If god was a banker

If God was a Banker, Ravi Subramanian
Rupa & Co. (pp260); Rs.195
Rating 6.5/10

Another one of those short books, which you can pick up at an airport and finish by the end of the flight. (especially when the flights are late and circle for atleast 20 minutes before landing at the airport)

In last few years their has been a crazy number of books written with an 'alma mater' hangover and this book is no different. The story is written on the backdrop of IIMs and the lives of its alumni.
I feel after the success of Five Point Someone, the alumni of IIT and IIM realised the hidden potential in selling their college name blended with masala stories. This helps in tapping a large chunk of audience who had heard about these 'premiere' institutes and had once aspired to study there. But the ones who have been there, realise how spiced up and extrapolated these stories actually are.

If God was a Banker is another such story which stays gripping throughout, but the perfect end is almost predictable. Its a tale of people with different background, different ambitions but tied with a common thread of the Banking Industry. It has an interesting take on the Corporate world, which has already been sold to Indian Audience in movies like Corporate and Life in a Metro. Sex, Betrayal, Board Room Tales are straight out of a hindi movie script. The Evil versus Good is also set in the manner in which Evil is glorified throughout the story but in the end, its the slow and steady Tortoise which wins the race.

I dont want to be too critical about the book because, even the author while writing this book, must not have aimed for any critical or literary acclaim. He wanted to write a story which can be easily adapted in a film script. Three Idiots, Hello and Slum Dog Millionaire would definitely give him hopes for such glory.

But truly, for someone not exposed to the corporate culture or the finer nunaces of the industry, this book works well like an induction course. The story is set in the nineties and the author makes a concious effort not to mix up the time travel. The book subtely but surely takes on the various foreign banks and the finance sector, which time and again have promised more than they can actually deliver. These books are never written with an aim of making the readers introspect but still if you try and think about the various incidents in the story, you would realise that the author tries to convey a message to the readers. He tries to highlight the importance of setting the expectations from your life right. Some people with unreasonable aims and desires end up taking decisions which might look good in the short term, but are surely not a good bet in the long run.

Ravi Subramanian’s language and recitation are smooth and simple; probably for purists the brief but brazen descriptions of the sexual escapades of the protagonist may sound a bit obscene. Nevertheless, Ravi Subramanian,a banker himself seems to have done a reasonable job in making the reader walk successfully though the world of money, power and deception. All in all, a must read for all air travelers looking for a nice masala story with real life references.

Verdict: Good one time read. Should be finished in one sitting. (Warning: Zero Literary Value)

Frugal Marketing Tips For Start Ups

Well I am neither a Startup nor a marketing expert, but with my experience in last few months I can surely write a bit about How one can use 'low cost' solutions to market his startup.The power of Web 2.0 has been much talked about and reported in the media. Well there is no better tool than Web 2.0 to market your venture. Some of the tools which help in catalysing the marketing initiatives of your startup are:
A Company Blog
Corporate Presentation on Slideshare
Corporate Video on Youtube
Linkedin Profile of your compnay
Presence of Co-Founders on Twitter
If its a software product, its Facebook page is also very important
Linkedin Profiles of Co Founders

All of the above social media tools come in very handy if leveraged properly. The company profile should also be submitted in the relevant Start Up Directories, such as Pluggd.in, Headstart Network etc.
Attending Start Up events helps in growing the network. The StartUp eco system in India is still in a very nascent stage, but is growing nevertheless. Events such as Startup Saturdays, Proto.in and Milagrow World SME Conference are a good networking ground which sooner or later does translate into business.
The key is to let more and more people know about the venture.
Last but not the least, getting featured in media is the sure shot way to get noticed. The question is, how does one get featured in Media? With more and more news channels and publications doing special features on Start Ups, its not a tough taks anymore. Get in touch with the concerned Journalists and News Channels and if they like your Idea/Venture, they would certainly feature you. An editorial has a much more impact than an advertisement.

Summary:
Frugal Marketing Tips for your StartUp
1. A Company Blog
2. Video and Presentations on websites such as Slide Share and Youttube
3. Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook Profiles.
4. Networking Events
5. Media Coverage

Success as a function of timing

Recently I had a very engrossing debate with a close friend of mine. As usual the discussions revolved around success and characteristics of people who succeed. This friend also being from the 'StartUp' community, like everyone else from this category of people is hoping for a breakthrough in near future.
We were trying to analyse what do these 'already successful', 'brokenthrough' guys do differently from not so successful but equally talented people. After discussing a huge list of people, famous, infamous, rich, poor, mean, generous, all kinds of people, we concluded that it was just the timing which made these people successful. They made moves at the right time. Not that it was planned or anything. It just happened at the right time. We also tried analysing the traits of a failure. In most cases, it was the bad timing of their moves, risks, and even their birth which deprived them from becoming a great. Here are some examples which would make my above statements clearer.
1. In American Football, it was noticed that most national footballers had their birthdays concentrated in certain months. On further analysis, it was found that the school selection camps was the root cause of this scenario. In all schools across America, the selections were held in Springs. The teams were classified according to age. So in all age categories, kids who had completed 10-11 months of that year were slightly stronger than the ones who had their birthdays just before the spring. So invariably just because of a few months, these kids lost out on a chance to be in the school team, even if some of them might have been better players than their stronger friends. Here the timing of their birth played an important part. Those students who were born just after spring had a better chance of making to the team as compared to those born just before the spring.
2. The timing of the career moves, even if these decisions were a part of the natural progress plays an important part in your successful career. Recently I met a guy in his late twenties, working for an international lifestyle brand. His business card said that he was the 'Director'. He was introduced to me by a common friend. I later asked my friend about his 'secret' to such giant strides in his career. He told me that 5 years back he had passes out of a Tier 2 B-School. He got placed in this company as an Asst Sales Manager. Couple of years later, this company brought this multinational lifestyle product under their own brand umbrella. He was made the in charge for that particular product directly reporting to the Brand Manager. This is when the Brand Manager quit his job and created a void in the organization structure. What made the matters worse was that the company had decided to launch this product in a fill fledged manner, that too independent of the Indian mother brand. It was decided that this guy will have to be given additional responsibilities of being the Brand Manager and Sales Manager of this brand. In 3 years time he was heading the Sales and Marketing of a leading international lifestyle brand. He had never expected this in his wildest dreams. These additional responsibilities ignited the entrepreneurial fire in him and he gave in more than 100%. The brand became a run away success. A couple of years later, he was made the director of the company for the hard work he put in.His hard work coupled with a few events with a perfect timing handed him a success, which he could only dream of.
3. Recently the Sri Lanka-New Zealand test series was concluded. As usual New Zealand Captain Dan Vettori played a lone hand in what was an absolute drubbing. On checking the statistics, one realises that, he was the highest wicket taker and run scorer for New Zealand in the series. On increasing the time period of this statistics, it shows that he has been the highest run scorer and wicket taker for New Zealand in last two years. In these two years, New Zealand has won only 7-8 matches, that too against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Consequentially Daniel Vettori always gets neglected by experts and even laymen, when listing down the current greats of the game. The timing of his playing years has gone wrong for him. Had he played in early 90s alongside a stronger side, his performances would have made a stronger impact. A 'could be' great in some other era and a mere mortal in the current one.

Favorable timing is not the only key to success bit definitely helps those people who are completely prepared at that particular moment. Its like a golden opportunity which eludes the speculative people but nitro boosts the 'raring to go' category of people.