If you have a competition, do not follow them, or copy them. Do the opposite. Take a stand. Create a story that will attract those who are not attracted to your competition. I too can barely survive in the hyper-competitive world. It’s a battle of attention – be different.
Marketing is about identifying the problem; and creating the product, proposition, perception and demand for the product using various tools and techniques. (A student asked me my definition of marketing. This is what I came up with.)
For perpetual progress, one has to be perpetually uncomfortable – so much that they should love and feel comfortable being uncomfortable. But in reality, as career progresses, people look for comfort and stability. And expect growth.
Metrics and business results templates should be decided and finalised at the start of the project, do that there is no deviation and BS at the end. You may fail, and it is okay to accept. Efforts should definitely be praised. But should not live in a bubble.
Nobody cares about you, your products or services. It’s about your users, their pain points and their well-being. If through content, we can create a meaningful impact in their lives, we will have evangelists on our side and not just customers.
Go hug your end user. If you genuinely care for them, they will come back, bringing millions with them to support your cause and brand, and endorse your products.
It’s funny that people who do not know how to manage their own finance and business, comment and criticize macro economic issues as if they are masters in the subject. It’s complex and many times even the best economist cannot be 100% sure. But, we see more experts than learners.
When you build something for financial gain (money) or showing off to the world (praise recognition), you become fearful of failure, hence enter into a loop of indecision. The indecision actually fails you (in fact does not let you even try!) Build for your own pleasure.
Your biggest assets are your knowledge, skills, capability, experiences, mindset, and reputation. Your biggest liabilities are your materialistic possessions. Where are you investing today?
People are linking economy and employment. They will be proven horribly wrong. Every economic recovery in the last 25 years has been ‘jobless growth’, and it will continue to be so. Instead people need to focus on self enablement, up-skilling, creating niches and opportunities.
There are so many people who argue on a model – Either you are right, or I am right. Unfortunately they do not learn anything from a debate. Debate to learn, not to win.
I love reading books. Some of my learnings on choosing, reading, and benefiting from books. Quality is more important than the number of books you read It’s important to read, understand, think, and create your own thoughts; then reading fast and finishing Go for deep learning. Read multiple books on the same or related topic to develop deeper insights into that subject. You may read repetitive content, but it helps you remember and recall critical points Re-read great books Debate on the topic, explain the topic to someone, make notes in a notebook – these will raise questions and when you seek answers, your learning will be better Do not mind reading a variety of genres of books. It will help you develop lateral thinking and give a break from the monotony of reading the same subject It’s okay to read fiction while you lie down, but non-fiction is the best read on a study table or a place where you can work without disturbances, make notes, think It’s okay to make notes on the book! It’s of no use if you cannot refer back and quickly grab the idea It’s okay to not complete a book if the book could not hold your attention or deliver value Gift books!
I am an accidental marketer (and still trying to learn the art), and an entrepreneur. If I can see this, I am sure they all can see this, and know where they stand. Hence this is a blunder that is being carried out in full knowledge. Mistake or Negligence?
Your personal brand is what the majority of the people talk about behind you. It can be very different from reality – good or bad. Never believe in this public perception. Instead of building a forced personal brand – keep improving yourself and be authentic.
Successful IT service company needs excellence in 3S – Sourcing (of talent) Sync (of ops for profitability and cash flow) Scaling (of sales and narrative)
Finance is an interesting (and funny) profession: People who have not run companies, analyze and make comments on who is gonna make it and who will die. People who are not yet rich guide others to invest and become rich. Many who guide themselves are not invested.
How to be fearless ? Many businesses start to flatten out or even start declining after an upcycle . There can be several reasons for that , but one reason that stands out is ‘ fear ‘. The entrepreneur stops experimenting and taking decisions due to the ‘ fear ‘ of losing out . And this becomes a vicious cycle. The less decisive one becomes, the more the momentum dies. And more ‘fear’ sets in. And the more difficult it becomes to lift it back, as it becomes part of the organisational culture. In many cases the fear stems from our personal fears around financial security. The best way to keep that in control is to keep your lifestyle expenses below your nominal value. Nominal value is the salary you can easily get from competing companies for your services if your business fails and you have to go and take up a job! Once you know that your lifestyle cost is below your nominal value, you have very little to fear, and you can take difficult and risky decisions. The biggest risk in life is “not taking risk” and “not taking decisions’. Be fearless.
Do your little bit for people around you. You do not even know their names. If nothing else, just be their concierge and arrange resources for people in distress. Business, development, big plans can wait for a few days. The world is not coming to an end.
Never believe in your own public image or press. You are what you are – different from how you are perceived (better or worse) or written about. There are many casualties of over confidence which is caused by this echo chamber created by you and stories you / others say.
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.
When someone does not have anything to look forward to, they dedicatedly dwell in the past. Common traits in very experienced professionals, directionless communities, and leaders. It is very different from preserving our heritage, history and knowledge.
How do venture investors test their investment thesis or do a/b testing between conflicting ideas. Challenges: The outcome takes 7-10 years The market dynamics may not remain the same in such a long time, hence the learning may or may not hold value. #startups #angel
If I have an option to go back 25 years in my career, I will bootstrap yet again. Why? It gives me true freedom to operate, take risks, and create value for the stakeholders who matter the most – my team members and clients. I believe in sustainable value-creating business, and not think about exit. A customer funded business has no pressure to create a liquidity event. Bootstrapping enables long term infinite play. It allows me to focus on strong unit-economics and be financially disciplined. This ensures slow but steady growth.
In India Angel and VC activities are set to further multiply. Thanks to: low interest rate on debt several exits recently (IPO, secondary, buybacks) major innovation cycle triggered by COVID-19 and the impact on way of living and doing business
Your cost of customer acquisition will invariably keep growing in absence of customer love and word of mouth. Pure performance marketing without a relatable brand story that triggers pride or conversation won’t hold up for long.
