N R Narayana Murthy - biography - Ritu Singh

 

Generally I do not read biographies, even the ones which are recommended of famous, successful people. That's because these books always go into a praising mode, highlighting every good decision and milestone achieved by its subject person, and hiding away the bad decisions and mistakes. Its specially worse for autobiographies, where the author might delve into a self praising monologue at times. The most used word in such a book would be the single letter word: 'I'. Its always 'I' did this, 'I' did that. 'I' fought, 'I' persisted and 'I' succeeded.

So it was with a little doubt that I chanced upon a small paperback biography of NRN, retailing for less than 100 Rs/-. I was surprised no one mentioned this to me, surely much more has been written about people who have achieved just 1% of NRN's success. So , off I went, and finished the book in 2 hours. (Yep, my old speed reading skills are still with me.)

 

I couldn't help write something about this book, and it's enviable genius subject. The book itself is written in the simplest english you could find, with no big words to show off the author's control over grammar. There is a little flashback-style to it, NRN's childhood days are covered only from the third chapter onwards..but most of the book is in chronological order. The last two chapters are about Infoys and the Infosys foundation, and I felt it was more like an advertisement than part of the memoir. But the book covers NRN's life from this childhood days till until he stepped down as CEO, and some more. There are some rare pictures from various stages of his life. Kids are gonna love this  ! not to mention the target audience - young twenty something Indians looking for inspiration.

What I could infer:

1: NRN is highly intelligent. There is no denying his brilliant mind allowed him to grasp things others would overlook. He was smart enough to get selected for IIT. Twice !. And then, he went to work over there. There is a part in the book where NRN felt that his life and work at Patni was too slow, and he wanted to speed up. There is a school of thought that brilliant people are generally more successful, but nothing has been concluded.

2: Hard work. NRN proved time and again that there was no substitute for hard work. The book makes it very clear that he worked well into the night, and weekends and holidays in his initial struggle at Infosys often having to neglect his personal life as well. This was one reason why he didn't want his wife to work at Infosys, because he didn't want his family to be neglected. The other, was that he is a man of principles, and didn't want it to look like nepotism.

3: Save. Save whatever you can. During the first years at Infosys, the Murthys kept a strong watch on what they did with their earnings. 1980's India was just getting liberalized, money was hard to come by. The book makes it clear that the Murthy's saved whatever they could, without wasting anything on luxuries. The first office setup was in their spare bedroom !Sudha Murthy used to walk 4 kms to her office, it is mentioned in the book. And the women used to cook for their colleagues.  And they did not have even have a TV at home for a long time. (But then, all they could watch was Doordarshan, right ?). NRN used to meet his clients on bi-cycles and scooters ! Nowadays, just to show off, vendors will rent out cars when they go on client visits. Saving was an important reason why Infosys survived. And grew. The credit-card swiping, expensive-smartphone wielding youngsters of today would never understand the meaning of this simple 4 letter word- save- and how much it can change your life.  NRN and Infy only began spending when the company turned profitable, and only went public long after that. There is something evergreen to be learned here.

4. Values. He is a man of principles. And words like honesty and integrity were more than just words for him. NRN did not simply want to deliver something to his customers, he wanted to build relationships. When he and his six colleagues left Patni, they never poached any clients. And when they faced beurocratic issues in India, they chose to persist and wait. The book says they used to make a lot of phone calls from a public phone, because they did not have a phone of their own ! And when they travelled abroad, they tried to save every nickle and dime, so that that money could be re-purposed positively for the company.  NRN still travells in business class.

Having said all this, it is sad that Infosys, the company built upon such strong core values, is no longer that place.  Yes, they have a huge campus. They provide facilities to their employees no other Indian company can boast of. But the workforce itself is bloated. Today in a typical project, only 10% of the team members work. And they do about 90% of the total work. The rest are simply on the team for billing purposes. Attrition rates are high. They way they judge and select talent is skewed. This year they gave their employees their lowest ever hike, according to the papers. Of the seven founding members, except NRN, all have turned into millionaires with other business interests. NRN was called back to the company when management failed in leading the company positively.

Looks like the management at Infosys is the one who was to read this book. They have to know where they came from.  And for anyone dreaming of starting up a billion dollar enterprise.

