Avinash Raghava
- Editor, ProductNation
- Founding Volunteer and CEO, SaaSBoomi
New Delhi
Championing 🇮🇳's 1st pay-it-forward community that accelerates AI grow @AIBoomi | Past @ScaleTogether @Accel_India @Product_Nation @NASSCOM
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Articles by Avinash Raghava
Inspiring leadership doesn’t have to be loud: here’s a great leader who inspires through soft touch
Avinash Raghava · Follow Published in #JeenaIsiKaNaamHain · 4 min read · -- Almost twenty years ago (2005, I think) I met KK for the first time at the NASSCOM office. The EMERGE Forum was getting established, and he was invited to be the Chair. The decision to have him lead, was unanimous — the Forum needed Krishnakumar Natarajan, a much-revered leader in the industry. He had come to Delhi and at the very first instance, I was drawn to him because of the warmth, simplicity and kindness he exuded.
Pay it FWD: The quiet leadership of Aastha Sharma
Avinash Raghava · Follow Published in Pay It FWD · 4 min read · -- She sat in the corner of a large lawn. The open, green space felt too large for her. There was noise, close to 40 people bumping into each other, laughing at inside jokes, and a lot of back-slapping. If you had no context, you would think you were looking at a scene from a family reunion, and that woman the camera lingered on was probably a friend of a cousin who had been invited to the party at the last minute.
A Tireless Crusader and a Gentleman - Diwakar Nigam #JeenaIsiKaNaamHain
Avinash Raghava · Follow Published in #JeenaIsiKaNaamHain · 3 min read · -- Today we see many awesome product companies coming out of India with great UI, interoperability and user adoption. It’s been a 20-year journey to where we are today. The next 20 years will be extraordinary and as Diwakar Nigam, the Co-Founder of NewGen says, we will have many more product companies that will seize the global stage.
Crisis, Chaos & Insanely Awesome
There are founders who try to stay away from crisis, chaos and confusion. And then there is Bhanu Chopra, who loves to trounce them as it makes him feel 'insanely awesome' The forecast was gloomy. And the signs were ominous. The founder sent a sudden invite for an early breakfast meeting at his residence. Anticipating trouble, the core team huddled much ahead of the scheduled time, all tried hard to mask their anxiety, and sat on the edges of their seats.
A Man for All Seasons - Rajiv Vaishnav #JeenaIsiKaNaamHain
What exactly is natural ability, I have often wondered? Is it something we are “born with”, a quality that we inherit or is it acquired at a very early age, and with frequent repetition, the quality becomes a habit and transforms into an ability? It becomes so pronounced in the individual that one gets the impression he was born with it. I have known Rajiv Vaishnav for more than 22 years and in various capacities.
He Won’t Miss the Forest for The Trees and More Importantly - Vice-Versa
Someone wiser said, “Life’s a journey, not a destination”. The wise man must have been a globetrotter. We are all co-passengers in our indomitable pursuit of El Dorado but if you ponder awhile and reflect on the journey, you will see that many people come into our lives, shape them in ways imaginable (and unimaginable) and then they leave, never to return. For many of us, there will only be a few people who may have been around for a long time, running into several decades sometimes.
Pioneer, Boss, Hard Taskmaster, Benevolent Giver and Always a Mentor
JIKNH has featured twenty-four exceptional leaders thus far - would you believe it? To segue with the previous editions, it is only befitting that the twenty-fifth features a leader who has a rich legacy as a major contributor to the Indian product ecosystem. And he has been a mentor (and ex-Boss) to me as well. Friends, today it's about Sharad Sharma! Ganesh Natarajan, sometime in 2006, connected me to Sharad who was already an Industry heavyweight.
Aneesh Reddy - "The SaaS whisperer" - #JeenaIsiKaNaamHain
One of my favourite films growing up was a movie called " The Horse Whisperer ". It was a movie about a person with a magical ability to speak to horses, especially those that are injured or traumatised, through whispering. What was particularly poignant to me, more than the magic, was the fact that this person had an uncanny level of empathy towards living beings who couldn't communicate their pain and troubles.
