Next Gen Gaming Technology: Indiagames.com

Life is a never-ending game

Last year, Indiagames, the Mumbai -based gaming company, hit the jackpot when China's Tom Online acquired 80 per cent stake in a multi-million dollar buyout.

Coming soon from Indiagames are the legendary adventures of Emperor Ashoka and an exciting game-based movie on the Jurassic Park.

Meet India's 28-year-old gaming king, Vishal Gondal, CEO, Indiagames, who has come a long way from his humble beginnings in the backyards of an eastern Mumbai suburb, Chembur.

Many startups have their origin in a hobby. Most game development companies come under this category. Developing a successful business model for such companies can be a challenge, especially if you’re a rookie entrepreneur. Vishal Gondal, who founded Indiagames and still runs it after selling a majority stake to UTV, recalls how his business model fashioned itself when he still didn’t know the meaning of the term:

I was totally into games since my childhood, be it volleyball or online. I still play games all night long. I created my first game at 14, it was a Pacman clone. In 1993, I started FACT (Futura Academy of Computer Technology) at a garage in Chembur, Mumbai. I was just 16 then. There were only three computers and I taught students software programming, multimedia, etc.

In 1997, I started ADVER Gaming i.e. games built around advertisements. My first project was for Pepsi. The game was programmed to shoot Coke cans with Pepsi. I used to go to companies and ask for themes for creating games. For Pepsodent, the game was designed to kill germs. I have also designed the scoring system for Femina Miss India, in which his algorithm helped calculate the scores of the contestants.

Then came the Kargil war and I thought a game where you can shoot the terrorists who are trying to cross the LoC would be very appropriate. ‘I Love India’ was an instant hit. Then I realised that there’s a lot of demand for India-based games. And so in 1997 Indiagames.com, a website focused on games for India, was launched. It had games like Ravan Vadh and Dusserah.

It was still a small venture with only five people until PricewaterhouseCoopers stepped in. One day in 1999 two investment bankers, I had no clue what it meant then, walked in and told me that they can provide me with venture capitalists. I had no clue what they meant, first investment bankers then venture capitalists. They explained that VCs will give me big money to expand my company and they will take stake in it. The best part was I would not have to return the money they’ll put in. Great. Now, when I look back I think had I been aware of all that I would have been able to take the plunge and reach were I stand today. Ignorance can sometimes be a bliss, you see. They asked me my business model and when they realised that was reacting to it as if they were speaking in Greek, they made one for me. PwC said they will only charge me success fees, that is, if they succeed in getting the funds, then only I will pay them. I agreed.

They arranged Rs 3.5 crore from VCs and got their due. With the new money, my office expanded and I hired around 40 people. But, I was quite conservative in spending, don’t know why. After the dotcom bust, I wanted to shut online gaming and move over to mobile gaming. But, the other board members were not sure about it and wanted to go with providing services to foreign software companies. So, I had to also act as IT service provider for some time.

But, I had faith in my gaming abilities and as there were not many players in this segment then I managed to get assignments for mobile gaming from Disney, Universal, Sony Pictures and Nokia. And so came games for Lion King, Finding Nemo, Hulk and Wheels of Fortune.

I always had the feeling that something more was needed to besides these, I needed a few products. I need to license a character, make a game and distribute it. But, it was very difficult to choose such a character because if it fails we will lose big time. In end 2003, Spiderman 2 was to be released and I decided to go for him. Got in touch with Marvel Comics and managed to get a worldwide licence for Spidey. The game was released in 60 countries and in 6 languages. Later I acquired licences for Bruce Lee, Jurassic Park, Buffy the Vampire slayer and Mask. Mobile game publishing increased our revenues 10-fold.

I am happy that I have proved that you can do a product story in India. Now, I have a team of 300 people which include gaming programmers, graphic designers and gaming testers. Everyone in my team love gaming and that’s the common thread that binds us. When we are not creating games, we are playing one. My offices are in Mumbai, Beijing, London and Los Angeles. I also outsource some work to Eastern Europe, US and China.

My dream is to give games or e-sports, as I call it, the recognition of a sport. It is never business for me, it’s just gaming. The other global players in mobile gaming are EA, GLU and GAMELOT. Besides, companies like Yahoo and Indiatimes also have mobile gaming facilities. My recent favourites are Resident Evil 4, Gears of War and WiiSports. It keeps on changing.

With the growing market of pirated games it is becoming very difficult for gaming companies to maintain margins. So, I have made a pact with major gaming providers including Microsoft where I deliver a gaming package to people via broadband and charge them monthly. The companies are paid according to the usage of their games. So, when there’ll be easy and cheap availability of legal games, people won’t go for pirated products. Recently, UTV has taken over a major stake in Indiagames.com. (the stake held by Tom Online). To budding entrepreneurs, my advice is that you should have a good original idea and the capability to execute it. Have faith in your product. And always give preference to business sense than legal sense.

Gaming's dark side

Are games addictive? Do they cause violent behaviour? Gondal says, "NO!"

"With low penetration of gaming in India, I think violence is not perpetuated through gaming. There is more violence on television. You can get addicted to worse things in this world, so it's better to get addicted to a game! And he explains the positive aspects -- games sharpen reflexes and knowledge. Strategy games -- like King of the Empire -- and social games help increase tactical insight. Also, the theme that is amongst the most popular in gaming is 'Good must triumph over evil.'"

Wanna go gaming?

Being a part of the International Game Developers Association, it has been Gondal's endeavour to promote game development in India, especially because not many companies are looking at this segment. "We have a shortage of trained manpower, as there are no institutes to really train people in this field. We take people at a trainee level and train them for 6 to 8 months."

"The good thing about the gaming sector is that an employee can even be a school dropout. To be a 'tester,' you just have to be passionate about gaming. Testing is a very important part of gaming, as we cannot launch games unless they are tested well. For game designers, we have a varied set of people: artists, programmers, people from tee arts, science, and commerce fields.

"We have trained about 80 per cent of the people working here. Indiagames is the only place, which has the largest number of team members in one place. Interestingly, we have foreigners keen to work for us. Our US operations are headed by an American, while in Europe we have hired a former Vodafone head.

Techie's interests

Gaming is Vishal Gondal's first love, but he also loves travelling and trying out new cuisines ("I have been to many countries," he says). He is also a gizmo man; he likes to have all the latest gadgets. He dotes on his Blackberry phone. His home is wi-fi ready.

Future perfect

Optimistic that gaming will boom, Gondal explains that the company will set new targets and grow. "We have about 60 per cent of the market share in India. We are growing at 150 to 200 per cent. The priority is to stabilize and tap the more markets and capitalise on the tremendous mobile growth and increased broadband in India."

"We have just launched Jurassic Park. It is a very interesting theme where we put you in the park and how you go about to escape from the park. We will also be working on 3D games and expanding the console gaming project. Another project will be a console game on Emperor Ashoka -- all about him and his wars. Indian stories have global appeal as well. We hope Emperor Ashoka games will reign over the games space."

With the Indian mobile gaming market set to generate $336 million in annual revenues by 2009 and the number of mobile users to go up by 2 million every month, Indiagames is certain to ride the wave. "The next two years are critical to us as mobile users are going to increase in number and broadband is coming up in a big way in India," says Gondal.

Taking Air Transportation to the next Level.

Software Products to Fuel Air Transportation

V. K. Mathews is the founder and CMD of the IBS Group of companies. Mathews founded the International Business Services Group in 1997, which has grown to being a leading global provider of new-generation IT solutions to the Travel, Transportation and Logistics industries and whose solutions today manage the mission-critical operations of the best airlines, the busiest international airports, top oil & gas companies and most luxurious cruise lines around the world.

VK MATHEWS Founder and CMD, IBS Group

Equipped with a Master’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering from IIT Kanpur, Mathews started his career in 1979, teaching computer science to army officers. In 1981 he joined the IT division of Air India and played a key role in the implementation of their computerised passenger services systems world-wide. Subsequently, Mathews joined The Emirates Group, where he contributed to the growth of the airline in various capacities, over a span of fifteen years from 1983 to 1997. As General Manager-IT of the Emirates Group, Mathews was responsible for formulating and implementing Information Technology strategies for Emirates’ global operations.

In the late 1990s, while many industries had already adopted modern software systems to run their operations, the air transportation sector was still using age-old systems that were slow to respond and too complex to manage. There was a need for simpler technology solutions to ease and speed up processes.

On the other hand, India’s brimming software industry was dominated by code-on-hire services companies and the opportunity for leveraging the cheap but effective software skills in the country to meet the worldwide need for software products to fuel air transportation was left largely untapped.

Watching this emerging business idea in 1997 was 41-year-old VK Mathews, figured that a logistics software product model was good enough to make him quit that job and take the entrepreneurial plunge. Thus was born International Business Services. The company, in its first decade, has put together a bouquet of 15 software products to serve the global travel, transport and logistics industry.