Jurassic Park 4 - the one that didn't get made

Before we begin, a little back-story to fill you in: In 1993, Jurassic Parkwas unleashed upon an unsuspecting public and it took the world by storm. Based on the novel by Michael Crichton, the film was noteworthy for its Oscar-winning special effects and incredible score by John Williams. It was suspenseful, funny, horrifying, exciting; everything you could ever want from a Hollywood blockbuster. Soon after, a sequel followed, and after that, another one. The third film was panned by critics, but it was still a success at the box office, and that was enough reason for the studio to want to put together a fourth.

Jurassic Park 4 introduces us to ex-Navy Seal Nick Harris, who has been contacted by John Hammond to complete a very important task. Harris must voyage out to Isla Nubar to retrieve the shaving cream can filled with dino embryos that Dennis Nedry left behind after he was killed on the island. It appears that, while many of the dinosaurs have been wiped out, some have managed to make it to the mainland, and attacks are becoming quite a problem. The United Nations has outlawed the mining of amber, so Hammond is left with only one solution: use the embryos inside the can of shaving cream to create younger, sterile female predators to take on the remaining species on the island. The problem is, though, that the UN has also outlawed the creation of any new dinosaurs, and a corporation called Grendel International now has full ownership of the island and has equipped it with a security force. So Harris is going to have to be extra careful in finding this can.

When Harris reaches Isla Nubar, he has no problem finding Nedry’s bony remains. Soon, Harris is able to find the target Barbasol can in no time. Activating a homing device he left on the beach, he quickly begins to make his way back, when he hears a rustling behind him, and soon realizes he’s surrounded by camouflaged security rangers. He quietly drops his weapons as they command, but before anyone can think, a colony of excavaraptors attack. Amidst the barrage of the rangers’ gunfire, Harris manages to escape, a raptor hot on his trail. When he finally manages to hide behind an abandoned Jeep, a group of compsognathus strike, and he quickly runs for a nearby building, accidentally leaving his gun behind. Inside the building, which turns out to be an old staff bunker, Harris finds a map which has a layout of all the staff quarters on the island, and it looks like the control center isn’t too far from the beach. With a raptor hot on his trail, Harris begins his journey through the underground utility tunnels. After a brief run in with some dilophosaurs, and the ever-persistent raptor, Harris finally makes it to the beach where a pilot has been waiting for him. Harris begins swimming out into the ocean, where the raptor doesn’t dare venture, but when a kronosaurus catches the lifeline from the plane and destroys it, killing the pilot, Harris is now trapped in the ocean. Luckily, at that moment, a helicopter arrives and Harris grabs hold of its rescue ladder, saving him just in the nick of time. Too bad the helicopter belongs to the Grendel Corporation.

Fortunately, Harris manages to grab the Barbasol can and jump out of the helicopter, landing in the ocean and swimming toward a nearby beach where a Capt. Overton is waiting for him. Pursued by Grendel’s thugs, Harris manages to hide the Barbasol can in the ancient Coca-Cola cooler of a nearby cafe, which he’ll come back to later. Harris finds a hotel he thinks it’ll be safe to stay at, but of course it isn’t. Grendel Corp.’s men have tracked him down once again and bring him to Sweden, where Harris is met by Adrien Joyce, a criminal Harris managed to get kicked out of Honduras for selling weaponry who now works for Grendel. Joyce wants the Barbasol can, offering to match Hammond’s offer, but Harris won’t budge. Instead, Joyce explains he would like Harris’ help with Grendel’s newest project. Grendel has secretly been breeding dinosaurs and splicing their DNA with other species as well as domestic dogs and humans to make them obedient to commands. With proper training, Grendel plans to use these genetically-engineered dinos to act as soldiers—SWAT teams, riot control, that sort of thing—and Harris is the perfect man for the job. Why do they need these genetically-enhanced dino-hybrids? To save Isabel Chartiers—daughter of Bertrand Chartiers, chairman of the Duhamel Group—who is being held for ransom by a group call the North African Liberation Front. Using humans to save her would take far too long; these dinos, with their natural predatory instincts, will find the culprits in no time. Harris gives in and agrees to train the dino-soldiers, who are marvelously fast learners.