One of the criteria to judge one’s goodness is to see how he/she treats his/her early backers in life/business, especially after success. I have seen many flavors of it.
Potential is more important than track record in a world which is changing faster than ever. Adaptability is more important than capability in most areas in such circumstances. EQ wins over IQ. And a balanced combination can be super!
Real, deep, and unique insights are built on: exposure, observation, and an open mind.. towards possibilities. Such insights give conviction and logic for one’s strategy which ensures focused energy. Focus ensures success.
If you desire to do something, you will find a way. If something is a priority for you, you will find time for it. For everything else, you will find an excuse.
My reasons for angel investing: meeting smart people backing audacious people &goals seeing the future ahead of time be part of creating the new world loads of learning great alternate investment (for me this is the only investment I have known for the last one decade!
Spending quality time with gritty and passionate founders, who solve real problems, gives me a lot of energy. Soaking melodramatically, it adds days to my life. This is my biggest gain getting involved with startups as an investor.
To get rid of stress, and have fun at work, embrace curiosity and a growth mindset. Every morning ask yourself: What new am I going to experience today? What am I going to learn today? We are the sum of our experiences.
In business, Speed is overrated, Sustainability is underrated.
Experience can be a liability and drag, because it nudges you to recycle your ideas, as it is the easy thing to do.
It is critical to know when you can dip into your mental model to make quick decisions, and when you need to apply deep first principle thinking to find disruptive answers to your questions. It’s time vs. creativity most of the time.
To assess someone: do not ask what he knows put him to think #InterviewTips
Ability to identify the right talent and match with the right mission is a super power. This alone can change your game.
If you die rich, you actually die poor since you have not been able to help others with your wealth.
Patience in planning and impatience in execution always creates miracles.
If you want to build it big, the most important entrepreneurial skill is your ability to evolve.
Each stage of your venture needs you in a different avatar. The ability to change gears becomes critical for growth.
Strength of a relationship is best tested in bad times. Therefore I do not mind when bad times bring more attrition. It helps!
Brand is a promise of consistency. If your company cannot keep the promise to its customer, do not spend money on advertising!
It is unfortunate that there are so many people who work for brand, money and hype. So few who work for passion. An auto-correction is a must.
You cannot win walking on the beaten path. On a new path, you may get lost, but have a chance to win.
Do not compete. Reinvent and run so fast that no one catch you – you will surely win the race. If you do not reinvent yourself regularly, someone else will and push you out of the game.
Networking tip: When you meet people do not tell them what you need from them. Ask them how you can help them in what they are doing.
The best way to document a software requirement is by interactively drawing the flow of data and activities as you speak to the client.
T all buildings stand on strong foundations. Unfortunately, few people wants to put in effort, because results are not visible for that hard work.
Chase your dreams, do what you enjoy, do not hesitate to experiment and you will live life king size.
N o prediction is certain, they’re all probabilities. If one knows of a certain future, he must have bet his entire capital there.
For me stagnation is like death. And progress does not mean ‘more money’. It means more experiments, experience and more success + failures.
Fear of failure stops large companies from experimenting, and eventually they do not evolve and fail. Beware of it.
S traight line is the shortest distance in every respect. So talk straight and not in signals, signs and hints. It makes life simpler, faster.
First it was ‘big’, then it was ‘fast’ and now it is ‘agile’ company that has the real competitive advantage.
You wont get out of a situation by getting frustrated at it. The only way out is a solution and you know that since you know the problem!
C lients work with you because of the perceived value they get from you – not because of the price or your personal stature.
Excess risk mitigation can sometimes cause more risk, you cannot get rid of every problem. Some will happen, no matter how hard you try.
The best way to protect your intellectual property – keep investing and working on developing it. Lawyers cannot do well in the knowledge industry.
Always hold your organization with highest respect. people evaluate you by the image you present of the organization you work for!
It is easy to think of problems and fire at someone else. Let us find quick and effective solutions. After all this is the value you create!
Those who steal never learn how to create. Think original, work hard, create something that you can cherish – get a good sleep!
Mountaineering can teach a lot about persistence, mental strength, trust, faith, support, team building, decision making, and leadership. Climbing up a mountain is an option. Climbing down is NOT an option, it is a compulsion.
It is so easy to get confused. It is so difficult to get clarity. Having clarity of goal, thoughts, and roadmap; gives you the superpower of focus. This is the single biggest roadblock to greatness.
Absolute worship or unrelenting hatred indicates lack of self identity and confidence. This can only happen when one cannot critically think for himself, and look for identity by siding with one extremist side.
Hire for attitude, mentor for soft skills, train for job skills.
Reminder to all CEO’s: keep your organization profitable, efficient and lean. Do not wait for another recession to remember the basics!
Evolution of a marketer – Starts with: demand generation Matures to: value proposition and positioning Evolves to: market research, Sounds familiar? At what stage are you in?
Change is inevitable. Either you drive it, or you get driven by it. The former can have delightful outcomes, the latter not so.
For democracy to flourish, you need educated populace. For mass social media to deliver value, you need empathetic and open minded participants. Even better if they are critical thinkers. Else both becomes a shouting match!
Unless you slog for it, you don’t care for it. The easier it becomes, the lazier you get.
The only way to achieve a goal is to be persistent, no-nonsense, no-excuse, no-compromise approach. Anything else, gives you reason to fail.
It needs patience to manage, it needs aggression and passion to lead.
If you are concerned about the market conditions, remember – The best time to start a business is during a recession. Things move a tad slower which gives you time to experiment, build, and test. During boom, it is a mad run. So, buckle up!
Why are people so negative at large? At times when you read social media threads, it feels that many people start the day with a promise to themselves that they will fight someone to make their day successful Such rage was always looked down upon in forums in early days of web.
Maybe, when you are not taught something and you must learn it, you learn better, because you do it out of interest and not out of process!
