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The absurdity of old employee verifications!
I used to run a software services firm, and I still get baffled when a former employee who left ages ago asks me for a reference check or letter. Some big software firms have the worst practices on this. They email my HR a lengthy form and demand it to be filled and returned in a day or two. They set the deadline, not us. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to help an old colleague get a better job. It’s good for the industry to weed out the bad apples. But why should my company waste hours of HR time to dig up and enter the information? The hiring company…
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An interesting panel discussion on funding in India
I attended an informative panel today on “Evolution & Current State of Start-Up funding in India” by veterans and hosted by my good friend Vineeth Vijayaraghavan. The distinguished panellists were: ⭐Mr Vishesh Rajaram – Managing Partner, Speciale Invest ⭐Mr Hari Krishna – Partner, Lok Capital ⭐Mr Balaji Kulothungan – Founder, Galore Networks (1998, EEE) ⭐Mr Murari Sridharan – CTO, Bank Bazaar (1997, CSE) The panellists covered a wide range of topics: 1️⃣ The prevailing investment scenario in Chennai, 2️⃣ Historically capital for businesses was always available. Venture Capitalist funding was initially created to build products that didn’t exist, 3️⃣ There is a mismatch between founders and VCs on the timeline.…
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TiE Women – Palam Silks Jeyashree Ravi
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தமிழ்நாட்டில் வரும் தமிழ் வாசகங்கள்
தமிழ்நாட்டில் வரும் விளம்பரங்களில் தங்கிலீஷ் அதிகம் வருகிறது, கேட்டால் மக்களை ஈர்க்கும் வகையில், ஆங்கிலத்தில் (ஆங்கில வார்த்தைகளைக் கொண்டு) தான் கவர்ச்சியாக வாசகங்கள் அமைகின்றன என்கிறார்கள். இந்தத் தேர்தலில் இரு பெரியக் கட்சிகளும் தங்களின் (விளம்பரப் பாடல்) வாசகங்களை அழகாக, நினைவில் நிற்கும்படி தான் அமைத்திருந்தார்கள் – அதுவும் தமிழில்! (இதைச் சொல்லும் போது இதில் இருக்கும் முரணை நான் மறக்கவில்லை). நிறுவனங்களும் மற்றவர்களும் சொல்பவற்றை விடப் பிரபலமான கட்சிகளும், தமிழக (ஊராட்சிகள், மத்திய) அரசும் சொல்லும் வாசகங்கள் பட்டிதொட்டித் தொறும், பாமரனையும் சென்றடையும். அவர்கள் தமிழில் சொல்வதால் ஆங்கில மோகம் குறையும், அந்தத் தமிழ் வாசகங்களுக்குக் கூடுதல் அங்கீகாரம் கிடைக்கும், அடுத்தவர்கள் அதையே பயன்படுத்தும் போது அந்த வார்த்தைகள் எளிதாக மக்கள் நாவில் மனதில் போய் நிற்கும். இதற்கு சமீப கால உதாரணங்கள் சொல்லலாம் (உங்களுக்குத் தோன்றுவதைக் கீழே கருத்துப் பெட்டியில் பகிரலாம்): விலையில்லா மடிக்கணினி காணொளிக் காட்சி செல்பேசி (அம்மா) உணவகம் – (அம்மா) ஹோட்டல் என்று யாரும் சொல்பதில்லை சமத்துவபுரம் உழவர்…
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Fall like a rose petal by AVIS Viswanathan
“Fall like a rose petal“, what a catchy title! I really wanted to like this book. As an entrepreneur myself who in the years after the recession of 2008-09, had gone through a few years of handling bank debts, the story of an entrepreneur who was battling on business debt attracted me. When we read in the media about the huge start up successes, we never get to see the hundreds of failures and closures for each success. We glamorize running a business, but nothing can be harder than to run a small business in India (I have written a few posts on this subject). An appreciation is due to…
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TIECON Chennai 2020
Earlier this year, TiECON Silicon Valley 2020 happened online, giving me a chance to attend it virtually. There were talks by Mr Deepak Chopra, Ms Indra Nooyi, Ms Shellye Archambeau and many others. Coming to my city, Chennai, every year, TiE Chennai organizes their annual mega-event celebrating entrepreneurship called TiECON (2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2010, 2008). This year the entire conference had moved to a virtual platform due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The content of the conference was great, with stellar speakers and fine arrangement. I liked the timings, it was spread over 5 days, every day 3 hours in the evening: this suits better for a virtual platform…
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TiECON Chennai 2019
Every year, TiE Chennai organizes their annual mega-event celebrating entrepreneurship called TiECON (2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2010, 2008) where we get to hear talks by industry leaders and panel discussions by experts and rising stars. This year too was no different. Below are my personal notes that I took down attending the event. Awards Night Yesterday it was the awards night which celebrated entrepreneurs from various fields. The Chennai Children’s Choir, Nalanda Way delighted the audience with their brilliant singing. Keynote – Behold the Crystal Ball! The day started with a Keynote by Mr Vineet Nayar, former CEO of HCL. He talked about “How not to be an ant…
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The Future of Content Distribution
The Chennai Angels and TiE Chennai had organized a very interesting fireside chat session today on the future of content distribution – which was about the business of movie distribution in India and Indian films. The two industry veterans on the stage Mr Senthil Kumar of Qube Cinema and Mr Sanjay Wadhwa of AP International were awesome. They had so much to share on how things work behind the scene in making and distributing a film from a business and commercial perspective. The moderator extraordinaire Mr Chandu Nair had done so much homework on the topic, that he kept the pace to resemble that of drinking from a firehose. Senthil…