When Harris and the dino-soldiers find the kidnappers’ hideout, the dinos go to work tearing the kidnappers to shreds. Not a single one is left alive. And, thankfully, they are able to rescue little Isabel. Job well done. But Grendel’s work is not over. This is just the beginning. They have other missions in mind, and they want Harris on board for good. Their next mission: take down Pepe Aguilar, a drug lord who is holding a number of innocent people prisoner, including the President’s niece. For this mission, they’ll need more than just the genetically-altered raptors. They’re employing the spitters too. Their training goes smoothly at first, until one of the raptors goes a bit berserk and kills a Grendel mercenary. Finally, the beast calms down, but no one is quite sure what went wrong. Later that night, Harris strikes up a deal with Baron von Drax, head of Grendel. He’ll tell von Drax where he hid the embryos as long as they let Maya—a female scientist of theirs who Harris has started to develop feelings for—off the island, free from Grendel. Von Drax agrees, and when Harris breaks the news to her, she is shocked. Realizing there’s not much she can do, she reveals a damning bit of information: It was Grendel Corp. who kidnapped Isabel Chartier in the first place. Harris is horrified, but no matter, because this plot point is never brought up again. And it isn’t long before Grendel send some men out to retrieve the Barbasol can that Harris hid in that Coke cooler. But the DNA inside is not at all what von Drax has been waiting for. They found a decoy. The can was filled with the genes of toads.

Everyone feels good when the mission to take down Pepe Aguilar is a success; everyone but the dinosaurs. It seems that the raptors have become too sentient. They quickly destroy the cameras mounted to their bodies and smash the control-implants placed in their ears. This is their rebellion. The raptors strike on the convoy, with intent to kill. And they do. Carnage ensues as the raptors get their revenge on the humans who held them captive for so long. It isn’t long before the dinos target Harris and Maya, but to these two, they make an exception. It’s almost as if the dinos understand that they were the good guys the whole time, and they leave them alone, disappearing into the jungle, free at last. But what of the real Barbasol can? Well, maybe I missed it somewhere, but that actually managed to get to John Hammond at some point. The end. Really. The end.

 

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http://greatestmovies-nevermade.tumblr.com/post/115492212475/jurassic-park-4

Behind TaxiForSure’s Sellout

 

A story of oversized ambition, a black swan event, a govt’s knee-jerk reaction, cash burn, over-reliance on venture capital funds and life in the times of Breaking News media

Mumbai: Over the previous 18 hours, Raghu, as he is popularly known, had practiced the speech, playing the sentences over and over again in his head. He would start by saying that in the three-and-a-half year journey of TaxiForSure (TFS), he had never thought that a day like this would ever come. That he had never planned for this. That it was the worst moment of his entire TFS journey.

Now that the moment had arrived, at around 2.30pm on a warm March afternoon, at TFS’s office in Bengaluru’s Koramangala, on the terrace, in front of almost 200 nervous employees, Raghu was overcome by emotion.

He gave himself a few seconds to recover. And then a few more.

The previous 18 hours had been tough. He had barely slept, knowing what was around the corner. Monday had started way earlier than usual. He woke up at 5am but there wasn’t much to do, so he idled around and, then, when his two-and-a-half-year-old son woke up, he made him breakfast. At about 7.30am, Raghu and his wife, Shilpa, left home. Their destination was TFS’s first office—the company had started here in 2011 with just two people—Raghu, 33, and Aprameya Radhakrishna, 34. It was a 100 sq. ft terrace office; No. 855, 4th Floor, 7th Main, JP Nagar, Bengaluru-78.

At around 8.15am, when Raghu and Shilpa reached the office, TFS’s finance controller Deena Jacob was already there, waiting for them with a clutch of documents. It was Raghu’s idea to meet there—to see the end of TFS’s journey from where it had all begun.

Before he got down to it, though, Raghu had to honour a simple request from Shilpa—he could sign the documents only after 9am, at an auspicious time. The group whiled away the time, fondly recollecting old memories, making plans to buy the 100 sq. ft room as a keepsake. Once the clock struck 9, Raghu got down to it. One after the other, he signed 16 copies of shareholder agreements, all stating that he was okay getting in Ola Cabs as a 100% investor in the company.

The 16 slight scribbles brought closure to months of helplessness and frustration. And just like that, TFS was sold to Ola Cabs.

This is the story of two entrepreneurs who set out to build a big business (after a drunken night at the Tavern pub), couldn’t, and so cashed out and moved on.

It is the story of TFS’s oversized ambition, a black swan event, a government’s knee-jerk reaction, cash burn, over-reliance on venture capital funds and life in the times of Breaking News media coverage.

This is the story of how, in just two months, TFS went from a prospective good second bet in the taxi aggregator business in India, almost on the verge of raising $200 million, to a company that no venture capitalist would touch.

It all started when Ola Cabs (the company’s name is ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd) turned up the heat—on 22 August 2014.

