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Bitcoin is not a game. The key players are asking ordinary people to invest their real-world money into a virtual currency that has a lot of potential to save us on transaction costs and speed but is also one of the easiest ways to lose half a billion dollars with no recourse! Brian wrote an […] 

I come here to bury the WhatsApp conversation not to praise it. The Noble Om hath told you Zuck was ambitious. And grievously he is paying for it.  Yes, $19 billion dollars. Yes, half a billion people use WhatsApp and its on its way to being the next biggest social network with a billion people […] 

The cost-cutting policy change at AOL intended to save a few million dollars a year (hey, free money to bottom-line) is yet another example of a failing human resources function in many companies. While there are many reasons to justify cutting corners in benefits to employees especially in an earnings-starved company like AOL, it was […] 

Satya Nadella is a highly accomplished, extremely smart Microsoft executive who is correctly receiving a warm reception from media and pundits. The question that remains open however is – is he the change agent that can help Microsoft avoid the fate that other Wintel players are facing? He clearly seems to have taken to Marc […] 

The Quora editorial team picked out my post on this topic and published it on Forbes. Forbes Quora: What do Startups not know? 1. Most startups are afraid of charging real $$$$. You can charge $5M for a website with 7 static pages. Annually. For a very public example of this, just take a look at the cost […] 

Most startups are afraid of charging real $$$$. You can charge $5M for a website with 7 static pages. Annually.There is a trend I have seen with accelerator startups – charging too little. I think this comes from youth and the feeling that if X was 10 times cheaper you would buy it. In our real […] 

antanacoins Bitcoin has a uniqueness problem – Bitcoin has lots and lots of unique features and advantages that you can read about. However, I find one particular risk that you can drive a truck through. Compared to US Dollar (or Euro, Pound, any national currency) which by definition can have only one of each – and […] 

There is plenty of questions around viability of what Coin has built and will be offering. There is plenty of naysayers and people with opinions on why it won’t work. But here is what Coin got right – they have proven that there is a lot of demand for us to have a virtual wallet […] 

One of the questions often asked by venture investors and entrepreneurs alike is – how does product strategy work at a company like Salesforce? How is it different from Oracle? How does Salesforce thinking about products fundamentally different than how SAP or Oracle approach it? To me it comes down to the way the three […] 

Every time one more journalist wakes up from his sleep they talk about how Apple may be doing fine for now but it really really needs a new breakthrough product. Time Magazine says “Apple has to create a new category, or it will sink into normality”. Apple is doing very well leading one of the biggest […] 

After leaving Salesforce after five and a half years, I am often asked by entrepreneurs and venture investors what the next generation of CRM looks like.  Or the billion-dollar question: Who will disrupt Salesforce.com? I have seen well written articles about the future of CRM like this post but I don’t view the world of CRM through […] 

There are some very interesting startups that are taking the technology to the masses and solving problems for the bottom of the pyramid. The mobile phone has allowed innovations like mCommerce to reach banking and healthcare where not earlier possible. Car for the Rich Elites. The 1%. But I believe that often times, the right […] 

Lately, I have met a host of entrepreneurs and friends with startups that are looking for just some input on their investment pitch and general feedback on their product and go to market strategy. I am really impressed by the products built and problems being solved but if I had to summarize my feedback, it […] 

Silicon valley heydays are over according to Ryan Holmes CEO of HootSuite. I think he is generating good buzz for his company (did you hear how well HootSuite is doing?), his stakeholders and his country but he is plain wrong. Rise of the maple syrup mafia is sweet words but not really true. Not even […] 

Facebook Home is going to change the way we live our lives on our mobile phones, perhaps. May be. May be not. I am reminded of so many attempts to: Turn eyeballs into action on PCs.  Turn blank web browser homes into ad units, home pages, pre-loaded apps. Ability to read email/messages etc without starting […] 

Marc Andreessen rightly pointed out that Software is Eating the World, in a Wall Street Journal article. Well, the rule of creative destruction applies to software companies too including Search. And now this search for dominance is joined by newly energized for another round – Yahoo! with a new CEO and COO. But is this battle […] 

The success of Square, the rise of Twitter, the adoption of Facebook and the enterprise software revolution that accompanies it – all emanate from the evolution of what we need technology to deliver – it’s no longer the packaging of repeatable processes automated to save pennies on the dollar but the desire to increase the […] 

Today, I am excited that we are launching Site.com – the only cloud-based web content management system (CMS) built ground up for the social enterprise. This has been a journey over the last few years for me to discover the challenges faced by marketers and their friends in IT who want nothing more than simple, […] 

Let me just jump straight into them. No prologue. Rick Perry: Yes, he tops my list. I will vote for him if, and that’s a big Texas sized if – he promises to stop massacring English language. I think we need to have TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) requirement not just for […] 

Yes, we have a new social network and I am a proud profile carrying member of the new elite created by an artificial scarcity of invites. A technique now pretty much a requirement for launching anything new that’s social with 2 benefits, the obvious buzz factor and the ability to iterate and learn before you […]