Disqus - Latest Comments for Mrinal

Re: The Send To All Mistake

Mrinal — Mon, 28 Jan 2019 14:06:11 -0000

It’s a lot like being in an accident when there are a lot of onlookers, pick one and point to them and ask them specifically and make that individual accountable ... asking for help to all is going to lead to inaction 😁

Re: Subscribing To AVC Via Email

Mrinal — Tue, 08 May 2018 14:02:06 -0000

Get it via email and this one came through Fred ...

Re: Fun Friday: Jet Lag

Mrinal — Thu, 05 Oct 2017 22:19:53 -0000

I have become better with it over time where now I "join the time" in that country in terms of staying awake or sleeping at night. My most recent success with no jet lag at all with this was 2 weeks ago which started with a flight out over the Pacific to Singapore for a night, then India for a night and then a flight to Scotland, via Brussels, for 10 days and then back via NYC over the Atlantic to SFO.

Re: Fun Friday: What’s Your Favorite Summer Olympic Sport?

Mrinal — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 13:28:01 -0000

Athletics. 100m "Bolt" ... he has winning it all since 2008 (except for 2011 when disqualified due to a false start)! Decathlon has been a great inspiration for me as well ...

Re: When You Have Concerns

Mrinal — Wed, 18 May 2016 14:08:33 -0000

In a world where we are being trained 24/7 that 'what can be measured, can be managed', we often get lost with people (how do you measure them?) - there is no right or wrong answer with these, imho.

Re: The New Boss

Mrinal — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 12:14:51 -0000

FWIW, it is all about people so the single most important aspect is alignment ... alignment of goals. Once question to ask everyone onboard is 'Why Are you Here' to listen, learn and compare with his own answer for that question.

Re: Addappt now lets you block contacts and connections

Mrinal — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 12:11:04 -0000

Thank you Sandy. We are are available for any questions from your readers at help [at] addappt dot com

Re: [Android 5.1 Feature Spotlight] Contacts Gets A Few Welcomed Tweaks

Mrinal — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 15:35:12 -0000

We just released a new version of our app, addappt, on Android - it has full group support (including creation of groups easily with search using name, company name or job title with a few taps) and also ability to send group emails and group messages.

Please try it and we would love to know if this meets your requirements - help@addappt.com

Re: A Focus On The Company Not The Investment

Mrinal — Thu, 05 Mar 2015 19:05:50 -0000

imho, seems to be that one should always have a cause that transcends any measurable return always in life i.e collateral success, Fred.

Re: Smart address book Addappt expands to Android, adds new iPhone features

Mrinal — Sat, 24 May 2014 15:59:31 -0000

Oh Sigh .. thalaiva continues trolling :)

For the benefit all users with reference to the unfortunate behavior by thalaiva , here is exactly what I wrote on the CNet review of addappt for words such as 'copy' etc:
[Review of addappt on CNet: http://www.cnet.com/product... ]

- The company he refers to was founded in late 2013. Their app launched this year. The date of availability of their app is publicly available from their site or on all app stores.
- addappt was founded in 2012. And the app available since June 2012 with a public launch in December, 2012 [geekwire article about addappt's launch from 2012: http://www.geekwire.com/201...

I wonder who copied whom :)

Some advice to "@thalaiva1999" - freeeee:

- please do note that all apps have a 'Version History' available on the App Store. Please give some credit to users who can easily see who came first to market and who copied whom :)
- angry inappropriate language does not speak well about you and far more importantly, your company and how they treat their own users and employees
- if you wish to get media attention, build something original .. consider a name that "iz" original. Consider marketing copy that is more original
- your founders hail from a great country like India. Be respectful of that ... I am from India too.
- Think twice before exposing yourself again - Silence is often golden.

You might want to addappt - you know how ;)

Re: Addappt Will Change The Way You Use Your Address Book, For The Better

Mrinal — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 04:28:13 -0000

Our apologies for the delay in receiving invite codes - it has been an incredible response and we are a small team.
Now all those readers who mentioned AppAdvice in their request have been sent their codes.
If you did not receive it yet, please send the request again and mention AppAdvice pls.
Thank you all for your incredible interest!

