madhouse musings!

(This post got deleted as part of some migration – putting it up again)

The MVP team will be doing an interaction about entrepreneurship and sharing the entrepreneurial journey with the audience at the “TiE Luminaries session” on Thursday 26 March 2009.

Mr J S Bedi, Chairman Gian Jyoti Institute of Management and Technology has coordinated with TiE Chandigarh to have the session at their campus:

Address: Gian Jyoti Institute of Management & Technology,
Phase-2, S.A.S Nagar (Mohali)

The session will start at 3 PM. In case you are planning to attend, we request all of you to be there on time.

Looking forward to meeting some interesting folks.

(This post was born out of internal discussion that took place in MVP forums. Its jointly written by : Sameer, Ankit, Nandini and Indus)

Bharat Matrimony

Bharat Matrimony (BM) has launched its facial search feature that enables you to upload celebrity (you can also upload your ex-girlfriend’s pics) pictures and BM will find a look-alike. Check it out here

Though the technology is imperfect the idea is so perfect on so many levels:

1. Viral nature
2. Engagement of users
3. Stickiness of the site
4. Differentiator from other sites
5. Users having fun, part of so many jokes

It totally rocks and its great to see an Indian company leading its way in innovation. On the other hand its disappointing to see so less buzz created by them in the Startup media.

AdaptiveAds

Glam Snaps Up AdaptiveAds. Mumbai based startup AdaptiveAds was acquired by Glam, a leading ad network based in US. This news was covered very well by Techcrunch and other leading tech blogs of US about a month back, but again coverage in Indian Startup media left a lot wanted.

Adaptiveads, a mumbai based startup, clearly demonstrated that an Indian startup can target the global market very well and it makes a lot of sense for other Indian Companies to tap into borderless economy. When we can serve millions of western companies by being an outsourcing hub, by developing the core technology for them, why cant we guys put together our collectible brains to bring Indian products to whole world.

Startup Media

The current Startup Media in India consists of the leading startup blogs, some newspaper / magazine columns, couple of dedicated magazines and little bit of TV coverage. The main credit for creating the “Startup Media” goes out to the leading startup blogs, they have been at it for few years now and have done quite a good job of covering the news, sharing good practices, aggregating discussions around startups. They have built a strong and sticky community of readers / contributors around them.

Shout ‘em out louder

Though a lot has been done, there is a need to increase and provide regular coverage “towards celebrating / highlighting / sharing the Indian startup ecosystem triumphs”. This post is a request to Startup media to shout louder about the successes. Indian ecosystem is evolving and it definitely requires much needed boosts from media to encourage them. There are quite a few successful Indian startups, may not be to the tune of 10-100 million USD, but still doing pretty good. But, every mention will only encourage and boost the morale of the others to push the bar & succeed!

Some suggestions to the Indian Startup Media:

• Add regular weekly features that bring out startup success stories, backed by research. Bring out the reasons for the success and help others learn and get inspired. This can also be done with some guest writers contributing.
• Missed out on covering the news in time? – not a problem – write enough juice and they’ll quote you on their blog!
• Dig into the development of the startups you have already covered, ask them to keep you updated, monitor their blog feeds for news of successes – followup stories is always a welcome for a reader!
• A lot can happen over coffee – spend more time with startup founders (new & old), listen to their stories – can make for a good copy!

Communication channels are the most important for development of any eco-system (Even Hitler banked on it) – you have the power to influence and help startups imbibe good practices – make the most of it! This will go a long way to also help dispel India’s image “as only copycats, service-based companies and outsourcing hub”.  It will encourage the ones who are on the edge and are evaluating doing a startup. Current and potential investors will see the successes and increase the financial participation towards Indian startups.

The day is not far when people will be bringing Garam chai and Samosas to your home (riff from people bringing donuts/coffee to Arrington to get covered) . While you make them the stars, they will make you the celebrity!

I’ve finally got the wordpress app on my iPhone up & running!

As a communication student, I studied terminologies like media convergence, global village, blurring lines of communication, ‘news’ redefined, the medium is the message, etc. For someone who craved for hands-on & practical experience; I was left wanting for more when schools & college fed me outdated book info. Not complaining, it did play a role in defining me – but I only felt detached from reality.

Anyways, coming back – when I read about these redefining terms, I visualized them as some distant truth perhaps a time when we befriend Martians

Now as I sit in a Barista in Chandigarh with a few friends… & pen (sounds so old school) this post, I feel great – it’s a sense of pride, achievement, or a sense of power that I am living a life very near to what I had imagined life as while I read terms off communication books! Go Marshall McLuhan go!

DeskAway has created this short video: Literally Productive. It’s funny and subtly drives the point of how its important for leadership positions to stay updated on developments in their field of business!

Do take a look and let me know what you think!