Piyush's Blog

Clear the Uncertainty when Looking for Funding

2010-09-08T16:22:00.007-07:00

As an entrepreneur it is only natural for you to be outrageously optimistic about your business and the future. When looking for funding you want to show your investors that you can grow their money and provide huge returns for their investment (ROI). However, you know that any projection you make is your best guess.

What you want to show is a hockey stick projection of sales because that is what it will take to make the triple digit returns in 5 years for your investors. But how often have you got your investors rolling their eyes when they see that hockey stick curve? You know your projections are achievable but how do you convince your audience? Remember that your investors are basically interested in the size of their returns and the likelihood of getting those returns.

One way to get them to believe in you is to qualitatively describe your marketing and operations plans and convince them that your stellar background makes you ideally suited to get you there.

An alternative is to convince them with numbers and include the element of uncertainty. You can tell your audience that you know that forecasts are simply best guesses. If you could predict what happens in the future you wouldn’t be standing in front of them. Instead, you have taken the guesswork out of the equation by putting ranges on the future estimates. For example, you have estimated that you would sell between x and y during the first year and y and z in the next year. Likewise you have put ranges on all other major variables as well and used a computer model to tell you what to expect as your net income.

You would make a powerful statement if you showed them a chart that displayed a distribution of their returns from lowest to highest. That way you can tell your audience that at the worst case they would make the lower end of the range if they invested in your business and at the best case they would make much much more. This would prove that you are on top of your game in understanding the uncertainties that face the business. This is another way of saying that you know the risks facing the business and have integrated that into your business plan. Perhaps then they would not roll their eyes when they see your aggressive projections because you will also show them both the aggressive and realistic side of the future.

A tool like Crystal Ball makes the above task easy. If you want to learn how to combine business risks with your financial projection and grab your investors' attention, send me an email at pbpari@yahoo.com.

Clear the Uncertainty when Looking for Funding

2010-09-08T16:22:00.006-07:00

As an entrepreneur it is only natural for you to be outrageously optimistic about your business and the future. When looking for funding you want to show your investors that you can grow their money and provide huge returns for their investment (ROI). However, you know that any projection you make is your best guess.

What you want to show is a hockey stick projection of sales because that is what it will take to make the triple digit returns in 5 years for your investors. But how often have you got your investors rolling their eyes when they see that hockey stick curve? You know your projections are achievable but how do you convince your audience? Remember that your investors are basically interested in the size of their returns and the likelihood of getting those returns.

One way to get them to believe in you is to qualitatively describe your marketing and operations plans and convince them that your stellar background makes you ideally suited to get you there.

An alternative is to convince them with numbers and include the element of uncertainty. You can tell your audience that you know that forecasts are simply best guesses. If you could predict what happens in the future you wouldn’t be standing in front of them. Instead, you have taken the guesswork out of the equation by putting ranges on the future estimates. For example, you have estimated that you would sell between x and y during the first year and y and z in the next year. Likewise you have put ranges on all other major variables as well and used a computer model to tell you what to expect as your net income.

You would make a powerful statement if you showed them a chart that displayed a distribution of their returns from lowest to highest. That way you can tell your audience that at the worst case they would make the lower end of the range if they invested in your business and at the best case they would make much much more. This would prove that you are on top of your game in understanding the uncertainties that face the business. This is another way of saying that you know the risks facing the business and have integrated that into your business plan. Perhaps then they would not roll their eyes when they see your aggressive projections because you will also show them both the aggressive and realistic side of the future.

A tool like Crystal Ball makes the above task easy. If you want to learn more about adding uncertainty to your forecast and grab your investors' attention, send me an email at pbpari@yahoo.com.

Clear the Uncertainty when Looking for Funding

2010-09-08T16:22:00.005-07:00

As an entrepreneur it is only natural for you to be outrageously optimistic about your business and the future. When looking for funding you want to show your investors that you can grow their money and provide huge returns for their investment (ROI). However, you know that any projection you make is your best guess.

What you want to show is a hockey stick projection of sales because that is what it will take to make the triple digit returns in 5 years for your investors. But how often have you got your investors rolling their eyes when they see that hockey stick curve? You know your projections are achievable but how do you convince your audience? Remember that your investors are basically interested in the size of their returns and the likelihood of getting those returns.

