Archive for 'Compelling Offers'
By Rajesh Setty on Fri 09 Feb 2007, 3:41 PM - 2 Comments
Yesterday when you called one of your friends, did you want something from them or did you have something for them?
What about last week?
What about last month?
What about last year?
If you analyze your phone calls (that you initiated) in the last six months, what percentage of them were requests for something and what percentage were those that created new opportunities or possibilities for the other person?
In other words, generally do you want to GET something from someone or do you want to GIVE something to them?
What changes would you make in the next six months in this area to open new possibilities for people around you?
Something to think about.
Posted under Compelling Offers, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Tue 09 Jan 2007, 10:44 PM - 2 Comments
I watched the video of Steve Jobs keynote at MacWorld. Steve announced the new remarkable innovation from Apple – iPhone. It was fantastic. For the first time in my life, I felt like switching from Verizon to Cingular (iPhone will be available only with Cingular service)
I urge that everyone of you take the time (about 90 minutes) to watch the video whether you are interested in iPhone or not.
The video is available at the Apple website.
Here is what was fascinating:
* iPhone was developed over 2 years
* 200 patents have been applied for technologies used
* Apple partnered with Yahoo! for delivering IMAP “push” emails
* Apple partnered with Google for Google Maps and a host of other services
* Apple partnered with Cingular for developing Visual Voicemail – you can search and listen to the voicemail you want to listen to.
* There is no pointing device. Your fingers are the pointing device. They are introducing a technology called Multi-touch.
* iPod, Phone and Internet communication device – fully integrated
* Foundation software – OS X – the power of Unix on a mobile phone.
* Conference calls on cell phone in a snap
* In a sign of where the company is moving, last but not the last, Steve mentioned that Apple Computer Inc will be renamed to Apple Inc.
I can go on but you have to watch the full keynote after fastening your seat belts.
Not only will you be amazed by the technological revolution, the keynote itself has several lessons for young entrepreneurs.
Here are some:
* Presentation and user experience are key
* Breakthrough innovations take time, energy, effort and innovation
* There is hard work involved – 2 years
* Alone you can’t do much. Together, you can create miracles. Partnerships with Google, Yahoo and Cingular were developed over years and are being leveraged now.
* Steve thanked the whole team in the end and what was touching was that he thanked the families of all the team members for their support. That was nice.
Watch the video whether you like Apple or not. It will be worth your time.
Posted under Business Models, Compelling Offers, Innovation, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Sat 30 Dec 2006, 11:59 PM - 4 Comments
I was excited when Seth hosted the Z-List on Squidoo. With Squidoo’s popularity, this would have resulted in a ton of traffic for many good (but not popular) blogs. I think the only problem there was that it was not on the original Squidoo but was offered on the new offering called Plexo. The users were not only able to add to the list but could also vote up or vote down other blogs on the list.
On the personal front, “Life Beyond Code” started off at #12 but within a day or so tanked to #300. I have to admit that I felt sad to see that so many people voted the blog down. Upon further investigation and once I understood that there were people who were gaming the system (unfortunately) there was nothing to feel sad about. Read Seth’s follow-on post about it here:
Seth Godin :: Zlist Update
I have always believed that there are somethings that are not suitable for democratic process. If the system can be “gamed” there are always a small number of people that would want to “game” the system and get some short-term results. And, they will get some “short-term” results.
What is fascinating is that to game the system it requires some effort and thinking. They have to plan, design and act to get some traffic. The key question is do they want traffic or do they deserve to get traffic? If they focus on using the same planning, design and action to make their blog more valuable, they may win in the long-term.
Imagine this scenario – you accidentally click on a link and go to a blog. The blog owner thinks he has a new visitor. On your part, you look at the blog and browse through it for a few seconds and you instantly make a decision whether to visit this blog or not. If the blog was not visit-worthy, you not only get out of the blog, you will also make it a point to not go there again.
