StartupDunia

TechCrunch reports about a secret meeting held at Google HQ. The objective - to discuss Google’s plans of ‘opening up’. As per TC, Google will be announcing a new set of APIs on November 5 that will allow developers to leverage Google’s social graph data (whatever that means)..

Here’s the most interesting bit:

On November 5 we’ll likely see third party iGoogle gadgets that leverage Orkut’s social graph information - the most basic implementation of what Google is planning. From there we may see a lot more - such as the ability to pull Orkut data outside of Google and into third party applications via the APIs.

This is a H-U-G-E piece of news for two reasons:

1) With 7.2 million Indian users (does not include Indians accessing Orkut from outside India), Orkut is the social networking platform that has the highest number of Indian members. Opening access to Orkut implies instant access to all the Indian users of the site (in other words, a sizeable online Indian population)


2) If the above bolded statement actually happens, this could mean opening up of a whole new industry.

Just look at the applications industry that has been spawned by the recently launched Facebook platform. And Facebook Platform doesnt even allow you to build your standalone app and pull Facebook data into the app. Facebook developer program necessitates you to build the application on Facebook itself.

Contrast this to the possibility above - you can build and host your own application and integrate Orkut data into your application. Not on Orkut. Not on Google. You can pull Orkut data as you like into your own application.

This would be an Indian marketer’s dream come true. Not to mention the tremendous startup opportunities this would open up for Indian entrepreneurs. Of course, we’ll have to wait till such an API is officially announced and consider any ‘gotchas’ that may be involved. None the less, the opportunities that would open up by such a move have gotten me all excited.

What do you think ?

Between the volume of people we judge and the rapid, unequivocal test that’s applied to our choices, Y Combinator has been an unprecedented opportunity for learning how to pick winners. One of the most surprising things we’ve learned is how little it matters where people went to college.

This is what Paul Graham says in his latest essay. How little it actually matters to the success of a startup where you went to college.

In addition to the power of the brand name, graduates of elite colleges have two critical qualities that plug right into the way large organizations work. They’re good at doing what they’re asked, since that’s what it takes to please the adults who judge you at seventeen. And having been to an elite college makes them more confident.

While the bias towards elite schools exists in the US too, it isnt as profound (and in-your-face) as in the Indian society. In the US, there are still several top-tier schools (including the Ivy leagues) that fall into the ‘elite’ category. On the contrary, elite schools in India comprise mainly of the IIT’s and the IIM’s. An IIT-IIM education is highly sought after, extremely lucrative and well respected in the Indian society.

But the objective of my post is not to start the age old ‘are IITs IIMs worth the hype’ debate.

The point I wanted to stress upon is the fact that more than the IIT - IIM education, you have to believe in yourself. Fikr not if you did not make the cut - dont let insecurity creep in. The moment you start doubting yourself, you’re headed for mediocrity.

The unfortunate thing is not just that people are judged by such a superficial test, but that so many judge themselves by it. A lot of people, probably the majority of people in the America, have some amount of insecurity about where, or whether, they went to college.

Give the essay a read and let me know your thoughts about it. These insights, coming from a person of Paul Graham’s stature, are pretty thought provoking.

If you are a regular to my blog, chances are that you are interested in entrepreneurship. And if not one already, you are hoping to become an entrepreneur ’sometime soon’.

So, here’s my question to you — what motivates you to become an entrepreneur ?

Please spare a few minutes and take this poll to let us know why you want to be an entrepreneur. It’d be interesting to see what results we get from the poll. (If you think that there need to be additional options to the poll, let me know)

Wonder why Google is a force to reckon with ? Because Google does two things best - (i) developing new, cool products and technology and (ii) leveraging and successfully integrating every possible channel into its advertising platform.

If you look at the acquisitions Google has made, you’ll notice that the acquisition strategy has been motivated by two sole reasons:

1) acquire new technology/innovation

OR

2) to establish a new channel to integrate into their advertising platform

Not content with its hugely popular contextual text link advertising platform, Google added two new avenues (online video and RSS syndication) to their advertising platform by acquiring YouTube and FeedBurner. Google set on a frenzy in the online advertising world (Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL all made subsequent acquisitions) by buying banner advertising network, DoubleClick.

