1. Plan your company’s European excursion with care PAGE 57
HOW I DID IT
VINEET
GUPTA
PARABOLIC DRUG
& JAMBOREE S
The Magazine for Growing Companies
PAGE 52
Khemlani
has made a
Take a peek clean sweep
into the minds of the facade
of great access
entrepreneurs
PAGE 34
business PAGE 42
Wealth
“The question
has changed from
will Guardian
survive, to how big
it can be?”
—Ashutosh Garg
Over the Counter
Guardian Lifecare has 230 stores and
170 crore in revenue. But, Ashutosh Garg’s
health fix has just begun. PAGE 26
April 2011 | 150 | Volume 02 | Issue 03
A 9.9 Media Publication

2. April 2011 CONTENTS
Pirate of the Random World
He is young, hip and hates exercise—read how
Jatin Varma keeps a check on his young staff.
26 46 52 42
The Perfect How I Got Good at How I Did It Access,
Prescription Making Money Vineet Gupta Uninterrupted
In just seven years, Ashutosh Or, what I learned from 20 A serial entrepreneur, Vineet With the help of ropes,
Garg has built Guardian years of selling shoes, Gupta gave up studying at cradles and trolleys that
Lifecare into a 170 crore computers, weaponry, Yale to start a small travel up tall, glass
pharmacy retail chain. His books, and software. manufacturing unit. He now buildings, Ashok Khemlani
next shot at health will by jason fried owns and manages several has created a 60 crore
come from adding 100 companies, including the facade access business.
stores every year. 650 crore Parabolic Drugs, by shreyasi singh
by shreyasi singh and Jamboree, a leading
test preparation centre.
by pooja kothari
34
How Great Entrepreneurs Think
Here’s the short version: they like action. The long version
involves a number of insights gleaned from a fascinating
study of highly-accomplished company builders.
by leigh buchanan
PHOTOGRAPH BY SUBHOJIT PAUL
THIS EDITION OF INC. MAGAZINE is published under license from Mansueto Ventures LLC, New York, New York. Editorial items on the cover
appearing on pages 11-12, 23, 34-40, 46-51, and 62-63 were all originally published in the United States edition of Inc. magazine Ashutosh Garg, founder of Guardian Lifecare, a pharmacy
and are the copyright property of Mansueto Ventures, LLC, which reserves all rights. Copyright © 2009 and 2010 Mansueto retail chain. Photographed by Subhojit Paul in Gurgaon.
Ventures, LLC. The following are trademarks of Mansueto Ventures, LLC: Inc., Inc. 500.
Cover design by PC Anoop.
APRIL 2011 | INC. | 1

3. CONTENTS April 2011
57
06
16
21
05 Editor’s Letter 18 Innovation 68 Legacy
An eco-friendly energy cake Anant Pai, 1929-2011
06 Behind the Scenes made from industrial waste. A storyteller who weaved colour into
Companies that keep India’s young lives with Amar Chitra Katha.
busiest and third-largest
museum in mint condition. 21 The Goods
Notebooks that are easy on
09 Launch your pocket STRATEGY
Integrating design with Keep Keylogger at bay
57 GOING GLOBAL
manufacturing for profits Sturdy portable drives
A European Excursion—how Indian companies
A research initiative Anti-virus software: Titanium
should prepare for the journey
The Ticker Maximum Security 2011
The Inc. Data Bank A battle of gaming consoles
An entry level SLR camera for 59 SALES & MARKETING
A Skimmer’s Guide to
your travels Selling reminders to those who forget
Brainsteering: A Better
Approach to Breakthrough Teresa Mayer uses Evernote 60 ELEVATOR PITCH
Ideas, by Kevin P. Coyne Things Sheetal Thakur cannot It sells mini-meals in boxes. Can Ashish Sondhi
How the University of Utah live without raise 30 crore to take Indian In a Box all over
surpassed MIT the country?
Research Corner: A Guidebook, No. 3
gullibility index for financial How to design your office. 62 SALES & MARKETING
bubbles? Find the Guidebook following How to create a killer e-mail newsletter
page 24.
14 Passions 64 The Way I Work
Abishek Laxminarayan has Jatin Varma didn’t know much about the media
scored many a points on and off industry. But, with a team of young college
the court with his tennis swings. graduates, he’s got a cracking storyboard for
Twenty Onwards Media. When not answering
16 Earn Your Spurs every mail in his inbox, he enjoys thinking up
Jessie Paul irreverent jibes with his team.
Make sure your brands go as told to sunaina sehgal
beyond just saying hello.
2 | INC. | APRIL 2011

4. MAIL
Crisp and refreshing
THE WAY I WORK Rajyasree Sen
MARCH 2011
Cooking up a storm of bytes PAGE 64
I happened to read Inc. for the first time RAMES
How
UNITED BY AMBITION
H
GROVER
today while I was travelling. I must say, it
built the
CMS gro
PAGE 54
up
Augment
the reality
of your
was different, refreshing and crisp. I must
Get clear
brand about your
company’s
PAGE 57
future
congratulate you, though I picked it up
PAGE 40
quite late (issue 12). Keep up the good
work. All the best. UNITED BY
AMBITION
The MAGAZINE for GROWING COMPANIES
—AKASH SINGHVI, Mindspright Consultants, Mumbai UDAY CHALLU and VISHAL DHAR have built iYogi
into a Rs-250 crore tech support business in four years.
Now, they’re chasing billion-dollar dreams. PAGE 32
March 2011 | 150 | Volume 02 | Issue 02
A 9.9 Media Publication
Couldn’t put it down Help us learn more For those who dare
I was ready to start off on a trip when I Hearty congratulations to you and your It gives a deeper understanding of new and
received Inc. India’s special February issue. As I team for having successfully completed a interesting ventures, and ideas that people
was going away on an extended trip, I really year. I’ve been enjoying the informative are implementing. Daring to do is a big
didn’t have the time to read through a maga- stories of success that can be found in achievement; your magazine showcases
zine. But, I could not resist opening the first your magazine. May I suggest you also these individuals beautifully.
few pages. Before I knew it, I was through to include a section of disaster stories, for all nagessh pannaswami
the last page. This is a great magazine with of us to learn and understand which mis- Curry-Nation Brand Conversations, Mumbai
simple and inspiring stories. I have been read- takes to avoid.
ing the past few issues. Frankly, in the first few ashwin shah
issues, the cover looked more like an ad jour- On e-mail
To submit a letter, or alert us to an error, write
nal. But the content is engaging. to us at inc.india@9dot9.in Letters may be
vikash mittersain edited for space and style. Submission
Managing Director, Nazara Technologies, Mumbai constitutes permission to use.
MANAGING DIRECTOR: DR PRAMATH RAJ SINHA COMMUNITY TEAM OFFICE ADDRESS
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PHOTOGRAPHER: JITEN GANDHI
LOGISTICS
MP SINGH, MOHD. ANSARI
4 | INC. | APRIL 2011

