Why is Angel Investing NOT a typical asset class?
I got exposed to angel investing ~2010 through Sameer Guglani when he launched Supermorpheus (used to be called The Morpheus Gang in those days), and I am happy that I got into it. This part of my career introduced me to some of the smartest people I know, and have led to massive learning – […]
What’s keeping you awake at night? Are you managing the right risks?
Entrepreneurial life is full of sleepless nights that go into worrying about a score of problems and risks lurking round the corner. Here is my mental model around risks: 1) 90% of the problems/risks that come up on the horizon, and occupy our mind never end up happening. We overestimate short term risks. Most of […]
How will AI impact Human Capital Management?
First thing first – We overestimate in short term, and underestimate in long term. It is as true for change, risk, as well as our own productivity. AI will definitely have an impact on most aspects of our life, over time. Possibilities through technology is changing faster than human ability to adapt. Sustained change happens […]
My first business failed even before booking a single penny in revenue.
Internet services were made available to citizens of India on 15th August 1995. I entered college in 1996, and someone told me that it is cheaper to use email over ISD (international calling) to stay in touch with friends who went to the USA. Email was not at all common in those days. After a […]
Do you have a ROI on your branding investments? Here is what we do at INT.
First of all, let me explain what branding is *not* according to me: 1) it is not advertising 2) it is not agency, creative, awards 3) it is not prime time commercials 4) it is not viral social media posts 5) it is not performance marketing At a broader level, the above list are accelerators […]
Driving Growth – One Dimension at a time
Growth gets everyone excited. But it needs investment of cash, time, and effort. The extent of these investments depend upon the number of variables involved (and the possible values of these variables) in the growth strategy. Lesser variables mean higher probability of success, and hence low-cost growth, as it becomes easy to identify the point […]
How do you show up at work? With hands, brain, and heart?
One can go to work with a combination of hands, brain and heart at work. And, that determines what he delivers and creates value for the organisation. Hands: refers to “doers”. They will do what they have been asked to do. They are consistent and will keep delivering what they do well over time. They […]
The Familiar Novelty
This Friday, I was attending the TiE Kolkata member mixer. I learnt a new term from the invited speaker, and a well respected entrepreneur, Sunil Chandra Saha – “The familiar novelty”. The discussion was around an interesting behavior – 1) People are most drawn to the term “new” in a marketing message. This means they […]
Explore vs. Exploit
It is critical to strike a balance between exploration and exploitation for a team member. Everyone wants growth, which comes with exploration – i.e. doing the new, learning, taking chances, and building new capabilities. This is the most exciting part of any job! Again, for every company to thrive, it must exploit the capabilities of […]
What should a scale-up company CEO essentially do?
– Sense the world to create a compelling future vision – Create and fine tune strategy to achieve the vision – Get the best people s(he) can get onboard, and align them to the strategy The above are non-negotiable. Other items can be added as per personal interest of the CEO or strength/weakness of the […]