Startups should not worry too much about tech to handle millions of transactions. First get through the first 100 orders 😉
Bonus tip: If you are not winning, either give it your all, or pull out. There is no middle ground. And the decision is a strategic one, which should be based on your competitive edge and priorities – is this the best use of your resources?
True managers do not exert power. They get people to follow them based on strong principles and respect.
Positivity is far more imp than proving oneself right. Stay away from negative people on social media. You do not need to get into debate or arguments, and spoil your mental peace. You have better things to do – create meaningful things.
An organization is all about the 90% guys who run the show daily and not the 10% who instruct / guide. So, humbleness is key to the top.
Make a marketing plan (and a sales plan if you can) before a business plan.
Do not plan for investors. Plan for your peace of mind. Your plan should tell you the path when things go wrong. So, it’s non-linear (tree!).
Today, Most people around you are angry and anxious. Your ability to stay calm is a superpower.
When you invest through an institution or take advice, always verify ‘skin in the game’. Advice and recommendations are cheap. Putting substantial har earned money is real conviction.
In sales, be aggressive in action, but be patient for results.
Sense of entitlement breeds from ego. Ego breeds from insecurity. By observing how someone behaves as if he is entitled for a certain benefit, position, or respect; one can understand the extent of ego someone suffers from.
Two (or more) wrongs do not make a right. It is important to embrace integrity, commitment and respect to achieve your goals. Do it the right way.
When you take a step up, you get on one foot for a moment. That one moment of uncertainty is unavoidable. Enjoy the moment #entrepreneurship
When you climb a mountain, you have to look for a new foothold at every step. Change is inevitable for growth. #entrepreneurship
To be successful in investing, you need strategy, imagination, info+knowledge arbitrage. You definitely need money, but that’s not the most important component, IMO.
We believe that the startup ecosystem and the investing ecosystem can be built independent of each other. Of course they will reinforce each other.
To identify future trends, Need to understand the trends in business, technology and society. Plus get the right timing to be successful.
Startup is not a style statement. It’s a commitment – to change, improve, innovate, contribute to all stakeholders.
The fact remains – every entrepreneur needs to fight his own battle alone. Rest is a mirage.
How do you teach integrity to entrepreneurs? How difficult is this to understand that its value is infinite. You cannot measure it against any valuation, success, etc. Mistakes are one thing. Willful fraud is another thing. Skeletons tumbling from startups wardrobes!
Question challenges status quo. People who love change, like questions.
Instead of blaming external factors for your failure, figure out what you could do (or have done) to achieve success. You only control the latter.
To bounce back, you need to hit the ground.
No one is going to help you build a business, unless you exhibit seriousness and maturity in building one yourself. No mentor will be able to guide you unless you have pointed questions arising from real problems that you are facing. Practice is far more important than theory.
Bringing in bail-in provisions by financial institutions around the world, will further weaken people’s confidence in the traditional money markets. In the age of social media, corruption cannot remain hidden.
To create a great eco-system (if you care a damn), create a great company. Set examples of excellence in various functions and nurture talent. The rest will happen by itself. You can relax and be proud of your contribution.
Self employment creation should be a bigger priority. Once someone learns to support himself, he can take the next step to support a business and the stakeholders who come riding that.
An executive has one boss. And he can usually change him, if he hates him. An entrepreneur has many bosses who control his life and whom he is answerable, and some of them he cannot change: Clients Investors Employees Government and Departments Vendors and Partners
The real test of a leader is when the rubber hits the road. All plans look great on paper. But they start showing cracks over time, as one cannot control all variables. How one reacts to the cracks and navigate to get to destination is what defines one’s execution ability.
Branding is: 80% Experience, and 20% Communication. Together they deliver a positive perception and word of mouth.
In your growth plan, make two to-do lists. To-do to acquire new quality clients To-do to retain existing valuable clients Do not work with one list alone. It will become your leaking bucket, which will eventually take your revenues south in the long run.
If you stop looking for mentor (babas), money (angels) and unnecessary attention (i.e from people who won’t be your stakeholders – employees, clients, etc.); and instead start off by refining your offering, pitching and serving clients, you stand a better chance to succeed.
Problems do not vanish if you ignore it, or if you create a defence to show yourself as a victim. Solving it can create new value, and many times the foundation of new business models and enterprises.
Superpowers of a leader: Authenticity and vulnerability Decisiveness – firm decision, but polite & empathetic comms Prioritization Zoom in (30 ft), zoom out (30000 ft) easily Emotional stability in handling anxiety, failure, conflict; as well as success And?
Chronology of strategic planning: Why? – objective What? & When? – path and timing How? – how to achieve Who? – who will do Do you follow a similar model? What alternative models work for you?
From fort-like embassies, To lavish visa processing centers, To a 100 square feet serviced office! Visa application and processing has come a long way. Lean, faster and helpful – though expensive.
Do not compare entrepreneurial journeys. Everyone is building a business under extremely unique circumstances. The comparison, rating and ranking takes a very myopic view of their lives, success/failure, learnings and experiences.
A profitable sale is made even before the proposal is written. Marketing, image, likeability, Remarkability decides the outcome of a deal.
It’s key to remain grounded on one foot. But it’s important to explore the path forward with the other foot.
Always stay in a startup mode, by starting off something new on a bootstrapped budget within your business to meet your overall goal. Keeps you sharp, grounded and learning.
Change is difficult. It is easier to build a business ground up with past learnings, than change an existing one. But then driving change in a business grows you as an individual. And it is fun.
Brand loyalty is subject to consistency of delivery of value proposition, brand promise and experience. There is no perpetual loyalty.