The aim of the company was to provide IT solutions to the global Travel, Transportation and Logistics (TTL) industry. Starting with the development of solutions to specific problems as turnkey projects, under Mathew’s stewardship the company has moved from strength to strength. With strategic acquisitions and the technological expertise and business domain competence gained, IBS today offers a range of innovative and cost-effective products, in the areas of airline operations , airport management, airline cargo , oil and gas logistics travel, cruise and hospitality management as well as ocean transportation. IBS is committed to developing new generation IT solutions that replace legacy systems.

In just ten years IBS has grown from an initial size of 60 staffers to a 2000-strong, SEI CMMi Level-5, PCMM Level 5, ISO 9001:2001 and TickIT certified company with a global presence. The company’s earnings have grown at a steady annual compounded growth rate of 40%. The global clientele of IBS includes major corporations like Nippon Cargo Airlines, BAA, Emirates Airline, Cathay Pacific, South African Airways, Air New Zealand, Dubai Airport, SITA, Shell, GulfShare, Qatar Airways, Celebrity Cruises, Star Cruises, Orbitz Worldwide and so on. IBS and its Group companies operate out of Atlanta, Alexandria (VA), Bangalore, Boston, Cochin, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Melbourne, Phoenix, Rotterdam, Sydney, Trivandrum, Tokyo and Toronto.

Mathews is an advisor to the Government of Kerala in the areas of Information Technology, Industry, Management and Education. He is a member of the State’s IT Advisory Board, Higher Education Council, Planning Board of Kerala (Committee for Industry & IT) and figures in the Board of Studies of several colleges/universities. Mathews is also a member of Board of Directors of the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management - Kerala (IIITM-K) and a member of the TiE Kerala Core Group.

A committed technocrat and a business visionary, Mathews is one of the pioneers who have ensured a place for Kerala state on the global IT map. In recognition of his achievements he has received numerous honours and awards. He was awarded the Management Leadership Award 2001 by the Trivandrum Management Association, and the Millennium Leaders Award 2002 by Surya TV, a leading television channel in South India. In 2002, he also received the IT Kerala Award for Enterprise Excellence and the Kerala State Sahridaya Vedi conferred on him the award of IT Man of the Year 2003.

The Google Story......Master Entrepreneurs

Google Story!!!

Starting my Blog on Entrepreneurs, I could’nt think of a better way of thanking Larry Page and Sergey Brin for their wonderful creation of all times which we all proudly call as Google.

I read Google Story four months back and was impressed by the inside story and how Larry and Sergey (Co-founders of Google) started their own company which has today become indispensable for all of us. With its colourful, childlike logo set against a pure white background, Google’s magical ability to produce speedy, relevant responses to queries hundreds of millions of times daily has changed the way people find information and stay abreast of the news. Million of people use it daily and have come to regard Google and internet as one.

Google has never spent a penny on advertisement yet it is able to capture and impact our mind and soul. A day without Google is a day without sunshine. To me its like a jenie, who is there to fulfill whatever I write in that white magical box at GOOGLE.com. It has answers to my dumbest questions and as a True friend, I can trust and rely on it anytime.

Google Story by David A Vise reveals the hidden secrets behind what went in the creation of Google and what challenges were faced by its founders right from its inception.

Google runs the largest computer system in the world, which is the reason behind all quality searches and providing a competitive strength to the company. To me Google is an advertising company, which generates money through highly targeted text ads that searchers click when looking for information.

On Aug 19 2004, Google went Public with an initial public offering at $85 per share. In less than a year, the stock soared to more than $ 300 per share. Blue Chip Venture capitalist firms, Yahoo, Alta Vista and many other tech companies turned down the chance to buy Google Search System for a $1 million which forced Stanford Ph D students Sergey Brin and Larry Page to drop out from college and start their own company. By the end of summer 2005, each of the founders had a net worth of more than $10 billion.

John Hennessy, a top computer scientist and now a Google board member, came to know about Google’ page ranking technique which gave good ranking search results in a flash in comparison to Alta Vista the famous search engine that time. He encouraged both of them to start their own company and work in this direction.

The soul of Google m/c is rapid innovation, where all technologists think of solving problems first rather than devising ways of making money and creating products. Google fosters on word of mouth publicity and is not involved in any marketing or advertising activities.

A living example of its simplicity is its million dollar homepage, which is free from any advertisements, just to provide a unique searching experience to its users, which in turn, become its best advocates.

Eric Schmidt, CEO of the company looks after business affairs where as Brin and Page operate in a hands on manner pushing hard on introducing new features and offerings.

Google has the best brains working for it with a state of the art work environment. All employees are encouraged to involve in exploring ideas which interest them most apart from regular work.

Today “to Google” means “to search” which has become a verb in English, German and other languages. In just 9 years, Google has become one of the most profitable company of all times sharing platform with giants like Microsoft, Yahoo. The company as well as its founders are young with many more milestones to achieve in future.

Google got its name from a mathematical term spelled as goo-gol which means a number 1 followed by 100 zeroes. Google earns through searches that happen through advertising. In the long run, a combination of scientific, mathematical and computer skills will be the key to success in future.

Success Story through Social Networking.

Mumbai Based WAT Consult taps the second-generation tech.

There is hardly any urban youngster who doesn't blog these days. Infact, there are many who make money from blogs by selling information or advertisement space. But 22 year old Rajiv Dhingra went a step further and built a business model around corporate blogging and social networking.

When Vijay Mallya launched Force India, he also started a social Networking site called Club Force along with it. He wanted to build a community of team fans, who will loyally discuss all the happenings relevant to Force India. His executives hired Mr Dhingra's small firm WAT Consult, to do the job.

The challenge thrown at him was that in a market dominated by ORKUT and Facebook, why would anyone want to join yet another network to discuss something so niche? How could club force create enough buzz to be noted in this multitude?

Mr Dhingra's seven member team huddled in their two room office and brainstormed. Eventually, they came up with a plan. They figured that it would be easier to build a community on a popular social networking site like Facebook. Once a critical mass of, say, 1000 users were built, it would be feasible to migrate the group to club Force, provided there is a strong value proposition in that. Armed with this strategy, WAT has built 'The Force - Force india F1' group on facebook. At present, the group has 962 members.

Within weeks, the second part of the plan will be implemented. WAT is a company that believes youth understand youth best. All teams members are about 20 or 21. Each grown up using internet and took to blogging like fish to swimming. " We are young ourselves and I understand what an 18, 19 or 21 year old wants and does. I feel the impact on the youth myself. We also understand the platforms that these people are interacting on. We appreciate what the technology brings to the youth and the consumer. A 35-40 year old brand manager may not see this value. This is where we position ourselves," says Mr Dhingra.

And the strategy worked. A top internet portal, conscious of its youthful following, gave Mr Dhingra his first order a yaer ago, based just on a presentation. The next day, he hired his first employee and gave wings to his business dream. or about six months before that, he had run Watblog, dedicated to Web 2.0 trends and WAT was only a natural progression.

Using the know-how of the latest in internet technology and knowledge of the user group, WAT Consult has also guided the marketing efforts of companies like HSBC, NOKIA and Frito Lay. Setting up corporate blogs is a large part of what WAT Consult does, and Mahindra & Mahindra is one of its most prominent clients.

"Social media optimisation and corporate blogging market is a nascent market with a huge space to grow. The presence of corporate blog or on other blogs is like non-paid publicity. They are not paying for advertising or PR and it is therefore non-paid. We are capitalising on telling a corporate how to use this," he says.

The parent brand is WAT Media and has a range of services for free: WAT blog, WAT Show (video) and now WAT Cast (podcast). All these services depend on the consulting business for support. The company had a starting year revenue of Rs 22 lakh in 2007. Except for borrowing office space from the flat owned by Mr Dhingra' father, it has been completely self-funded.

"Five to ten years from now, we expexct the internet to be prime medium and we aim to be the thought leaders in this space. We know this will be a challenge as the generation which grows up with this meduim is likely to see the gaps in it before his seniors"Mr Dhingra says. "As a 27 year old then, the 20 year old will be the challenge.

Resources:
The author of this article is the cheif editor in the Economic Times and the article appeared in one of their successful columns called "Starship Enterprise".

Revolutionalizing E-learning.

E-learning comes of age

2001 was the year of the dotcom bust. That was also the year when Bangalore-based techies, KS Karthik & Anil Chhikara launched their e-learning co.

THE aftermath of the dotcom bust in 2001 was a tough time for technology entrepreneurs to start a venture as investors, customers and potential valuations suddenly vanished into thin air. So, when techies KS Karthik and Anil Chhikara came together with a startup dream, the path ahead was doubtless going to be thorny.

But, unlike other techies who put together quickrich dotcom businesses and went down with the web world collapse, the two Bangalore-based techies eyed the potential for training college graduates to be jobready for the software outsourcing industry and other sectors. In a city where giants such as Infosys and Wipro were beginning to hire vigorously, the two entrepreneurs sensed a growing need for structured corporate training.

Thus came into being 24x7 Learning with a mission to go beyond the regular definition of technology-enabled learning. “Since there are already a lot of players in the e-learning space catering to the primary and early education institutions, we decided that the focus should be on implementing our products at higher education namely colleges and universities to help them meet the corporate requirements,” says Mr Chhikara.