5. EDITOR’S LETTER
Down New Roads
Growing up,
entrepreneurship wasn’t a
word I heard very often,
if at all. In my family,
we were raised to become bureaucrats, doctors, lawyers, bankers,
and only over the last decade or so, corporate warriors. Business was
most definitely a taboo word. And, even becoming a journalist, like I
did, was an unusual career choice.
But, like many of the entrepreneurs we feature in this maga- graduate gives up admission to the prestigious Yale University,
zine tell us often—what you don’t inherit, you value more. For and buys an ailing styrofoam plant instead. Since then, he’s
them, the thrill lies in creating new roadmaps, where discover- built multiples businesses both in manufacturing and services.
ies are stumbled upon, not pencilled in years in advance. Read his fascinating account on Page 52.
Thanks to my entrepreneur-husband, I am today fortunate to As “entre-philes”, a term I borrow from my senior colleague,
live such a life, as well. Anuradha, we marvel at how entrepreneurs create what they
It’s a sentiment, I know, Vera Garg, wife of Ashutosh Garg, do. On Page 34, get a glimpse inside the minds of some great
who we feature on our cover this entrepreneurs in our special feature from the US edition.
time, will agree with. Along with I sincerely hope you enjoy this issue. It’s a special one for me,
most others, she didn’t think it was and your comments, feedback and suggestions will make it
THINGS I LEARNT wise of Garg to leave his highly suc- more so. Do write in.
IN THIS ISSUE cessful corporate career to open, of
Don’t take no for an all things, a “chemist” store in Gurg-
answer.
Ashok Khemlani aon in 2003. That outing has grown
didn’t till he got a into Guardian Lifecare, a 230-outlet
bank guarantee. pharmacy, health and wellness Shreyasi Singh
An idea might not retail chain. And, Vera says she now shreyasi.singh@9dot9.in
always be everything. “tells everybody I meet” to become
Execution is crucial. an entrepreneur.
There’s no one right Garg found his “calling” when he
way of doing was 46 years old. Will he also envy,
anything, especially
managing like I do, Vineet Gupta’s clarity of
employees. Point vision? It isn’t often that a young
taken, Jatin Varma. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)
APRIL 2011 | INC. | 5

6. BEHIND THE SCENES Companies at the Heart of Everyday Life
Exhibits
Aurangzeb’s sword and Noor Jehan’s dagger
are some of the 430,000 deadly, or simply eye-
popping Indian, oriental or western curios that
find their place in Salar Jung Museum. Many
are showcased in glass exhibits made by Kitply
Industries. Founded in 1982 by P.K. Goenka,
Kitply employs a staff of 10,000 and more, and
has 30 sales offices. It is spread across a
network of more than1,000 dealers in the
Middle East, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal.
Security systems
Salar Jung Museum is bit of a guards’ nightmare–
last year around 11 lakh visitors came through its
doors, making it India’s busiest. Keeping its lines in
order and visitors in place is Pune-based
Honeywell Automation which has installed the
museum’s security and fire alarm systems. The
900 core company was founded by Anant
Maheshwar in 1988, and has 2,500 employees.
6 | INC. | APRIL 2011

7. Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad 03.03.11 12:45 PM
Cooling solutions
Besides kacchi biryani, spices and colourful bangles,
the City of Pearls is known for its strong Deccan sun.
Visitors beat the heat by taking refuge in the confines
of Salar Jung’s centrally air-conditioned halls, thanks
to Blue Star, a cooling company founded in 1943 by
Mohan T. Advani. There are few banks, offices,
restaurants and factories in India that would not have
used their air conditioners and water coolers. The
company is today valued at a cool 2,500 crore.
Restoration services
Located on the Musi river, Salar Jung was founded in
1951. It has three main buildings—Central, Eastern
(Mir Laiq Ali Khan Bhavan) and Western Blocks (Mir
Turab Ali Khan Bhavan). Of the 38 galleries in the
museum, 14 were refurbished by Nawab Kasim Ali
Khan Associates. Besides modernising the
auditorium and galleries, the 6-employee company,
established in 1976 by Kasim Ali Khan, has also
worked on the overall look of the building.
PHOTOGRAPH BY ARSHANAPALLY PRABHAKAR RAO REPORTED BY SUNAINA SEHGAL & DEEPIKA SHARMA