One way to get them to believe in you is to qualitatively describe your marketing and operations plans and convince them that your stellar background makes you ideally suited to get you there.

An alternative is to convince them with numbers and include the element of uncertainty. You can tell your audience that you know that forecasts are simply best guesses. If you could predict what happens in the future you wouldn’t be standing in front of them. Instead, you have taken the guesswork out of the equation by putting ranges on the future estimates. For example, you have estimated that you would sell between x and y during the first year and y and z in the next year. Likewise you have put ranges on all other major variables as well and used a computer model to tell you what to expect as your net income.

You would make a powerful statement if you showed them a chart that displayed a distribution of their returns from lowest to highest. That way you can tell your audience that at the worst case they would make the lower end of the range if they invested in your business and at the best case they would make much much more. This would prove that you are on top of your game in understanding the uncertainties that face the business. This is another way of saying that you know the risks facing the business and have integrated that into your business plan. Perhaps then they would not roll their eyes when they see your aggressive projections because you will also show them both the aggressive and realistic side of the future.

A tool like Crystal Ball makes the above task easy. Contact me if you want to learn more about adding uncertainty to your forecasts and grab your investors' attention.

Clear the Uncertainty when Looking for Funding

2010-09-08T16:22:00.004-07:00

As an entrepreneur it is only natural for you to be outrageously optimistic about your business and the future. When looking for funding you want to show your investors that you can grow their money and provide huge returns for their investment (ROI). However, you know that any projection you make is your best guess.

What you want to show is a hockey stick projection of sales because that is what it will take to make the triple digit returns in 5 years for your investors. But how often have you got your investors rolling their eyes when they see that hockey stick curve? You know your projections are achievable but how do you convince your audience? Remember that your investors are basically interested in the size of their returns and the likelihood of getting those returns.

One way to get them to believe in you is to qualitatively describe your marketing and operations plans and convince them that your stellar background makes you ideally suited to get you there.

An alternative is to convince them with numbers and include the element of uncertainty. You can tell your audience that you know that forecasts are simply best guesses. If you could predict what happens in the future you wouldn’t be standing in front of them. Instead, you have taken the guesswork out of the equation by putting ranges on the future estimates. For example, you have estimated that you would sell between x and y during the first year and y and z in the next year. Likewise you have put ranges on all other major variables as well and used a computer model to tell you what to expect as your net income.

You would make a powerful statement if you showed them a chart that displayed a distribution of their returns from lowest to highest. That way you can tell your audience that at the worst case they would make the lower end of the range if they invested in your business and at the best case they would make much much more. This would prove that you are on top of your game in understanding the uncertainties that face the business. This is another way of saying that you know the risks facing the business and have integrated that into your business plan. Perhaps then they would not roll their eyes when they see your aggressive projections because you will also show them both the aggressive and realistic side of the future.

A tool like Crystal Ball makes the above task easy. Contact me if you want to learn more about adding uncertainty to your forecasts.

Clear the Uncertainty when Looking for Funding

2010-09-08T16:22:00.003-07:00

As an Entrepreneur it is only natural for you to be outrageously optimistic about your business and the future. When looking for funding you want to show your investors that you can grow their money and provide huge returns for their investment (ROI). However, you know that any projection you make is your best guess.

What you want to show is a hockey stick projection of sales because that is what it will take to make the triple digit returns in 5 years for your investors. But how often have you got your investors rolling their eyes when they see that hockey stick curve? You know your projections are achievable but how do you convince your audience? Remember that your investors are basically interested in the size of their returns and the likelihood of getting those returns.

One way to get them to believe in you is to qualitatively describe your marketing and operations plans and convince them that your stellar background makes you ideally suited to get you there.

An alternative is to convince them with numbers and include the element of uncertainty. You can tell your audience that you know that forecasts are simply best guesses. If you could predict what happens in the future you wouldn’t be standing in front of them. Instead, you have taken the guesswork out of the equation by putting ranges on the future estimates. For example, you have estimated that you would sell between x and y during the first year and y and z in the next year. Likewise you have put ranges on all other major variables as well and used a computer model to tell you what to expect as your net income.