You are NOT entitled to team engagement and loyalty. You will have to invest in it and earn it. And it is getting complex everyday. We are seeing multiple generations in the workforce. Most of them have different values and aspirations. Bringing them together to aim for one big goal is definitely challenging. There is no silver bullet to getting team commitment. Few things that might work for you: A purpose and goal that excites most of them Clarity of role, and how ones work contribute to the larger goal and purpose of the organisation. Everybody wants to be making a difference. Growth in the organisation. Progress excites everyone. A learning and facilitating workplace that let people grow. Challenge to stretch them just in the right proportion. A tricky one! Autonomy of place, work, method and team (read Drive by Daniel Pink) Challenge to stretch them just in the right proportion. A tricky one! A feeling of belongingness. How the organisation and teammates care for each other. Pride in being associated with the organisation. Clear and regular communication about the organisation, industry and everything in between.
Entrepreneurship is neither a race, nor a league championship. You can walk, run, or fly at your own pace. You can stand on top, bottom, or somewhere in the middle. It does not matter. What matters is that you participated, covered ground, and had fun.
Sales is an act of helping and solving problems for the buyer with trust, knowledge and authenticity. The outcome is awesome branding, and sometimes revenue.
As a leader, you will always be hated when you move people out of their comfort zone. You cannot keep everyone happy, especially the ones who cannot see beyond the comfort of today. So chill, and get along with your job.
Everyone is racist – to different degrees. Affinity to one’s race is natural. Familiarity breeds comfort. Things go nasty when people hurt or cause injustice to other races, or believe themselves to be superior.
Innovation should not be a special project. It is a continuous cycle – an ongoing structured exercise to keep exploring new models and stay ahead of the curve. The most innovative of the lot leads the pack. This makes faster better than bigger. Faster companies experiment more!
Companies need to innovate on both the fronts: incremental, to keep getting better than the previous day disruptive, to change the game altogether.
Everyday think of your own business to be the incumbent player, and put yourself in the shoes of the upstart who wants to make the established business irrelevant. You will never run out of ideas! And if you don’t get ideas, check your ego level. Time for a reality check.
Key to success for startups – It’s important to win a client. It’s absolutely critical to retain the client. Immature companies focus on getting the client and celebrate success. Mature companies just work day and night to maintain their value proposition and retain the relationship.
Winning a deal is an incident. Hence gets celebrated. Retaining a relationship is a continuous process, hence not given enough attention to, and taken for granted. Most continuous processes are super critical for business sustainability.
Coined a new phrase today – ‘initiative management’ Top management needs to work on key goals and key numbers. Key goals are achieved through important initiatives. These initiatives need to be defined, tracked and managed. If they fall off the radar, companies don’t progress.
Learning to say ‘No’ to various propositions for meetings, events, discussions, joint ventures, deals, etc is the most critical step towards achieving your focus, and hence your goal. Ask: is this strongly contributing towards your top-3 specific goals? If not, it’s a ‘No’.
Do not communicate to please yourself. Communicate to get your message across and understood without ambiguity. I hate those funky descriptions, which are culture/clan specific and make me think. Nobody has time to think unless you matter. And you don’t matter to most.
Good work culture is about competence, excellence, continuous improvement, respect, ethics, responsibility and ownership. It comes from right nurturing at home and educational institutions.
You cannot be everything to everybody. To win, you have to be something to somebody. When you figure out what you are, and for whom, you are doing the right positioning and segmentation.
Looks like capability and potential is far more valuable to business leaders than loyalty and experience.
Strategy = Making choices. Therefore, it is about deciding about the choices with a clear hypothesis. And also about choosing a lot of things that you won’t do!
Entrepreneurship Advice: Do not rush to choose a mentor. You need to spend time to understand: what you need from the mentor who is the ideal person can he make you think? practical experience? credibility? Get the right one or none. Maybe you don’t need one. Be wise
Never say never. I always said to myself and my close network about never going to a particular country for business. And now, I am exploring the same country for our next leg of expansion. Great reminder
It’s okay not to succeed. But it is important to know the reason and gaps that held you back from success. This self awareness brings closure and peace. And of course, if you have enough courage, you can fix those gaps and try again.
I see so many super talented individuals far less successful than they should have been. I also come across so many people who don’t deserve the place they occupy. Life is not fair. Make peace with it. Accept it.
Digital Marketing Success = Solid strategy + Team skills + Process + Execution discipline. It’s not rocket science.
The statement that has killed (and continue to kill) more established businesses everyday: “We have always done it this way!”
The difference between success and failure of your digital initiative is a very thin line. Invest time in understanding and appreciating the same to save a lot of heartburn and losses at a later stage.
Hire slow, fire fast. You can easily judge one’s Attitude in 1 month; Aptitude in 2 months; and Results in 3 months. Keep checking fitment, capability and value, and if they are not aligned, take a call. Training allows you to quickly adapt, but fundamentals don’t change.
Every business has competition. It can be another company, solution, product, process than what yours. People will always fulfill their needs. You just have a unique way to do the same (hopefully!) P.S.: for startup founders who proudly state that they don’t have competition.
People without civic sense are a risk to other lives, and at times their own lives. The latter just transpired. It saddens me, but I am against the idea of making any department the scapegoat. As a way of learning, the government should relocate the budget from literacy to civic sense, and be strict.
Leading downline is comparatively easy. The challenge and real achievement is to lead peers and upline. It takes purpose, patience, great communication, understanding, listening, matching capabilities with responsibilities, and finding individual motivation.
How do you measure productivity in the service + automation age? No two service engagements or automation created are the same. The values associated with each unit of work differs.
We cannot measure productivity in isolation anymore. It has to be measured in conjunction with ‘value created’ and ‘quality’.
Never trust your own PR. PR is your perception. It is easy to shape, negative or positive in a super connected world. Perception is not necessarily reality. But if you believe it to be reality, you will make major judgemental mistakes!
Most times leaders – overestimate their need in operations and execution underestimate abilities of their team to do new challenges
What we go after – knowledge, experience. What we really need – critical thinking.
In the digital world, every five years, you go through a cycle that demands reinventing the business. It can be a soft or hard pivot, but you need to consciously change to stay relevant for clients. We have hit that cycle again. Some will thrive, some will survive, and some won’t.