Competition

It was a business-as-usual move, a competitor trying to score a quick win, about getting the numbers up, sharply, just before stepping out to raise funds. And so, on a cool Bengaluru morning, Ola Cabs dropped Ola Mini cab rates by almost one-fourth, from Rs.13 to Rs.10 a km, making cabs cheaper than an auto rickshaw. The fare for an Ola sedan was slashed from Rs.16 to Rs.13 per km. And that was only for the consumer.

For drivers, Ola started a weekly incentive scheme—a driver who did 30 or 40 trips a week could earn as much as Rs.8,000 as a bonus.

In September, Ola changed the driver incentive scheme once again—to a daily one. A driver who did five trips a day would get a bonus of Rs.500, seven trips, Rs.800, 10 trips, Rs.1,200. Then came the Ola Wallet and a promise of 100% cashback, on the first recharge for every user, till October 2014.

Ola’s rival, across town, TFS, was watching the firm’s every move closely. Ola’s logic was clear. The company had raised Rs.250 crore in a round of funding in July 2014 and was burning money to get more customers and drivers on its platform. In the process, it was losing as much as Rs.200 on every ride.

“We thought it would not last, that it was just a spike,” says Raghu. “The daily driver incentives given by Ola had started affecting us because, at the end of the day, a driver has both devices and will choose whoever gives him more money. So we waited for September and October to see whether Ola would stop.”

TFS was confident that Ola would.

The company couldn’t have been more wrong.

On 28 October, Ola raised $210 million (about Rs.1,281 crore) from SoftBank Internet and Media Inc.(SIMI) and its existing investors—Tiger Global, Matrix Partners India and Steadview Capital.

“We never expected that someone would write a $210 million cheque for a cab aggregator company in India so soon,” says Raghu. “With that kind of money on the table, Ola would not stop. That’s when we thought we couldn’t just be on the sidelines and watch. That we would have to fight for our survival.”

In the start-up world, whenever there is a large difference between two firms, raising capital becomes very difficult for the laggard. With $210 million at its disposal, Ola had serious potential to outrun TFS. So if TFS had to survive, it needed to grow. And then, because it had only so much cash in the bank ($8-10 million left, part of the $12 million TFS had raised in August 2014 from Accel US), it had to get into the market to raise another round, a big one.

Burning cash

On 1 November, TFS decided to play the game. It came up with a simple strategy. Thanks to the higher per km rates, consumers weren’t using the service for short distance travel. So, at the consumer end, TFS dropped rates. To Rs.49 for the first 4km and then Rs.14 per km. But at the driver’s end, it needed to incentivize drivers to pick up rides. So it held on to the old rates for drivers (Rs.200 for the first 10km). So if a customer was paying Rs.49 for a 4km run, the driver would still receive Rs.200.

To put it simply, TFS was losing Rs.150 per ride.

But the strategy worked brilliantly. Almost immediately, there was a significant surge in the number of transactions. By the end of October, TFS was doing about 8,000 transactions per day without losing any money. By the second week of November, the number of transactions had jumped by almost three times. And so did the losses. On an average, TFS was losing Rs.36 lakh every day.

In November, TFS burnt through $1.8 million (almost Rs.11 crore).

If that wasn’t enough, the firm started expanding to other cities. It entered Hubli, Ahmedabad, Mysuru, Kolkata and Chandigarh. The way Raghu and Aprameya saw it, it was a do-or-die strategy. “You can be conservative,” says Aprameya, the co-founder of TFS, “but once you get aggressive, then you go for the kill. Maximum growth, maximum cities, all positive signs.”

Sometime in the third week of November, TFS started exploring the market to raise funds—around $200 million.

Things looked good.  In early 2014, skeptics had questioned the size and scale of the Indian taxi aggregation business, but with SoftBank’s $210 million investment in Ola, almost overnight, the market was validated. Everyone agreed that it was a multi-billion-dollar opportunity. Private equity and hedge funds in the US and Hong Kong were excited. “We were bleeding,” says Raghu, “but we took a call to get aggressive. We saw a 4X jump and our investors were so happy. It was amazing. So many investors were interested in participating. And everybody was telling me, this is amazing Raghu, this is great. We can put in a large sum of money.”

Over the next couple of weeks, talks between TFS and prospective investors progressed smoothly. The company saw interest from more than 20 investors in the US. Due diligence and number crunching had already been done. Only two steps remained; a partnership meeting with the firm, where the entrepreneur makes a presentation to the firm’s senior team, and the final nod for investment. Usually, entrepreneurs like to do this face to face. With that in mind, on 6 December (a Saturday), at about 8.30pm, Raghu boarded an Etihad Airways flight from Bengaluru to San Francisco. Only when he landed in the US, on Sunday morning, and connected to the airport Wi-Fi, did he realize that while he was on the flight, an incident with dire implications for the taxi business had taken place in India.