8. AD

9. News, Ideas & Trends in Brief
LAUNCH
FOCUS
A green initiative
A Truly Long Life Let Dell help
reduce your e-waste
Computer manufacturer Dell
has launched a first-of-its-kind
initiative for recycling laptop bat-
teries in India. Consumers can
now recycle old lithium ion laptop
batteries and reduce e-waste.
The Dell Free Laptop Battery
Recycling Programme is free for
Innovate or
Lose Out consumers. It began as a two-
(From left to right) month pilot starting February
Kumar Kandaswami, 11, in Mumbai, Delhi and Chen-
Balaji Sahu, N.D. nai, and will extend to other
Wagh and Rafiq parts of the country.
Somani at the panel When consumers return
discussion. their non-working lithium ion
batteries from the Dell range of
Integrating Design with
computers for recycling, Dell
will offer a discount of 500 on
Manufacturing for Profits the purchase of a replacement
laptop battery.
Session draws product honchos Dell was the first company to
provide consumers with free
It was quite the picnic in Pune with loads of “PLM talk” thrown in. For those uninitiated, and convenient recycling world-
PLM stands for Product Lifecycle Management. It is a software or tool that helps manage wide and began offering the ser-
vice in India in 2006.
a product’s life cycle–since its conception, design and manufacture, to its service and The company’s policy is to
introduction to the market. offer consumers free recycling
At a recent Pune event, designers, engi- firm to make its mark in the global mar- for any Dell branded product at
neers, manufacturing firms and business ket. He based his talk on a recent survey anytime, and free recycling of
decision makers from local industries, conducted by Deloitte. Kandaswami other branded products with the
purchase of a new Dell product.
got together for an interactive session on focused on macro-level areas that, he felt, Last year, the computer maker
the need for “efficient design” and the Indian manufacturers needed to focus on had launched its “Dell Go Green
impact of designing in a very competitive to improve their shares. Challenge” that invited consum-
global market. Rafiq Somani, area vice president and ers to share ideas and innova-
Experts who lent their support to the country manager of PTC, spoke on the tions on green technology
through photographs or videos
event included, Kumar Kandaswami, myriad product development pressures online. Head to the nearest Dell
senior director, Deloitte Touche Tohmastu that senior managers and executives face outlet. And do your bit to prevent
(India). He delivered his presentation on in the Indian manufacturing sector. In e-waste from entering landfills.
the need for innovation in the Indian India, especially, manufacturing leaders —Inc. India
manufacturing sector and how it helps a continued on the next page
APRIL 2011 | INC. | 9

10. LAUNCH
Integrating Design with Manufacturing... The Ticker
need to spend most of their time Focusing on the growing need
in “chaos” management; leaving for “proper product designing” School’s started folks!
them little time to think of inno- in the shortest time, and process India’s largest listed edu-
vations in terms of product and innovation by including cus- cation firm, Educomp
process development. tomer needs assessment, Balaji Solutions, founded by
Rafiq went on to elaborate said: “Competition can be Shantanu Prakash, has
how product lifecycle manage- avoided by cleverly integrating launched the India Educa-
ment helps companies collect design and manufacturing. This prakash tion Fund, with 50 crore
data from different quarters is a key tool. To not only rake in from its kitty. It’s first
(people in and out of the com- profit, but to make a break investment has gone to Beacon Learning, a
pany) through communication through. With this marriage of management and services provider for HEIs...
and collaboration, and config- innovation and manufacturing, Health is wealth, so believes Amrutanjan
ures them to create a single cen- difficulties in implementing Healthcare that picked up Fruitnik, a beverage
tralised source as a reference for cost, quality and productivity owned by Siva
product development. With become simpler.” Soft Drink, for
examples from several interna- “Understanding require- 26.2 crore...
tionally known firms, he ments; a component’s design per- From the body to
pointed out the importance and formance parameters, the soul, US-
manufacturing con- based dating site
straints and variations of Ignighter, has
short and long term man- raised $3 million
ufacturing chains, firms in Series A fund-
can innovate to surprise ing from a group
the customers. An under- of high-profile a fruitful acquistion
standing of the process is investors,
required. It may be engi- including Indian angels Rajan Anandan, Sasha
neered through innova- Mirchandani, and Sunjay Guleria, CEO of Exclu-
tion for better cost, sively.in. Founded in 2008, Ignighter was com-
quality and productivity. pelled to focus on India as its traffic from the
Wise Words Rafiq Somani would rather
have people innovate, than negotiate. Also, internal manufac- rao
country grew exponentially. With two mil-
turing standards can be lion subscribers and growing, Ignighter
need for strong technologies and developed for both design and will use the funds to set up a centre
tools, as a back end process to process point of view. But, this here...On more concrete matters,
capture data and store them— standard must be updated time Baring Private Equity Partners India, is
and build the next version of a to time,” he added. Wagh empha- reportedly ready to invest 475 crore in
product with higher quality, and sised on the need of interacting Delhi-based Oriental Structural
in a safer and economic way. with customers to get an idea Engineers, which specialises
He also stressed on the need of the products that are in constructing runways and
to capture the customers’ (or end finding demand in the highways…Down south,
users’) thoughts and involve market. IT applications Probe Equity Research,
them in product development— ease the design pro- an investment research
the process popularly called cesses and help col- and analytics firm,
co-creation of products. lect, classify, analyse raised early-stage
The discussions got really and incorporate data funding from Accel
animated when panelists began while designing. This Ventures...To celebrate
fielding questions from the audi- helps substantially in its tenth year, Arvind
ence. Besides Rafiq and Kumar, bringing out the right prod- Rao’s OnMobile Global,
N.D. Wagh, vice president, Kir- uct, and one that wins the recently announced a one for
loskar Brothers, and Balaji Sahu, market.—P.K. Chatterjee one bonus issue of equity
head of manufacturing at shares to all its sharehold-
Gabriel India, also shared their ers. It’s their way of saying
experiences. thank you.—Inc. India
10 | INC. | APRIL 2011