My $.02 –
1. Before you want visitors to your blog, ensure that your blog provides the highest return on investment for an interaction (
ROII)
2. Wanting more traffic and deserving more traffic are two different things.
If I have to summarize in one paragraph:
Mack Collier (creator of Z-List meme),
Seth Godin (creator of Squidoo) and several others who participated in the Z-list meme wanted to do something good – they wanted to send traffic to blogs that deserve traffic. The gamers wanted traffic for the blogs that wanted traffic. I think all of us have learnt a lesson.
Posted under Compelling Offers, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Mon 18 Dec 2006, 3:52 PM - Leave Comment
It has been one week since we rolled out iPolipo as a controlled beta. Today we reached our 95% of our beta customer goal. There are still a few more slots left to be filled. After which, we will get people to register and contact them as soon as we are ready for the next wave of beta customers while we focus on making our current beta customers successful (and ironing out any bugs.)
We had an opportunity to eat our own dog food today. This week, our marketing team was supposed to setup demos for 32 people who have signed up for beta. Without iPolipo, this would have been a great opporutnity but the worst execution nightmare as it would involve at least a hundred email exchanges. With iPolipo, the process was simple. Here were the steps our marketing person followed:
1. Marked available time slots on Outlook and assigned them to the “Prospects” group
2. Clicked on a button to publish them to the web
3. Logged in to iPolipo and sent each one of the prospects a “Restricted Invite” by simply entering their email addresses in a form and clicking the “Send” button.
That’s it. Each of the prospects then received an email with a link to the marketing person’s calendar where they could view open time slots, picked the slot that worked best for them and signed up.
Here was the bonus:
While we were setting up these meetings, we received more emails indicating interest. Without iPolipo, we had to again scramble to schedule new meetings. With iPolipo, we just had to send more “restricted invites” by entering the email addresses of new prospects and the rest the software would take care.
If you are someone who has to meet a few people outside the organization every week, you might want to look at what we have to offer. Here is the link:
If you are interested in signing up for beta, here is the link to get started:
Posted under Announcement, Compelling Offers, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Mon 11 Dec 2006, 1:19 PM - 3 Comments
Today is the launch of our new startup iPolipo. Here is a brief background:
The idea for this company was born when we noticed the frustration people faced in scheduling meetings with other people. While scheduling a group meeting was a nightmare, scheduling meeting with just ONE other person was no less painful.
People almost had given up on solving that problem. We started watching the space more carefully and jotted our ideas and solutions. Here are some of the problems we found looking for a solution:
1. Holding unconfirmed time slots open.
You want to arrange a meeting with Bob. You send him a note suggesting a time next Wednesday.. Bob is busy and doesn’t get back to you until next Monday. Meanwhile, you are holding a time slot open for Bob. But you also have multiple meetings set and in the process of being confirmed. Panic.
2. Holding multiple time slots open for the same meeting:
You need to meet with Bob. Bob asks you to suggest time slots and he will pick one. You send three time slots and wait for his confirmation. Bob is busy and doesn’t get back to you. Now, you have to keep three time-slots open waiting for Bob to confirm.
3. Inability to book meetings 24/7
Many professional services firm (eg: Legal, Accounting and Financial Services) handle meeting schedules via a team of secretaries. Once these secretaries go home, their clients usually have to wait until next working day to schedule an appointment.
4. Privacy.
People are concerned about posting their calendar online. We needed to provide a solution that eliminated this concern.
5. Priorities?
There are a number of calendar sharing solutions that are robotic. If it needs to find to find a time slot, it will go and find it. This is not a solution. For example, if you want to meet Bob, you ask if he has 30 minutes on Monday. Bob will check and get back to you. Problem: he is not checking if he has 30 minutes on his calendar—he’s checking if he has 30 minutes for you on that day.
After close to 12 months of design and development, we are happy to announce the launch of iPolipo. We have a patent pending technology that will eliminate the frustration associated with scheduling a meeting. We strongly believe that people enjoy meeting other people but dread the process of scheduling them.
We welcome our beta customers from three different industries. At this time, we are looking for more beta customers who want to give us a try.
Here is the link:
iPolipo: Connecting Up!