Late in the evening, at about 11pm on 6 December, news broke that a Uber cab driver, Shiv Kumar Yadav, had raped a 26-year-old woman passenger in Delhi.

The aftermath—ban, ban, ban

Once Raghu reached his hotel, he got on to a call with Aprameya and the senior management team from TFS to discuss the Uber incident. In Delhi, things looked grim. There was widespread anger and the air was rife with rumours that all taxi aggregator firms would be banned. Other states, too, such as Karnataka and Maharashtra, were considering a ban. The news of the ban was circulating on social media, but TFS hadn’t received any notice.

Back in San Francisco, Raghu started feeling the pressure. He had lined up almost 20 meetings with VCs and hedge funds the following day, Monday, 8 December. He didn’t want to go in unprepared. So he asked for a breakfast meeting with Arun Mathew of Accel US and Ashish Gupta of Helion Ventures. They met, first thing Monday morning. “And they were like, it has become a big thing,” said Raghu. “Everybody in the Bay Area is discussing this, and just this. That’s when Arun told me it was a really bad time for me to visit because most talks would be on the Uber incident.”

Mathew was right. Raghu’s first partner meeting was at 8.30am, and this is how he remembers it going.

First question: What do you think about the Uber incident?

Second question: What will happen to Uber?

“I was like, this is the heat of the moment...,” Raghu replied. “Over a period of time, things will settle down. I think, in some part, Uber will have to make some changes in its business model, and stuff like that. But it doesn’t mean things will get eliminated, it is an essential service.”

The partners weren’t convinced.

Third question: Have taxi aggregators been banned?

Fourth question: What does the law say?

Fifth question: Why have you not taken permits?

“I told them we had not received any notice,” says Raghu. “It is not a banned service, as long as the regulations governing aggregators are absent. It is a new model, and the government hasn’t thought about this.” The partners didn’t share Raghu’s optimism. In their mind, regulation was top priority, and they needed more time to figure it out before committing to investing.

Over the next five days, every meeting, 23 in all, Raghu had followed a similar script.

Even as all this was happening, back in India, Aprameya was facing the music of a government that was desperate to be seen as doing something. In a knee-jerk reaction, it wanted to ban the service. On Tuesday morning (9 December), Aprameya got a call from the Bengaluru police commissioner to come for a meeting at 11am. Most cab operators were there, except Uber. “They made me stand up and asked me, what is your model? Do you take responsibility?” says Aprameya. But, before he could answer, someone behind him quipped: “Sir, on their website, they are saying they don’t take any responsibility.” As Aprameya tells it, the commissioner was furious, and it felt like being back in school, being reprimanded by the teacher.

The same day, news appeared that the home ministry had banned Uber and all other taxi aggregators in Delhi. But there was nothing in writing. “Till date, we have nothing in writing saying we are banning you,” says Aprameya. But public sentiment was against the aggregators, and they couldn’t make a statement about not actually being banned.

TFS was helpless. It wanted clarity, but couldn’t get any as there was no formal paperwork. “The media said the home ministry has banned the service but we were working with the transport ministry. They were saying an internal memo has been sent. So there was no clarity.”

Back in San Francisco, Raghu decided to wait it out another week. And seek fresh meetings with VCs who had Indians in their management, with the idea that perhaps they would understand the regulatory flux in India better than the Americans, for whom absolute clarity on regulation was top priority. But, even in those meetings, nothing changed. “It was sheer bad timing,” says Raghu. “I wasn’t frustrated because I could understand their concern. But there was disappointment.”

Raghu could have stayed longer, but the holiday season was about to begin. On 21 December, he got back to Bengaluru. He had no money but assurances from a couple of investors, who were keen to sync back after 7 January, when they would be back from holidays. Back in India, things hadn’t changed much. There was no regulatory clarity in Delhi or Chandigarh, where there was supposedly a ban. “The funny thing is we didn’t stop operations anywhere,” says Raghu. “Because we didn’t have any notice. It was only in the news.”

In the second week of January, things became difficult. The firm was losing money every day and it just couldn’t stop the incentives. The investors who had promised hope after 7 January got back and said they were unsure.

And the existing investors were not in a position to bring in money.

“It needed a big guy to come in and write that cheque. It was a lot of money,” says Raghu.

