categories
HOT TOPICS
- The Startup Velocity Question
- Platform as a Service
- Man and Superman
- Web 3.0 = (4C + P + VS)
- The Future: End of Capitalism
- Capitalism 2.0
Oh, and here’s a lead …
For VCs looking for strong product company models, my suggestion is, make a trip to Calcutta (now called Kolkata), the erstwhile capital city of British India, and meet Arvind Agarwal.
Low-cost PCs
EE Times reports on the low-cost PC market in India: “Aiming at India residents with no PC experience, Novatium is developing the Nova NetPC, a thin client expected to cost just $100. The PC is now in beta-stage development and will reportedly be maintenance-free and appliance-like. Novatium’ three founders include Analog Devices’ chairman Ray Stata,
Team-of-Twenty-One
More than ever before, Indians are going back to work in India. Rajesh Jain wrote in July 2003: “There is an optimism in the air. Opportunities abound. India is rising. The time to think about a return to India is Now.” Two years later, the trend is really and truly gaining ground. Most US companies
Coke, Pepsi & the Indian Heartland
December 2004. We were traveling in India. As we waited for our train at a small railway station in Bolpur, a small town near Calcutta, we watched a boy of 10 or 12 arrange his merchandise in preparation for boarding the train to Calcutta. He stacked up hundreds of packets of chips, cookies, and snacks
Indo-Chin talks: Implications
Wall Street Journal reports on the recent Indo-Chin talks: “Burgeoning economic ties are the drivers of much of the goodwill. Two-way trade reached $13.6 billion last year, up from $3 billion in 2000. To push that figure higher, they agreed a joint task force should consider a free-trade agreement between their nations. If created, it
Heritage Hotels: Roll-up opportunity for a Private Equity firm?
Spain developed the Paradors concept very effectively, by converting old forts, palaces, and monasteries into beautiful “experience hotels”. India has done only the beginnings of this, but has a very long way to go yet. Here is a business concept for KKR or Carlyle for India: The real estate market is booming. Old, beautiful architecture
Tourism in India: Huge Opportunity
We were traveling in North India during the holidays last December. We focused mainly on Rajasthan and Varanasi, and our flight to Khajuraho was cancelled. Rajasthan is one of the most popular tourist destinations in India, perhaps second only to Agra and the Taj Mahal. It has enormous and spectacular forts like Amber in Jaipur,
Indian Enterprise Market Sucks
So far, India’s IT industry has primarily catered to the US market, and secondarily to European and Asian markets. In other words, India builds technology largely in a back-office mode. Of course, as the market matures, investors get over their fear factor, and the pendulum swings to the other extreme with over enthusiastic investors flocking