You would make a powerful statement if you showed them a chart that displayed a distribution of their returns from lowest to highest. That way you can tell your audience that at the worst case they would make the lower end of the range if they invested in your business and at the best case they would make much much more. This would prove that you are on top of your game in understanding the uncertainties that face the business. This is another way of saying that you know the risks facing the business and have integrated that into your business plan. Perhaps then they would not roll their eyes when they see your aggressive projections because you will also show them both the aggressive and realistic side of the future.

A tool like Crystal Ball makes the above task easy. Contact me if you want to learn more about adding uncertainty to your forecasts.

Clear the Uncertainty when Looking for Funding

2010-09-08T16:22:00.002-07:00

As an Entrepreneur it is only natural for you to be outrageously optimistic about your business and the future. When looking for funding you want to show your investors that you can grow their money and provide huge returns for their investment (ROI). However, you know that any projection you make is your best guess.

What you want to show is a hockey stick projection of sales because that is what it will take to make the triple digit returns in 5 years for your investors. But how often have you got your investors rolling their eyes when they see that hockey stick curve? You know your projections are achievable but how do you convince your audience? Remember that your investors are basically interested in the size of their returns and the likelihood of getting those returns.

One way to get them to believe in you is to qualitatively describe your marketing and operations plans and convince them that your stellar background makes you ideally suited to get you there.

An alternative is to convince them with numbers and include the element of uncertainty. You can tell your audience that you know that forecasts are simply best guesses. If you could predict what happens in the future you wouldn’t be standing in front of them. Instead, you have taken the guesswork out of the equation by putting ranges on the future estimates. For example, you have estimated that you would sell between x and y during the first year and y and z in the next year. Likewise you have put ranges on all other major variables as well and used a computer model to tell you what to expect as your net income.

You would make a powerful statement if you showed them a chart that displayed a distribution of their returns from lowest to highest. That way you can tell your audience that at the worst case they would make the lower end of the range if they invested in your business and at the best case they would make much much more. This would prove that you are on top of your game in understanding the uncertainties that face the business. This is another way of saying that you know the risks facing the business and have integrated that into your business plan. Perhaps then they would not roll their eyes when they see your aggressive projections because you will also show them both the aggressive and realistic side of the future.

A tool like Crystal Ball makes the above task easy. Contact me to learn more about adding uncertainty to your forecasts.

Clear the Uncertainty when Looking for Funding

2010-09-08T16:22:00.001-07:00

As an Entrepreneur it is only natural for you to be outrageously optimistic about your business and the future. When looking for funding you want to show your investors that you can grow their money and provide huge returns for their investment (ROI). However, you know that any projection you make is your best guess.

What you want to show is a hockey stick projection of sales because that is what it will take to make the triple digit returns in 5 years for your investors. But how often have you got your investors rolling their eyes when they see that hockey stick curve? You know your projections are achievable but how do you convince your audience? Remember that your investors are basically interested in the size of their returns and the likelihood of getting those returns.

One way to get them to believe in you is to qualitatively describe your marketing and operations plans and convince them that your stellar background makes you ideally suited to get you there.

An alternative is to convince them with numbers and include the element of uncertainty. You can tell your audience that you know that forecasts are simply best guesses. If you could predict what happens in the future you wouldn’t be standing in front of them. Instead, you have taken the guesswork out of the equation by putting ranges on the future estimates. For example, you have estimated that you would sell between x and y during the first year and y and z in the next year. Likewise you have put ranges on all other major variables as well and used a computer model to tell you what to expect as your net income.

You would make a powerful statement if you showed them a chart that displayed a distribution of their returns from lowest to highest. That way you can tell your audience that at the worst case they would make the lower end of the range if they invested in your business and at the best case they would make much much more. This would prove that you are on top of your game in understanding the uncertainties that face the business. This is another way of saying that you know the risks facing the business and have integrated that into your business plan. Perhaps then they would not roll their eyes when they see your aggressive projections because you will also show them both the aggressive and realistic side of the future.

A tool like Crystal Ball makes the above task easy. Contact me to learn more about adding uncertainty to your forecasts and using tools like Crystal Ball.

Clear the Uncertainty when Looking for Funding

2010-09-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

As an Entrepreneur it is only natural for you to be outrageously optimistic about your business and the future. When looking for funding you want to show your investors that you can grow their money and provide huge returns for their investment (ROI). However, you know that any projection you make is your best guess.