A Name is More Than an Identity and Remembering is Much More Than a Memory Test
Human existence has always been about celebrating talent and putting a premium on some kinds. A very rare quality that often goes unnoticed - but goes a very long way in cementing relationships - is about remembering names. Business leaders in their lifetime meet thousands of people and oftentimes, it becomes impossible to remember all the names, especially of those who fade away.
Mad Street Den, #CoupleGoals, and a 40-year stretch
Anand Chandrasekaran had a staid academic life and Ashwini Asokan had a sparkling corporate career when they quit to create a version of AI that could exist not just in labs and sci-fi books but in people's hands. Here is how that happened. "The clock has to start ticking. The money has to run out," Ashwini urged Anand one morning at the beginning of 2013. That fire in the belly would start only if they gave up the sedative known as a steady salary.
The Rise of #IndiaSaaS (1/2)
When I was making plans to fly to the US, I was enthused but a little tentative. Do they even need SaaSBOOMi there? There exists SaaStr, which is extremely popular and has a large cohort of founders from across the world. But as I've learnt over the years, effort is never in vain. Worst case scenario, we would meet a handful of founders, make a few friends and eat some good food. But the trip surpassed our best-case scenarios.
The Startup Guy - Vijay Anand #JeenaIsiKaNaamHain
Today’s #JeenaIssiKaNaamHain is on Vijay Anand who started as the voice of Indian startups and continues to remain very passionate about taking this segment to greater heights. Today, startups represent everything that’s celebrated about New India but I want to take you back in time, circa 2007, when they were a fledgling idea and finding it difficult to break down entry barriers superficially created by the large companies to ward off challengers.
Paying a Tribute to VSS - My Friend With Extraordinary Human Qualities
The Spark That Led to the IgnitionA young bespectacled man was a regular visitor to Delhi’s Daryaganj book market at that time — the year was 1998. The Daryaganj book market is a marvel of sorts. It’s a booklover’s delight — open on Sundays — where an entire road is dotted with second-hand booksellers and thousands of customers can be seen on their haunches poring over books and striking a deal. It’s a temple-lane of sorts for students, aspirants of competitive exams, visionaries, and writers.
A Tribute to Jay Pullur - One of India’s Finest Product Entrepreneurs
We got talking in Sydney, sometime in 2006. The conversation was why many companies are not building software products from India. This, after a busy day attending the CeBIT show where I was a part of the Ganesh Natarajan-led delegation. Ganesh as you know is the legendary Ex-Chairman of Zensar Technologies and an industry doyen. Alongside, 16 company founders were also a part of the Indian delegation, organized by NASSCOM’s SME Forum.
How can early-stage founders build their SaaS startup with the help of Accel India?
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” This quote ascribed to Abraham Lincoln pretty much encapsulates the age-old wisdom that rigorous preparation is the differentiator with a successful endeavour. While preparedness is not a sure shot formula for success, ask any marquee founder and you’ll be told how preparation helps a start-up avoid lethal mistakes and mitigate risks.
SaaS, India’s sunrise industry of the 2020s
How India-rooted SaaS companies have a trillion-dollar opportunity to service global businesses By Sairam Krishnan & Avinash Raghava The current state of India’s services and software industry is on thin ice. Business has slowed as the nature of their clients, and the way they do business, has been changing at a rapid pace. This means there will be an impact on the fortunes of and jobs in the IT services industry — and, indeed, the broader economy. We are already seeing this play out around us.
The Rise of the Indian Start-Up Ecosystem
Home/Magazine Archive/November 2019 (Vol. 62, No. 11)/The Rise of the Indian Start-Up Ecosystem/Full Text India Region Special Section: Big trends By Charles Assisi, Avinash Raghava, NS Ramnath Communications of the ACM, November 2019, Vol.