11. LAUNCH
inc. data bank Crunching the numbers A
skimmer’s
WORKING WOMEN GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURS
guide to
the latest
Number of bureaucratic procedures required business
to establish a business: books
The book: Brainsteering: A Better
Approach to Breakthrough Ideas,
by Kevin P. Coyne and Shawn T.
Coyne; HarperBusiness.
In the United States In China The big idea: Ask and ye shall
(New York City): (Shanghai): conceive. Idea generation struc-
tured around questions that
6 14 send the mind down unfamiliar
THE WORLD BANK paths is far more fruitful than
out-of-the-box free-for-alls.
The backstory: The brothers
BUSINESS COSTS OFFICE LIFE
Coyne are former McKinseyites
The average annual Portion of American who run their own boutique con-
cost per employee workplaces that provide sulting firm, The Coyne Partner-
of complying with coffee to employees: ship. They have spent more than
federal regulations: a decade refining their approach
$7,755 33% to idea creation for clients.
Large businesses If you read nothing else: The
(more than chapter on developing effective
500 employees) questions analyses queries
Increase since 2000 in the
number of management
$10,585 that produce good answers.
Such questions identify cus-
Small businesses Portion of workers who tomer problems and reveal
positions in US companies (fewer than describe the coffee as: approaches that don’t fall under
held by women 20 employees) standard operating procedures.
US GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
54% 30% The chapter on balancing
TOLERABLE GREAT
creativity and analysis walks
readers through a remarkably
TAXES
detailed and illuminating exe-
Number of audits conducted Average additional gesis of a new-business idea—
by the IRS on individual taxes collected per a service that refuels cars while
company owners in 2008: audited return: they sit in a parking lot all day.
Ask and ye shall receive:
6% 10% Those uninspired to develop
OTHER TERRIBLE
TREASURY INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR TAX ADMINISTRATION BRAUN RESEARCH: REUTERS
their questions can loot from
the 101 examples in the appen-
dix. For example: How would
our product change if it were
tailored for every customer? Or:
EMPLOYMENT GROWTH INDUSTRY
Who is our single most success-
Increase in small-business ful salesperson, and what does
hires in November 2010 he or she say about our product
compared with a year earlier: that is different from what an
5.1% average salesperson says?
2001 2010 Rigor rating: 8 (1=Who Moved
Increase in average Approximate increase in the number of My Cheese?; 10=Good to Great).
paycheck for that period: distilleries nation wide from 2001 to 2010: Though they don’t always name
ANTHONY VERDE
0.6% 750%
their subjects, the Coynes draw
on more than 130 company
SUREPAYROLL DISTILLED SPIRITS COUNCIL OF THE UNITED STATES examples. —Leigh Buchanan
—Compiled by John Kador APRIL 2011 | INC. | 11

12. LAUNCH
RESEARCH CORNER
Move Controlling
bubbles
Over MIT
Utah has
a new tech
powerhouse
The University of Utah launched
more start-ups based on faculty
research in 2009 than any other
single university, according to the
most recent survey from the Asso-
ciation of University Technology
Managers. Utah, thanks to its six- The study: “Bubbles, Gullibility,
year-old Technology Venture and Other Challenges for Eco-
nomics, Psychology, Sociology,
Development programme, bested and Information Sciences,” by
even MIT, the survey’s reigning Andrew Odlyzko, the School of
champion. Utah started 19 busi- Mathematics at the University
nesses, including a wastewater- of Minnesota, published on
management company and a FirstMonday.org.
pharmaceutical company working Business Creator University of Utah’s Jack Brittain The thesis: Even the most
on HIV and AIDS drugs. And, it savvy business leaders suc-
did all this with only a quarter of cumb to speculative frenzy. But
MIT’s $1.4 billion budget. Inc. reporter Issie Lapowsky spoke with the programme’s head, warning signs are sometimes
Jack Brittain, about the path to success. present. Therefore, building a
“gullibility index” could help
investors and policy-makers
How has the university changed its approach to commercialising technology? identify irrational behaviour.
Universities are often so focused on getting reimbursements that they try to
get money way too early. We quit worrying about reimbursements and looked at the The method: Odlyzko analyses
financial bubbles, including the
long-term view. Our university now views returns as creating businesses in our commu- most recent real estate frenzy
nities that employ our graduates. Of the 111 companies we’ve spun off in the past five and the resulting financial
years, 90 of them are based in Utah. And their survival rate is remarkably high. crisis. He gives tech bubbles
especially close scrutiny, quan-
What do you offer your start-ups to help them become sustainable businesses? tifying, for example, the extent
to which telecom companies in
We fund legal expenses, accounting and finance services, websites and working space. That the late 1990s overestimated
costs us about $500,000 a year. What really matters, though, is product development. Our demand for internet capacity.
average expenditure is only around $1,200 per prototype, but we’ve seen that a small invest-
ment in people who have expertise can make a big difference. Intriguing point: Bubbles have
a positive side: they foster
excitement and contribute to
What plans do you have for the programme? progress. For example, many
We’re in the process of offering our services to small regional universities, which have of the survivors of the dot-com
interesting things going on but don’t have the capacity to bring them to market. We can bust, such as Google, Amazon,
handle that for them for free. We want to help inventive people in all of higher education and eBay, are today’s Web traf-
be part of the innovation economy. fic and e-commerce leaders.
The takeaway: A gullibility index
How do you get students involved? can be constructed by quantify-
Students are in every piece of this. We have a big health-sciences centre, so we produce ing indicators such as investor
a lot of medical devices. One of our most successful companies, Catheter Connections, expectations of annual returns
makes an infection-control device for catheters. Bio-engineering students worked on of 20 per cent or higher. Odlyzko
plans to use social networking
COURTESY SUBJECT
the product development. Students wrote the business plan. Our venture fund, also all stu- sites as he works to establish a
dents, created a document to shop around to investors, who now share ownership. We call gullibility index within the next
this total mission integration, and we’re evangelical about it. few years.—J.J. McCorvey
12 | INC. | APRIL 2011

