Emergic: Rajesh Jain's Blog

We did the climb up to the temples on Sunday. The 3,200 steps seemed much tougher to climb than the last time I did them. I stopped many times en route, even though the common wisdom is that one should just continue. Bhavana made Abhishek walk-and-talk and set a fast pace, and they made it […]

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Like we had done two years ago, we went to Palitana in early August just before Abhishek’s school re-opened. Abhishek was the one who was keen to go, and my in-laws obliged him! Palitana is one of the more well-known Jain temple sites. The main temples are situated on the Shatrunjay Hills. The climb is […]

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From a series I wrote a year ago on the challenges of being an entrepreneur: For me, every year as an entrepreneur is one to be savoured because of the learnings.  Just because I did something right in the past does not guarantee success in the future. Building a business is hard. There are moments […]

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This week’s links: Information Overload is Nothing New: by Peggy Noonan (WSJ). “Step back, or aside. Think what you think, not what they think. Everyone is trying to push. Don’t be pushed.” A Smartphone Retrospective: by Marco Arment. How the mobiles have evolved in just 3 years – in pictures. The Future of Internet Search: […]

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To create a micropayments infrastructure, we need to build on what already exists. Mobile operators in India have created an amazing network of points of presence where one can buy airtime. They know how to handle cash that users pay. (Cash remains the preferred payment mechanism given the low penetration of credit, debit and cash […]

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I have written on this topic earlier. I needed to write a brief note recently – so I took some of the earlier ideas, and updated them. As voice becomes a commodity on mobile networks, the action is shifting to mobile data services. In this context, India’s user base is only second to China. This […]

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I had taken some photos on Aug 3 of the potholes on the road in the context of the Bandra Terminus story I had written yesterday.The pictures tell the story.

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There is Shenzhen Train Station and then there is our very own Bandra Terminus. I happened to pass through both in the past month, and the experience is instructive for all who think India is on its way to becoming another China. Shenzhen Station has a massive access area, no traffic jams due to taxis, […]

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Excerpts from my interview in MobiGyaan about MyToday: Why did Netcore introduced Premium (Paid) version of MyToday? Our focus is on direct-to-consumer services. There is so much more which can be done with SMS. We want to create a publishing and micro-payments platform through MyToday that can spur innovation, create new monetisable moments for publishers […]

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From a post I wrote last August: What kind of data services would the Data MVNO offer? Here are some starting examples: SMS subscriptions (push-based microcontent) Voice portals Content downloads (mobile games, apps, etc.) Video downloads / streaming mCommerce What is common to all of these services is that consumers pay for each one of […]

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This week’s links: Why they were able to raise money: by Jason Baptiste. “These reasons are beyond the usual Brilliant team in a huge market with a killer product.” The importance of frugal engineering: from strategy+business. “Providing new goods and services to “bottom of the pyramid” customers requires a radical rethinking of product development.” Booking […]

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Looking ahead to the next year, there are two primary themes that I expect will dominate my thinking and time. The first is MyToday, and building it out. The potential is large in India, and outside. But we have to do lots of things right to make a success out of it. It is a […]

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The past year saw Abhishek start his formal schooling – LKG, and moving to HKG a couple weeks ago. School has opened him up a lot. It has reduced the time we get to spend together on weekdays since he has to sleep by 8 pm, and I only get home on most days by […]

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I made four international trips during the past year – which is more than I have done in recent times. The first was to the US last September – Washington and the Bay Area. It was a short trip – about 9 days. The second was to Japan (Tokyo) in January – to understand how […]

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For the first time in many years, I have been directly managing a team. It is not something I am good at – in IndiaWorld, Bhavana had done much of that. But given the early stage of what we are doing, the hands-on involvement is critical. It reminds me of the early days of IndiaWorld […]

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Once every year, I turn the mirror inward to look at my life -on my birthday. It is that time of the year once again. The dominant theme for the past year was about NetCore, the company I run. I spent the better part of the year focused on the business – more than I […]

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Today is my 43rd birthday. I will write next week about my journey from 42 to 43. For now, here is the last post from my 41 to 42 series: As I look ahead to the 43rd year of my life, there are many things I would like to make happen. I don’t know how […]

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This week’s links: CK Prahalad Interview: from strategy+business. A tribute to the management guru. “In interviews conducted before his untimely death, C.K. Prahalad — the sage of core competencies and the bottom of the pyramid — looked back on his career and talked about the way ideas evolve.” Right to Food in India: from the […]

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The Internet has not yet penetrated deeply and widely in India. SMS, other than voice, is the only mobile service that works on every mobile in the country. Even though there has been recent misuse of SMS by companies violating the NDNC (National Do Not Call Registry), the solution is not to create a “Do […]

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Here are the three tech interventions that are needed for these solutions: Every SMS should sent have a clearly identifiable alphanumeric SenderID. Mobile numbers should not allowed as senderID, unless they are in response to a request originated by the user to that shortCode or longCode over SMS. This will prevent companies from putting arbitrary […]

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