The sale

On 10 January, two of Accel India’s partners, Anand Daniel and Prashanth Prakash, asked Raghu and Aprameya out for coffee; 30 minutes into the meeting, the Accel partners broached the subject of an interest from Ola Cabs.

“So why don’t you guys consider this? It is something we can explore,” said Daniel. “In the meantime, if there is inbound interest from a large player (fund), that can also be considered.” It wasn’t an easy discussion to be had. Raghu says that his first reaction was ‘no’. “We said that as founders, we wouldn’t want to sell to competition,” he says. On their part, Daniel and Prakash argued that on the face of it, Accel was interested in talking with Ola but that it was not their decision to make. “They have approached us and we think it is our responsibility to come and tell you guys. So you guys decide,” said Daniel. The meeting lasted about two hours, after which both Raghu and Aprameya went back to office.

Once inside the boardroom, they frantically started putting together the names of the investors that they could reach out to at short notice.

They were going to ask for some money to “weather the storm to survive”, says Raghu. They cut down on the amount of $200 million. On a piece of paper, Raghu put down 14 names. And over the next few days, he began calling each one of them.

It was a futile effort.

TFS had very little money left, and absolutely no time.

The company had less than $2 million in the bank, which would have lasted only till mid-February. “We ourselves were not convinced (that we would survive),” says Raghu. “I called all the 14 people, and we even convinced two to participate; but it was too little, too late. We could have survived only for two-three months with that kind of money.”

After a while, pragmatism won. The firm couldn’t afford a scenario where there would be no money to pay the salaries of the 1,800 employees. Or worse, pay operators.

Between 15 and 20 January, the promoters realized selling out to competition was probably their best option.

“That’s when we reached out to our investors to reach out to Uber and also began talks with Ola,” says Raghu.

Even as all this was happening, on the morning of 28 January, The Times of India ran a story, citing people it didn’t name, that Ola Cabs would acquire TaxiForSure. For $200-250 million. The story said it is a “sealed deal and could be announced in the next few weeks”. Raghu claims the deal was far from being sealed as TFS had just begun talks. And not just to Ola but also Uber.

For the outside world, it didn’t matter.

At TFS’s office, all hell broke loose.

“You know, 28 January was so miserable,” says Raghu. “I walk into office and see Monster.com and Naukri.com pages opened on some of the employees’ monitors. It is an open office, and you feel so bad. And you can’t walk up and say anything. And people are also not going to come up and ask.” Over the next few days, the cross talk among employees increased, so did the speculation. “For a few days after that, people would just leave at 6pm. We’ve never seen our office empty at 6,” he adds.

Previously, on 20 January, the firm had “capped marketing expenses and put a freeze on hiring. So now, people started co-relating and jumping to conclusions”. It wasn’t long before the taxi operators started dropping by. Curious to know what’s happening because their livelihood depended on TFS’s existence.

Aprameya and Raghu were helpless and frustrated.

“We believed we are open and transparent,” says Raghu. “So now what? How do you hold that belief? Some people felt they are getting cheated because they are getting to know things from the newspapers. That phase was really bad—where we had no answers.”

It is another matter altogether that concern over the future of the employees was playing on top of their minds in seeing the deal through.

And to solve that piece of the puzzle, Raghu turned to Phanindra Sama, the founder of Redbus, for advice.

Sama had made a successful exit in 2012, when he sold Redbus to Ibibo, but the exit hadn’t gone as well as Sama would have liked it to.

In the first week of February, Raghu and Sama met at a Café Coffee Day outlet in Indiranagar, at 5pm.

Raghu had a simple question for him: what are the mistakes he could avoid? Or what is it that Sama would do differently, if given a chance?

It was then that Sama shared an interesting anecdote with him. Something that took place after Redbus was acquired by Ibibo.

When an employee walked up to him and said: “Phani, just like you, we also gave our blood, sweat and tears for the firm. So why is it that you are the only one making money?”

So Sama asked him, “What is it that you want?”

And he said: “One month’s salary as bonus will do.”

“That’s what Phani told me,” says Raghu. “That if at all, you should give one month’s bonus to all the employees. And I was like, okay, if that’s the case then why one month, we will give two months’ bonus.”

That’s how equity stock option (ESOP) acceleration (for TFS stockholders) and two months’ bonus for about 1,800 people became the centre of the conversation and negotiation with Uber and Ola. With Uber, the discussions went far, before a scary reality emerged. The company globally has 848 people on its rolls. TFS had 1,800 people in India. If the deal was to go through, it would lead to a massive bloodbath.

