Marc Andressen with Tim Ferriss

Click Here for this good interview with the founder of pioneering web software firm browser Netscape and disruptive VC firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Parts I liked best:

Difference & Similarity between VCs and Value Investors [42:25]

"Anything Warren Buffet is willing to invest in, we run screaming in the other direction. He invests in Heinz Ketchup since people have been using it for over a 100 years and therefore it's a good guess that they will continue to do so for the next 100. Basically, he's betting against change and we are betting for change. When he makes a mistake, it's because something changes that he doesn't expect; we make a mistake when something doesn't change.

But what both schools have in common is Original Thinking and the willingness to look at things as they are ("the core of the business") as opposed to what somebody says about them or it's believed to be. Also, Value Investing is the only place in the market where there's Long Term investing."

Importance of inculcating a Culture of "Building Things" [44:50]

"Smart People Should Build Things" (based on a book title) and "Be So Good that they can't Ignore You" (from the book Born Standing Up by Steve Martin)

Importance of Reading Biographies: "Technology changes; people don’t." [22:28]

"While following contemporary stuff is good, I find it more useful to go further back and read (well written) Biographies about Edison, Disney, Ford, Rockefeller, etc."

How he deals with FOMO (fear of missing out) when it comes to investing [38:47]

Why he does not believe AI is going to either kill jobs or people . [48:01]

Making Babus Walk the Talk on Ease of Doing Business. Via Reality TV!

NPR's Planet Money has a great episode based on the findings of Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto whose work led to the World Bank's annual Ease of Doing Business Ranking  of countries.

Samples of de Soto's practical approach:

- he actually set up a company to find out how long it takes and costs to get various approvals; and

- he got the President of Peru to listen to complaints from business folk on live TV. Who (On Air!) issues diktats to the concerned departments to resolve the matter within a stipulated time. And, best of all, a reporter visits the department by deadline day to follow up - again, with camera in tow!

Entrevista with Raj Nair, Founder of Avalon Consulting

Interview with Raj Nair, Founder-Chairman of Avalon Consulting, the Mumbai-headquartered, international consulting firm and also research and analytics firm Ugam Solutions and artificial intelligence software firm . Interview begins with how Ugam Solutions' founding & funding - especially how the company "pivoted" to completely new business in 50 days flat! The interviewer is fellow entrepreneur Chandu Nair. Chandu earlier founded, successfully raised venture capital for and exited from Scope eKnowledge, one of the earliest KPO firms in India.

The Audio (podcast) version can be downloaded from here 

Highlights:

• Striking balance between Flexibility & Measurement in the Early Years: In the initial years of starting up,  it’s important to have the flexibility to course correct and not put pressure on the business with a rigid business model, ambitious target, etc. “There is (however) a difference between chaos and experimentation. Every day, you need to check if things are ‘happening or not happening’. You cannot be like Christopher Columbus saying 'I somehow want to reach India' and set sail without doing any homework. For every Columbus who got lucky, there are probably thousands who just lost their way.”
• Pricing based on Value: How even with no relevant experience behind them, Raj and his team decided to price their market research services at double the prevalent rates and got away with it.
• Spotting Entrepreneurial Opportunities - in the Pre- Liberalization Days (Market Research) and in Today's Social Media Driven Days (Germinait which mines Social Media for market research using technology tools). Very interesting accounts of the work that Germinait did for measuring the impact of a well known teleco's ad campaign and how it's helping an leading kids TV channel measure social media conversations to decide which characters to promote.
• Experience brings Empathy: “When I started my journey, I used to view colleagues as fellow professionals and it was all about delivering results to clients. Today, I look at them as individual persons - someone whose wife had a migraine in the morning and he had to deal with it before coming; another whose child did not get admitted into a school or that he deserved to and so on. One understands how the environment affects an individual’s behavior, output and productivity at the workplace. In one word, Empathy. And that is something that can’t be taught in a business school.”
• Don't tell your children what (career) path to take. Only if they decide for themselves, will they will own up to the responsibility for what they do!
• Parting Wisdom: Make sure you are having fun! "When you are enjoying, a lot of the hardships don’t seem that big. When you are not enjoying what you are doing, even a small thing becoming a big issue. So make sure whatever you are going to do will give you tremendous satisfaction and happiness. Don't do get into some line of business just because 'the money is great' (and) unless you are going to enjoy the journey." 

Entrevista with Ratish Nair, Founding-CEO of Interactive Avenues

Interview with Ratish Nair, Founding-CEO of Interactive Avenues (IA), the Mumbai-headquartered, Sequoia Capital India-backed digital marketing agency which was acquired in March 2013 by US- and Europe-based ad agency Interpublic. Interview focuses on the company's founding (5 co-founders who earlier worked at another digital agency Mediaturf); Angel Funding (from Anupam Mittal of Shaadi.com); VC Funding and relationship with Sequoia Capital; and, of course, the Exit (how IA ran the process, the role of the VC, the role of the intermediary, internal dynamics, etc.).

The interviewer is fellow entrepreneur Chandu Nair. Chandu earlier founded, successfully raised venture capital for and exited from Scope eKnowledge, one of the earliest KPO firms in India.



The Audio (podcast) version can be downloaded from here 

Other Highlights

Synergistic Co-founding team

How, having worked together in the past (at Mediaturf which they left as a group to found IA), the co-founding team knew each other' strengths and weaknesses and were able to hence work in a synergistic manner.

Leveraging the Brand & Network of VC Investor

How IA tapped Sequoia Capital not just for the money, but also to add to the startup venture's credibility (when pitching for clients) and also for generating business from the investor's other portfolio companies.

Advertising as a way out of small town

Interesting vignettes about a small "mining town" upbringing and how advertising was seen as an escape to the exciting world of the "big city".

Also how the lectures by Prof. Subroto Sengupta at IIM-Calcutta served as an inspiration to join the world of advertising

Advise to other Entrepreneurs

"Never raise more money than what you need - else, you might relax and 'miss the bus'."