A steadily running business is not a sign of success or stability. It is just a delayed gratification of some jobs done well in the past, or at times, pure luck. Be paranoid. Keep asking questions. Keep stress testing your business. Of course, if you want to build for decades.
Occasionally success is over-hyped, over-glorified and over-rated. At times, it is just an attempt to survive against all odds, and maybe the only chance of survival. A lot of people struggle, but do not succeed. They are no less talented.
Impressive spending does not take effort. When you spend, it automatically becomes impressive.
It saddens me to see that many enterprises just want a number of unmanaged isolated digital talent in their office. Digital is multi-disciplinary and isolated talent can be fractionally productive at most. Don’t do digital as you did IT. It won’t work.
Businesses who won’t invest in digitization aggressively NOW, will be left to be obliterated within next decade. We are at an inflexion point. Competition and change won’t be kind to them, and are going to be even more disorienting. May better sense prevail.
An individual can walk into work with a combination of hands, heart and brain or none. Either he can do the assigned task, or add passion into it, or even put thought into it. It defines the value he creates for the org. It is critical to engage and enable at all three levels!
IT companies, startups, and healthcare organizations need to work closely for innovation and pilot projects. Learning from such engagements, incubation of ideas will lead to an increase in effectiveness and efficiency in the Healthcare sector. Industry must embrace experiments
How about team members have freedom to choose their managers? The poor ones will know that they need to improve to get the team’s trust and can work, instead of living in a bubble. And team members get a life.
Your company starts to scale aggressively when its corporate/product brand becomes more recognizable, respected and trusted than your personal brand.
New rush among startup founders to buy more equity in their ventures. Great idea. Just mind the source of funds. Hope it’s not by pledging the current shares!
We are all a product of our life experiences.
Unfortunately, most leaders – business or political, do not end up empowering people (against the well accepted leadership practice preached everywhere) due to their acute insecurity. We need ‘secure’ leaders, who are confident, humble, learning, empowering and leads from behind
Everyone loves Vanity Metrics. Vanity metrics = instant gratification. Sanity metrics = hard work + critical thinking + unsexy + hard hitting We know, which one is the ‘instant gratification generation want to choose’
Biggest opportunities in life and work comes from the most unlikely sources. And they need investment in time and learning. That’s why, though I define an ideal customer profile for my leadership team; I keep exploring beyond the edges.
Poor marketing is so common. Sending insurance expiry alert is a good idea Not telling me the vehicle ID makes it inconvenient and reduces trust The broken page kills the transaction Campaign ROI = 0 Learning: Focus on personalization Make your infra work!
Successful digital marketing campaign needs: strategy media management creative and communication technology When we give equal weights to all, creativity is only 25% of the game.
There is a crazy obsession with reading more and more books. It’s a great one, but it is not a competition. It is more important to absorb the books well. Most things written in books are views and opinions. Don’t take them for facts. Reading is useless without thinking.
Mountaineering and entrepreneurship are two sides of the same coin. And the lessons they teach are similar, and interoperable in most scenarios.
Tip to beat recession: Try to solve a problem and create some value, instead of playing economist and blame everyone around you for the so-called recession. Someone is winning somewhere. Be that someone.
Internet without civic sense, moral/ethical education can become an epidemic. At times it feels scary. But then, my optimistic side tells me that it will be taken care of.
Ability to focus on your: business model business objective business challenge is easy, but most difficult at the same time. Less is more.
If you think building a startup is difficult, try building a business. If you think building a business is difficult, try building an institution.
You won’t get time for important “yes”, if you do not learn to say “no”
There is always a premium for the unknown. I call it “story premium” – we have to believe what is being sent, unless it is proven wrong.
In today’s socially connected world, three key skills everyone needs is: Unlearn and learn, everyday. Ability to have strong views, but having ability to adapt as your worldview evolves. Be compassionate, less judgemental and kind, even if your views are opposed.
Key to success in aggregator model: low cost of customer acquisition creating real value, and hence having profitable transactions
I have no more tolerance for the word ‘tolerance’. Let’s use ‘sensitive’ instead. Two sides of the same coin.
Growth hacking works only if you have a great product. Nobody is going to invest their social capital if they do not love your product.
You achieve a product market fit, when your target audience finds your offering – as a no brainer AND wants it now!
Promise has valuation. Reality has value. Earlier, valuation used to follow value. Nowadays, value follows valuation. But the ultimate truth remains. The real valuation gets established over time. Market is intelligent over a period of time and shows everyone their rightful place.
Good idea + execution = startup Continuous adaptation + ongoing innovation + process + execution = business
Break something, to embrace the new. Forget something, to learn the new. Innovate or perish.
Law of Intolerance: When intolerance is tolerated too long, It makes tolerant people intolerant. I am intolerant towards our media now 🙂
Every bubble, every boom represents a local maxima. It has its role in advancing mankind, technology and the business ecosystem. #positive
In a business, the only thing certain is your expense. You got to work and manage the risk for everything else 🙂
Fad eventually fades away. Question everything. Be real.
Profitability over Turnover. Cashflow over Profitability. Make your choice wisely.
Starting a company is easy Building a company is a tough Transforming a company is life changing Which phase are you in?
Company’s culture is CEO’s responsibility. If you do not shape your company’s culture, someone else will.
When someone steals, the victim loses money. When someone cheats, the victim and many others lose faith. The difference is TRUST.
In my understanding a manager causing fraud in the bank is a bigger culprit than a robber robbing a bank. What do you think?
Ego can spoil even the most talented professional. Avoid at any cost.
Being a marketer, you always look at all communications critically. Hence lose the fun of being the emotional victim (or beneficiary)
The biggest constraint to success is FEAR. Which comes from lack of knowledge. Due to lack of exposure. And inability to learn.
Never engage in useless debates, just to make a point, and feel special. It’s not worth your time.