Re: MBA Mondays: Best Hiring Practices

Mrinal — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 19:13:35 -0000

I would love a post on some good questions to ask/ process to get a sense of the candidate, Fred - not so much for the hard skills but for the intangible skills, their beliefs and to really get a sense of who they are

Re: Social Proof Is Dangerous

Mrinal — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 22:02:28 -0000

It gets really ironic that the guy who starts the company does it BECAUSE no one supposedly is doing 'it' and if (and probably) then partners with investors who are looking for social proof (if other investors are biting when 'he is on the road') - one of the few paradoxes in the tale of Starta

Re: Fun Friday: Fred Wilson (artist)

Mrinal — Sun, 13 May 2012 03:33:57 -0000

Similarly, I have found another 'Mrinal Desai' who is the cinematographer of SlumDog Millionaire, Fred and we have become friends and communicate often. Yet to meet in person though .. Hopefully soon :)

Re: Fun Friday: Exercise Routines

Mrinal — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:22:00 -0000

That is soooo cool Jerry! I loooove to dance though not very disciplined as I might want to be. Formally, I had taken Salsa classes and but never followed through to more advanced stuff.
I was recently at one of my reunions during the holidays and I danced until 5am in the morning for 5 straight days - it was dancing that helped me meet my wife too :)

With reference to creativity and dancing, you might want to consider Twyla Tharp's "The Creative Habit".
http://www.amazon.com/Creat...

She is a well known choreographer who has directed Broadway Shows, Hollywood movies and has won Emmy awards.

You are inspiring me to take weekly classes with my wife again ..

Re: Fun Friday: What I'm Reading Now

Mrinal — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 22:30:35 -0000

Steve Jobs - Assume you have read that but I just finished that and its a great engaging read.
Social Animal - Elliot Aronson. I am about to finish it and if you are into understanding people and how we behave based on the influence of others, you will love it. Its been extremely enlightening for me to go deeper into social psychology.
Orbiting the Giant Hairball - Gordon Mackenzie. If you are into creativity, you will love this one.
Ishmael - Daniel Quinn. I can't recommend this enough. You HAVE to pick this one up.
The Way of the Peaceful Warrior - Dan Millman. Another favorite that helped me ask a lot of good questions and learn a little more about myself.
And Finally - Hope For the Flowers - Trina Paulus. It will take you 30 mins to read it but it will refreshing for anyone in the business world. I have liked it so much that my blog post on the book made her reach out to me. I recently had a long Skype video chat with Trina. I also read it to my kids sometimes.

Re: What We Are Seeing

Mrinal — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:07:35 -0000

I have a question, Fred, regarding "investors are having to learn new markets and new sectors"
So is innovation happening (and being sustained - with capital) in new sectors due to the hypercompetitiveness in another or due to real demand in this new sector/market? Or both?

Re: Pair Up

Mrinal — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 20:46:34 -0000

Couldn't agree more Fred - 2 early failed "dating" attempts with projects and now on "take 3" and focused on playing the role of a casting director. On first two attempts, it was all about production. I would actually say it is more than marriage - you will see your co-founder far more than your wife :)

Re: Airbnb

Mrinal — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 20:17:09 -0000

Never have I read all the comments of a blog post if they are beyond 20-30 and this time I read all 142 - it is amazing how your post brought out some neat experiences that lead to further insights.

Re: Techmeme vs Hacker News

Mrinal — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 03:57:58 -0000

fwiw Fred, wrote a speculative (they are expected to announce something tomorrow) guest post on TechCrunch on how LinkedIn can be a strong news aggregator (Disclaimer: I am an early LinkedIn employee) .. more of a WSJ for social news. I refer to this post of yours and how it might be different from Twitter (and other sources) in terms of types of curation: http://techcrunch.com/2011/...

Re: Being Present

Mrinal — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:30:51 -0000

Fred - I recently heard this 3:26 min podcast from my backlogged subscription of "This I Believe" .. you might like how it brings out the difference between doing (to which you refer as A type personalities) versus being: http://thisibelieve.org/ess...
Hope you enjoy it as much as I did ..

Re: Things Steve Jobs didn’t say

Mrinal — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 20:31:44 -0000

He said at D that PCs are going to be like trucks ... mobile devices are the new cars

Re: “Previum” the evolution of Freemium

Mrinal — Tue, 18 May 2010 18:22:39 -0000

This makes a lot of sense .. furthermore, if you have read "Predictably Irrational" by Dan Ariely, he talks about the quirks of ownership and one of them is we are very emotional about 'losing' anything and dont want to ..

Re: Draw Your Ideas

Mrinal — Sun, 16 May 2010 22:21:35 -0000

Fred - you might have heard of this book but if not, it helps anyone to visually express with drawing quickly and easily: The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures by Dan Roam. I got it and anyone can learn from it. http://www.thebackofthenapk...

Re: Understanding VCs – Where Are You on the Flightpath?

Mrinal — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:33:12 -0000

I gotta get to know the air-traffic controller then Mark :)