What you want to show is a hockey stick projection of sales because that is what it will take to make the triple digit returns in 5 years for your investors. But how often have you got your investors rolling their eyes when they see that hockey stick curve? You know your projections are achievable but how do you convince your audience? Remember that your investors are basically interested in the size of their returns and the likelihood of getting those returns.

One way to get them to believe in you is to qualitatively describe your marketing and operations plans and convince them that your stellar background makes you ideally suited to get you there. An alternative is to convince them with numbers and include the element of uncertainty. You can tell your audience that you know that forecasts are simply best guesses. If you could predict what happens in the future you wouldn’t be standing in front of them. Instead, you have taken the guesswork out of the equation by putting ranges on the future estimates. For example, you have estimated that you would sell between x and y during the first year and y and z in the next year. Likewise you have put ranges on all other major variables as well and used a computer model to tell you what to expect as your net income.

You would make a powerful statement if you showed them a chart that displayed a distribution of their returns from lowest to highest. That way you can tell your audience that at the worst case they would make the lower end of the range if they invested in your business and at the best case they would make much much more. This would prove that you are on top of your game in understanding the uncertainties that face the business. This is another way of saying that you know the risks facing the business and have integrated that into your business plan. Perhaps then they would not roll their eyes when they see your aggressive projections because you will also show them both the aggressive and realistic side of the future.

A tool like Crystal Ball makes the above task easy. Contact me to learn more about adding uncertainty to your forecasts and using tools like Crystal Ball.

The Choice by Goldratt

2008-11-29T22:28:00.000-08:00

Here is a summary of my learnings from Goldratt's latest book, The Choice. A very good read for anyone in the retail industry looking to transform their operations and bottom line...

The Choice
Eliyahu Goldratt

Thinking Process

- Live a meaningful life rather than an easy life. To do that, you need to think clearly
- Practice, Practice, Practice new ideas and solutions
- If something fails, consider it a prototype and learn from the mistakes
- The more complicated the situations seems to be, the simpler the solution needs to be
- Meaningful opportunities come when you remove the barriers that’s blocking you from making modest breakthroughs
- Naturavalde simplex est et sibi consona – nature is exceedingly simple and harmonious with itself
- Complexity is based on the number of degrees of freedom in the system. If everything is interconnected, a change introduced to the system will impact the whole system so you can see the cause-effect relationship easily
- There is typically one underlying cause that results in the conflict – we can solve the conflict by eliminating the root cause. If we compromise, we’ll never think of the underlying assumptions and never come up with a breakthrough
- Inherent simplicity is that reality is governed by very few elements and any part existing conflicts can be eliminated
- Blaming others pours fuel to the fire (preserving harmony in relationships is extremely important for a person who wants to live a full life) – put yourself in the other party’s shoes.
- Eradicate the notion that a positive change for you must result in a negative one for the other party (compromise) – find a solution that is positive to both parties – extend the frontier of gain
- There is always room for improvement – breakthrough improvement. Thinking there isn’t room for improvement is an obstacle in itself that needs to be removed.
- When you come up with a new solution, you should check all ramifications, otherwise you might miss something important
- The key to thinking clearly is to avoid circular logic – e.g. sales of our products are declining because market taste is changing. The causality is not substantiated. You need to dive further to find the root cause – inherent simplicity states that the causes will converge.
- Be on guard when the cause contains an abstract entity – try to come up with a predicted effect with another effect that must be the result of the same cause. The more predicted effects verified, the higher the validity of the cause. Practice. It should only take a second or two. If something is because of this..I assume that this other thing should also follow because of the same cause.
- Resistance to change is because people like to be in their “comfort zone”. Comfort zone is defined as an area where people feel that they have control or at least a sufficient amount of influence. An additional piece of comfort zone is where a person feels that he/she has sufficient knowledge of the cause and effect – what is going to be the likely outcome of an action and what is going to the likely response to a suggestion. So if you clearly explain the cause-effect, people may be more likely to respond positively to change. Also perform a test to validate the cause-effect that has been suggested
- Thinking clearly results in deeper emotions, resulting in stronger intuition, resulting in higher chances to apply logic successfully, increasing the chances to achieve good results, resulting in more meaningful outcomes, resulting in deeper emotions…