In six years, the company has grown to have more than 120 customers across industry segments such as information technology, retail, pharmaceuticals and hospitality. Its clients include Wipro, Satyam, Patni, Aditya Birla Group, Bharti Airtel, Ashok Leyland, Convergys, Accenture, JPMorgan and ING Vysya.

But, the ride was not smooth for the fledgling firm. “The internet bubble had just burst, there was no fresh investment coming through and the economy itself was swaying. Under difficult times, a lot of companies had announced budget cuts and the first axe came upon training costs. Thus we saw our market shrinking in our first two years itself,” Mr Karthik said.

The founders were quick to realise that success of any e-learning implementation was not about technology but about how e-learning fitted into the learning culture within any corporate organisation and how e-learning initiative was promoted internally within a company. “When we started, we had no plans to create a learning management system. We wanted to consult companies to implement a skill improvement system and then in due course may be look to acquire a product IP ourselves. But the initial hiccups forced us to come out with LearnTrac which now is our bestseller. Also, since we had not (received) venture funding during this phase, there was lesser pressure on us to do or die,” recalls Mr Karthik.

KS KARTHIK (SITTING) & ANIL CHHIKARA Founders, 24x7 Learning

So how did it survive this downturn? The company focused on innovation and invested in product development despite its low revenues. It also chose to let its business model be flexible. It thus evolved from being a consultancy to a product company.

Once it waited out the lean period, business started to pick up. Companies and educational institutions showed openness to adopt technology and implement novel ideas in training, helping 24x7 prosper. Today, the company claims to be the largest e-learning implementation provider in India and says its learners are dispersed across 25 countries. Seven out of 10 top software outsourcing companies and six out of 10 top business process outsourcing companies are its clients.

It has also made a dent into the university sector. BITS Pilani set up an e-library with 24x7 Learning’s technology, giving its students online access to hundreds of engineering and technical books.

So what lies next for this start-up? The company wants to work with state institutions to develop their distance learning programs. “What the universities have is purely raw content with them. We would look to develop the content online by using their curriculum,” says Mr Chhikara. Increasingly, state governments such as Maharashtra are realising the need for having a competent and skilled manpower to match the incoming investment. The company has already implemented its SkillBridge solution in SNDT University for nearly 1,000 students based on the institute’s own study material.

The firm hopes to close its current business year with a revenue of nearly $6 million. With research body IDC expecting the global e-learning market to touch the $28 billion mark by 2008, the company is readying itself to face global competition. “May be this competition would help us evolve further,” says Mr Karthik.

Article Resource:

Ritwik Donde is the Chief Editor in the The Economic Times, Mumbai and the article appeared in one of their successful columns on Entrepreneurship/Startups called "Starship Enterprise".

About 24x7 E Learning

Beginning as an 'eLearning' company and spreading roots as India's largest eLearning implementation company, they have grown into a company whose holistic solutions permeate to every individual in an organization, and in the process makes a difference to the nation's intellectual capital. 'Talent Lifecycle ManagementSM' is what they call it. It is a natural and enriching process that's responsive to dynamic market needs.

They help

• Enhance the talent pool for enterprises at the pre-recruitment stage
• Train existing employees to upgrade their skills
• Nurture leaders for tomorrow

For more information on 24x7, log on Successful Entrepreneur - E Learning

Logging On To A Road Less Taken.

Logging On To A Road Less Taken

Creating Quality IT Workforce Has Been A Passion For Seed Infotech Founders

A JOB as a scientist in the Defence Research and Development Organisation is not just challenging, but prestigious and safe too. At 32, Narendra Barhate could have continued in the cushy position and retired. But in 1994, he opted to take the risky path of entrepreneurship. Thus was born Seed Infotech, an education and training firm for information technology professionals, mainly in Maharashtra.

“I felt constrained at work,” he recalls. So did his friend Shrikant Rasane, who joined him in the venture. “At that time, the software industry was just starting to take off. There was also a need for trained manpower and bridging the gap between what companies needed and the quality of manpower colleges were able provide to them.” The duo eyed this opportunity and weighed their options. They could start a software company or a training firm. “We chose training,” said Mr Barhate. They roped in two more friends and started Seed with a contribution of Rs 25,000 each.

The first generation entrepreneur was determined not to let his inexperience come in the way of building a successful company. “The first couple of years were not difficult because we were small in number. But as we grew, we started realising the importance of financial discipline and systems and process. We got around this by hiring people with appropriate skills in these areas.” With formidable names such as NIIT and Aptech dominating the business, he also realised the need for continually refreshing business strategy. “We learnt the importance of planning ahead for five years, ten years.”

The first big test for the company’s mettle came just after the turn of the century, when many peers went down in the technology slump. “In 2002, the whole market was sinking. But with the support of well-wishers, we were able to survive it. No bank was willing to lend us money and we needed money to keep the business going. We were able to take credit from family and relatives and tide over the crisis. We suffered losses only for that year, but we came out of it the next year itself,” said Mr Barhate.

From (L): Seed directors Rajesh Vartak and Bharati Barhate along with co-founder and CEO & MD Narendra Barhate and co-founder & ED Shrikant Rasa

Luckily, Seed already had a business to train technical people in Japanese language skills. When everything else dried up, this business continued to do well. Though the segment’s share in overall revenues has fallen now, Mr Barhate fondly recalls its role in sustaining the company during that lean period.

The company provides software training to graduates and employees of corporate customers. It also runs a finishing school, which rounds up the individual with soft skills. Top names like Infosys Technologies and Cognizant are among its 250 or so clients. Corporate business accounts for a fourth of revenues.

Mr Barhate also said the company was saved from further trouble in the downturn also because it had not spread itself thin. The institution had been focusing on Maharashtra, especially its base in Pune, one of the country’s technology hubs. It certainly had wanted to expand, but took a cautious approach when business turned patchy. “That was the time we were thinking of expanding beyond Maharashtra. It is lucky we didn’t,” said Mr Barhate.

Today, with a much larger IT education industry and a steady stream of students, Seed Infotech feels it’s ready for a national presence. Within three years, it plans to be in major cities such as Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad and
reach Rs 100 crore in revenues by 2010, about two-and-a-half times the current level.

It is also expanding the scope of its training programmes. “Usually, corporates also require some hand-holding after we have provided training. We plan to provide tool-based consulting and some hand-holding for project readiness,” said Mr Barhate. Further, it plans to enter distance learning and niche training areas in engineering services. All these plans are part of a strategic business plan being drawn up by a consultant. Having put one lakh students through Seed Infotech’s portals, the business of education has proven to be the education on business for this scientist.

Article Resource:
Author: N Shivapriya is the cheif editor in the Economic Times, Mumbai and the article appeared in one of their successful columns called "Starship Enterprise.

Changing Tech-tonics of VC land

Changing Tech-tonics of VC land

Venture capital funds are shedding their single-minded focus on technology startups and looking at non-tech sectors such as food & retail.

THE dotcom boom had a lasting impact on the fund-raising scene in India. While bank loans were the primary source of capital earlier and venture capital an increasingly attractive option later, it was during the time of the internet bubble that the rules of the game changed forever. It was not uncommon for venture capitalists to decide funding over lunch with an entrepreneur, sometimes before the plates had been cleared. This led to a mushrooming of tech ventures and the eventual failures, but it also nurtured some very innovative businesses. The losers in this race, some say, were the entrepreneurs looking to start businesses in conventional sectors without the allure of the World Wide Web. Only a small proportion of these business aspirants got funding and others had to make to do with money from friends and banks.

Not any more. Funding for technology startups has reached a more mature stage and venture capital houses now take a much more discerning view of business models. A mere website will not get money now. Old world concepts such as cash flow are back in the reckoning. And early stage investors are also beginning to attach more importance to non-tech ventures, especially the evergreen ones such as food and sectors gaining from the country’s economic rise such as retail. Other sectors including alternative energy, whose importance will be understood in the coming years, are also finding favour.

Arun Natarajan of Venture Intelligence, which tracking the funding industry, says that there has been a very clear shift among the investing community in the last three years with 20% of the VC funds going into the non-tech entrepreneurs. “Three years ago if somebody talked about funding an non-tech entrepreneur, one would find it strange,” but now it is increasingly becoming part of the strategy of a fund provider, he says.

Retail chain Subhiksha was an early bird, winning capital support from ICICI Venture seven years ago. It has obviously been a successful bet for the investor. This sort of strategy could help VCs mitigate some of the risks involved in excessive reliance on technology businesses. It also opens up vistas to sectors that will rule the next decade, just as tech businesses did in the current one.

India’s growing cities are bustling with examples of the new investment paradigm. The Shanghai-like skyline of Gurgaon is peppered with the name boards of Yo China, a Chinese fast food chain that claims to offer affordable eating. Its success in raising capital from Matrix will enthuse fast food entrepreneurs (or wannabes?) to try their hand at their own ventures too.