13. LAUNCH
Cashing Their Tees Off
A burst of growth,
splashed with colour
They might let their customers dictate designs, but,
Navneet Rai and Kashyap Dalal, co-founders of Ink-
fruit, an e-commerce tee shirt store that uses crowd
sourcing to build its catalogue, have perfected their own
blueprint for growth. The young entrepreneurs, both
alumni of IIT Bombay, recently raised a reported $3
million from SAIF Partners, an early stage venture cap-
ital firm. Earlier, Inkfruit had got angel investments
from Seedfund partners Anand Lunia and Mahesh
Murthy. Now, Rai and Dalal are inking in wild plans to
increase their 100,000 plus customers, and become
India’s defining graphic tee shirt company.
How do you plan to use these funds?
RAI: We will mainly use the money for product
expansion—help artists take their creativity beyond
tee shirts to umbrellas and laptop bags. We’ll also
spend on a state-of-the-art user interface. Touch and
feel is very important for a company like ours. Buy-
ing clothes is different from buying railway or movie
tickets. You need to let your customers experience
your brand online, so they trust you enough to buy.
Technology should help us get over trust deficit. The Smiles Pile Up With tee shirts under their belt, Dalal
DALAL: Participation is the core to our business. We (right) and Rai are now looking for other canvasses.
need to play good hosts to people visiting us, to
invest in customer experience. Our IT infrastructure
needs to be robust, appealing and intuitive. That is our biggest
concern right now. It is our top priority for this year. We are in big shops, they found it easier to make a purchase on our web-
hunting for great talent in this space. site. Still, the main focus remains on e-commerce, offline growth
will come from more business in the stores we are present in, not
When you are not worried about cash, is it easier to be truly by adding stores.
creative? Do you want to go all out now?
DALAL: Inkfruit is not just about being wildly creative. We want You began the company on a lark. Did you see yourselves
to give people a wide range of designs to choose from. We want reaching here? Personally, how does it feel to have raised
to capture every person’s frame of mind, every style, every aes- venture capital (VC) funding?
thetic. We don’t want to be niche players, or to work in a certain DALAL: When we began, it was more about having fun. We
zone. We attract all kinds of designs and artists from the crazy to wanted to enjoy the ride. As things have moved on, the passion
the normal. The point is to let our customers decide. now is to take the company to places. The enjoyment comes
more out of increasing the scope of Inkfruit.
Will you expand your physical presence after this infusion of RAI: It’s been a very fulfilling and rewarding journey up to here.
capital? These events are milestones for us. They help on many levels.
RAI: We are not saying no to offline availabilities to reach the When you see your parents, telling neighbours and relatives
customer. We are present in 350 multiple brand outlets in 18 that our boys are doing well, it feels great. It’s normal for most
states of the country, and are also tying up with B2B customers. parents to discourage entrepreneurship. They are anxious
E-commerce is one channel to reach the customer, and even here because they fear things might not work. Something like this
we are attracting bulk buyers. We had gone offline because we helps build faith.
had seen it helped us break the trust. If people had seen our stuff —Shreyasi Singh
PHOTOGRAPH BY JITEN GANDHI APRIL 2011 | INC. | 13

14. PASSIONS Life Outside the Office
Abishek Laxminaryan’s relationship with
tennis began innocuously enough. He
started playing when he was just five,
because he wanted to be cool, like his
elder brother. But, the backhands and aces
scored a match point for life.
Laxminarayan, founder and co-CEO of
venture capital firm Indavest, coached
under C.G. Krishna Bhupathi, tennis ace
Mahesh Bhupathi’s father. His regular
playmate growing up was Rohan
Bopanna, one of India’s top rankers today.
Ranked in the Top 300 in the world in the
juniors, Laxminarayan was good enough
to turn pro, but academics eventually won
out in his choice of career. Tennis helped
here, too. “I got into Cornell University
because of the credits I earned playing.”
He also met his business partner, Greg
Artz, on-court at Cornell. Their
partnership scores equally well off the
court too. Laxminarayan makes sure he
swings in 10 hours of play every month,
and his favourite opponent is former
coach Bhupathi Senior.
Professionally Speaking
Expert coaching can cost from
anything 30,000 to a lakh
Favourite Players
Roger Federer
Rohan Bopanna
His Match Points
Participated in multiple
tournaments in Japan,
Philippines, Brunei,
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as a
junior player
More recently, reached the
semi-finals of the Father and
Son Championship at
Indiranagar Club in Bengaluru
with his father
14 | INC. | APRIL 2011

15. Abishek Laxminarayan Lawn Tennis
“This is a dummy pq.
real pq is tk. This is a
dummy pq, real pq is
tk tk tk tk.”
—This is a pq attribute
“Tennis is a
tough game. You
lose often. It
teaches you to
take losses in
your stride, but
also never to
give up.”
PHOTOGRAPH BY S. RADHAKRISHNA REPORTED BY SUNAINA SEHGAL

