Tag Archives: VCs

The Al Dente Moment – What Pasta can teach Entrepreneurs!

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Rodinhood

If there was ever a perfect ‘Al Dente’ moment, it was when Steve Case sold AOL to Time Warner. A small fledgling company positioned itself so cleverly to an old media behemoth and the values that it extracted are now historical and soul shattering. Unfortunately, in the case of Time Warner, what they thought was ‘Al Dente’ Internet Pasta turned out to be Al Dente Rotting Garbage. Continue reading →

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Eleven Learnings I swear by!

Posted on April 1, 2011 by Rodinhood

I purposely say ‘dropped cricked catch’ because not executing a great idea can be as painful as dropping a cricket catch – you will not be able to forgive yourself. Example – the Winklevoss twins who had the original ‘facebook’ idea and innocently assigned someone else (hmmm…we know who) to execute it. Continue reading →

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The Entrepreneur’s Speech

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Rodinhood

People with speech impediments and Start up Entrepreneurs have lots in common. There stand out in the crowd, work relentlessly to solve their problem, turn to guides and friends for help. And when they succeed, the God’s among other people stand up and give them a standing ovation…. Continue reading →

Posted in Experiences, Internet, Media, Mobile and Tech, Just for fun | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Ride.

Posted on September 12, 2010 by rodinhood

Moneybags said, ‘That’s not my style. I will still pay you double. I like to travel First Class. Even if the seats are the same, I will expect you to pretend to respect me more when I pay you double. So, it’s First Class. Capito?’…In the sky, the Setting Sun hand shook the Rising Sun. The rays of both Suns hit the Cab and suddenly a realization dawned: Services, Products and Platforms were all value creators and equally important. It was an entrepreneur’s choice to take up any of these routes. Continue reading →

Posted in Internet, Media, Mobile and Tech, Just for fun, Start-Up, VC & Corporate Stuff | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Do you know how to say ‘Jump’?

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Rodinhood

In the early 90s, a lovely girl called Somya from a prominent business house was engaged to marry Mahesh (a scion and inheritor of one of India’s biggest business families). Theirs was to be the marriage of the decade. Somya’s father – Gulshan was the head of the family and managed the joint family business that included his brothers. One of the Gulshan’s younger brothers Sushant was not on good terms with Gulshan and was constantly litigating with him to separate the family assets and split the family fortune. Theirs was a raging bitter battle that had carried on for years………

………….I still remember a pre-board meeting in which one of my investors asked my CEO to change the business direction fundamentally and present it to the board. He refused. The investor indicated that he would fire the CEO and that he had the support of the other investors if he didn’t do as instructed. My CEO asked him to ‘Jump’. In the board meeting the next month, we went through the usual rigors and my CEO and I were dreading the dismissal motion to come up any moment. It never did. The investors stayed on the ledge and climbed back in.
Continue reading →

Posted in Experiences, Start-Up, VC & Corporate Stuff | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Do you know ‘Board’ Room Dancing?

Posted on June 30, 2010 by Rodinhood

So, you can burn the dance floor, but can you tango in the Corporate Board room? I have had the pleasure of attending many board meetings and am happy to share some experiences and tips in the lessons on how … Continue reading →

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VCs should learn Bonsai…

Posted on October 16, 2009 by rodinhood

In most VC funded companies, there is a sudden expectation from VCs to explode value creation just after the funding. To me, that is quite unrealistic. Continue reading →

Posted in Start-Up, VC & Corporate Stuff | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments