Learning from Obama – Part II

Back in 2008 I wrote a post about learnings from Obama’s election for startups … I am now compelled to write the second part of that observing what appears to be dissapointing presidency of Barack Obama.

Here are some lessons for startups …

1. Long term vision, scalability are all great but with out short term tactics there is no long term existence … why plan a new colour scheme when your house is on fire … put the fire out first
2. Get quick wins to rally the team… instead of showing short term success , Obama started mega changes like Health Care and Energy that may take a decade to show any impact … even Sachin gets his centuries on the back of singles and not just 4s and 6s (home runs for Americana) … what about jobs today?
3. At times one needs to know it’s time to stop selling and marketing … and focus inwards to build the product / service right. Execution matters … even more than ideas. Obama gets a C for execution, who cares if his ideas win Nobel prizes?
4. What you say NO to matters more than what you say YES to … many times. Looking back … every time Obama didn’t say NO diluted his power and eroded his credibility … the latest spineless capitulation on Bush tax cuts will further alienate every one from all camps …. for a startup not saying NO will reduce focus at every step and eventually result in lack of excellence

American presidency is only of academic interest to me … but it’s sad to see such a dissapointing gap between expectation and reality for a leader who captured world’s imagination. One hopes the second half of this term will see an improvement in the same.

This surely teaches ideas, marketing, long term vision etc. are all great … but make no sense unless they matched with execution in the short term on the ground.

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Views expressed are solely personal opinions of the author; and do not represent the views organizations/institutions he is associated in any form. The author has no responsibility for actions taken based on ideas expressed here.

(Sridhar Turaga’s Blog: An Indian Entrepreuner)

5 good reasons why CWG were messed up intentionally

May be Mr.  Suresh Kalmadi and his team are smarter than they look. Remember Pointy Haired Boss and Evil Dogbert?

Here may be 5 good reasons why they intentionally messed up CWG preparations.

#5. To embarrass the Queen and the British …

To tell them that even this last colonial relic of the British empire will defiled. No wonder Scotland was the first to confirm attendance … I understand this is one of the few international events where they compete with British under the Scottish flag …

#4. To set very low expectations before the games and then exceed them …

It’s the oldest trick in the book … set very low expectations and bring every one to a psychological state that anything decent after that (at least the flush works and we give every athlete their own mop to clean the rooms !!) looks like a brilliant turn around. Even NDTV started talking of a “turn around” today in their “balanced and mature” news coverage.

#3. Make sure none of the top athletes confirm attendance … and India wins all the Golds …

Easy one to see why …

#2. Anyways “Indians” will have to live in these after those 15 days …

The masses can’t be given world class infrastructure to live in with hygiene standards that are “not Indian” . They won’t feel at home living in Australia or Singapore. So they had to take a real long term view of this infrastructure and build it to “our hygiene standards”.

#1. Setup the foundation for Shri Rahul Gandhi’s entry  …

When Shri. Shivraj Patil made way for Shri. Chidambaram … every one got ecstatic about the obvious fact that the country must now be more secure because the later doesn’t seem to change his clothing with every security incident. (May be he does but all white looks the same every day … even NDTV’s Roy and Dutt are enamored with Shri Chidambaram … so we must be better off). So if Dr. Manmohan Singh is proved as a bad leader … Rahul Gandhi must be a great leader.

Can you think of more good reasons why there is a plan behind this mess …

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Views expressed are solely personal opinions of the author; and do not represent the views of the organizations/institutions he is associated in any form. The author has no responsibility for actions taken based on ideas expressed here.

(Sridhar Turaga’s Blog: An Indian Entrepreneur)

Easy lies this head with a crown …

Shakespeare wrote “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown” … but Google wears it’s crown as the undisputed leader of online search quite easily. After dominating the space for years, it seemed as if new threats would shake their monarchy. Real time search, decision engine type search, Bing, mobile search etc. But they seem to blow them away !!

It’s fascinating to watch how Google added every such innovation as a simple product extensions (time based searches, indexing twitter feeds etc.) … then positioned themselves at the pole position in mobile search (both with the search portal optimised for mobile as well as extending adwords to WAP content … and buying AdMob).

Now they set the re-set button on the entire search experience with Google Instant and AJAX (?) powered search results that avoid full-page refresh for pagination. You just can’t do search anywhere else after using Instant … they feel like dial-up after using broadband.

I can only admire the innovation and boldness that drives Google (at least for the search part) that make them look so comfortable wearing the crown of the search space …

I won’t write about what Yahoo could have been (with mail, portal, groups, messenger etc.) … every one beats them up.

Instead I am hoping Nokia would take a leaf out of Google’s book and retain their market share with some bold moves.

(May be bear all access charges to synchronisation of contacts to Ovi free with leading telcos …. allowing non-Nokia mobiles to sync / use OVi etc. or give free downloads to a desktop client for top end models … I know they are allowing unlimited music downloads to X6 but who has the data plan and time to use that?)

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Views expressed are solely personal opinions of the author; and do not represent the views of the organizations/institutions he is associated in any form. The author has no responsibility for actions taken based on ideas expressed here.

(Sridhar Turaga’s Blog: An Indian Entrepreneur)

Still in Awe

I am still in Awe of the World Trade Center twin towers that used to be. The twin towers.

My job at Deloitte got me the opportunity to live next to, near and work by them. I went up the elevator reaching the top of the 105 floors in 59 seconds. I even worked in the towers for 2 months. (My old passport has a security stamp at the back which I will cherish.)

There was never a walk by the twin towers when I did not stare up into the sky in sheer awe. They were just like how Ayn Rand wrote about building tall steel and concrete sky scrapers functional like the human body – without appendages.

I know today is a tragic anniversary, a reminder of a barbaric cowardly act. My prayers are with those who lost loved ones.

But today I choose to remember the awe the twin towers evoked in me and the American spirit – to be the biggest in the world for everything they do (not that being the biggest is everything in my part of the philosophical world) that inspired me.

Like Wordsworth said … I choose to “find strength in what remains“.

What though the radiance which was once so bright; Be now for ever taken from my sight, 
    Though nothing can bring back the hour  
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;  
      We will grieve not, rather find  
      Strength in what remains behind;