Mindblog

Working with a product company, one of the bigger dilemmas facing the Product team is what to build based on the backlog of product items. Listening to a Harvard lecture podcast online recently, I came across a concept which helped me clear this dilemma. It simply asks a question- what is the job that your product is hired to perform? Ideas for the product you are building can come through various routes. We're going to lose this customer if we don't incorporate this now, this is something the CEO really wants to see in the product, it's been sitting in the backlog forever etc. But a very good way to go about prioritizing what goes into the product is to find the answer to the question- what is the job that your product is hired to perform? Imagine the product to be an employee who is hired for a particular profile. Now there are certain roles and responsibilities or KPI's which will define whether this employee is fit for the post. The same logic will apply to the p...

Keeping ahead of the competition is a key business growth metric. With constant innovation in sales tactics and dynamic pricing, it is essential for small businesses to match up and better their sales figures quarter on quarter. Gone are the days where your employee will open up his email to check who has submitted a form on the website and draw out a lovely looking template to welcome and thank the lead introducing it to the dreaded "Sales Funnel". Automation can fill this backlog and give you and your employees more breathing space to focus on other key business growth metrics. Automation at the turn of the 19th century was necessary for mass production to meet the demands of markets globally. It was coupled with rapid strides in transport and communication channels. What we need today is a way to achieve business success using the same tricks conceived back then. Businesses need to focus on what they do best, create fantastic products or services for the customer. Key r...

For a successful enterprise, there has to be a need for the service/product which they are providing to the audience. There has to be this gap which is being fulfilled. If not, the entity being provided has to be captivating enough to entice the user into buying it. It has to create its own vacuum. Over the years as a company, we have evolved to be leaders in the franchising domain. We know the pain points our customers face and what how we can alleviate them. I would like to take an example of a company by the name of 3M. Why I like citing examples of this company is because of its unique philosophy. Founded in the early 1900's dealing primarily as a mining firm they diversified, and how! They own 100,000 patents to their name across industries and roughly a third of their revenue is through products they've created over the last 5 years. They believe in innovation and one of their company policies is to allow employees to spend a day a week in self run projects fo...

Not a very original quote you might say, but hey! Being a part of a product based company always has me thinking about what we can do to make the end user more involved with the software we deliver. We are in that age where there is no margin for error when it comes to technology. User experience and a clean interface are at the forefront of an outward facing application, but more-so, companies across industry are going head-over-heels to innovate, simplify and make the lives of users that much more productive (well, unless you are playing Flappy birds!). Apple is one of the pioneers in this field, innovating award winning products which are aspired and raved about. Jony Ive, the SVP and head of the industrial design team at Apple believes in putting the user first and accepts only practicality to be the key to growth. His contribution at Apple cannot be overlooked, everything from the iMacs to the iPhones/iPods over the last few decades have this product philosophy engraved in the...

The dictionary defines an Entrepreneur as one who undertakes innovations using business, technical and financial acumen to transform them into viable economic goods, or revitalizing and adding value to an organization. It has to be understood that each and every one has an entrepreneurial bent of mind embedded within us. Most of us do not realize that we unknowingly practice this in our day to day lives through finding an innovative solution at home thus saving time or money, or being 'Intrapreneurs' at work, constantly coming up with methods and processes which would be of benefit to the company and the client. I had the opportunity to attend TiECon-2012 (flagship event of the 'The Indus Entrepreneurs' group) held in the last week of September. The primary focus of the event was to bring together like minded individuals from a multitude of business, financial and technological backgrounds to network, share thoughts and ideologies, learn the art of pro-activeness, un...

We all often get asked what we do for a living. Many have pretty self explanatory answers: I'm a doctor, I see to it that the ailments the patient is suffering from are identified and a cure prescribed for them, or, I'm a Software Engineer, I develop applications for clients based in India or abroad through coding logic and creating a meaningful solution for them to optimize their processes etc. I often get asked the same question myself, more so because I've been out of touch with friends and family having been out of the county for sometime until recently. I tend to end up confusing people telling them what I do till the point that I get blank stares and half minded nods. I thought I'll give you guys a gist of what I do and what it means to do what I do! A Consultant is one who very much like a doctor, seeks to identify the ailment a business or a process within it faces through understanding the symptoms the patient (company) is showing, and by using standard consul...

Just general stuff, not trying to bore you to death! Lets say, its some basic stuff in the MSME sector at present. Good for some GK! Attended the Zee Business Conference on SME and Emerging Business Forum yesterday which had prominent panel members from SIDBI, NSIC, IndiaMart, Managing Head of the Tirupur cluster and Minister for MSME Virbhadra Singh among others. The main agenda for the panel discussion was to discuss the findings of the analysis Zee carried out by vising entrepreneurs and understanding the challenges faced by them across India. Availability of finance, acquisition of technology, retention of talent, challenges in marketing product/ services adequately were identified and discussed at length. Schemes introduced by the government of India in collaboration with NSIC and SIDBI were discussed which help startups raise funds for cap/op ex and help in marketing and business intelligence. Venture, debt and equity funding for startups was another topic of discussion ...