Skip to main content

A Different VC Model

Having made a number of investments in very young technology companies in India over the years I came to the somewhat obvious conclusion that it is relatively easy for startups  here to become ‘ramen profitable‘, but relatively difficult for them to exit. Making equity based investments in this scenario is problematic for the obvious reason […]

Indian Microfinance – Infographic from Legatum

Interesting infographic from Legatum on impact of AP ordinance on Indian microfinance industry. 20120313 infographic indian microfinance View more presentations from Alok Mittal. Apart from effective blacklisting of millions of poor women in AP from access to private credit, the ordinance has impacted availability of credit across the country. All in name of protecting the […]

Export Import Business Online-Business Idea

 Logistics is big business.And freight forwarding (export -import) contributes significantly to logistics business. Having worked with Air India Ltd at its Cargo SBU, I wonder whether are there any companies in world which facilitates export and import business online.This business can be classified into 2-3 ways.First is via air or sea.Second is big shipments (in tons) […]

Don’t let the ecommerce bust fool you

It seems that past 6-9 months have played out a full boom and bust cycle as far as ecommerce in India is concerned. Where as in july-august timeframe, 10 million dollar fundraises were being inflated to 40, and investors seemed to be willing to pay 5-8 times the gross merchandize value as premoney valuations, suddenly […]

Brave new world…

Think about what role the mobile operator has been playing to-date: They own a pipe to transmit information (voice + data) They own a touch point to the customer (and hence impact the choices I make) They own a mechanism to charge the customer – either stored value or monthly billing Long-term which of these […]

Steve Jobs – Book Review

Just finished reading Steve Jobs’ Biography by Walter Isaacson — Great account of a genius. As someone whose only impressions of Steve Jobs are formed by this book, it is an amazing story of personal passion and entrepreneurial possibilities. At a more sublime level, its a story of a person who almost everyone would have […]

Visiting India

Folks: I run Tandem Entrepreneurs, a mobile accelerator in San Francisco Bay Area. I am visiting India and will be in Pune from Tuesday 7th Feb for about 10 days. I would be happy to meet with a few entrepreneurs if you want to use me as a sounding board. At Tandem we work with […]

Delivering Happiness – Must Read

Just finished reading Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh of Zappos. Most amazing story of an entrepreneurs undying conviction, ability to think first principles, focus on customers and employees, just sound business, and great sense of humor. Grab a copy.