The Apparel Case
- Shortages in the store and warehouses are worse on your bottom line than you think, especially if a product runs out soon after it is launched. It causes non-linear negative impacts to the bottom line.
- The old way – lifetime of the product (6 months) is shorter than time to supply (1.5 yrs)
- “A forecast is the only way to order the correct quantity” is a false underlying assumption that needs to be changed
- Need to order smaller quantities more frequently
- Start the season with just 1 month of inventory and use the first two weeks to get a real understanding of what is moving and what is not
- The best display should be kept for the best sellers (not the slow movers)
- As long as the end customer has not bought, no one in the supply chain has sold
- If you have a large set of SKUs, provide only a few SKUs per store per month and change out the SKUs every month
- Suppose you produced all garments from one dyed fabric; if the company buys the material in huge quantities, but produces actual garments in small quantities dictated by actual consumption. This will increase inventory turns significantly.
- Holding inventories in the plant warehouse rather than pushing them to the regional warehouse further improves availability
- The most powerful improvement is to extend replenishment to the retailers; the higher the frequency of replenishment, it practically eliminates shortages while reducing inventories
- Straightening operations in retail is simple relative to production, and there is no need to do any sales and marketing activities; in retail, the improved operation automatically translates into increased sales.

Setting Personal Goals

2008-11-24T08:51:00.000-08:00

I recently finished reading (listening to) Automatic Wealth by Michael Masterson. He suggests four main investment buckets to generate wealth: growth of income from your job, real estate (flipping houses and owning rentals), business ownership, and stocks as a distant forth. In addition to providing specific guidance on accomplishing these, he spends a significant amount of time discussing what being wealthy really means and why gaining wealth is a means to an end and not an end in itself.

The end, according to Masterson, is really having a fulfilled balanced life that spans your health, wealth, relationships, and personal growth goals. To that end, he devotes several pages to helping you set long-terms goals and then break those goals down to annual, monthly, weekly, and daily tasks that will be necessary to reach those goals. This technique is actually followed by several large organizations where the 5-yr plan is broken down into sizeable chunks of work for each individual in the organization – thus one can have a clear view of how their daily efforts contribute to the whole.

I decided to try this out and so far it has worked quite well. Not only does it help me prioritize my day, it also allows me to remain at ease each day knowing that I have not left things to chance if I do the tasks I have outlined diligently. I don’t feel like I am missing out on things because everything I do will lead to accomplishing my goals.

Like any new endeavor, I start by opening Excel. So I have created an Excel sheet to track my 2-3 yr goals, annual goals, and monthly, weekly, and daily tasks and the logic flows perfectly. I have broken down my goals into Wealth, Health, Relations, and Personal Growth and set specific parameters against each goal. I then identified specific targets against each parameter and from then on it was a matter of identifying the shorter-term targets and developing tasks needed to achieve the targets.

In all, it took about 2 hours to fill in the sheets (I created a separate sheet for monthly, weekly, and daily targets/tasks) and about 10 minutes a day to review the daily tasks and update them for the next day. At the end of the week, I updated the weekly tasks for the following week which takes about 15-20 minutes.

I have found this routine extremely valuable and suggest you give this a try for yourself. One thing I wanted to avoid was trying to do too much – so I occasionally removed or re-evaluated the tasks/goal as a way to prioritize the goals that I really wanted to achieve. For example, one of my personal growth goals is to be well informed about worldly matters. For this, my parameter was to read news from a different country once a week. I found that I could not get to this task and so I evaluated whether this was critical or whether another goal of travel to new areas in the world was a way to achieve the same goal of being well informed about worldly matters. For now, I took the leap that it was and dropped the task of reading worldly news off my list. I may add it back at a later date when I become more efficient at completing my other tasks. On average, I end up having about 10 tasks to be completed every day – each stemming from the four categories of broad goals that I have established for myself.

ps. One of my goals is to write about a new tool/tip/product/site per week - this blog is a result of that goal

Greener Gadgets, January 2008

2008-02-03T11:56:00.000-08:00

February 1, 2008
New York City

“How many people here are designers?” 40% of the 300+ audience raise their hands. “How many people here are from consumer electronics?” Another 40% raise their hands. “How many are from the media or from a university?” The remaining 20%. No, this was not a mini Consumer Electronics Show (although CEA was one of the presenting sponsors). It was to learn about how to bring the consumer electronics “cool” factor into the green movement that has been gathering momentum over the past decade.

