Big tech chat with ipod’s marketing head

If you are a big enthusiast for product marketing and product management like me, then you will probably want to read this interview of Greg Joswiak, the man appointed by Steve jobs to market i-phone in the global market. This interview was done by Big tech (the tech news arm of cnnmoney.com). there is not much to say but just enjoy reading the article and learn from it .

Live documents launched

Love Sabeer Bhatia’s new live documents desktop application. What is it about?nothing but Windows 2007 office applications given free for internet users. Fantastic idea!

Now, why should I pay 400$ or equivalent INR to install the 2007 applications? I have been using 2007 version word document, Microsoft outlook and power point for my office purposes. But I have sulking over the fact that I cannot use the same software in my personal desktop at home, because I cannot afford it and I really don’t want to go for a pirated version… And here comes Mr. Bhatia saying “look here dude, don’t sulk anymore alright! I and my team just developed these applications called live documents and u can use all the 2007 application online and offline for free. So just hold your horses and give me a month or 2 and I will sort out your problem.”

Yippee! Awesome idea, Bhatia and thanks a ton man!

Here are some salient points of live documents:

Works almost on any platform- windows, unix, linux..

Instacoll , the company which developed the applications is Desi all the way! 30 engineers from Bangalore under the tutelage of Mr Bhatia did it. By the way instacoll is aka for instant collaboration.

It is completely free for the layman. Meaning? It’s free for you and me. It may be a bit charged for corporate’s. We understand, Mr. Bhatia!

I assume this application will somewhat (or outrightly) challenge Google docs and spreadsheets. Fair enough! I think competition is good for the business.

“We are very excited to be offering Live Documents. We think this is the way to the future,” said Mr. Bhatia.

Yup! We sure think so too!

 

working for a start-up

Many consider that it a bad move to work for a start-up company as your first job. In india, you get instant recognition and elevated status when you are either hand-picked through campus recruitment or directly join well established companies like WIPRO, Infosys, L& T etc. you can almost hear the whispers of your relatives and friends saying “did you know HE joined Infosys?, he will first have 3 months training and then be put up as full time employee with 18k salary”.

 

Perfect! Nothing wrong, I must tell you. But then if you join an X start-up company which is starry eyed with big ambitions and big innovation plans you can definitely hear this from the same relatives or friends “ did you know HE joined X company?.. Have u ever hear of it? God alone know what his pay his. Anyway, ever heard of this X company?”

 

… fair enough, recognition and status elevation is definitely not on the cards for a person who joins a start up. Definitely your salary is nothing compared to what the tech/consulting/FMCG behemoth companies offer to their management trainees.

 

But then working for a start- up company has its own merits.

 

–      A start up organization will never have a hierarchy problem: I can tell you this because I work for one. In my organization one can just walk up to my boss and say “can I talk to you for a sec” and then go right ahead and talk it out. It is a different question if the issue gets sorted out or not but you sure can voice your problems anytime you feel like it.

 

–     You grow lighting fast: this point is very important. I can vouch for it! When you work for a young company you get to do many things which you are never going to be academically equipped with. What I mean to say is that you could have studied Bcom but you will get your chance to recruit people and hence play the role of HR. you would have studied accounts but you will get trained and work in marketing and become an expert at it. I studied BA economics, joined as executive, went on to become an Acquisition Strategist and now slowly being groomed to become a product development expert. You get the picture, don’t u? When you work for a start-up firm you grow up the ladder fast and strong.

 

–          You multi-task a lot: this is an extension of the previous point I made. Start-up companies with relatively low funding are very short of manpower resources, therefore you get to do a lot than what you had bargained for. So, should that be a problem? Absolutely not! In fact, you should rejoice. I say- be super happy! Why? cos you get to burn your fingers in everything and can find out what suits you the best and turn your focus on that and expand your career. You don’t find your dream career, the dream career finds you.

