Before I answer this question, I should answer another question first- What inspired me to write this post? The other day I was having a discussion with my Father when I subconsciously asked him about ‘the type of Businessmen’ in this world. I had a doubt about Businesses and their motives when I asked him this- Why is that there are local businesses running well over 200-300 crores but are not very famous or well known? On the other hand why we have some Entrepreneurs who sold there businesses for some crores but are really well known and sought after (especially by Startups like us)? Well, his answer was simple but it fuelled a new thought in my mind. This is what he said to me-

There are 3 types of businessmen in this World-

1. Those who are intellectually famous but financially not so affluent (not having a 200-300 crore business),

Those who are financially very affluent but are intellectually weak (not having an influential friend network) .. [Read full Post here.]

This is where The Morpheus is trying to come into picture. They have a 4 months intense Business Accelerator Program (BAP) where they guide startups and also invest a small but critical amount of 5 lacs per startup. Every year they call for applications from potential new companies and then choose the portfolio based on their business insights and startup’s abilities.

We have personally worked with them as friends of Morpheus and have received some real good help. Be it getting connected to right people, or asking them to review our website/services or getting help in other things like office setup, project management, social media marketing etc. They have been on their toes to help startups like us. And their enthusiasm and support keeps us going on this tough and mystic path.

If you think you’re a startup facing the issues described above, you can apply to be in “The Morpheus” portfolio here.

1. Latha venkatesh on CNBC seems to be the most searched for personality among business news editors.
2. Chriss Angel Mindfreak- AXN (Magic Reality, quite strange ).
3. Tech Toyz- CNBC TV18.
4. I’m too sexy for my Shoes- NDTV Goodtimes.
5. Jailed Abroad- Nat Geo.
6. Lapataganj- Sab TV (Comedy as a genre is not found in TAM list)
7. Starting Up- ET Now.
8. Do it Sweet- NDTV Good times (It’s also one of the top searched programs on iDubba)
9. Emotional Atyachar- Bindass
10. Wipeout- AXN.

Read full post here.

Do let me know your thoughts on this . To read a detailed version of this article visit my Startup Lessons page.

If your answer to this question is yes, then you’re thinking is in line with some of India’s cult Movie Directors who think that censorship causes Films to lose ‘real’ touch. Very recently Anurag Kashyap said this- “There shouldn’t be any censorship on making a film. We are still very conservative about the term sex,””I am trying to push my boundaries so that everything in the film looks real.”

All this looks fine from one angle- “Freedom to speak” is what every publisher, writer, director is looking for in this World. But this world has its own rules, if one is in a Socialist country like China almost everything said and done on media is subjected to Govt’s scrutiny but what if you’re in a democracy like India or US? [Continue Reading..]

I would have never appreciated any reality TV show for its unique idea and brilliant concept, but I changed my mind after watching ‘Emotional Atyachar’ on Bindaas. Here is a show which may not be as popular as ‘Rakhi Ka Swayamwar’ but it’s defnitely more creative and thrilling than any other reality shows around. Yeah, you might have many questions in mind after watching the show, but that’s an integral part of all ‘scripted’ reality shows.

Unlike any other reality shows ‘Emotional Atayachar’ raises not one but many doubts (enough to keep any one glued to TV) but it actually manages all that very well. So here goes the Plot-

Contestants having an affair are asked to do a fidelity test on their partners. There are basically 3 entities in the show- “Contestant”, “Contestant’s boy/girl friend” and “Emotional Atyachar tempters and crew”. The Emotional Atyachar team consists of some experts who try to test the faithfulness of victim. They start with friendship and then start flirting with the victim on seen, while their Camera crew records all the action LIVE. The ‘Emotional’ team also carries a hidden camera and microphone to record the victim’s reactions and replies and feed them LIVE to the studio crew. After the test is conducted the feed is shown to the contestant, and as expected most of the victims fails this test. Which then creates a high tension drama on scene- abuses, slaps, cries, humiliation etc etc.

Sounds interesting, isn’t it? Yes, but there is more to the show- if someone tests negative for infidelity they may also run a cross fidelity test on the contestant itself (amazing huh )..

Many doubts arise after seeing the show- I’m not going to talk about morality issues as many shows have already crossed that line and there is no point in discussing that again. But yes, the first doubt is- are the victims given any compensation for allowing the team to show footage on TV? If yes, can’t it be another reason to cheat? But as per UTV- “people who’ve cheated are made to sign a consent form after being shown the footage. “Our tempters never make the first move, we blur faces of the women who cheat and we get them to sign consent forms.”

Huh.. it can’t be as simple as it sounds, who in his/her right mind would sign a consent form just for the negative publicity? This doubt raises further questions- are the contestants also paid? Can’t it be a combined effort to get some quick money and a brilliant script? Well, who knows what runs behind those ‘bindaas’ cameras’?

May be, we need some news channel reporters to run a sting operation on the creators behind such shows. That would make another interesting ‘reality’ show. Isn’t it?

@iamsrk tweets to @juniorbachchan- wot r u doing up so late young man…will call paa just now and report you. love u man. last day of shoot tomorrow??

@iamsrk tonight shah. Back home dayafter. Dinner is a must once I’m back. Will tell gaurima.how’s ur riding going?

Or,

@Riteishd tweets- There is no truth to the article suggesting that i am getting married. Actually not a single line printed in that article is true.

@juniorbachchan replies @Riteishd you’re getting married???? Mubarak! Who’s the lucky girl? ☺ ……. You know I’m going to rag you about this all day. HAHAHA

@juniorbachchan hahaha hum bhi aapke kisi article ke liye rukenge

On any other day these will look as not-so-important conversations to anyone, unless one knows that the person who are chatting above are (real) Shahrukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan and Riteish Desmukh respectively.. now stop reading those conversations again . Yes it’s a fact that our super famous media people are using Twitter very frequently and the best part is-everyone is saying “I’m Loving it” (Mc Donald’s slogan). But Unlike MC Donald’s burger the tweets don’t even cost a single Rupee and the ultimate thing is that fans get their star’s status messages in real time, and that too…. for free .

Now twitter unlike other social networking sites works well for famous personalities, as it quickly allows fans to follow the tweets of their favorite star. For businesses and famous people that’s a very good thing as they need not to do anything to market their daily lives or products.

But why I’m saying that it can hurt Mobile companies? “Twitter” is primarily a web tool which can be accessed through Mobile as well. But how it affects Mobile companies? Well the quick answer is- It allows the power to communicate shortest of things at cheapest possible costs, even if Mobile companies start charging you for sending tweets through SMS the number would be very small. As one tweet would be charged as that of one SMS cost but the fact that it’s actually delivered to thousands of followers for free, may hurt any Mobile companies future growth.

Now the biggest reason I put up the conversation above is to prove the point that how often eminent Movie personalities are using Twitter services to converse with each other. Since all the high end Mobile users like Shahrukh and Abhishek contribute significantly to Mobile companies’ revenues, they may take a hit if such users start using Twitter to communicate most often.

• What do you think? Can Twitter really become a nightmare for Mobile companies, or Mobile companies will find a way to start charging significant fees for Tweeting?