KeyNote

Chris Jordan, the opening keynote speaker, compared the green movement to a bicycle race where there is a tendency towards the end to ride in a pack and a hesitation from any one biker to take the lead (because he/she is worried that someone will pass them right towards the end). He said there seems to be a hesitation for anyone to take the lead and this hesitation has limited the ability for the green movement to reach critical mass. He said the consumer electronics industry, although slow to catch on, is in the best position to take the lead. They would bring the Michael Jordan “coolness” factor into environmental sustainability. Gadgets are getting cooler everyday and they can bring the concept of green as being cool to the masses.

One Laptop Per Child

After an awesome pictorial representations (must see) of mass consumption, Mary Lou Jepsen gave us a tour of the guts of her $180 “one laptop per child” machine. She created and meticulously designed every aspect of the laptop to dramatically lower cost and energy consumption. This was one of the highlights of the conference. The cause, design, engineering, and results were inspiring to everyone in the audience. Her most interesting remark was about getting fired up about this project. She said leaders in the field told her that it would be impossible to create a brand new laptop for under $100. The most interesting projects to get into, she said, are those that people say are impossible.

A few characteristics about the laptop:

Uses 1W (idle) versus 20W used by regular laptops and 80W by desktops
When parts/chips are not in use, they are turned off (duh!)
Uses Linux OS with a footprint of 100 MB versus Vista that uses 12,000 MB (12GB). This inherently requires less “metal” to operate the machine (less hard drive, chip speed, and power)
Designed for the “bottom” of the pyramid (of users, especially the mass concentration in developing countries)
Designed for children with education as a key driver
Comes with a built-in camera and each machine acts as a wireless router that can connect to other laptops or the internet (amazing!)

The laptop was packed with design and operational breakthroughs. Implementing only a fraction of these ideas into existing technologies could have a significant impact on the future of efficient computing. Mary Lou concluded by stating that manufacturers should use these breakthroughs to create gadgets that are longer lasting, repairable, lower power, lower weight and size, and robust. She also discussed the pilot distribution project outside Mumbai that was of interest.

Electronic Material Life Cycle

Mary Lou's presentation was followed by a panel of experts in industry and organizations on the topic of materials and lifecycle management of sustainability in electronics. David Conrad, Head of Environment for Nokia (North America), said this was an exciting time for people in his position. Prior to this, the idea of health, safety, and environment was a side issue that was in place to ensure compliance. It is now transforming into a critical role given the importance to the triple bottom line (economic, environmental, and social). Some of the major hurdles that the industry still faces, according to Renee St. Denis (Director of Product Take Back and Recycling at HP) include the issue of reverse logistics globally: it is extremely difficult to set up a system to gather the electronics and bring them back to point of creation. According to Sony’s Douglas Smith (Director of Corporate Environment, Safety and Health), it should be just as easy (and valuable) for consumers to give back their products as it is to purchase them through retail stores. At present, however, even the best collection systems for recovery and recycling in the world (Europe) recover only 30% of the products. There is a long way to go before we are close to creating a good solution worldwide.

A few interesting options were suggested by one of the panelists, Andre Dent (VP at Material ConneXion). What if we were to implement a leasing model (similar to cars) where users bring back their products for new ones every few years. Or how about a Netflix model where you pay a monthly fee to “rent” your equipment (great idea – I would pay a monthly fee to rent my plasma TV and trade it in every 6 months for another one. It would be a great exercise to develop this model to see what the numbers look like).

Insight into HP

All this and we were only half way through the session. After lunch, John Solomon (VP of US Consumer Business at HP) took us through a slide deck of HP’s commitment to the environmental sustainability. HP developed the first recycling system in the early 80s and has continued to innovate in the area. It was interesting to hear John talk about how people may think it is a paradox that HP is fighting environmental pollution while promoting gadgets (printers) that promote using more paper. He talked about steps HP has taken in reducing the paper consumption – an interesting concept was HP’s SmartWebPrinting that promotes better (less paper waste) ways to print from the internet. I tried this out. It was an easy download and looks like a fairly intuitive way to print from the web (and avoid that annoying last blank page with one line on it). During his talk, John also talked about the Davos Question via You Tube that is worth checking out.