“That’s where we closed it,” says Raghu. “So product, engineering, marketing, analytics, and tech, Uber has its own thing. And also Uber believed only in a driver-led model, so our operators (people who own and run a fleet of cabs) would also go. So it would have been a bloodbath and 90% of our people would have had to go. That’s why we said no.”

After that, it was just Ola. And Bhavish Aggarwal, the founder of Ola, agreed the company would continue to work with operators, and also ensure that none of the people in the team would lose their jobs.

The meeting

Towards the end of the meeting, Aprameya wants this writer to take a guess on how much money TFS raised in its three-and-a-half years of existence.

$60 million?

Take another guess.

No, come on.

$26 million till December last year. The $10 million after that, the bridge round was just for the deal to happen.

Aprameya says the firm didn’t respond or acknowledge a report in The Times of India on the last round being $30 million.

“It is good for us if people are quoting a higher number.”

He continues: “We raised $26 million and sold for $200 million... That’s 1/9th of what Ola has raised. And Uber has already pumped in a lot of money—at least five times more than that. We were doing 40,000 transactions a day with that money. You know it would have required one more guy in the world to say, ‘Yes, we will fight SoftBank’. It never happened, but that’s okay.”

It is evident that luck and timing haven’t exactly gone TFS’s way.

Raghu says it is about circumstances. “We were lucky to have lived this journey and made a respectable exit. From a personal ambition, vision and goal, yes we were unlucky. But it could have been worse. Much, much more worse.”

Baby (Bollywood Movie 2015) - Height of Wishful Thinking

 

So I watched the Bollywood movie Baby, which came out in 2015, directed by Neeraj Pandey. Neeraj's first two movies had taken the nation by storm, immediately catching viewer's attention. So this one was eagerly waited. For this first movie, he told the story of an ordinary man of India, who being fed up of the continuous terror attacks in the country, and being frustrated from the helplessness of the police and judicial system, decides to take matters in his own hands, and meticulously plans to deliver quick justice. The events in the movie unravel over the course of just one day, and from beginning to end, was an edge of the seat thriller. For his second outing, Neeraj decided to go retro, and gave us an account of a real life robbery, where the thieves posed as secret service agents and duped the actual police force. These are not the kind of movies you regularly get to watch from Bollywood.And so, poised on a hat trick, viewers were awaiting his third delivery, which came out this year, and named Baby.

Baby is the code name of a top secret elite Indian agency operating at the highest level of discretion. Its kinda IMF , with only Indians as agents. Just reading this one line would tell you the contradiction hidden in there. The movie tells the accounts of the last mission (well, not exactly last) of the team of …just four agents, who go an international wild goose chase to bring back an terrorist who jumped prison. The whole planning and execution of the team's missions is top notch, the agents are always on time, they never miss a shot, they use top grade fire arms, and don't suffer any causalities, and enjoy the support of the ruling government. Also the team knows that if they are caught or compromised, their government would disavow them. Its a hollywood movie, with lots of Indian masala, and one romantic song sequence added for good measure. The movie was shot in various middle eastern locations, and there are some nice scenes and tightly edited fight sequences. But somehow, it manages to NOT stay with you when you finish watching.

It is all wishful thinking. Kaaash. If our country actually had a top secret agency like this one, we could have seen far lesser terrorist attacks in the country. I just couldn't digest the scenes where the politicians give their full support to the team, without any thoughts of effects on their international relations. It the kind of movie which gives you a shot of patriotism in the arm when you watch it, but in the end, you have to return to reality. But I am sure no other director could have thought up and made this movie this good ever.

So if you want an Indianized Agent Ethan Hunt for a desi IMF, this is your movie.  Just after watching it, I found that the trailer of Mission Impossible's fifth movie has just landed on youtube.

Carry A Pocket Knife

 

It used to be that a pocket knife was an essential item that a man carried with him. You had your wallet, your keys, and your trusty pocket knife.

The History of the Pocket Knife

1^st Century Romans created the first folding pocket knife. They made for easy carrying for soldiers and other explorers on their journeys and conquests. However, as the use of sheathed knives became more popular, the use of pocket knives fell somewhat into disfavor.