 

–          Start-up is a goldmine: when Google first came into picture no one gave them a rat’s ass to their future. In fact, when Google (then Gogol) was offered to Microsoft, they were rejected. It seems “search technology” had no future then. I am sure the then executives of Microsoft would be cursing themselves today because Google is no longer an idea, no longer a start-up. Google today is probably the most used term in the internet industry. You can be sure that if Lary Page sneezes, the media will get the cold because they would be thinking what he is going to come up with tomorrow. And won’t you love to brag about your friend, who works for Google, to others?

 

Simple idea: never look down on a start-up company. If the company is working on a great idea with amazing kick ass plans and hard work you will never know when the idea gets converted into billion Dollar Company. Facebook hardly makes 100 million$ as profits, but when Microsoft paid around 250 m $ for it, it gets a value of 15 billion$. Microsoft dint buy facebook, no sir! … they bought the concept of the idea, because they believe in it. Fantastic, isn’t it? That’s is the power of an idea.

 

Moral of the point: belittle a start-up at your own peril!

 

All said and done, start-up is a risky venture. You will never know where you will end up if you are in a start-up company. But that’s the exciting part isn’t it? You build something out of nothing. I am not really sure what Sunil MItaal would have had running in his head when he first planned Bharathi Enterprise ,while sitting in his bicycle spare parts workshop, but he sure as hell should have had immense faith in what he planned.

 

In the end, nothing else matter except the” belief you have on yourself”!

 

 

mklix community in facebook

I am currently moderating mklix community in facebook and you are welcome to join the community to discuss and talk about mobile networking and other aspects mklix. If you are a facebook user (most people I know are definitely in facebook) and excited about mobile technology and mobile social networking you are welcome to join the community here:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6445753314

 

hope to see u there soon!

lets blog-and-roll !

Alright, let’s get the ball rolling, shall we?

Moi naam is vikas… Sri Vikas and been walking on this planet for 24 years now. Arrrrgh.. .. lets get serious now….

I am Sri Vikas, aged 24 from Chennai. The officially unofficial roots of my origin is pallakkad but then I claim myself as the true blooded (make that hot blooded will ya!) soul from madras. So, ask me, “What is your native?” And I tell you “Chennai”. So, it is unambiguous now… I was born and brought up in madras. And quiet simply ( cos there is no 2 way about it..) love the city. And yeah , its Chennai for politicians , but for me its always madras.. and always Bombay(not Mumbai. What sort of a name is that mr bal thackrey? Muuumbaiii..)

I finished my ug in economics and now work for a mobility solutions firm called – mobile-worx.

Mobile-worx is leading mobility solutions firm with its HQ at los angels and major R&D and marketing centre in Chennai. We work on the following:

1     1. Mobile advertising

2.    2.Mobile social networking

3.    3.Developing wireless solutions based on java and j2ee programming.

I work on the marketing aspect of this company. My title goes something like this: User Acquisition Strategist. I strategize on product branding, Search Engine Marketing, internet marketing, collaborative and conversational marketing, User Interface, product development, content management among others.

Right now I am in the product development team of www.mklix.com

www.mklix.com , is the next generation mobile social networking portal completely developed by an extremely efficient team from Chennai. And we are developing this portal which will have world class standards with latest web 2.0 technology.

What is the aim this blog? Why should you even be bothered to waste your time and read my posts?

Frankly, you don’t have to. I am telling you this in my first post, please don’t read my blogs unless you are genuinely interested in me, as a person that I am.

You know what? I have lost my ability to write good articles supplemented with good language and good diction, which has always been my hallmark. I know not why this has happened, but I do know that if there is one capability which I am really proud of, is that I can write excellent essays, notes, articles, stories and that I am blessed with a creative bend of mind with a great command over the English language. Unfortunately, when you don’t use things as they are supposed to be used; they get rusted and over a period of time become dormant. And that’s exactly what has happened in my case. This ability of mine to write, to express thoughts and ideas using language has become dull and dormant. It has gone into a deep slumber inside me and I want to bring it back to life.

Therefore, I shall propose a toast for my resurrection, here. The journey shall begin today. The odyssey to bring clarity to my thoughts, stillness into my heart shall begin with this blog post.

See you soon.