In the southern city of Bangalore, where technology start-ups are not far behind autorickshaws and flower vendors in number, fast food chain KaatiZone is rolling chappatis for the rushhour commuter. It packs the common Indian bread varieties with tasty stuffings and sells them under a stand-eat-and-run model. Erasmic Investment Ventures, which provided early capital for this chain, is helping it scale up the number not just in Bangalore but in other cities as well. KaatiZone’s founder Kiran Nadkarni says he wants to set up a nation-wide network with international standards.He says a pleasant ambience, good quality food and hygiene should be able to attract the increasingly discerning Indian customer. “Food business is a low entry barrier segment but with high mortality,” he says.

Mom and pop stores have been the mainstay for the Indian household for decades, but this is the age of organised retailing. With big names such as Reliance and Bharti becoming shopkeepers, an ecosystem of vendors serving them has also been created. Like retail outfit firm Dovetail which is riding on the burgeoning demand for quality shopping space. Erasmic has backed this venture also.

Things are just beginning to hot up for Dovetails, says managing director S Sundar. The company had a turnover of Rs 15 crore in 2005-06 and Rs 25 crore in 2006-07. The
heady pace of growth currently sustains a staff of 150, but the orders are growing the day, putting pressure on him to expand faster. “Sometimes our customer asks us
to provide the fitouts for 50,000 sq ft in a week’s time.” Further, the company is also looking to diversify into designer furniture.

Erasmic’s Prashant Prakash says venture capital support has been important to Kaati-Zone and Dovetail not only for the money but also the rigour of corporate discipline that the relationship brought to the managements.

So what kind of non-tech companies attract venture capital funding?
Right now, the hottest thing going around is the India story. The economic upsurge, the loose cash that middle class households want to be seen burning and a furious expansion of consumption are all the underlying themes that VCs want to take advantage of. Businesses built around the domestic market, identifying a niche pain point to address and having the ability to scale up are likely to get the cheque. While investors may look at any business model worth pursuing, service oriented businesses with less capital needs are the chosen flavour.
In technology start-ups, the exit is often an acquisition or a public offer of shares. This could happen in several years or just in a few months. But in non-tech ventures, the rules are slightly different. Venture capital funds play for the medium term here. A three to five year horizon is common. So, it is not enough just to have a cool idea (like a video uploading site or a social networking service). The entrepreneur also has to make that cool idea work, build size and consolidate revenues and take the business mainstream.
These are still early days for non-technology businesses in the age of venture capital funding and the key bridge to be crossed is true corporatisation in terms of processes and systems, says Kanwaljit Singh of Helion Ventures. Many of these businesses are not new to the country, but have been run in the traditional, unorganised manner for years. To develop modern business models for these businesses and bringing in innovation and higher quality would be a challenge. There are many steps that these new businesses will have to go through before being gaining full acceptance among the VC community.Singh says education and health sectors, besides food and retail, could be the areas that VCs would be watching out for great ideas to come from.

As the world’s liplock with technology and internet easing a bit, both entrepreneurs and investors are taking more notice of other sectors. The time was never as ripe as it is now, with the economy booming and rules liberalised. From now on, all it takes is a flurry of ideas that will change the way we eat, shop, learn and live.

Article Resource:
Author: Thimmaya Poojary is the Chief Editor in the The Economic Times, Mumbai and the article appeared in one of their successful columns on Entrepreneurship/Start-ups called "Starship Enterprise".

When Business Thinking is married to Technical Ideas.

Business Thinking is married to Technical Ideas.

The Indian IT industry is currently witnessing a silent, but very compelling transformation, wherein technology is being viewed as a means to attain business ends, and not an end in itself.

If as developer a product to is he needs being is to developed be clear it in , whom the his mind for why developing , and how it would help the end customer. More than anything else, the focus needs to be on the usability of technology. This calls for a change in terms of the quality of IT manpower. The industry now requires quality brains that can make possible quality deliverance of high-end technical assignments on time and in line with customer requirements. So the pie is gigantic, but grabbing it would remain a dream until the manpower arms itself with adequate skills.

OPERATIONAL DEPTH BECOMES CRITICAL

Indian IT is now being associated with the entire business process, right from developing to the final delivery of a product. For instance, SAP Labs considers Bangalore one of its most important development hubs, since around 10 percent of its patents come from India. Believes Shailesh Shah, Director & Senior VP, Corporate Strategy Group, Satyam Computer Services, “There is greater focus on IT consulting, project management, engineering design and product development leading to substantial revenue streams.”

NOSE FOR BUSINESS IN TECHNOLOGY

So more than just cost effectiveness or technological knowledge, the traits that will set the Indian talent pool apart from other contenders is the ability to understand how the technology they are working on enables business and to think from an entrepreneurial point of view. This means that one needs to be a business technologist to rise in this industry. As Arvind Mishra, Executive VP & Global Head, Talent & Change, Polaris Software Lab Ltd., says, "As the IT industry matures and tries to provide high margin, complex solutions, there is a shift from being purely technical to becoming techno-functional. The software professional today is required to gather domain knowledge. Unlike in the past, when one was called a Java or ‘C’ specialist, the focus today is on whether a person is into banking or healthcare or manufacturing.”

Innovation would be required both in IT services and product development and R&D. Indian IT is already a known name in the ITES space. And in the product development and the R&D space, India has become a hub where the top 10 product companies in the world have set up development centres.

Srinivas Raghavan, VP-MD, Bally Technologies feels quality is becoming the core of Indian services, specially in the area of solution implementation. He says, “The Indian engineer is very good and getting better at implementing solutions on-site wherever the location might be in the world. In future, the number of Indians working at customer locations around the world and implementing solutions for them will only increase.” He feels, nevertheless, that the country should continue to retain its cost advantages.

EXISTING BOTTLENECKS

According to industry estimates, out of a requirement of 2.3 million people, India will fall short by 50,000 relevant IT professionals by 2010. What is to be noted here, is that the fall is not in terms of numbers but in terms of relevance. Only 25 percent of the total technical graduates and 10-15 percent of general graduates are industry-relevant. Added to this, there is no proper grooming of talents at the school/university level.

So what is the way out? Many feel grooming should start at the primary level since logical thinking starts at the primary school level. The need is to address primary education and not build a poor-quality manpower base at the primary level. The industry feels that Indian engineering students, even after four years of studies, are not readily deployable. What’s needed is a close collaboration between the industry, Government and academia to build up a proficient pool that can sustain the growth.

Article Resource:
The article appeared in The Economic Times, Mumbai in one of their successful columns on Entrepreneurship/Start-ups called "Starship Enterprise".

Banking on IT for Drug Discovery

Banking on IT for Drug Discovery

DISCOVERING India’s first ‘new medicine’ is perhaps the greatest dream of the country’s medical scientists. Leading Indian companies like Dr Reddy’s and Ranbaxy are yet to stun the world with an innovative medicine, despite a decade or more of research efforts. Their global success, so far, has come from copycat generic drugs. So then, why is Supreet Deshpande, who trained to be a mechanical engineer, sporting a happy smile?

For one, his radically different approach to the pharmaceutical industry has begun to pay off. Shunning the easy street to generic drugs business, that so many Indian companies have embraced, he started a purely research-based drug firm five years ago. His venture, VLife Sciences, has managed to discover 12 potential drugs, two of them entirely new and the remaining tweaked forms of existing drugs capable of treating diseases different from the ones initially targeted. And he hopes to take his first finished drug to the market within three or four years.

Mr Deshpande, a graduate from Bhopal University, stands out in his basic approach to business itself. His motto: The solution to a scientific problem may well be a non-scientific one. Says Mr Deshpande, “Look, I was never a scientist and I am not a scientist. But what I have realised in the course of the past five years is that a non-scientific perspective to a scientific problem is as important as a scientific perspective to a scientific problem... Common sense is more valuable than anything else, whether it is in farm equipment, technology or pharmaceuticals.”

Supreet Deshpande VLIFE SCIENCES TECHNOLOGIES

This difference in approach is evident as you walk into his research lab. There are no scientists in white robes, no one handling tubes with plastic gloves and masked faces, but a small team of people busy at their computers. Here, every scientific experiment is simulated on computers.

After several years with Bajaj Auto, Mr Deshpande joined Mahindra British Telecom in Pune in 2001, where he was responsible for exploring new growth opportunities for the company. “We had a small group of PhDs in science who were hibernating in that organisation, trying to develop software capabilities to implement complex algorithm. These guys were working in a corner and nobody paid any attention to them,” explains Mr Deshpande.

With their help, Mr Deshpande quickly identified pharma as an area where technology could play a significant role. “I was reading a lot of articles on the incapability of technology to deliver the desired results in the pharma sector... And the thing that did the trick for me was a significant lack of common sense while employing technologies in the pharma sector... Any decision was so much driven by science, that sometime people forgot why they are doing sciences. Is it for building more knowledge or for building an application that is beneficial to the patient?”

But he says Mahindra British Telecom did not share his enthusiasm about the project. He left the company, and decided to take his project forward on his own. “When I moved out, I spent six months at home, creating a blue print of what technology interventions I would think logical from a non-scientist perspective into the pharmaceutical discovery process,” says Mr Deshpande.

