Disqus - Latest Comments for ralhan

Re: http://andyswan.com/blog/?p=157

ralhan — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:46:48 -0000

really smart thing. I have lost so many times going large when down and thinning quick when up...thanks to tell me I am not alone

Re: Congress Party : A Political University in itself !!!

ralhan — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:57:30 -0000

Let me give my perspective..before I say something let me say that I use to Right Left earlier ( means democrat in favor of small government ) but after seeing Mr Obama and his actions , Brown and his actions in UK as well as Indian governments ( as all are primarily Left) I have moved completely to right in my political philosophy

So according to me
Govt actions will always be inherently inefficient
Govt should only do things that one corporation or individual will never do because of selfish reason like infrastructure, rural things etc etc
Govt should stay out of profitable businesses as individuals/private institutions can do that most effectively. govt should oversee and make sure monopoly is not there and distribution of wealth is okish

I felt India was going in right direction in last 5-10 years but now again some voices concern me
* reservation in private sector
*FDI inflow /outflow restrictions...yes we should curb on Mauritius stuff ( the double treaty effectively allows Indian to put there black money or money back as FDI to save taxes)
*making news aroudn stock market..It is funny to see our finance minister talking about stock market,GDP growth etc. It is not his job if market goes up or down..
*new and unnecessary regulations

Re: Lalu Yadav: Art of People Management by a little Buffoonery

ralhan — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:48:11 -0000

I agree Ranjan that Lalu's success with Railways is lot more to do with Indian infrastrucutre boom and general economic prosperity than Lalu doing some magic work.

I am not sure ( as I have not done research myself) but someone told me that he increased freight charges etc and people were ready to pay that due to real estate and infrastructure boom. This is the reason for profit and nothing else.

You should see our freight revenues etc before and after lalu and railway without it to measure his actions success.

Re: Indian Web Startup … First Edition

ralhan — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:45:14 -0000

@ranjan
Payment process in India is screwed up mostly due to self interest of everyone. In India "do it yourself" as well as "I will keep all the profit to myself" is very prevalent. Therefore it is tough to create a service where all banks participate as every freak has built its own payment gateway. Everyone thinks...all will join me than all thinking let us work together. It is huge difference.

In India this is the reason it is tough to build a consortium or collaboration to launch somehting liek Visa or mastercard which is essential to have payments online or mobile going.

Re: The Three Suitors of a Princess : A MBA, a Scientist and an Engineer.

ralhan — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 12:34:29 -0000

nice one.....u wrote it yourself...Randheer you are scientist by mind...engineer by profession and an MBA by education..what does this make u mate

Re: IT Experts : The country needs you

ralhan — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 04:14:29 -0000

we are sorry Shayam and I am doing the needful.
Thanks for pointing it out.
Ralhan

Re: Indian Web Startup … First Edition

ralhan — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 02:53:31 -0000

Hi Amy,

I think innovation and other stuff is an issue but if we dig deeper the issue in my mind set and belief
"what works in west works in India" . Infact , if experience should teach us anything then it should be that everywhere things work that are thought local...by looking at what works in USA and what works in UK and continental Europe

I believe in India this attitude exist because most of the VC, Founders we got in India are the ones who are phoren returned. They are trying to peddle to what they know. Hardly anybody is interested in spending moeny on market research ( in the Internet commerce or portal space) or talking to consumers before making design.

Re: Indian Web Startup … First Edition

ralhan — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:46:55 -0000

>>>I will cite another example about 'too many players in market'; there are 1000s of small departmental stores in every city in India, all of these 'kirana stores' keep sugar and no-one makes profit on it.

This is different ..it is nothing but a case of a loss leader. We all carry loss leaders...in every business. We just have to look around and discover one in our own.

>>>>Similarly online booking startups should know that they can use this method to capture clients but the mullah lies in hotel / vacation packages. I have been booking my flights with MMT and my last 3 vacations were planned with them.

Thing in this case is that if 11 are doing this the economic rent moves to the final provider and in this case hotel/resort guy. Check out Econ 101.

I checked your blog...You are a great writer..Why don't u write a weekly guest column for us.

Re: Indian Web Startup … First Edition

ralhan — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 17:02:08 -0000

I agree with you on these points Jeet
* In India, tendency is either let us copy what works in the west or just copy what looks nice. Prominent example are social networking sites focused on India
*Multiple firms phenomenon -- I was discussing this even with my strategic innovation professor. This is an interesting phenomenon to be studying especially in emerging markets. If barrier to entry is low, does even innovation reaches zero economic benefit quickly if there is an ample competition. Case in point is airline online booking startups in india...no one made money. Another is bollywood sites..india focused portals. I think all of them never made money because there were always just too many

Re: Facebook and Social Networking…Misery LOVES Company!

ralhan — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 16:56:35 -0000

well I did both...work in comp sci and went to b school :)
you both are doing same thing...
comp sci guys ..u speak and tell truth and follow it :)
b -school guy ..he knows it..still figures way to make money from it ..and go enjoy it

cheers

Re: Facebook and Social Networking…Misery LOVES Company!

ralhan — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 16:07:33 -0000

I think networks are like a utility such as electricity and Internet. I have no doubt in my mind that we will always have one or two but as far as making money is concerned, I have different views.Just like money on internet was not made by ISP's etc. In the similar manner, money on social networks will be made by people who use it and provide on top of it. Stocktwits is one such example which can change the underlying network whenever requrired..for example istead of twitter it can move to gtalk if required but utility has value.

Previous successes are like last.fm , some social games like scarbulous etc...I think it is great for developers and small time entrepreneurs like me that we have networks who are investing VC money and providing us an opportunity.

Re: Fortunes during recession

ralhan — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:00:27 -0000

Hi Paul,

You are right....it is a sweet irony. I feel depression/recession people instead of taking risk try to run for cover. Point is there is no cover apart from government jobs. At the minimum, following categories people fresh graduates, temp jobs , people with skills who industry is severely hit are all who should follow path of entrepreneurship..

Re: IITs and IIMs in India : Becoming slowly irrelevant now ?

ralhan — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:00:50 -0000

Hi Som,

Few things that author is trying to imply...
*desire in middle class guys to move up the ladder is more ...in India in 80 and 90 due to license raj and everything was only with going for engg and medical and then move out of India
*If you look around the developed nations, degrees of preference for influential are law, economics etc because most money making model tends to shift...
*IIT are still an excellent organization but with government opening them dime a dozen ( I think now literally we have dozen), it is becoming a joke. Rest of the creativity is being killed by mushrooming JEE coaching centers.

I still remember in late 1990s when these Hyd and Kota guy started to arrive in IIT in numbers. Boy was it a joke or what.

Enough with my rant , so coming back to point, author is saying

As India progresses, its stars will have to come from law, economics, arts , culture and world leaders..IIT's are not designed for those..hence next big thing might be IIL ( Indian Institute of Law) than IIT

cheers,
Ralhan

Re: How Hungry Are You?

ralhan — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 23:04:34 -0000

I think ....it is our inner desire to be proven "right" that drives us most of the time. It is never about money or success. It is always about that craving for acceptance among the other people that..."He is the man". Man not in terms of yatches he got or watches but man who understands everything and whatever he says is correct because see how successful he is.

Re: How Hungry Are You?

ralhan — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:33:39 -0000

hey send me a freaking idea to start my own web venture....