16. EARN YOUR SPURS BY JESSIE PAUL
What do you say after you say hello?
Marketers continue to rely on old tricks that stop
at saying hello. Learn how to make friends for life.
I was at the India vs England World Cup
match in Bengaluru, and was, as always, awed
by the money that goes into these things. Every
brand that could afford it had hopped on to the
bandwagon, burning tonnes of money to “con-
nect” with you, dear consumer. Ever more
innovative ways are now used to sell every inch
of televisable ground with branding on the
grass, the stadium (with changing videos
screens to further optimise the usage) and the
Castrol “worm” and Yahoo!’s sound meter.
But, the focus of almost all media was just
to say “hello”, not to continue the conversation.
Many did try a multimedia approach, but with
no interaction. For example, Reebok promoted
its Zigtech shoes on the screen and on the
ground, and flew a blimp shaped like a shoe. A
blimp? Really, Reebok?
The first advertising blimp was used in 1912
(by Swiss chocolatier Suchard, for those inter-
ested) and I was rather surprised that it’s still a
supporting media for a brand as high-tech and
youth-oriented as Reebok. What surprised me
even more was that when I went to the refresh-
ment area there was no demo booth to try on
the shoe—surely a loss of opportunity to
address a 45,000-strong stadium crowd.
For a country where everyone seems to have a
mobile phone growing out of their ears (and, espe-
cially for a match that had Reliance as a key spon-
sor) the absence of mobile advertising was jarring. Here are some ideas I thought count on purchase. They could have then enticed people to
they could have tried—Reebok could have asked attendees to sign up to receive stay subscribed for further promo codes. The objective
promo codes during the match with the possibility of winning a small freebie. Also, should be to create a virtual Reebok community that
if this promo code was taken to a showroom within three days, they would get a dis- embraces every Reebok customer in India.
16 | INC. | APRIL 2011 ILLUSTRATION BY PC ANOOP

17. EARN YOUR SPURS
Also, what about the game itself? How customers to provide a little information these solutions do is apply technology to
about some audience interaction? For when they’re in the shop buying stuff. This automate the process of insights and allow
example, how about having the audience doesn’t need to be personally identifiable, you to direct resources where it would be
vote through SMS or online what the next but you will get a good idea about the gen- most fertile.
stroke should be? That gets shown on the eral demographics of your target audience. To my knowledge a few folks in India
screen. If the player actually plays what Then when you sponsor a big sports event, have started doing some bits of this,
the audience wants, he gets, say, double you could ask attendees to wear your brand though I am not aware of any compnay
the runs. Just imagine—the population of of shoe and announce an SMS draw for the that deploys it fully. One mobile operator
India determining the play! (Cricket fans, shoe you are launching, or for limited edi- used social media to understand which
please don’t burn the magazine, this is just tion shoe-laces. (You could also tie up with locations would be more susceptible to
an idea.) a sports-drink fellow sponsor to offer a free conversion once Mobile Number Portabil-
In the tech world, disruptive technolo- drink to those spotted in your shoes, ity (MNP) came in. An FMCG company
gies—mobile, social, cloud, analytics, game thereby benefiting both of you.) used social media to understand the food
theory, and video and unified communica- Now that you have permission to con- habits of its customers and to get a direct
tions—are getting a lot of mindshare, accord- tact them, you can ask them to sign up as insight into the stock situation at their
ing to Ray Wang of Constellation Research. fans on your social media presence. Those local outlets. I used Facebook and Twitter
Of these, mobile, social, analytics, game theory
and videos are exciting to marketers because
they allow them to have a conversation with
customers and potential buyers unobtrusively It’s cheaper to sell to
existing, loyal customers
and at the right time, which is called the
“moment of truth”. (For example, being hun-
than to new ones—this is
gry and bored at midnight in a hotel is a
moment of truth - that’s why hotels have pre-
mium priced mini-bars.)
So, let’s assume you want to drive a con- what Social CRM does.
versation beyond just the hello. Think
about what you would do in the real world.
1. Understand a little bit about the per- sites allow you to monitor their conversa- to provide my publisher real-time stock
son: demographics, culture, quirks. You tions and step in immediately if something status of my book, No Money Marketing,
would do this either by studying him visu- requires your attention. You can also apply at retail outlets.
ally or asking around, or both. analytics on that data to understand prob- There’s another reason to do this—if
2. After you have said hello, you would lem spots and identify areas for potential you don’t have listening and insight distilla-
chat about a few simple things like the innovation. If you and your “fans” have tion mechanisms in place, you may be
weather, a person’s education or maybe, enabled some form of geo-location track- missing out on important conversations
where they work. ing you could ping them every time they and thoughts your customers are sharing
3. If you are the organised type, you are near your retail shop and offer them a among themselves. What customers hear
would then file this away into your spot incentive to step in. from other customers will always be more
address book. Over time, you would ensure that they credible than anything a brand says. And
4. A “nice to meet you” note would go never look at another brand because you with SMS and high-speed access, it’s very
out, and if both of you are on Facebook or are taking such good care of them. simple today to receive a feedback from
LinkedIn you’d request to connect. India is a country with a lot of pent-up friends or watch a review video on the go.
5. The next time you’re doing some- demand. So it is very possible to meet For all the millions spent on cricket
thing you think this person maybe inter- sales targets by addressing a fresh audi- advertising, the morning after, not one of
ested in, you’re likely to ping him. ence every time. And therefore, after-sales those brands has moved me closer to a
6. When you have a big social occasion service falls by the wayside. Hoping that purchase. A question of hello, goodbye?
(say a wedding) you would send out an poor service won’t catch up with you is a
invitation. If you really want them to short-term strategy. In the long run, it is
attend, a personal visit maybe necessary. cheaper to sell to existing, loyal customers
Sounds simple? Well, using technology, than to new ones—which is what Social Jessie Paul is the CEO of Paul Writer, a firm that
brands can pretty much replicate this pro- CRM, described above does. Generally also hosts India’s largest community of B2B market-
cess. For example, let’s assume you’re a speaking, we also have a huge shortage of ers at paulwriter.com. She is the author of
sports shoe company. You can ask your talent—given the rising demand. What No Money Marketing .
APRIL 2011 | INC. | 17