Posted under Announcement, Compelling Offers, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Wed 29 Nov 2006, 12:30 AM - 2 Comments
Every entrepreneur was a first-time entrepreneur once. So, it seems odd but its true that support for first-time entrepreneurs is not that great. One reason is simply that odds are not in the favor of first-time entrepreneurs.
There is anothe problem though that often gets overlooked. First-time entrepreneurs sometimes can get into “fantasy” mode. Without proper guidance, they can go off on a wild-goose chase and think that they are working VERY hard on their idea but because of <add something like economy, market conditions, outsourcing, luck etc.> they are not going anywhere.
Here are some observations from the field as I meet a number of first-time entrepreneurs.
Here is what they say: I BADLY want to be an entrepreneur
What they might actually mean: Actually, I just want the glory associated with being an entrepreneur minus the hard work
My $.02: If you want to be an entrepreneur, please take some action. Wanting to be, thinking about it, planning for it alone won’t help.
Here is what they say: I am not investing any money. It’s all sweat equity
What they might actually mean: I am really not sure about what I am doing. If the company goes south, my hard earned money is safe. I lose NOTHING.
My $.02: If you are not putting in your money, you might actually not start the company. Please don’t quote some exceptions where somebody started with $100 and made it VERY big. It might happen so does lottery winnings. The second thing to note is that TIME is a big investment and there is an opportunity cost associated with it. Third thing to note is that when you are just investing time, think about the alternative use of that time. What would you have done with that time if you were not working on this anyway? If what you would have used your time was not that important, you were really not “investing” your time.
Here is what they say: The founders have not worked out how the pie will split. We know each other for a long time. We will figure that out later.
What they might actually mean: This is a painful topic to address. The farther we can push this out, the better it is.
My $.02: Working out this item is VERY important as it is the basis for setting expectations. On one extreme, there is a tendency for all founders to think that they are all equal. On the other extreme, there is a tendency for all founders to think that they should have the biggest piece of the pie because they are adding the highest value. The farther you push this apart, the harder it is to come to a reasonable agreement.
Here is what they say: I am just waiting for a cool idea. Everything else is ready.
What they might actually mean: I am not ready yet.
My $.02: Don’t wait for the “best” idea. There is usually none. Instead focus on building a great team that can execute.
Here is what they say: I really don’t care about the position. For now, I will be the CEO
What they might actually mean: I want to be the CEO. I will worry about it later if I have to step down. By that time I might have grown into that position anyway.
My $.02: It is VERY hard to ask people to step down from their positions be it CEO or any other senior positions. Think hard before you dish out titles. They mean something.
Here is what they say: I have a big enough network. Getting business is not easy.
What they might actually mean: May be exactly what they said.
My $.02: However, the assumption is flawed. Your current network may value you as an employee of a big company. They trust you in that role. Does not mean that they will trust you in your new role as an entrepreneur. Rather than fantasizing about it, you can validate that with one or more of your contacts.
Here is what they say: We had a great meeting with the VCs
What they might actually mean: VCs are in love with their company and soon we will be discussing the term sheets.
My $.02: Unless the money is in the bank, the money is not in the bank. Most of the times you will have a “great” meeting with the VCs even when they think the idea is crap. So don’t read much into how they made you feel at the end of the meeting. What actions they take after the meeting is what determines whether it was really a “great” meeting.
First-time entrepreneurs are unfortunately viewed under a microscope. So they have an added responsibility to face “ground reality” every now and then.
Have a great Wednesday!
Posted under Compelling Offers, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Sun 26 Nov 2006, 9:54 AM - Leave Comment
I wanted to search for a good image to accompany my Squidoo lens for collection of my mini sagas. The simple approach would have been to search for images with the tag “mini.” However, you know that it might be a bit confusing as “mini” now has two meanings – one is a popular car brand and the other denotes small. I wanted the latter but how do I tell the site that I really meant small?