Electronics and Energy Efficiency

John was followed by a panel on Electronics and Energy efficiency that included Gregg Chason (Consumer Lifestyle Division) from Philips Electronics and Ryan Block (Editor-in-Chief) of Engadget. Gregg highlighted the work that Philips was involved with in this area and talked about the use of existing technological breakthroughs in the mobile space to drive energy efficiencies. The work by Mary Lou was brought up several times during the conversation. This further demonstrated the magnitude of Mary’s achievements. Some very interesting recent developments in the electronics area include the Eco-Patent Commons (a platform-sharing alliance between companies like IBM, Sony, Nokia, and Pitney Bowes to release dozens of environmentally responsible patents to the public domain). An interesting patent released is the “Systems and methods for recycling of cell phones at the end of life” by Nokia. A general observation was that in order to continue pushing the frontier, all stakeholders need to become environmentally conscious world citizens.

Mobile Renewable Energy

The next panel was on new forms of mobile renewable energy, another great highlight of the conference. Here we got a glimpse of some very innovative solutions to renewable energy from entrepreneurs who have been leaders in this area. This included Peng Lim (CEO of MTI) who showed off a very cool technology that uses methanol within a tiny fuel cell cartridge (to replace the standard battery). We also saw Regan Warner-Rowe of M2E who has developed a highly efficient motion-to-energy system and is currently working with the military on this technology. Arthur Huang, founder of Hymini, presented the hand-held hybrid energy storage unit while Daniel Porras walked us through the success of Solio, a hand-held solar power unit, in developing countries. Very cool technologies that are sure to become mainstream in the coming decade.

xDesign

The day was wrapped up by Natalie Jeremijenko, an artist and director of the xDesign Environmental Health Clinic at NYU. Natalie has worked on some extraordinary projects but one that stuck out most was her “how stuff is made” exercise that she requires her students go through. “Does anyone here know exactly where something you are wearing is made?” When she posed this question to the audience, only 3 people knew exactly where one piece of their clothing (a shoe or sweater) was made. The visual essay concept is intriguing. Here her students have to create a photographic essay of the process (say of making a fortune cookie) that requires the student to not only gain access to processing facilities world-wide (itself a challenge), but also take photographs and publish it.

Design Competition

Finally, Core77 presented a great set of slides displaying the range of entries for their design competition. The winner was a DIY power meter by EnerJar. The range of solutions, however, was amazing and I am hoping Core77 puts these up on their site for everyone to see the innovations.

Exhibits

Of course, the Exhibits outside the main conference area were also amazing. Exhibits that I found exciting:

ReCellular: a company focusing on recycling cell phones
Project H Design: a charitable organization led by Emily Pilloton. She showcased some great gadgets and systems all on one table (video worth viewing). She also displays some very cool Freeplay products.
Solio: Hand-held solar devices
My Bone Yard: an initiative to give consumers a value-added platform to recycle their gadgets
Voltaic Systems: Creators of backpacks with solar panels to charge the backpack contents
SunNight Solar: a company dedicated to providing solar powered flash lights to developing countries via its BOGO (Buy One Give One) program

There were also several media and publishing groups displaying their products (magazines) as well as Nokia and HP showing off their new environmentally friendly gadgets. And I missed a couple of great booths like Make magazine’s DIY USB charger (I definitely want to make one of these).

All in all, a great event that allowed people to connect and share ideas. I want to keep an eye out (and get on mailing lists) for similar future events. There was definitely not enough time (as is the case with most great conferences) to learn about, network, and share all the great ideas in the room. But that is what makes future sessions all the more attractive to attend.

Darden Mumbai Event

2007-12-29T23:14:00.001-08:00

On December 28th 2007, Darden hosted a social event at the Blue Lagoon lounge in Lower Parel, Mumbai. This was an informal event created primarily for prospective students who were either applying for the Fall 08 or were generally interested in Darden. Dean Bruner had recently visited India in November and generated quite a buzz about Darden, describing it as a hidden gem to a large audience. Several of the 30 participants that made it to the Blue Lagoon had also been to the Dean's reception.

The Blue Lagoon event was obviously student-run as are most events at Darden. I organized the location but received a lot of help from Arielle Myhre and Amanda Mills from Darden. Amanda sent several brochures and T-Shirts that we handed out during the event. We had a total of 6 SYs who were current in Mumbai - Ujwala Kukreja, Natasha Sandhir, Vipin Singh, Vineet Thakar, Mayank Jain, and myself. We were able to squeeze in a 45-minute open Q&A panel within the 2-hour event.