In 2002, he created VLife Sciences Technologies Pvt. Ltd and invested all his savings into his new company. At that time, his friend Atul Aslekar, a trained engineer then working in Japan, joined Mr Deshpande, adding his savings to the company’s initial capital. Initially, Mr Deshpande’s idea was to develop an algorithm that would enable pharma companies to use computer aided techniques to design new molecules. While pharma companies around the world already use similar software for a part of their research, Mr Deshpande’s ambition was to develop a software that would give him results so close to reality, that it alone could relied on, to identify potential candidates.

“This allows a lot of speed, in a day you can make hundred thousand molecules, which is not possible in a lab,” says Mr Deshpande. Once the molecule has been designed on the computer, it is chemically synthesised and tested on animals. “If that data is initially what we had expected, we go further, but if it is not then we study experimental results and go back improve its design,” explains Mr Deshpande. The software was then sold to several academic institutions, including IITs.

In 2005, the company started its own research programme. In two years, the company was able to come up with 12 potential drugs. Out of these 12 drugs, 10 are actually existing drugs, but that no one thought to use to treat a different disease, like its diabetic wound candidate, expected to enter the first phase of clinical trials on humans shortly.

In April 2006 Kotak Mahindra private equity fund invested in the company. Though the amount of the investment was not disclosed, then Vlife Sciences was valued at around $5 million.

Last month, the company was reorganised into two separate companies. VLife Sciences spun off its research division into a wholly owned subsidiary, NovaLead Pharma.

The company has focused its research effort on very specific areas. “We have thought it differently,” says Mr Deshpande. At a time when new drug applications are under increasing scrutiny from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), NovaLead is working on drugs for which the FDA provides ‘fast-track approvals’ and a limited amount of clinical trials are required. To qualify, these drugs must be effective in the treatment of either rare diseases, which are markets too small for large pharma companies to invest, or diseases where the existing treatments are not effective.

“We have spent only eight hundred thousands dollars to take our diabetic wound drug to the first phase of clinical trials,” says Mr Deshpande. The pre-clinical studies were conducted in Boston by Dr Krishna Menon, a doctor who has to his credit three drugs, including Eli Lilly’s cancer drug Gemzar. (Incidentally he is also on the board of the company). The company is confident of taking the drug to market within three to four years.

Article Resource:

Author: Noemie Bisserbe is the Chief Editor in the The Economic Times, Mumbai and the article appeared in one of their successful columns on Entrepreneurship/Start-ups called "Starship Enterprise".

Stepping Stones To Build Your Business Online.

FIND A NEED AND FILL IT

Most marketers make the mistake of finding a product before they have a market. But unless people are actively searching for your product online, you’ll never make a sale. The trick is to find a group of people with a common problem they’re trying to solve and then solve it.

After you’ve done this, use what you’ve learned to create a product for a market that already exists — and do it better than your competitors.

WRITE SALES COPY THAT SELLS

On a website, your copy has to do the selling for you. There’s a proven formula for writing sales copy that’ll take visitors through the selling process from the moment they arrive: Arouse interest with a compelling headline, describe the problem your product can solve, show them why you can be trusted to solve the problem, add testimonials from people who’ve used the product, talk about the product and how it benefits the user, make an offer or a guarantee, create urgency and, ask for the sale on a website.

DESIGN AND BUILD AN EFFECTIVE WEBSITE

Remember to keep it simple. Your website is your online storefront, so be sure to make it customer friendly. You have less than 10 seconds to grab a visitor’s attention before they’re gone. Keep it simple and direct.

How do you get traffic to a brand-new site? Pay-per-click advertising, which has two advantages: the ads show up on search pages immediately and they allow you to test different keywords, headlines, prices and selling approaches. Not only do you get traffic immediately, but once you’ve figured out what keywords are working best, you can use them throughout your copy and code, which will help your rankings in organic search results.

ESTABLISH AN EXPERT REPUTATION FOR YOURSELF TO DRIVE EVEN MORE TRAFFIC TO YOUR SITE

People use the Internet to find information. If you provide valuable information for other sites to use — and include a link back to your site — you’ll get more traffic and better search engine rankings. Give away free content, like articles, videos or other useful information, and distribute that content through online article directories and social media sites. Every site that posts your content will link back to yours, and search engines love links from relevant sites and will reward you in the rankings accordingly.

USE THE POWER OF E-MAIL MARKETING

When you build an opt-in list, you’re creating one of the most valuable assets your online business can have—permission to send visitors e-mail. Why is e-mail marketing so valuable? You’re giving potential customers something they’ve asked for. You’re developing lifetime relationships with people in your target market. The response is 100 percent measurable. It’s cheaper and more effective than print, TV or radio advertising because it’s highly targeted. It can be almost entirely automated. Anyone who visits your site and opts in to your list is a very hot lead. And there’s no better tool than e-mail to let you effortlessly follow up with those leads.

INCREASE YOUR INCOME THROUGH BACK-END SALES AND UPSELLING

One of the most important Internet marketing guidelines is to develop every customer’s lifetime value. They may come again. Closing the first sale with a customer is by far your most difficult task—not to mention your most expensive one. Offer products that complement their original purchase, send out electronic loyalty coupons they can redeem on their next visit and offer related products on your “thank you” page. If you reward customers for being loyal, they’ll become even more loyal to you in return.

START AN AFFILIATE PROGRAMME TO MAXIMISE YOUR SALES AND REVENUE

Once your business is up and running, it’s time to launch your affiliate program. Affiliates are people who promote your products on their sites for a cut of the selling price. Every time they send you a buyer, you pay them a commission.

An affiliate programme is a simple, low-maintenance way to grow your business. Once you get your program set up, all you have to do is share your marketing materials with your affiliates and send out checks when they make sales. Once your business is up and running, it’s time to launch your affiliate programme.

Reference:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/

IT Learning, Courtesy Factory Floor.

Anantara Designs & Integrates,While Suppliers Manage The Rest

AT FIRST glance, Chennai-based Anantara Solutions might look like another manufacturing company. It designs products, buys components from some 25 supplier companies spread across India, China, Russia, Singapore and the Malta island and assembles them. So typical of any assembly line, but Anantara is an information technology consulting company.

Started by a group of former employees of Satyam Computer, Anantara has taken a novel path to technology services business and calls it the ‘second generation outsourcing.’ The business model is based on using the best practices of the manufacturing sector in IT: Design and integrate, but leave the intermediate steps to an ecosystem of component suppliers.

And leading the innovation at Anantara is none other than GB Prabhat, who was one of the pioneers in taking the Indian software outsourcing industry to consulting league. Years ago, he helped start what is today a hot trend among services companies by cofounding Satyam Renaissance Consulting. After moving out of Satyam, Mr Prabhat contemplated ways to integrate business consultancy expertise and information technology prowess seamlessly to create a combined offering. “I was disenchanted with the existing methods for harnessing the value of IT. Most IT efforts were and continue to be cost-focused rather than getting value from IT investments that will improve business performance,” said Mr Prabhat.

And his search soon turned towards the so-called old economy. “When I was confused by how one company would gain leadership in such a vast spectrum of capabilities, I was struck by the global manufacturing model widely employed by the auto, electronics and the consumer goods sector. Toyota, the pioneer of this integrated supply chain management model, was an inspiration,” Mr Prabhat said. So, just as Toyota and Cisco bought from the global best companies a vast proportion of the components and subsystems that would go into their final product, Mr Prabhat thought, IT and consulting firms too, could assemble their business solutions by sourcing parts from partner firms. Anantara’s departure from the traditional algorithm has helped it evolve a network of 25 companies with a collective employee strength of 3,000 that it can leverage to sew up a solution.

Further, the company also works with partners who stock up on reusable components and don’t write all codes from scratch. “In bigger companies, there is a huge disconnect between groups and there hasn’t been much effort in building components that can be part of a library,” Mr Prabhat said.

GB Prabhat of Anantara Solutions

This global franchise helps Anantara to optimise the use of talent, cost and time. For example, the company has a supplier in China, which charges $8-$10 an hour for a service, half of what it costs in India. That firm, which subscription-based websites, has made a security program required for every website reusable. Often, a little tweak is all it takes to customise it to a given project, thus saving on resources.

Mr Prabhat uses an everyday analogy to explain how automation tools can spruce up efficiency. There are three ways in which you can buy food. You can get prepared food in which case you accept what is available and the price it is offered at. Or you can go to a restaurant, which will cook everything from scratch. The cooks there will start peeling the vegetables after you order. But imagine an eatery which keeps a combination of gravies and semi-cooked food. It can work to any configuration and produce a finished food with little effort.

So, just like the food business, IT has three models. In the first case, you have the software products where you need to adjust yourself to use them well. The second case is the software services space, where they do the coding from scratch and which is a labour intensive model. The intermediary case is where the automation tools fit.

“Cost of manpower leading to a decline in profit margins and the rising infrastructure costs are driving automation in the IT industry today,” Mr Prabhat said.