Earn money Earn popularity Seek peace, hence privacy Spend top dollars to buy privacy What goes around comes around!
Traditional consumer service companies like banks and telcos are (or will be) morphing into the distribution channel for future. Use them.
Clarity is quintessential in an entrepreneurial journey. Candid, well wishing and intelligent friends are your biggest asset. I am blessed.
Old is not boring. If they have survived or flourished, they must have innovated, evolved and adapted. A lot to learn from them.
Never call a teaser, “a teaser” in front of your prospect. It’s a teaser for you. It’s a value proposition or pitch to him.
Entrepreneurship is about growth, value, and valuation. But it is also about survival of the fittest. A great company does both.
Entrepreneurship is a marathon and not a sprint. The earlier one understands this, the better lives everyone will lead.
When going gets easy- press the reset button be your competitor level up your game Enjoy the excitement. Keep building.
How to avoid mediocrity in an organisation? ‘Move up or Give way’
Fear of missing out (FOMO) is one of the major sources of stress for entrepreneurs. To win over it, have focus, clarity and peace of mind.
7 things you need to build a successful business: scale, profitability, cash-flow, customer-centricity, culture, innovation, product
Take risk, but limit the number of variables at any one point of time in your bet.
Customer success is your real competitive advantage. Nothing else comes close.
Process is good. It’s a mean to an end, not the end itself. Do not become a slave to process. Work with the end in mind. #process
Revenue is far more important than sales. In fact if there is a big gap between revenue and sales, it should concern you. #business
Keep your clients’ wellbeing at the center of your solution. And you will never have to sell again. They will buy. #sales #growthmindset
Marketing is not just about creating demand for your product. It is also about realising what makes a better product, and acting on it.
It’s not about having many ideas. It’s about having strong conviction on the right one, whose time has come, and, Executing the same.
Let’s accept it- Most people became entrepreneurs, because they had no choice. Planned entrepreneurship and ‘making’ entrepreneurs is new!
Choose knowledgeable vendors. Treat them like partners and family. Get competitive advantage and peace of mind. #leap #entrybarrier
To build a sustainable organisation, all three stakeholders: Clients Employees Investors need to feel win-win-win.
Poor marketing is negative. Average marketing does not add up anything. Excellence in marketing is what drives value. Do less. Do excellent
Real work gets done when you work against a countdown. #productivity #procrastination
Be optimist, but rational. Avoid wishful thinking.
Do not get lost in the definition of startup, small business, foodtech, martech, (x)tech, lifestyle business. Enjoy building. Have fun.
When you, or your business, creates impact, you will be talked about – good or bad, because you matter to people, and they expect from you.
Persistence will be far more valuable in the foreseeable super disruptive future. Stay put. #entrepreneurship
Sustainability 101: Earn before you spend Deserve before you desire Value before valuation
I always keep telling my team – Keep bringing me the bad news. This is what we need to understand and act. The good news can wait. That will show up in the books 😉
Courage – the difference between ‘successful’ and ‘insanely successful’ It makes an exponential difference in the outcome.
Words are cheap. But critical to create perception. At times perception is reality for most.
For sustainable innovation, innovate everyday. That is what matters. Rest is fluke. Fluke do make money, With a probability of 0.0000001
Entrepreneurship is not only about choosing a problem and solving it Situations and competitors will also throw problems. Got to solve them!
Build sustainable, profitable business which creates long term value for all stakeholders. Ignore terms: startup, lifestyle, product, service
Thought provoking questions contribute more towards innovation than explanatory answers. Ask questions. Ask often. Do not settle.
Good business models are not complicated. In fact they are very simple and straightforward. Think simple. It’s not that difficult.
It needs you to be you. No pretension. For that you need to feel secure, and must have great self awareness. Both are easier said than done.
Some people may like the real you, some may not. And that is absolutely fine. Even in your pretentious form, everyone will not like you. Ability to accept people the way they are is another superpower. Everybody does not have that.
We connected computers. We connected people. We are connecting devices. Next, We will connect brains. #future
Ideas can give you a spark to start. You need the fuel of chain-of-ideas to make it a success and sustain. #entrepreneurship #startup
An interesting analogy comes to mind from my love for digital marketing: Extrinsic motivation = paid advertising alone Intrinsic motivation = brand purpose, great product / experience, word of mouth, accelerated by paid advertising for trigger What are you building?
Science looked most exciting. To monetize science, commerce was needed. To be effective at commerce, to understand people, Need humanities!
Learnt in past few years of Entrepreneurship, impact & loss is MORE when – you lose Faith THAN you lose Opportunity THAN you lose Money
Cannibalizing your own product or service is a good thing to do. If you don’t, someone else will. #strategy #entrepreneurship
Relook at business model as the game may fundamentally change in many industries work as a team, and not in silos. Create a war room if you can. communicate more often, and clearly. Do not hide facts, address the elephant in the room.
Invest in projects and innovation that keeps you ahead, but focus more on smaller projects that has faster payback period, I am excited about this challenge as it helps you reset the company and drive change faster. And I strongly believe that faster change = better business.
In this big world there is no generic competition. Everyone has to make their own space, and there is enough space for everyone. If I keep my minds open and ethics in check, I can help build multiple companies in different niches within the same industry.
Just running a business does not mean it is getting built. You need to work ON it to make it independent and self sustainable.
Need to work on 3Ps, with customer at the center of it, everyday without fail. People Process Product Put Passion Don’t forget Sales!
Marketing is a contextual game. Timing and communication is everything. Media can be bought, if required.
Measure impact by people your work touches. Measure growth by revenue it achieves. You need both for a balanced business.
Having a mastermind group with diversity and trust is your biggest asset while building a business, and in life.
The impact multiplies the moment you double it up as an accountability circle. Sense of accountability towards people you respect drives action, and momentum – hence results/outcome.
