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Welcome to Rodinhood
Inspired by Rodin who sculpted the Thinker and Robin Hood who delivered. Hence Rodin+Hood.
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Author Archives: Rodinhood
Are you bribed to work or is your work a bribe?
….I vividly remember a meeting at a Fortune 500 Corp’s office a few years ago when seven gentlemen gave their cards and all of them read ‘President’. When I looked at them quizzically, one of them sheepishly smiled and said ‘Alok, even the office boy here is a President’……..It has more politicians than all the members combined of every political party in India. You know what happens when so many politicians assemble together? You have to be mentally numb to survive in that set up………Mentally you are trained like a ninja. Ready to take on any surprise and turn it into a victory. Fighting till the end. That training at a very formative stage is very important in long-term career success. I meet lots of ‘Corporate Suits’ who have no edge of being able to take hits and downsides……My 2 paise – Work in a start up early in your life, at least for a decade gaining first hand experience, and then start up your own venture. And sure, as sweet revenge, you can hire the suited goons from the local MNC anytime you want. Continue reading
Why don’t Companies pay their suppliers on time?
Can you postpone paying your telephone or electricity bills by a couple of months by sweet talking your Utility providers? Would you continue working for a company that paid your salaries after you had to wait outside the accountant’s office for hours? Would you ask your kids to tell their school that their fees will be paid by their parents ‘soon’ ?
If the above sound ridiculous, why is it that Companies routinely pay their suppliers late?
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Posted in Start-Up, VC & Corporate Stuff
Tagged Azim Premji, Cease Fire extinguisher, Companies, Credit, Crisil, ICICI Ventures, Media2win, Moody's, Nestle, Payments, Ponzi Scheme, Rents, Sahara Airlines, Salaries, Suppliers, Utilities, Vendors
7 Comments
How to avoid your Start Up from getting a Hangover!
If you get drunk with someone you know, she will surely drop you home and make sure you are safe. Similarly, whilst starting up, try and cultivate one or two major clients who can completely uplift your venture. It’s nice to say that you are working across lots of clients or customers but getting many to sign up becomes very difficult at an early stage……Get out there, and measure every metric that you have modeled you business on. For example, if you think 5% of all companies will sign up after you present your holiness, try meeting 20 and check if 1 (5%) converts.
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Have you been ‘wiped’ out?
Entrepreneurs I know shiver from the word ‘failure’….We failed at this project but learnt an important lesson all entrepreneurs must imbibe – Even before you create an amazing solution, ask your consumers if they even want it? Your consumers will not use something made ‘easy’ if they never had a problem in the first place!….Everything in life cannot be ‘technologized’…Lesson – don’t try and automate what pains you. The pain is what brings the profits…I dedicate this post to all those entrepreneurs out there who have had hits and misses. The important thing to remember is what a famous man said – ‘a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’. Who cares if the first step begins with a sprained ankle? Continue reading
Posted in Experiences, Start-Up, VC & Corporate Stuff
Tagged Advergames, Charades, Clearstone Venture Partners, Contests2win, Himalayas, Monastery, Monks, Nirvana, Online Games, Rangoli, Search, Sumant Mandal, Tibet, zen
6 Comments
‘Entreception’ = Entrepreneurs + Inception can be the new Bible of Success!
Tell me any entrepreneur worth his sleep who hasn’t sold to himself and then to a VC a dream…..They dream of the future that lies ahead and then dive back into reality to reach there! … Our Eureka solution was to create ‘digital prizes’ ….. One of the biggest dangers of entrepreneurship is that you fall in love with what you are doing and even when events turn ugly, you refuse to ‘wake up’…Watch out for Mal. Either never let her become who she is and if you cannot avoid that, then know when to ignore her and stay focused.
Else your dream will become your death.
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Posted in Experiences, Hall of Fame, Internet, Media, Mobile and Tech, Start-Up, VC & Corporate Stuff
Tagged China, Disney, Dream, Inception movie, Kick, Mal, MMOG, Mobile2win, shanghai, SMSes, VC, Wall's
3 Comments
What Entrepreneurs must learn from Fashion Models!
One day, when I was on my regular ‘contest begging’ trips, I was stunned when the brand manager of Liril Soaps (a Unilever Company product) said, ‘Alok, don’t harass me. We make soaps here – not contests. If you like contests so much, why don’t you make them and pitch them to me, rather than the other way around’……. On introspection, it was so clear why the games succeeded in China – with no mass entertainment options available (TV and films are state controlled) and very cold weather, Chinese teens were happy to lock themselves into gaming dens and play away for hours non stop. On the other hand, in India, with 3 bollywood movies releasing a week; 500 channels on TV and very warm and ambient weather, teems cared a damn to sit in suffocating game parlors and play online games with silly dragons and elves Continue reading
Have you partnered with thieves and robbers?
Look at the love triangle – Pirates love our content and steal our games. We love ads and place ‘invisible to visible’ ads in our games. Consumers love games and they play them on all kinds of websites all over the world!!
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Mr. Marwari – Have you met Mr. Tata?
He chuckled and said’ ‘What nonsense! The first rule of the funding game is to siphon out 25% of the funds and make yourself-rich. Investors can be dealt with later’ Continue reading
Posted in Experiences, Hall of Fame
Tagged Black Money, Colgate, Corus, Jamshed Bhabha Auditorium, Land Rover, Marwari, NCPA, Oboe, Sam Balsara, Tata, Tata Salt, TCS, Telco, TISCO, White Money
25 Comments
Do you know ‘Board’ Room Dancing?
So, you can burn the dance floor, but can you tango in the Corporate Board room? I have had the pleasure of attending many board meetings and am happy to share some experiences and tips in the lessons on how … Continue reading