How Do You Find Early Customers For A B2B SAAS Startup?
This is a slightly edited version of my answer to the following question on Quora: This question reminds me of a Patek Philippe ad in which the luxury Swiss watchmaker says,…
Angels Or Demons Tax?
In the past few days, several startups in India have received notices from the Income Tax Department threatening penal taxes on the angel investments ("Angel Tax") raised by them during…
Harmless As Tiny Noticeable Thing Or Explosive As TNT
Here's another post on the cultural differences across different markets, with specific lessons for sales and marketing. Many years ago, Fortune had used the following lede to introduce the largest…
Fintechs Shouldn’t Stop Chanting The Disruption Mantra
Direct-to-Consumer financial technology startups are new age companies that sell bank accounts, loans and other financial products directly to end users. In this post, we'll use the term “Fintechs” to…
To H-1B Or Not To H-1B… Is A Money Question
Today's Economic Times published my letter on H-1B and the controversy over surplus or scarcity of STEM talent in the USA. It was in response to the following article on this subject…
Teardown Of The VC Investment Model
This is a slightly edited version of my answer to the following question on Quora: “We’ll disrupt uncouth taxi unions.” “We’ll kill greedy banks.” “We’ll upend shady realtors.” Startups with noble…
Discount Is Not The Only Reason For Shopping Online
At the end of my blog post titled Retail Is Still Barking Up The Wrong Tree Against Ecommerce, I'd made a bold prediction that, within a few months, I'd find a…
Winners Don’t Let Security Screw Up User Experience
Like me, you may have come across people who appear obsessed with security but happily book cabs, send messages, order food, and even make payments without entering a single password…
Why Nobody Went To Jail For Great Financial Crisis
On the tenth anniversary of the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the media is full of articles questioning why nobody went to jail for the Great Financial Crisis that followed. Take,…
Will You, Won’t You, Will You, Won’t You Get Your Blockchain App?
Fans of Lewis Carroll will immediately spot the striking resemblance between the title of this post and the refrain from The Mock Turtle's Song in Alice in Wonderland. A newly opened electronic…