When we talk about bridging the income gap in society, why do so many people keep paying obscene value for “luxury brands”, and not enjoy the art of an indie producer with their unique story, at the same price, with the same pride!
Experience is a liability.
Reading books and attending conferences do little help unless you learn from them, think over it, internalise the key ideas, invest time and energy in believing/challenging them, and making it part of your life. Think over it.
One of the big reasons why we read, develop conviction, desire to apply, but still do not apply is – our resistance to change. Let’s accept – it is difficult to change. Old habits, comfort zone, fear of losing, procrastination – all add up to ‘business as usual’
In fact people who profess change and state ‘change is the only constant’ also find it difficult to change. It’s hard wired for most people. And it needs a special conscious effort to change.
I am also trying the concept of ‘accountability circle’ with my close friends. It’s simple: set out goals decide action items along with timeline disclose to group meet regularly, and hold each other accountable to the goal, action item, and timeline.
What goes around – comes around. It’s just a matter of hanging around long enough to reap the benefit or otherwise!
To succeed as a professional, Say NO to:- Prejudice, Assumption, Stereotyping.
Goal, plan and strategy are three different things. Don’t mix them up!
Business works in the cycle of growth and consolidation. Recession is not new and it is the consolidation phase of the economy and well run businesses. It is also a cleanup mechanism of hyper exuberance sentiments, and weak companies. Now work on your business.
As a leader, your job is to make yourself dispensable. As a professional, your job is to find the sweet spot where you become indispensable. Tip: Keep finding newer and bigger challenges at your job, and keep moving up the value chain.
People buy when they are ready. Are you present infront of them at that time? Re-target, Create funnel, Engage, Be useful. #dmwf
Don’t do parts of digital because everyone is doing it. Your problem has a unique solution. Find it and execute. Get better ROI. #dmwf
What it takes to be a CEO: Exposure Experience Open mind Visionary Strategic Adaptability Inspirational Motivational Storyteller Empathetic
We are fortunate to be in the world of unlimited opportunities without a glass ceiling. Today these opportunities are more equal than ever. If we do not challenge ourselves to do more and create more impact, it is injustice to our own potential.
Good marketing is about- asking good questions, validate the thesis, and scale what sticks.
Important but often ignored Marketing 101: Find key pain points Find your and your solutions’ competitive advantage How the competitive advantage gives unfair advantage (or extraordinary leverage) to the customer in solving their key pain point.
There is content overload. Don’t create content. Content eats time. Create tools. Tools save time. #ContentMarketing #GrowthHacking
What can you learn from your competitor today? Good competitors are godsend. Make the most of their brilliance.
When brainstorming, good questions are better than better answers. Answer closes the discussion, question makes it wide open.
When it comes to governing or managing, less is more! You need to know what to govern or manage. Doing more is a sign of ignorance.
There is a difference between positive thinking and wishful thinking. Both are sweet! The former gives strength, but later brings weakness.
As a leader what really matters is; what you create (people, organizations, culture, businesses products) and the examples you set.
Excess of anything is bad. Be it conservatism or aggression. Too conservative – you might get a steady, nice bottom line. But topline may not grow, and your business may get hit by a disruption. Too aggressive – you might grow, but without profit margin, and a toxic culture.
Success breeds insecurity. Which in turns results in failure. Disclaimer: Exception proves the rule.
When leaders cannot inspire and create a culture to do what is required, they do brute force execution and misunderstand that as success.
A leader creates legacy, something that lives on beyond his engagement.
Biggest mistake of networking is asking for business. Ask for referrals. Stay on top of mind. That’s social marketing. #entrepreneur #tips
Good team = Success. Either, you keep blaming your team and feel sad; Or transform it, and enjoy the rewards. Choice is yours!
Think, what connected minds can do? Exciting, but scary. Definition of learning, problem solving, intelligence, work will all change.
Practical marketing gyaan: Give more than expected Give better than others Give what the customer need And, Communicate effectively.
Content marketing sutra: Quality over quantity Context multiplies the consumption and You got to market it right, even if it is free
A strategy is not about doing everything. It is about doing what matters, when it matters, how it matters. Less is more.
Entrepreneurship is about creating value, solving problems and evolving everyday. They only compete with inefficiencies and problems. Mature entrepreneurs don’t compete. They collaborate to create more value for everyone.
Two reasons why people do not use a product or actually buy it are: it’s a vitamin for most, though you think it is a painkiller the time context is weak, as that may not be the #1, #2 or #3 problem they are solving.
And then we find where our capabilities, intellectual properties and tools can help them solve that problem. So solution companies fit a solution to an ACTIVE problem. If a product company does the same, there will be no ghosting 🙂
If you are doing something new and groundbreaking, focus on publicity through PR and demand creation, then spending truck-load on adverts.
Intent defines the crime. Purpose defines the possession. Reason defines the act.
Yesterday’s “best practice” is the “standard operating procedure” today. It has been happening forever. And it will continue. This is the cycle of change.
Most timelines can be shrunk dramatically, if there is purpose and commitment. #productivity #timemanagement #work
External perspectives with lateral thinking are critical for innovation. Are you exploring them? or are you shutting doors on them? Because it does not align with your dominant logic?
Dominant logic and biases are the biggest roadblock to innovation.
You cannot focus on tomorrow if you do not have your business today!
Critical for success, difficult to achieve in an organization: focus culture (internal marketing (external) Last, but most importantly, an alignment of the above items, specially between internal and external promises i.e. culture and marketing respectively.
Innovation cheat sheet: think and ideate find direction iterate with speed achieve quality scale Go back to #1. Repeat. P.S.: Warning- don’t skip #2 My response to debate on ‘What’s more imp for innovation – speed or quality?’ #WebSummit
Organizations must look at both incremental innovation and breakthrough innovation. However at times, the market and consumers need to be told what’s possible. Therefore there has to be a balance between market driven innovation and product driven innovation. My suggestion is that the effort be split 80-20 favoring the market.