So, it comes as no surprise that Google has announced foray into mobile advertising.  Now, advertisers can place ads on mobile phones using AdWords, while mobile content providers can use Adsense to monetize content. With one of the fastest growing mobile market in the world, India is one of the 13 countries where mobile advertising will be made available by Google.

While the low GPRS usage in India is definitely a huge hurdle, an equally big obstacle is the limited number of good quality, WAP enabled content publishers in India. SMS, ringtones and such still rule in India.

What do you think ? Do you think Google’s mobile advertising plans in India will be a success ?

While XBox Live is yet to go ‘live’ in India, Microsoft held a press meet to announce the official launch of XBox Live in India. The service is planned to become active some time later this year. While the pricing and other details are being ironed out, technical aspects of the service are also in the works. The service is not compatible with all broadband providers - for instance, Sify broadband has some likely issues with XBox Live. Discussions are on with all ISP’s for the service.

via GameGuru 

There have been numerous reports and projections of the number of Internet and broadband subscribers in India - the IAMAI report, JuxtConsult report, TRAI numbers (PDF doc), Comscore numbers. Now, eMarketer offers its own report on the number of broadband subscribers in India.

Key points of the report:

* eMarketer projects 3.2 million broadband connections in India by end of 2007, with a penetration rate of 1.6%

* Instead of the Indian Govt. projections of 20 million broadband users by 2010, eMarketer projects that India will have only 10.5 million broadband connections by 2011

* While Comscore Networks puts the number of Internet users at 22.8 million (discounting access from cyber cafes), eMarketer pegs the Internet user base at 33.2 million at January 2007 (eMarketer definition of Internet user as someone who has accessed Internet at least once in the last 30 days)

* With 2.3% of Indians going online, India has the lowest penetration rate in the Asia Pacific region

* With the Internet user base growing at 33% (one of the highest in the world), India holds the maximum promise

Again, the entire story here.

Update: It looks like the government is taking notice of the poor broadband penetration. Aggressive, corrective actions need to be taken if the broadband projections for next year are to be met. In line with that, TRAI has invited comments (PDF doc) from interested stakeholders on the growth of broadband in India.

In his book - “Games Indians Play: Why we Are the Way We Are”, author V Raghunathan applies game theory concepts to present the Indian psyche - attitude. Using examples like the tendency of Indians to drive through red lights, the author argues that Indians focus on short term gains as opposed to long term benefits. The author is a former professor at IIMA, former president at ING Vysya Bank and currently serves as MD of GMR Industries.

Knowledge@Wharton has an interesting interview with V Raghunathan about his book. The interview has definitely piqued my interest in the book.

If you have read the book, drop in a line and let me know how you found the book.

BarCamp Mumbai 2 is scheduled to take place on October 13th at the Shailesh Mehta School of Mgt, IIT Bombay campus.

More details and signup for the event here.

I was reading a recent story in Business Standard on how Indiagames, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and other industry players are planning to approach the central government to get an industry status for the gaming market in India.

As I’m scrolling down, I notice the following:

Since gaming does not fall under the preview of any one single ministry, the committee will approach the IT, Telecom and sports ministry with the proposal.

Gaming company to approach the sports ministry of India ? Ok..by now, the story has my undivided attention. So, as I continue reading, I notice the below:

Some of the demands includes tax benefits for the gamers, college admission preferences among others.

And then comes the jewel in the crown:

CII and Indiagames wants that gaming should be considered as a sport and players involved should be treated as sportsmen.

Gamers should be treated as sportsmen ? Are you friggin’  kidding me ?

What’s next ? Proposal to nominate a gamer for the Arjuna award ?

IAMAI is organizing a Digital Marketing Conference tomorrow.  The conference is titled ‘Wake up and Smell the Coffee’ with the objective of taking a hard look and rethinking your perception of digital advertising.

You can watch the live webcast here.