I didn’t have to struggle much. The stock photo site that I use most often iStockPhoto had an answer. Actually, they didn’t, but they asked me what I really meant. When I typed in “mini” in the search bar and enter, by default the site brought up results from both but there was a place for my to make a selection on what I really meant with two options
Did you mean mini as in…
Option 1: Mini (Car Manufacturers’ Brand Names)
Option 2: Small (Physical Description)
Once I picked option 2, I didn’t have a problem getting what I wanted.
Seems like a simple time-saver. Highlights the obvious – “When you are in doubt, just ask!”
Posted under Compelling Offers, Innovation, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Wed 22 Nov 2006, 11:02 AM - 1 Comment
I was looking at a new offer from AT&T called Nationwide Calling Online Select. Here are the terms of the deal (as I understand it)
You pay $15 for unlimited long distance calling within the US. Very important: THE DEAL IS AVAILABLE ONLY ONLINE. If you call the operator, they have a deal that is $20 a month but if you want $15 you have to sign up online.
So I thought I will give them a try. As I proceeded with the sign up process, they wanted to qualify whether I can get the deal (??) and when I gave my consent, they came up with a surprise! You have to buy the caller ID feature that is $6.17 per month in order to qualify for the above deal.
I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. Many of my friends have a residential line only because their DSL service requires it. We have two cell phones at home and there is Skype and GizmoProject available for long-distance. If I signed up by calling them I would have paid $20 and if I sign up online, I pay $21.17. Of course, I get a new feature that I don’t need 
I don’t know what AT&T was thinking when they were creating this offer for their customers. Sigh!
No Deal for me on this one. clearly!
Posted under Compelling Offers, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Mon 13 Nov 2006, 10:20 PM - 6 Comments
I read between 50-80 books every year. Add another 100 books that I start reading but won’t complete reading it – just because the book runs out of steam by the time I reach the middle of the book. Rarely does a book come across that I want to read, re-read and re-read again. Rarely does a book comes across that is simple and profound. Rarely does a book come across that will remind me of the Niagara Factor.
I met with Dr. Posner recently and heard that their (Jim and Barry) new book was out and I had no option but to rush to the bookstore right after that meeting. I think I DID a good thing by doing that. The book is called “A Leader’s Legacy” and it is a fascinating read.
I won’t reveal much from the book but if the following snippets peek your interest, then you know what is in store
1. Success in leadership is not measured only in numbers. Being a leader brings with it a responsibility to do something of significance that makes families, communities, work organizations, nations, the environment, and the world better places than they are today. Not all things can be quantified[from
Leaders serve and sacrifice]
2. Our teachers continue to teach us as we go on to tell their stories
[from The Best Leaders Are Teachers]
3. The question for each of us, then, is not Do I matter? but How do I matter?
[from You Are The Most Important Leader In Your Organization]
4. There are very few things in life that we can claim to have accomplished without the help of others. In leadership, nothing that we achieve is singular. Nothing.
[from No One Likes To Be An Assumption]
You know I can go on and on. I am sure this will be on my desk for some time to come. If you are a leader or want to be one, don’t miss this one.
Posted under Compelling Offers, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Mon 13 Nov 2006, 8:31 PM - Leave Comment
Before I started my first company in 2000, I was involved in implementing customer relationship management solutions for large enterprises in United States and Europe. I had an opportunity to watch people support their customers up close and personal. A big problem with support is that customers don’t tell everything that they have done that leads up to the current problem. If you want an analogy, think that the customer is only explaining the last 15 minutes or the climax. The support person is now in a suspense and wants to know what really led to the climax. Sometimes it would take more than thirty minutes for the support personnel to get to the bottom of the issue. Things become simple when the support person CAN access the user’s computer remotely and see what exactly is happening. The life of support people became simple once they had access to tools that would help them remotely access their customer’s computer.
Think about it – this problem is not restricted only to support centers. There is need for these kinds of tools for the common man too. You want to help your non-geek friends, parents or anyone who is not very familiar with all the nuances of hardware and software, a simple remote access software is valuable.