Innovation is a continuous process. It cannot be a project or discreet team. It has to be imbibed in the culture of the organization. It’s all about challenging the status quo, improving and finding solutions to problems.
Revenue cannot be the goal. It is an outcome of alignment of purpose, value proposition, execution and most importantly – people, who make this alignment possible. One most important thing you can work on is “culture” of the company. Results will follow.
Culture is internal to the company. Its mirror reflection is the customer-value-proposition, which is external to the company. To get results on the outside, you need to fix the inside. #entrepreneurship #management #startup
If you do not create your own company culture, to reflect what you are and what you stand for, someone else will. And that will make you feel like a stranger in your own company. And you lose your competitive advantage i.e. you! #enrtrepreneurship #management #startup
To set digital marketing metrics and goals: start with low level goals like cost per lead improve it to cost per unit sale and then mature it to revenue/cost ratio and finally to LTV/cost Keep monitoring every checkpoint to solve inefficiencies.
The more expensive and exclusive the wisdom is (made to look), the more seriously the recipient consumes and applies (not always) it. In a noisy, low-trust world, the source of wisdom holds more importance than the wisdom.
Entrepreneurship is about giving, not taking. It takes people years to understand, and hence most keep struggling and are unhappy in this beautiful journey.
Like death in life, Expense is the only certainty in business.
People who had never done a start-up on their own will never be able to respect a start-up. Eco-system guys need to have empathy. #startup
Great leadership is not done at the head of the column, but at the heart of the team. John Hunt is hardly celebrated for the 1953 ascent, but he was the real architect and the big difference.
Even though the world celebrates the face of any event, it is the team which works together selflessly to achieve the goal. There are more unsung heroes than the celebrated ones. Being celebrated is a big function of luck and timing, given all the other factors being constant.
Scalability of overhyped. Scalability has no value without sustainability. Think sustainability. Think of sustained impact. Great if it can be done at scale.
Bootstrapping is bliss. Embrace it if you can. It’s a myth that you cannot scale bootstrapped businesses. VC money puts you on a treadmill. It is not for everyone. It punishes mediocre (not necessarily bad) output, and kills more businesses than it builds.
There is a crazy obsession with reading more and more books. It’s a great one, but it is not a competition. It is more imp to absorb the books well. Most things written in books are views and opinion. Don’t take them for facts. Reading is useless without thinking.
With every passing day speed and trust are becoming bigger differentiators. Think lean and agile. Think about experience and word of mouth.
Every experience counts. You can land up at something pathbreaking by mashing them up while solving a problem. Just experienced.
There are millions of great ideas to build a business. But, the devil is in the detail, and so is success.
Digital strategy should be a top management activity. Should not be delegated to entry or middle management layers. #critical #strategy
For entrepreneurs, vision is the goal, money is the by-product, learning is the reward, journey is the experience and all the fun.
Profit is a parameter to measure what amount of value creation an entrepreneur has done.
Marketing is what matters. Digital is just a medium with its twists and turns.
Build entry barriers for your competition and exit barriers for your clients – way to sustainable and competitive business.
Create value for your clients’ client. And make sure that your client understand that – way to create long term sustainable relationship.
For entrepreneurs, Ability to make yourself optional in most meetings/initiatives, and focus on ONE most important priority is a superpower, and competitive advantage.
Entrepreneurs job is to create leaders. Leadership happens when someone applies himself in a situation. It is in the moment. You are necessary, but you are insufficient.
Have meaningful and candid conversations, always agree to disagree, but commit and hold each other accountable. This culture is key for organisational growth. – Ability to identify patterns is a superpower to improve organisational efficiency.
Cohesion is more important than skill. Leadership is about cohesion and not necessarily skill. – We are our biggest roadblocks, like a lid on the organisation.
When I started off, thought it will be less challenging when I get to point A. Fact: Nothing changes. Grass is always greener on other side.
You do not manage the result or outcome. You set the goal, Define the process/path to reach the goal and manage the process.
Your reports are just your feedback mechanism. You have to make decisions and implement them. What matters is- how successfully you implement.
Only managing by numbers from dashboards can be dreadful. At many times it averages things out, thus hiding the ups and downs. Drill down.
It does not matter what you know and what you can do. What matters is the objective and what needs to be done to achieve that.
Value creation is what you do. Valuation is what others do. Mind your business. Others will fall in line. Its cause and effect relationship.
Past does not last. Excel in the present. Nurture the future. – Message to self, my colleagues, entrepreneurs and everyone who cares!
Respect, fairness/equality and trust is very critical in every partnership. It’s important to rise above pettiness and short term benefits.
Failure is the best teacher. Success can only make you complacent. Fail early, fail fast. Success will be yours, finally.
Compete with self. Improve everyday. Be mindful. There is no magic to self development.
Respect should not be considered as weakness.
Friends critic in front, praise behind the back. Foes praise in front, critic behind the back.
For some reason I am unable to respect investors , consultants , or analysts who have never built businesses themselves . For me , they are ‘ paper tigers ‘. I am open to being corrected and guided . P . S .: “ built business ” need not be as an entrepreneur only , but as hands on operator /executive in position of responsibility over years.
Sales without customer success in mind as the end goal, is a rip-off.
Do not leave the gold coins on the ground, in quest of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Those who survive, can only win. #startup
You do not sell. People buy. Learn about buyer, buying behavior and motivation to be bought. #marketing #sales
There is a lot of talk of smart work vs hard work. Fact #1: you need both to succeed crazily. Fact #2: to do smart work you need to be extremely strategic and smart in making choices. So, it’s easier said than done.
In business, The only certainty is expense. The only uncertainty is income. Manage accordingly.
Start with Why: by Simon Sinek The Hard Thing About Hard Things: by Ben Horowitz Zero to One: by Peter Thiel The Lean Startup: by Eric Ries Delivering Happiness: by Tony Hsieh What is yours?