The Anantara model, though different and new, crossed the initial hurdles of acquiring clients quite easily. “The senior management’s past reputation was a key factor in getting clients. But, manufacturing companies are not that surprised with this outsourcing model because IT is doing now, what they have been doing all along,” says Mr Prabhat. The eight members of the management team were senior executives at Satyam Computer Services, who grew quite close while they built Satyam’s consulting practices from scratch. The company gets 40% of its business from India and 60% from abroad. While the Indian projects are mostly in the manufacturing and logistics space, the projects abroad include verticals such as media and entertainment. It is working with an European player involved in Internet Protocol Television and movie distribution. “We are advising them on the more efficient use of their hybrid platform,” Mr Prabhat said.

Earlier this year, Helion Venture, led an investment of $6.5 million in Anantara solutions. The other investors include Walden international, SVB Financial Group and a US-based venture capitalist, Christian Wedell.

Article Resource:
Author: Chandra Ranganathan is the Chief Editor in the The Economic Times, Mumbai and the article appeared in one of their successful columns on Entrepreneurship/Start-ups called "Starship Enterprise".

Data reporting through ‘1Key’

MAIA’s Innovative Product Strikes The Right Chord With Clients

AMERICAN scientist Carl Sagan once said, knowing a great deal is not the same as being smart. Intelligence is not information alone, but also judgement, the manner in which information is collected and used. This holds as good for companies as it holds good for individuals. Companies are accumulating information all the time, sometimes much more than they can manage. The collective corporate memory of all such information can be mindboggling and companies may struggle, and eventually fail, to effectively use it for decision making. One fallout of such complexity is that a company might be sitting on information that it desperately seeks, but simply does not know that it exists.

It was this problem that gripped the minds of Sanjay Mehta and his friends four years ago. The start-up they were part of had taken decisive growth steps, implementing enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. The customers were happy with the product, but often found that an ERP implementation alone would not suffice to meet their information needs.

From (left): Jigisha Sanghvi, Hiten Rathod, Sanjay Mehta and Vipul Mehta

The opportunity to fill this gap spurred Mr Mehta and his colleagues Jigisha Sanghvi, Vipul Mehta, and Hiten Rathod to set up MAIA Intelligence, a business intelligence product company, in August 2006. The seed for the idea had been sown at a business meeting with officials of Parker Hannifin Corporation, which had bought the ERP product from Udyog Software, the earlier start-up that the four friends were part of. “Having a catalogue of over 12 lakh products, they wanted to know what was moving and what was not,” says Mr Mehta. With the basic business software implemented at the Indian operations of Parker Hannifin, it was possible to compile a visual representation, but it was a tedious affair. The customer’s employees asked for a simple solution that would help them access intelligent data without their technical experts racking their brains over it.

“After we had set up this ERP product, we found the challenges of creating lots of report. People were putting in data and saying that they weren’t getting enough back,” says Mr Mehta. The Udyog team added a reporting tool to the business software as a plug-in and found the users liked it. Customers soon started asking for reporting features in specialised business software such as customer relationship management and human resource application. Its appeal and functionality was good enough to convince the group of four to spin off the product as a separate company, targeted at its own audience rather than the typical ERP user.

There is a wide choice of reporting tools in the market, including Business Object, Cognos and SAS, but Mr Mehta claims they are expensive and hence, typically used by only the top officials of a company. There was a need for business intelligence (BI) at almost every level of the organisation. “We started with the core idea of helping companies to take quicker decisions across all levels of the organisation,” says Mr Mehta.

MAIA’s business intelligence product, 1Key, is server-based and can be accessed by hundreds of employees at the same time. One of its clients has 1,200 of their employees hooked to the product. “We say to CIOs, who are already using other products, ‘Go ahead’. Instead let the underserved use our product,” says Mr Mehta.

The decision to spin off the product and brand it separately from Udyog was taken in view of the different market segments they served and the pricing models needed to be adopted. MAIA targets companies having large-scale operations, generating hundreds of data points. Udyog’s business software, on the other hand, caters to small and medium enterprises. “Whenever we presented the product at industry gatherings, we were referred to as the ‘excise company’. We had to completely shed that image,” Mr Mehta, referring to one of Udyog’s software products.

Pidilite Industries was one of the early adopters. “They had 170 reports in static form. Pidilite wanted to convert all their static reports into a BI format, which enabled business users to have dynamic reporting capabilities,” says Mr Mehta. MAIA has gone on to win prestigious clients such as Reliance Capital, Edelweiss Capital and Essel Propack. The company has so far invested Rs 4.5 crore and expects to close this year with a business of Rs 4 crore. Mr Mehta says he expects MAIA to break even next year. The projected revenue for 2008 is Rs 20 crore. There are also plans to market it abroad, especially the US.

MAIA has proven that even in the crowded field of business software, there is enough space and scope for an innovative product that will solve a strongly felt pain point at a price that is all too Indian.

Article Resource:
Author: Jacob Cherian is the Chief Editor in the The Economic Times, Mumbai and the article appeared in one of their successful columns on Entrepreneurship/Start-ups called "Starship Enterprise".

Love Story of Narayana Murthy and Sudha (From Sudha's Autobiography)

It was in Pune that I met Narayan Murty through my friend Prasanna who is now the Wipro chief, who was also training in Telco. Most of the books that Prasanna lent me had Murty's name on them which meant that I had a preconceived image of the man.Contrary to expectation, Murty was shy,bespectacled and an introvert. When he invited us for dinner.. I was a bit taken aback as I thought the young man was making a very fast move. I refused since I was the only girl in the group. But Murty was relentless and we all decided to meet for dinner the next day at 7.30 p.m. at Green Fields hotel on the Main Road,Pune.

The next day I went there at 7' o clock since I had togo to the tailor near the hotel. And what do I see?Mr. Murty waiting in front of the hotel and it was only seven. Till today, Murty maintains that I had mentioned (consciously!) that I would be going to the tailor at 7 so that I could meet him...And I maintain that I did not say any such thing consciously or unconsciously because I did not think of Murty as anything other than a friend at that stage. We haveagreed to disagree on this matter.

Soon, we became friends. Our conversations were filled with Murty's experiences abroad and the books that he has read. My friends insisted that Murty was trying to impress me because he was interested in me. I kept denying it till one fine day, after dinner Murty said,I want to tell you something. I knew this was it. It was coming. He said, I am 5'4" tall. I come from a lower middle class family. I can never become rich in my life and I can never give you any riches. You are beautiful, bright, and intelligent and you can get anyone you want. But will you marry me? I asked Murty to give me some time for an answer. My father didn't want me to marry a wannabe politician,(a communist at that) who didn't have a steady job and wanted to build an orphanage...

When I went to Hubli I told my parents about Murty and his proposal. My mother was positive since Murty was also from Karnataka, seemed intelligent and comes from a good family. But my father asked: What's his job,his salary, his qualifications etc? Murty was working as a research assistant and was earning less than me.He was willing to go dutch with me on our outings. My parents agreed to meet Murty in Pune on a particular day at10 a. m sharp. Murty did not turn up. How can I trust a man to take care of my daughter if he cannot keep an appointment, asked my father. At 12noon Murty turned up in a bright red shirt! He had gone on work to Bombay, was stuck in a traffic jam on the ghats, so he hired a taxi(though it was very expensive for him) to meet his would-be father-in-law.Father was unimpressed. My father asked him what he wanted to become in life. Murty said he wanted to become a politician in the communist party and wanted to open an orphanage. My father gave his verdict. NO. I don't want my daughter to marry somebody who wants to become a communist and then open an orphanage when he himself didn't have money to support his family.Ironically, today, I have opened many orphanages something, which Murty wanted to do 25 years ago. By this time I realized I had developed a liking towardsMurty which could only be termed as love. I wanted to marry Murty because he is an honest man. He proposed to me highlighting the negatives in his life. I promised my father that I will not marry Murty without his blessings though at the same time, I cannot marry anybody else. My father said he would agree if Murty promised to take up a steady job. But Murty refused saying he will not do things in life because somebody wanted him to. So, I was caught between the two most important people in my life.

The stalemate continued for three years during which our courtship took us to every restaurant and cinema hall in Pune. In those days, Murty was always broke.Moreover, he didn't earn much to manage. Ironically today, he manages Infosys Technologies Ltd., one of the world's most reputed companies. He always owed me money. We used to go for dinner and he would say, I don't have money with me, you pay my share, I will return it to you later. For three years I maintained a book on Murty's debt to me.. No, he never returned the money and I finally tore it up after my wedding. The amount was a little over Rs 4000. During this interim period Murty quit his job as research assistant and started his own software business. Now,I had to pay his salary too! Towardsthe late 70s computers were entering India in a bigway.

During the fag end of 1977 Murty decided to take up a job as General Manager at Patni Computers in Bombay.But before he joined the company he wanted to marry me since he was to go on training to the US after joining. My father gave in as he was happy Murty had a decent job, now.WE WERE MARRIED IN MURTY'S HOUSE IN BANGALORE ONFEBRUARY 10, 1978 WITH ONLY OUR TWO FAMILIES PRESENT.I GOT MY FIRST SILK SARI. THE WEDDING EXPENSES CAME TO ONLY RS 800 (US $17) WITH MURTY AND I POOLING IN RS400 EACH.I went to the US with Murty after marriage. Murty encouraged me to see America on my own because I loved travelling. I toured America for three months on backpack and had interesting experiences which will remain freshin my mind forever. Like the time when the New York police took me into custody because they thought I was an Italian trafficking drugs in Harlem.Or the time when I spent the night at the bottom of the Grand Canyon with an old couple. Murty panicked because he couldn't get a response from my hotel room even at midnight. He thought I was either killed or kidnapped.

