fact, if investors and customers are not coming for your product then there is something fundamentally wrong with your solution. Think over the same, improve and get them to chase you ... it's not a cake walk, but I guess we are not here for a cake walk.

One more point before I close - it's one out of the many ingredients to create a successful enterprise and not everything. Every successful enterprise today had good people to back them up, some share of luck and immense hard work. It's always company values that make it successful, so stop chasing the world.. Just improve 'n improve and wait for the day when they chase you..The game gets reversed

If this all is weird to you, then I am not writing this blog post for you.