January 8, 2006

The qualified Yes. Somewhere between saying “no” to a new project or taking on something in an open-ended type of way, be clear from the start on what you can commit in concrete terms. So, what used to be “Sure, I’ll do your web site” is now more often “Sure, I’ll give you 10 hours and 3 calls over the next month to use however you want.” If nothing else, it helps everyone understand that time is a precious commodity, but it also gets me out of being the de facto manager for every aspect of a project I touch. ...

Reliance Infocomm, after launching their prepaid business in India, introduced an new scheme. Pay Rs 4,300, and get a mobile phone PLUS prepaid vouchers worth Rs 4,300. Effectively, you’re getting a mobile phone for free. The scheme made good financial sense for Reliance. With a million subscribers to this scheme, they could recover Rs 430 cr of their upfront capital investment and retire their debt. Besides, the Rs 4,300 would have normally been bought over a period of around three years by prepaid subscribers, making its present value around Rs 3,600, at an interest rate of 12%. Add to that the reduction in distribution cost due to bulk selling, and possibility of non-usage, etc… the economics might work out. ...

Google search trends. Here is an interesting piece from my search trend. What I don’t understand is, where did thiep and amway come from? Comments ritzkini 9 Jan 2006 10:29 am: from the “the” and the “am” perhaps..dunno.. Madhu 10 Jan 2006 5:15 am: If you realise shareholders of google can just keep clicking away on the links in their mail or search results. Google makes money but shareholders have no cost. If I were an analyst firm covering google, I would employ people just to keep clicking on the ads;) I guess in a proper market, the per click fee would come down over a long term. Sash 13 Jan 2006 5:26 pm: hey ; are u from jamuna hostel @iit madras? sorry for spamming the place but i want to know S Anand 13 Jan 2006 8:56 pm: From Alak, actually. Class of 96.