IN 1981 MURTY WANTED TO START INFOSYS. HE HAD A VISION AND ZERO CAPITAL...initially I was very apprehensive about Murty getting into business. We did not have any business background.. Moreover we were living a comfortable life in Bombay with a regular pay check and I didn't want to rock the boat. But Murty was passionate about creating good quality software. I decided to support him.

Typical of Murty, he just had a dream and no money. So I gave him Rs 10,000 which I had saved for a rainy day, without his knowledge and told him, This is all I have. Take it. I give you three years sabbatical leave. I will take care of the financial needs of our house. You go and chase your dreams without any worry. But you have only three years!

Murty and his six colleagues started Infosys in 1981,with enormous interest and hard work. In 1982 I left Telco and moved to Pune with Murty. We bought a small house on loan which also became the Infosys office. I was a clerk-cum-cook-cum-programmer. I also took up a job as Senior Systems Analyst with Walchand group of Industries to support the house. In 1983 Infosys got their first client, MICO, in Bangalore. Murty moved to Bangalore and stayed with his mother while I went to Hubli to deliver my second child, Rohan. Ten days after my son was born, Murty left for the US on project work. I saw him only after a year, as I was unable to join Murty in the US because my son had infantile eczema, an allergy to vaccinations. So for more than a year I did not step outside our home for fear of my son contracting an infection. It was only after Rohan got all his vaccinations that I came to Bangalore where we rented a small house in Jayanagar and rented another house as Infosys headquarters. My father presented Murty a scooter to commute. I once again became a cook, programmer, clerk, secretary, office assistant et al. Nandan Nilekani (MD of Infosys) and his wife Rohini stayed with us. While Rohini babysat my son, I wrote programs for Infosys. There was no car, no phone, and just two kids and a bunch of us working hard, juggling our lives and having fun while Infosys was taking shape. It was not only me but also the wives of other partners too who gave their unstinted support. We all knew that our men were trying to build something good.

It was like a big joint family,taking care and looking out for one another. I still remember Sudha Gopalakrishna looking after my daughter Akshata with all care and love while Kumari Shibulal cooked for all of us. Murty made it very clear that it would either be me or him working at Infosys. Never the two of us together... I was involved with Infosys initially.

Nandan Nilekani suggested I should be on the Board but Murty said he did not want a husband and wife team at Infosys. I was shocked since I had the relevant experience and technical qualifications. He said, Sudha if you want to work with Infosys, I will withdraw, happily. I was pained to know that I will not be involved in the company my husband was building and that I would have to give up a job that I am qualified to do and love doing.

It took me a couple of days to grasp the reason behind Murty's request.. I realized that to make Infosys a success one had to give one's 100 percent. One had to be focussed on it alone with no other distractions. If the two of us had to give 100 percent to Infosys then what would happen to our home and our children? One of us had to take care of our home while the other took care of Infosys.

I opted to be a homemaker, after all Infosys was Murty's dream. It was a big sacrifice but it was one that had to be made. Even today, Murty says, Sudha, I stepped on your career to make mine. You are responsible for my success. I might have given up my career for my husband's sake.

But that does not make me a doormat....

Reference:
(Sudha's Autobiography)

Long Leap: From Setting up Websites to Big-ticket Embedded Solutions

STORIES of companies that perished when the dotcom bubble burst and those that survived the crisis with grit and innovation are now the stuff of entrepreneur lore. Chennai-based GoDB Tech is one such company that has reinvented itself successfully. Today, its success as a player to be counted in the service delivery applications in partnership with top companies such as Texas Instruments (TI) is a long leap for a company that was once building websites.

Though lesser-known than some of its counterparts, GoDB has managed to grow substantially and get contracts from multinational customers that use TI chips in their devices. Its embedded software business is less than a year old, but already the company is working on a partnership with Analog Devices, another major chip player. GoDB’s application works on chip platforms and the company rides on such partnerships to access a wide range of customers.

“Our goal is to reach as many customers as we can. The marketing costs are minimal since we are going through our partners. For example, TI introduces us to its clients and if the clients are convinced, they sign up with us,” said founder-director Mahavir P Chand.

The company had clocked revenues of Rs 1.5 crore in the first year (2000-01) itself, but many of its dotcom clients folded up soon, leaving the company with an uncertain future. Chand and his co-founders, Raja Raman and Ravi Kiran, had to look for a new opportunity to keep the company afloat. They had already developed expertise in the area of service delivery, which helps data updation and synchronisation of live websites. They sought to convert this into a platform that could be used by companies to capture data from field staff for supply chain management.

Initial revenues and a funding of Rs 3 crore from Intel in October 2001 saw it through the difficult years when the company was investing in product development without earning any revenues. The decision to build the platform had been a smart one, freeing the company from dependence on internet properties and giving it a toehold in the corporate segment. However, getting customers for this was proved to be tough.

GoDB Tech founders Raja Raman (sitting), Ravi Kiran (left) & Mahavir Chand

“There were times when we questioned the wisdom of it,” recollects Chand. In fact, 2003-04 was the only time Chand came close to considering chucking it all and going back to a job. But in the end, he and the other founders, decided to stick it out and the lucky break came soon in the form of a big order from Hindustan Lever (now Hindustan Unilever) in 2005. “Then, we knew we were home,” Chand said. Others like the ICICI group, which had placed small orders initially, also started coming back for more. Today, its enterprise customers include HDFC Bank, Tata AIG, Standard Chartered, Reliance Capital, ICICI and of course, Hindustan Unilever.

In 2005-06, the company took Kalyan Chakravarthy, who had successfully nurtured a business and sold it to Flextronics a few years earlier, as an advisor. Under Chakravarthy’s guidance, the company tweaked the application that was already being used on PDAs by Hindustan Unilever’s agents, and demonstrated it to TI. TI tested it and was quite happy to recommend it to one of its clients. From then on, the company’s embedded solutions grew to account a fourth of revenues, the enterprise segment accounting for the rest. Future revenues are expected to be split equally between the two businesses, Chand said.

Unlike many companies of that time, GoDB has diverged from the beaten track of building dotcom companies with an eye on quick valuations and sell-out opportunities. Its founders stayed patient even in the face of adversity. The company is now looking to scale up, given that embedded technology is spreading rapidly among mobile and computing devices.

Article Resource:

Author: N Shivapriya is the cheif editor in the Economic Times and the article appeared in one of their successful columns called "Starship Enterprise".

Deliver a Presentation Like Steve Jobs

Reference:
by Carmine Gallo

When Apple CEO Steve Jobs kicked off Macworld 2008, he once again raised the bar for presenters everywhere. While most deliver information, Jobs inspires the audience. After analyzing his latest presentation, I've extracted the 10 most motivating elements to incite listeners.

1. Set the Tone.

"There is something in the air today," Jobs projected to the crowd to open the Macworld conference. By doing so, he set the tone for his presentation and hinted at the key product announcement-the ultrathin MacBook Air laptop. While every presentation needs an angle, it doesn't have to be unveiled right away. Last year, Jobs waited until the 20-minute mark. When the time was right, he noted, "Today Apple reinvents the phone." Once you identify your angle, make sure to weave it throughout your presentation.

2. Demonstrate Enthusiasm.

It's impossible to deny Jobs' passion for computer design. Next time you're crafting or delivering a presentation, think about infusing it with your personality. Most speakers get into presentation mode and feel as though they have to strip the talk of any character. Remember, your audience wants to be vowed, not put to sleep. The audience will follow your lead. So set an enthusiastic example.

3. Provide an outline.

Jobs set expectations by noting, "There are four things I want to talk about today. So let's get started..." Verbally opening and closing each of the four sections helped to make clear transitions between talking points. For example, after revealing several new iPhone features, he said, "That [the iPhone] was the second thing I wanted to talk about today. Number three is about iTunes." Make lists and provide your audience with guideposts along the way.

4. Make numbers Meaningful.

When Jobs announced that Apple had sold 4 million iPhones to date, he provided context for the figure. "That's 20,000 iPhones every day, on average," Jobs explained, "What does that mean to the overall market?" Numbers don't mean much unless they are placed in perspective. Connect the dots for your listeners.

5. Try for an Unforgettable Moment.

This is the moment in your presentation that everyone will be talking about. Every Steve Jobs presentation builds up to one big scene. In this year's Macworld keynote, it was the announcement of MacBook Air. To demonstrate just how thin it is, Jobs said it would fit in an envelope. Jobs drew cheers by opening a manila interoffice envelope and holding the laptop for everyone to see. What is the one memorable moment of your presentation? Identify it ahead of time and build up to it.

6. Create Visual Slides.

While most speakers fill their slides with data, text, and charts, great presenters do the opposite. There is very little text on a Steve Jobs slide. Most of the slides present one idea for the audience to walk away with. This is further supported by see-and-say syncing. For example, when outlining, "The first thing I want to talk to you about today," was accompanied by a slide with the numeral I. When he discussed a specific product like the iPhone, the audience saw a slide with an image of the product. Inspiring presenters are short on bullet points and big on graphics.