The event was held at the Blue Lagoon, a lounge dedicated to private parties, right near the Phoenix Mills Bowling Alley. We placed a few chairs on the dance floor, turned on the disco lights (given they were the only lighting in that area), and opened the floor to the audience to ask anything they wanted to know about Darden.

The most interesting questions: What was your most valuable experience at Darden?; Does Darden have electives catered towards international business?; Why did you pick Darden (ok, this was probably to get more material for the essay)?; What exactly is a general management degree?

And we did get a lot of the typical questions like "how does a case method lend itself to courses like Accounting and Finance?" and "what is the placement like for international students at Darden?"

We ended the session by handing out T-shirts and moving down to the adjacent bar. About 10 participants joined us at the bar to get a few more questions answered and experience a lighter side of Darden students.

We asked every participant to give us candid feedback about the event and told them that someday one (or more) of them would be hosting a similar gathering for future prospects.

Please feel free to add your thoughts to this blog and provide feedback if you made it to the event.

Leadership Lab Class (SY Q2 Class of 2008)

2007-12-11T11:32:00.001-08:00

I learned a lot during the leadership lab class. There were moments when the class was a bit redundant and I wasn't sure where we were going. But I was able to keep my cool and go with the flow. I have gone with the flow quite often but then at times I would speak up and say that I need to see something different. I think there were others there who thought the same and this was validated when Folake spoke up and said she wanted to see something different. In any case, I wonder if I would show up to a similar class in the future unless there is some innovative way of teaching leadership. Why don't we use the technique that Rolls Royce used for their interview process. After all, if they can get good results from a 1-day simulation, we should
be able to get similar or better results with a quarter long simulation.

I think the biggest learnings in this class have been the concept of the power of choice and language. While I was always aware of the power of choice through the "7 habits of highly effective people", this class reinforced that rule and I ought to practice it some more. To practice, I need to realize how I do respond at various situations. This is a painful exercise but it could make me more aware. What I really need is a reminder of some great quotes during the class (and class readings). Here is a list of quotes and actions that worked for me as a result of taking this course. The book, "You are what you say" by Matthew Budd and Larry Rothstein was great and most of the learnings are from this book:

_____________________________________________________________

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over hoping that it will turn out differently
Rita Mae Brown

We think with our whole body
Taisen Deshimaru, Zen roshi

I am happiest when I surprise myself
Adam Duggins (Class of 2008)

Actions

Meditate
Observe yourself
Observe others

Authenticity and self awareness empowers us

A request simply invites another person to participate in your life. Take this as a way to honor others, not to burden them

Listen to another person without judgment, evaluation, reaction, or letting your mind wander to your own thoughts

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Rule #1 Investing

2007-11-28T22:04:00.001-08:00

Phil Town has written a very compelling book on investing wisely. it has several elements of a good analysis but hinges on the concept that the market is sometimes not efficient in the short run.

Get the book here.

AT&T versus Verizon

2007-11-25T17:41:00.000-08:00

Our Verizon term is almost up and we are ready to review whether to continue with Verizon or switch to another carrier - perhaps AT&T.

Here are benefits I see in switching to AT&T:

1. Get onto the GSM system so that we can use our phones overseas, say India (using an Indian SIM card). The RAZR phones come free with any plan
2. Get a bundle deal with AT&T land line and high speed internet access
3. Get rollover minutes. Previously we have paid as much as $115 for Verizon because we went over our 700 minute limit.

Here are negatives in switching to AT&T:

1. Most of our family members are on Verizon so we lose the free mobile-to-mobile feature
2. It is $10 cheaper per month than AT&T (if you don't consider the bundle package with AT&T)
3. Verizon seems to have a larger coverage area

Thanksgiving 2007

2007-11-23T22:04:00.001-08:00

We spent our TG with Ayesha, Jake, and Dutch who are visiting from New Jersey. Whole Foods made us a great Turkey dinner through their catering services. I don't think we enjoyed the Turkey as much but the stuffing, potatoes, and gravy were great. Of course, A&J's fresh veggies and apple pie were the highlights.