By the late 16th Century, pocket knives began to regain popularity. They were especially popular in the American colonies. From farmers to lawyers, men from all walks of life started to carry them. The ultimate portable tool, the pocket knife was a useful aid in various tasks, including eating on the go.
Pocket knives have been an essential tool for soldiers throughout American history. New York and New Hampshire required their militias to carry pocket knives during the American Revolution. Even George Washington toted one around as he led his troops. The U.S. Navy began issuing pocket knives to sailors during the Civil War. During WWII, the pocket knife was standard issue for American GIs.

Men have been carrying pocket knives for centuries. But with increased security at the airport and other buildings, knives have been disappearing from men’s pockets. Yet these minor obstacles are not sufficient reason to give up carrying a knife completely. The carrying of a pocket knife is a man tradition that should be continued.

Why a Man Should Carry a Pocket Knife

How many times have you been in a situation where you’ve said to yourself, “Damn, a knife would be really handy now!” Here are a few instances when a pocket knife can come in handy or just make the simple things in life more enjoyable:

1. Opening a box.

2. Cutting rope, tags, and string.

3. Cutting an apple. I love eating an apple that I’ve cut with my pocket knife, slice by slice. You feel like a bad ass doing it. You hold the apple in your non-dominant hand and then make a slice with the knife using your dominant hand. After you make the slice, pinch it between your thumb and knife blade. Bring the blade to your mouth and deposit the apple slice.

4. Opening a letter. Sure, you could use your finger, but using a knife is just more manly.

5. Weapon. Not the most effective, but it’s better than nothing.

6. Camping. How else will you sharpen the point of a stick in preparation for stabbing your prey? And by prey I mean hot dog.

7. You never know when you’re going to have to MacGyver your way out of a crisis. Be prepared.

8. You need something to clench in your teeth when swinging from a rope.

What kind of pocket knife should you get?

Picking out a knife is a personal thing. It’s like picking out a wallet. It all comes down to personal taste. Men have a bond with their tools. Pick something that feels good in your hand, and that you’ll take pride in and want to carry around.

There are three common designs of pocket knives: the jack knife, the pen knife, and the multi-purpose knife. We’ll discuss the features and benefits of each one, in order to help you decide what kind of knife you should get.

Jack knife. A jack knife has a simple hinge at one end, and may have more than one blade. The jack knife is popular among hunters, fishermen, and campers.

Pen knife. A pen knife is hinged at both ends of the handle, and usually has two or three blades at each end. The pen knife was originally designed to cut or sharpen pen quills for writing. The pen knife is good if you want more than one type of blade. It’s also small and lightweight and won’t be noticeable in the pocket of dress clothes.

Multi-purpose knife. These are probably the most popular pocketknives. The Swiss Army knife and the Handyman are probably the most well known of the multi-purpose knives. Boy Scout knives are also multi-purpose knives. In addition to the knife blade, multi-purpose knives have can openers, scissors, leather punchers, tweezers, or even screwdrivers. These can come in handy on camping trips. However, if all you’re looking for is a sharp blade, the extra features will probably annoy you.

There are variations of these knife designs that you should take into account as well. Here are few to think about:Lock blade knife. The name of the blade explains it all. When you open the blade fully on this type of knife, the blade locks in place. Closing the blade requires you to release the blade by pressing down on a lever located near the back of the knife handle to disengage the hook from the notch that keeps the blade in place. A lock blade is useful for more heavy duty use. A good example of a lock blade knife is the Buck knife.Slipjoint knife. On a slip joint knife, the blade doesn’t lock, but is held in place by a spring device that allows the blade to fold only if a certain amount of pressure is applied. Most pen knives or multi-purpose knives use the slipjoint blade. Because the blade is less stable, it should only be used for light jobs.

Friction folder knife. This is another method of a non-locking blade. Friction folder knives use friction between the blade and the scales to hold the blade in place once opened.

One handed opening. Newer knives have a feature that allows for one handed opening. On the top of the blade, there is a hole that enables you to place the pad of your thumb in. Just press up and BAM, you got an open knife. This feature makes using a pocket knife much easier, especially when you have your hands full.

Where to Get a Pocket Knife

The best pocket knifes to have are the ones with a sense of history. I carry around a pocket knife that my father gave to me. It’s still in really good shape, and with regular sharpening cuts like new. It’s something tangible that reminds me of my father. One day I hope to pass it down to my son. So ask your dad if he has an old pocket knife that he can give to you. I’m sure he’ll be happy to pass it along.

If you can’t get a hand on an old pocket knife, or the one your dad or grandpa gave you is no longer usable, pick yourself up a new one. You can find pocket knives at any outdoor store. Better yet, find a knife store in town so you have a wider selection to choose from.