7. Give 'em a Show.

A Jobs presentation has ebbs and flows, themes and transitions. Including video clips, demonstrations, and guests creates the feeling that the presentation is more of a show than a lecture. Enhance your presentations by incorporating multimedia, product demonstrations, or giving others the chance to say a few words.

8. Don't sweat the Small Stuff.

Despite your best preparation, something might go wrong as it did during the Apple CEO's keynote. Upon attempting to show a few photographs from a live Web site, the screen went black. Jobs smiled and said, "Well, I guess Flickr isn't serving up the photos today." By moving forward and recapping the new features he just introduced, it was no big deal. Don't sweat minor mishaps. Have fun.

9. Sell the Benefit.

While most presenters promote product features, Jobs sells benefits. When introducing iTunes movie rentals, Jobs said, "We've never offered a rental model in music because people want to own their music. You listen to your favorite song thousands of times in your life. But most of us watch movies once, maybe a few times. And renting is a great way to do it. It's less expensive, doesn't take up space on our hard drive..." Your listeners are always asking themselves, "What's in it for me?" Answer the question. Don't make them guess. Clearly state the benefit of every service, feature, or product.

10. Rehearse, Rehearse, Rehearse.

Steve Jobs cannot pull off an intricate presentation with video clips, demonstrations, and outside speakers without hours of rehearsal. Jobs rehearses the entire presentation aloud for many hours. You can see he rehearsed the Macworld presentation because his words were often perfectly synchronized with the images and text on the slides. A Steve Jobs presentation looks effortless because it is well-rehearsed.

Use this 10-part framework to wow your audiences. Many observers claim Steve Jobs has charisma. True. But he works at it. Nothing in his presentations is taken for granted. He studies the art of telling a story to inspire his audience. You must do the same to electrify your listeners.

[About the Author: Carmine Gallo is a communications coach for the world's most admired brands. His book, Fire Them Up!, contains insights from top business leaders who inspire through the language of motivation.]

Sabeer Bhatia

Rags to riches - the Biography of the man who created Hotmail and is one of the Richest man in US

When he was only 28, Sabeer Bhatia got the call every Silicon Valley entrepreneur dreams of: Bill Gates wants to buy your company. Summoned to Microsoft's command bunker in Redmond, Washington state, he was deposited on the new acquisitions conveyor belt. Round and round the Microsoft campus he went. All 26 buildings. At every stop, Bhatia's guide helpfully pointed out the vastness of the Microsoft empire. The procession ground on until it reached Gates's office. Bhatia was ushered in. Bill liked his firm. He hoped they could work together.

He wished him well. Bhatia was ushered out. "Next thing is we're taken into a conference room where there are 12 Microsoft negotiators,"Bhatia recalls. "Very intimidating." Microsoft's determined dozen put an offer on the table: $160 million. Take it or leave it. Bhatia played it cool. "I'll get back to you," he said. Eighteen months later Sabeer Bhatia has taken his place among San Francisco's ultra-rich. He recently purchased a $2-million apartment in rarified Pacific Heights.

A month after Bhatia walked away from the table, Microsoft ponied up $400 million for his start-up. Today Hotmail, the ubiquitous Web-based e-mail service, boasts 50 million subscribers - one quarter of all Internet users. Bhatia is worth $200 million. He is already working on his follow-up: a "one-click" e-commerce venture called Arzoo! And Bhatia is looking homeward with an ambitious plan to wire India.

Bhatia was born and raised in the southern Indian city of Bangalore. His father, who held a high post at the Ministry of Defence, and mother Daman, a senior official at a state bank, placed great value on education. In 1988, Bhatia won a full scholarship to the California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena. When his plane touched down that fall, 19-year-old Bhatia had $250 in his wallet and butterflies in his stomach. "I felt I had made a big mistake," he says. "I knew nobody, people looked different, it was hard for them to understand my accent and me to understand theirs.

I felt pretty lonely." Ten years later you can still catch a glimpse of the innocent abroad. People say when Bhatia enters a room he owns it. "I call him the Hindu Robot," says Naveen Singha, Bhatia's friend, mentor and proud owner of the third-ever Hotmail address. "He is persistent, focused, disciplined. He's a superior human being." Others say he glows with a beatific, otherworldly air.

Doing his masters of science at Stanford, Bhatia attended lectures by such legends as Steve Jobs of Apple and Scott McNealy and Vinod Khosla of Sun Microsystems. Listening to them speak, Bhatia "realised they were human. And if they could do it, I could do it too." After Stanford, Bhatia found work as a hardware engineer at Apple. In his cubicle, he read about young men starting up for peanuts and selling out for millions.

Bhatia pondered what the Net could do for him, and what he could do for the Net. Then he had an idea. It was called Javasoft - a way of using the Web to create a>personal database where surfers could keep schedules, to-do lists, family photos and so on. Bhatia showed the plan to Jack Smith, an Apple colleague and they got started. One evening Smith called Bhatia with an intriguing notion. Why not add e-mail to Javasoft? It was a small leap with revolutionary consequences: access to e-mail from any computer, anywhere on the planet. This was that rare thing, an idea so simple, so obvious, it was hard to believe no one had thought of it before. Bhatia saw the potential and panicked that someone would steal the idea. He sat up all night writing the business plan.

Hotmail made perfect sense: it included the letters "html" - mthe programming language used to write Web pages. A brand name was born. Bhatia had $6,000 to his name. It was time to find investors. By the time he reached the offices of venture capitalists Draper Fisher Jurvetson, 19 doors had slammed behind him. Steve Jurvetson and his colleagues quickly saw the potential and put up $300,000. Bhatia and Smith stretched the money all the way to launch day, July 4, 1996.

By year-end they were greeting their millionth customer. When Microsoft came knocking, 12 months later, they'd signed up nearly 10 million users. At $350 million, Hotmail's investors agreed: Sell. Bhatia returned to the table, alone, and once more said: "No." The contract was inked on Dec. 30, 1997, Bhatia's 29th birthday. The price: some three million Microsoft shares - worth $400 million at the time and twice that now. Today Hotmail users are signing up at the rate of 250,000 a day, and the firm is valued at some $6 billion.

Yet it is here that Bhatia launched Hotmail and it is here that he hopes once again to transform the Internet with Arzoo! - his latest brainchild. The company is only six weeks old, and the offices are strewn with boxes that once housed computers, monitors - and a ping pong table.

Dhiru Bhai Ambani

Dhiru Bhai Ambani built India's largest private sector company. Created an equity cult in the Indian capital market. Reliance is the first Indian company to feature in Forbes 500 list.

Dhirubhai Ambani was the most enterprising Indian entrepreneur. His life journey is reminiscent of the rags to riches story. He is remembered as the one who rewrote Indian corporate history and built a truly global corporate group.

Dhirubhai Ambani alias Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani was born on December 28, 1932, at Chorwad, Gujarat, into a Modh family. His father was a school teacher. Dhirubhai Ambani started his entrepreneurial career by selling "bhajias" to pilgrims in Mount Girnar over the weekends. He was the second son of a school teacher. Dhirubhai Ambani is said to have started his entrepreneurial career by selling "pakora" to pilgrims in Mount Girnar over the weekends. When he was 16 years old, he moved to Aden,Yemen. He worked as a dispatch clerk with A. Besse & Co. Two years later A. Besse & Co. became the distributors for Shell products and Dhirubhai was promoted to manage the company’s oil-filling station at the port of Aden.

Assisted by his two sons, Mukesh and Anil, Dhiru Bhai Ambani built India's largest private sector company, Reliance India Limited, from a scratch. Over time his business has diversified into a core specialisation in petrochemicals with additional interests in telecommunications, information technology, energy, power, retail, textiles, infrastructure services, capital markets, and logistics.

Dhirubhai Ambani is credited with shaping India's equity culture, attracting millions of retail investors in a market till then dominated by financial institutions. Dhirubhai revolutionised capital markets. From nothing, he generated billions of rupees in wealth for those who put their trust in his companies. His efforts helped create an 'equity cult' in the Indian capital market. With innovative instruments like the convertible debenture, Reliance quickly became a favorite of the stock market in the 1980s.



In 1992, Reliance became the first Indian company to raise money in global markets, its high credit-taking in international markets limited only by India's sovereign rating. Reliance also became the first Indian company to feature in Forbes 500 list.

Despite his almost Midas Touch, Ambani has been known to have flexible values and an unethical streak running through him. His biographer himself has cited some instances of his unethical behavior when he was just an ordinary employee at a petrol pump in Dubai. He has been accused of having manipulated government policies to suit his own needs, and has been known to be a king-maker in government elections. Although most media sources tend to speak out about business-politics nexus, the Ambani house has always enjoyed more protection and shelter from the media storms that sweep across the country.

Dhirubhai Ambani was named the Indian Entrepreneur of the 20th Century by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). A poll conducted by The Times of India in 2000 voted him "greatest creator of wealth in the century".