So I was really excited when I came across CrossLoop which exactly does what I mentioned above. This was fascinating for me as it is also demonstrates the power of Open Source (I was one of the co-founders of CIGNEX, a leader in open source content management solutions) Crossloop builds on an open source software called TightVNC. TightVNC is great but you need to be at least a part-geek, part-human to use that software. Crossloop has stripped the “geek requirements” and has made it extremely simple to use and it is available for free.
To see how simple it is to use, please see the section – how it works. It is the shortest “How it works” section I have seen 
After installing CrossLoop, you will see a welcome screen with two tabs. Select the Join tab if you would like to connect and control a friend’s PC. Select the Host tab if you would like to temporarily share access to your PC.
It is one of those ideas where after you see it, you will think “I wonder why anyone did not come up with this before” It sounds too obvious. I am always interested in getting to know the roots of a company because most of the time it is extremely interesting.
1) Think eBay – started when Pierre Omidyar wanted to help his girl-friend with Pez dispenser collection
2) Think Netflix - started when Reed Hastings was REALLY tired of paying late fees for video rental stores.
Now, here is the story behind Crossloop
CrossLoop came about when Tom Rolander’s father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. He needed a VERY simple and easy piece of technology that enabled him to reach into his parents PC over the Internet and drive various applications like photo slide shows to help his father with his memory, free communication tools powered with webcams like Skype to communicate visually and visit with him regularly. This would then also empower the entire family to always be ‘in front’ of the father even though all were geographically many miles away. Hence with CrossLoop, there is no learning curve or knowledge of technology required. With one click – one can securely and privately share screens!
Since this is closely related to several areas of my interests – open source, startups and customer support I went deeper and asked a few more questions. Here are the responses from Mrinal Desai, who wears many hats over there including that of Business Development.
RS: Mrinal, Crossloop looks great and the story of its founding is fascinating and heart-warming. First, I want to wish the very best for Tom’s Dad. Now, coming back to the business of Crossloop, what makes this a viable business? The features that you offer will be sufficient for 95% of the market. Out of the remaining 5%, how many do you think will pay and for what features?
MD: Rajesh, one of CrossLoop’s core values is relationships – relationship was its genesis and we want to see all our users being empowered similarly. We are here to empower our users and in order to do so, we are geared to listening and interacting with them. We love people.
Having said that and since we do not know it all, we are hoping to get a lot of feedback from our users over time in what brings success and smiles for them. We call this collateral success internally – if we make our users successful, we believe we can grow to continuously support and bring them things they care about. We intend to build features that our users value and want to pay for it. What and how much is too early to tell for such a young company – if your readers have thoughts or suggestions, they can contact me directly at mrinald@crossloop.com
RS: If Crossloop is wildly successful, what kind of company would it be?
MD: I believe we are already very successful Rajesh since we first define success as having fun in what we do and making a difference in people’s lives. We are emailed some of these stories and some are on sites like Digg, for example. We are living it now and we are enjoying the journey. CrossLoop, as a company, is focused on people – employees and users – and having fun at what we do with a lot of passion.
RS: What are the biggest risks for your business as you see them?
MD: Our biggest challenge today is creating awareness and disclosing this “best kept secret” to users worldwide – in developed countries as well as villages and remote towns to enable them to harness the Internet. One of our favorite quotes is “Give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and you will feed him for life.” We want to empower millions to teach millions how to make the most of the Internet!
RS: Last question – about yourself. With this venture, you have demonstrated the power of investing in long-term relationships. Can you please comment on that?
MD: Sure – I met Lee Lorenzen, our key investor and a serial entrepreneur, in about 2000 when he was a guest speaker at one of my classes in B-School at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. He said a lot then that echoed with my personal core values and I knew there and then that I was going to make an effort to make him my mentor – my first from the “real world”. I was fortunate that Lee invested time in me as well over time and now 6 years later, here we are working on something very exciting as a team. Neither knew this was going to happen.
There is nothing more enriching than a trusted relationship for life – personally, professionally and with customers! Suddenly, the journey is so engaging and you are “busy being born” – a good destination is guaranteed!
RS: Thanks Mrinal. Wish you the very best!
I want to wish Crossloop the very best!
Posted under Compelling Offers, Main Page.
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