18. INNOVATION Companies on the Cutting Edge
Waste to energy
India produces around 5 million
tonnes of pig iron waste every year.
Environmental scientist Dr A.K.
Singh has dug out good news from
this sludge—a way to recycle it by
combining it with clay and agro-
waste (read: husk). The result—
URJA Cakes. Recognised by the
DST-Lockheed Martin India Inno-
vation Growth Programme, each
cake burns up to four hours with
temperatures reaching nearly 700
degree Celsius and saves 40 per
cent energy. These also emit 237
per cent less carbon dioxide than
wood. In two years, Singh has sold
more than one lakh cakes.
As a matter of fact
Each 400 gram disc
costs 5
Cakes weigh from 400
grams (domestic use)
to 2 kilograms
(industrial use)
Perforations help the
cakes burn faster
35 per cent cheaper
than the available
subsidised LPG
cylinder
Mixed with 20 per cent
clay; these ignite faster
than ordinary fuel
18 | INC. | APRIL 2011

19. URJA Cakes Growithus
“This is a win-win
situation for social,
economic and
environmental
verticals.”
— Dr A.K. Singh, founder and CEO,
Growithus Consulting and Marketing
PHOTOGRAPH BY SUBHOJIT PAUL REPORTED BY SUNAINA SEHGAL & AKHIL BERY

20. AD

21. Your Business Toolbox
THE GOODS
Go Mobile on
a Budget
Best new
notebooks in
the market
Notebooks have moved beyond
basic functionalities, and can easily
give three year old desktops a run
for their money. The new products
are enriched with strong processing
power, graphics hardware, lots of
RAM, storage space, good looks,
and best of all, attractive pricing.
Here’s what four recent launches
priced under 40,000 can do for
you.—Inc. India
ASUS X52J ASUS P52F ACER ASPIRE 4820T ACER 5742G
The X52J is an attractive note- The ASUS P52F is 15.6 inches, Acer Aspire 4820T edges even At 2.6 kilograms, and with a
book with a bright red lid and and has a much faster proces- the best notebooks thanks to its display size of 15.6 inches, the
appealing graphics. The ASUS sor than its marginally costlier superior battery performance. Acer 5742G is definitely not the
logo is embossed in steel—a sibling. But, it makes do with It scores with its very handy sort of machine you’ll want to
smart touch. The Radeon HD integrated (Intel) graphics. battery and optimized power tote around a lot. The 5742G is
6370 graphics and Core i3 pro- ASUS upped the RAM by 1 GB consumption, both of which well built and looks rather
cessor ensures it’s no slouch, to 4 GB, which makes sense ensure a whopping 427 minutes suave—the floating keypad
and the large, flat keys get high because integrated graphics of backup even while playing works well. The trackpad when
points in the usability depart- will utilise main system mem- back a .VOB file—that’s a shade you want to pinch zoom isn’t as
ment. The keys also have great ory, leaving less memory for OS over seven hours. Many of you accurate as desired. But, a ded-
tactile feedback which and application use. With a will find the smart grey colour icated graphic solution—a
enhances usability. Biometrics matte, black finish, this is a in tone with your business GeForce GT 540M is a big add-
login is supported via facial great corporate notebook, also meeting dress code. But, this is on. It has a good CPU, strong
recognition, and the trackpad because of its hard drive pro- strictly for those on the go. It GPU and 3 GB of RAM, with 500
incorporates basic gesture- tection. The cushioning built has limited graphics power, so GB of storage. Its HDMI feature
Powered by:
based controls. The trackpad into the notebook protects the you won’t be able to use it for means that you can hook it up
lacks precision though. drive from sharp impacts. your gaming needs. to your HDTV as well.
price: 38,799 price: 37,999 price: 35,999 price: 38,990
APRIL 2011 | INC. | 21

22. THE GOODS Products + Services
The Power of Portable Drives
Carry your world along with
these sturdy drives
Your laptops have your life stored in them—important presentations, documents,
and valuable memories in photographs and videos. To transfer these easily, or to
have them on the go with you, check these portable drives out.—Inc. India
IOMEGA EGO ITB USB 3.0 DRIVE
Backward compatible, this drive has a
super-speed USB 3.0 interface that allows
you to write speeds of around 90 MB/s and
HACK AWARE read speeds of 92MB/s. This is a good
Stay safe by three-time jump of 28 MB/s write and 27
MB/s read speeds obtained on USB 2.0
keeping this ports. Competitively priced at 6,999, the
deadly hacking easy to carry, eGo, weighs 02.3kg, and has
programme at dimensions of 131 x 93 x 26 mm. It’s sleek
and black, and looks well built. No wonder
a distance it boasts about being the market leader in
Keylogger is a programme that external hard drive solutions!
is capable of tracking and
transmitting the keys struck
on the keyboard of any
A-DATA NH-03
computer system. It can record
This gives exceptional performance with fast
instant messages, e-mails and
data transfer speeds, up to 120MB/s. It also
any information you type at any
includes a 256-bit AES encryption software
time on your keyboard. The
that will keep personal data safe. It has a
files can be saved to a specific
thermal vent design which effectively dissi-
location or e-mailed to another
pates heat although its glossy finish may
person. The software also
heat things up. At 5,600 for 1TB, it makes
traces e-mail addresses used
for a great value for money data storage
and all website URLs visited by
solution. It wins our vote for build quality,
you. The tool runs in invisible
performance and attractive pricing. But, it
mode and is protected by the
would’ve been nice to have more features.
hacker through a password!
One can hardly tell its dreadful
existence. Even if it is detected,
the password does not allow
the user to uninstall it.
If such a programme were to
infect your system, then the
hacker will be able to get
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY COMPANY
access to passwords of every SQUEAKY CLEAN
account you log into (think your
bank and credit card accounts). An anti-virus software
Remove a Keylogger from your guarantees maximum protection
system by running a good anti- The highest level offering from Trend Micro, the Titanium
spyware programme. You can Maximum Security 2011 is certainly user-friendly. One can
also go in for a comprehensive install it in just a few clicks. It has another advantage—it
online scan. uses cloud security technology and real time antivirus to
If you have a Windows-based defend the hardware immediately. This means one does
system, then not have to wait for updates. Priced at 1,200 for a single
Windows Live OneCare user, the suite is not very copious though in terms of fea-
(http://onecare.live.com) is a tures—it lacks a USB vaccine and firewall. But, a 10 GB
good option. It’s a free service, online backup is a good addition.
but it’s only available if you are min requirements os: Windows 7/ Vista / XP
Powered by:
using a genuine Windows cpu: 450 MHz +
operating system. ram: 256 MB +
22 | INC. | APRIL 2011

