Category: Uncategorized

SAP’s Best-Kept Secret….

While I have always enjoyed writing, it’s been a while since I have written professionally. I suspect that having been trained in the scientific ways, there is some part of me that wants a “complete story” — data and all — before documenting it. My work over the last decade has been more entrepreneurial and [...]

Wednesday April 20th, 2011 in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Oppenheimers, move over. It’s time for the Betanabhotlas & Dholakias!

Chirag participated in the Santa Clara County Science Fair (aka the Synopsis Science & Technology Fair) a few weeks ago and was thrilled to be invited to the awards ceremony at the Great America Park and to have won a spot at the California State Science Fair (CSSF). Congrats, Chirag! As I looked at the [...]

Tuesday April 19th, 2011 in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Sphinxes — Egyptian and otherwise

I learned something (of questionable utility) today… Something fascinating, nonetheless. I chaperoned Pooja’s 3rd grade class on a field trip to the Stanford Cantor Art Center — which has the world famous Rodin Garden. Prior to spending time in the Art Center, the class took a detour and visited the Stanford Mausoleum — where I [...]

Thursday March 31st, 2011 in Uncategorized | No Comments »

BizWorld — entrepreneurship starts in elementary school!

I try to volunteer in my kids classes whenever I can. Without fully groking the implications, I volunteered last year to take Chirag’s 5th grade class through the “BizWorld” entrepreneurship program. Wow!  I am so happy I did! First, a simple explanation of the program. And then my observations. Designed by Tim Draper’s BizWorld Foundation, the BizWorld [...]

Sunday March 6th, 2011 in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Philanthropy — An approach

I have been reading, with great interest, the path that the Gates and Warren Buffett are taking and encouraging their billionaire bretheren to take — apparently trying to pull together some $600B in additional giving. Clearly, they have the aggregation issue figured out — pooling money gives you disproportionate power to get things done. The Gates have [...]

Monday November 22nd, 2010 in Uncategorized | Comments Off

AT&T = American Telephone & Texting!!

I was driving Chirag and his buddy Rory back from soccer camp this evening when we passed an AT&T store that is being re-constructed. Curious, I asked the kids if they knew what AT&T stood for. They quickly figured out the American and Telephone parts… but were stumped by the second T — till Chirag suddenly [...]

Tuesday August 10th, 2010 in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Telecom bills… how much they (and the world) have changed!

I just got off of a telephone call with Surekha, who is traveling in India… As I did that, I realized how closely the kids and I have kept in touch with her. I am struck by how sharply (international) telecom bills have dropped. And, how dramatically the technology that has made this possible has also [...]

Saturday August 7th, 2010 in Uncategorized | No Comments »

What’s the fair price — carpooling across the Bay Area Bridges?

My colleague, Thomas Tan, has a pricing dilemma that is worthy of Steven Levitt’s (of Freakonomics fame) attention…. As you might know, the cost of using the Bay Area’s bridges has gone up as of July 1, 2010. As you might also know, cars with 3 or more passengers (“car poolers”) until recently drove across [...]

Thursday July 22nd, 2010 in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Demand generation – science or art?

If you are like us, targeting small and medium businesses (SMBs) around the globe, you are likely spending serious cycles studying your marketing activities, spend and the corresponding results. And, in doing so, likely to be asking questions and testing your beliefs… Like the one I hear often – “Demand generation is more art than [...]

Monday July 19th, 2010 in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Privacy and your social graph — Lessons from the early days of Social Networks @ Spoke Software

Facebook, every so often, tunes its business model. And in doing so, tweaks the default privacy settings. Triggering rebellion in the ranks. Resulting in Facebook redrawing the boundaries to be more conservative. While I haven’t, admittedly, delved into the details of Facebook’s endeavours (ok, I do have limited “spare” time and spending time with my [...]

Monday July 19th, 2010 in Uncategorized | No Comments »