23. Work + Play THE GOODS
Face-off
Clever games for couch potatoes
A hard day at work may have been your excuse to skip the gym and head home for some
quality time with the telly. But, with the new generation of motion gaming, there’s no
FIRST PERSON
dearth of action even as a couch potato. Check out these consoles.—Inc. India
How I use Evernote to
stay organised
teresa meyer
owner, stage a star,
cincinnati
My company helps people stage
NINTENDO WII MICROSOFT KINECT SONY PLAYSTATION MOVE
their homes for sale. It’s hard to
Nintendo revolutionised the Microsoft went a step ahead Sony has introduced its India keep track of all details. So, last
gaming scene in 2006 with a and launched motion sensor pricing for Move, its latest year, I did a Google search
technology that, till then, gaming’s next step—full-body version. The good news—it is for small business organising
existed only in sci-fi movies— gaming. There are no con- incredibly priced. A combina- and a web-based tool called
motion sensors. Their first trols to work here. Kinect tion of the PS 3 system, the Evernote came up. I’ve been
attempt didn’t offer the best responds to how you move. PS Eye camera and the PS using it ever since.
control, an issue that Nin- So, if you want to kick, then Move motion control, Move’s After setting up a free
tendo overcame with Motion- kick. As you play, Kinect cre- motion gaming technology is account, you can type notes,
Plus (2009). Now the new Wii ates a digital skeleton of your housed in the pairing of the clip out webpages, and upload
consoles come packed with avatar based on depth data. motion controller and eye files or photos and assign
Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort So, sensors process the camera. The sphere at the them to different Evernote
and the ability to create Mii movement and translate it end of the motion controller “notebooks.” I create a note-
characters. Wireless motion into game play. Simply put, allows the eye camera to book for each of my clients,
controls are now possible the game is about all of you— pinpoint movement and posi- label it with the property name,
with the Wii Remote Plus arms, legs, knees and hips. tion which is translated into and assign searchable tags to
controller. Amateurs will To get into the game, you’ll game play. Non-gamers will it. Then, I fill it with proposals,
point, swing and slice. If we need to get off the couch. find it easy to play even if contracts, bills, and informa-
could ask for more, it would Caution: With limited games they’ve never played before. tion such as home security
be to give the graphics on offer, hardcore gamers will With great graphics and codes. I have a variety of note-
a fresh lease of life. not be very impressed. sound quality, regular gam- books, including one filled with
price: 14,990 price: 9,990 ers will relish it, too. web clippings of light fixtures.
(Starting price, with console) (Without the Xbox) price: 1,899
Evernote integrates with a
number of programmes and
devices. Its Microsoft Outlook
plug-in, for example, lets me
SHOWCASE send client e-mails directly to
their notebooks. I can also scan
Canon Powershot G12 a document or image on my
While on holiday, it’s always nice to have an entry-level SLR that offers great image quality, portable Doxie scanner and
and helps you capture memories. Canon’s latest offering–G12–is perfect for amateur pho- save it directly to Evernote. My
tographers, who want a lot of manual controls and a smaller, lighter body. It offers good per- online account syncs with my
formance for every day shooting. At base ISO does a decent job. Like all Canon cameras, the Evernote iPhone app, so I can
G12 also produces life-like colours with pull up information when I’m
minimal manual intervention. visiting clients.
I recently upgraded to
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY COMPANY
The result looks natural to the eye, instead
of being artificially boosted. Evernote’s premium version,
sensor: 10-megapixel, CCD which costs $5 a month. Now,
iso range: 80-3200 I can store up to 1GB of data
aperture range: f2.8-f4.5 zoom: 28-140 (5x) and allow my assistants to add
weight: 401 grams and edit notebook contents.
—As told to J.J. McCorvey
APRIL 2011 | INC. | 23

24. THE GOODS Beyond Business
Things I Cannot
Live Without...
Exercise junkie
I run every evening for an
hour. I’ll only exercise
indoors if it’s raining.
Staple feast
I have to eat rice, dal
and yoghurt for one
meal every day.
Not without melody
I can’t drive without my
music system’s remote in
my hand.
FOUNDER, FREEDOM2BE
Sheetal Thakur
Left to her, Sheetal Thakur, the founder of
Freedom2BE, a tour company exclusively for
...and What
women, would dump her camera and laptop
in her five-year-old car, and make a home in
Trigger-happy
the Himalayas. A nature buff, she says her car
was the “best thing to have happened to her.” I Covet
My Canon SLR travels The icy-blue Maruti has travelled with her A new set of wheels
with me everywhere. everywhere, even up to Lahaul Spiti. Thakur I’d love to have a Honda CRV. It
I love photographing is now readying it for a Himalayan car rally. gives you great command.
nature.
Having grown up playing sports like cricket
and volleyball, she now gets her outdoors
kick from exploring hidden trails in the
Sahyadri range around Pune, where she
recently shifted to after 15 years in Delhi.
She’ll need the stamina going ahead, as she
plans a wide range of off-the-grid tours for
women travellers.—Shreyasi Singh
24 | INC. | APRIL 2011

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26. 26 | INC. | APRIL 2011