Life Lessons Learnt & Some Reflections on the Subroto Bagchi’s podcast.
It was really nice to listen to the podcast of Subroto Bagchi where he shared 6 life lessons. I probably listened to this podcast for over 6/7 times and then there were areas where I could reflect upon and also learn a lot from his learnings and apply them in my life. Those of you who don’t know Subroto, please do read up about him on his Wiki page. He was one of the early members of the Wipro leadership team and later on, with a few others, started MindTree.
The Multi-Billion Dollar India-SaaS Opportunity (250+ SaaS Startups)
The India Saas ecosystem is gaining prominence in the global marketplace. Special thanks to @anirudh.vish (Anirudh Viswanathan) who has put all the efforts in compiling this list. A couple of years back, young Tejaswi Raghurama had done an amazing job of collating 100 SaaS companies and had published it here. It had proved useful to so many and still remains a great resource. It is always a challenge for someone to point out Indian SaaS companies, and a comprehensive list like that helped.
Do we have the DNA to build great products in India ?
For the last two decades I have followed global products and success stories, and a question constantly in front of me is why India has very few globally comparable products and even fewer category leaders? Despite India’s vast engineering resources, budding design talent, and our hustle mentality, we have not been able to create a stream of successful global products. Our startups, even after massive roundsof funding, have been unable to scale beyond our borders and establish a global footprint.
Papa, I love you.
A simple line. Four words, if you break that down further. Something which I have been dying to say for many years to my father but never had the courage to do so. At times I wonder why this is so, that I can’t even express my feelings to someone who has been with me for over 44 years and will continue to be with me throughout my life as a role model and my inspiration. I know papa will recover and come out strongly from the current situation.
Behind the scenes of $2 billion Indian startup movie #PNgrowth
Last month, for the first time, I witnessed something really special. Even for someone like me, whose very job and calling is to evangelise this nascent software ecosystem of ours, this was something extraordinary. I’ve been doing this a while, and what happened last month was one of the best feelings I’ve had in this journey.
Things UPI could do to seize the perfect storm moment of cashless India - The Catalysts by Avinash Raghava | ETtech
It is common knowledge that Indian engineers, in general, have great expertise in building products. But on the other hand, they have little appreciation of the importance of building a compelling story highlighting why customers should “care” about these products. They don’t understand how their customers speak and sometimes they don’t care. It isn’t tough to find engineers building stuff without any idea of who it is for or why.
Demonetisation: What UPI can learn from Paytm to become WhatsApp for payments
It is common knowledge that Indian engineers, in general, have great expertise in building products. But on the other hand, they have little appreciation of the importance of building a compelling story highlighting why customers should “care” about these products. They don’t understand how their customers speak and sometimes they don’t care. It isn’t tough to find engineers building stuff without any idea of who it is for or why.
On Independence Day, India’s budding product entrepreneurs get the freedom to choose: Introducing the Product Nation Founders Hub(PNFh)
On Independence Day, we at Product Nation have an important announcement to make. This one was a long time coming, as we tried to classify, clear up, and target our efforts for the product ecosystem better. This update is mainly focused on the Playbook pillar, one of iSPIRT’s key initiatives, and will have effects on other fronts as well. We are reviving some of the initiatives; to others we have added more rigour and form.
SEBI Startup Listing Exchange - Nasdaq of the East
Efforts of iSPIRT’s List-in-India Policy Expert Team have reaped the desired results. The securities market regulator, SEBI, has announced relaxed norms for a separate platform to allow “new-age companies” having an innovative business model and belonging to the knowledge-based technology sector to list in the country. The existing legal framework has considerable challenges for a successful listing, including the mandatory track record of distribution of profits for 3 years.
Announcing the first batch of 10 companies shortlisted for @InTech50
InTech50 is a flagship event of iSPIRT & Terenne Global. It is a showcase of some of the most promising software products created by entrepreneurs from India. The top 50 companies that will make it to InTech50 are selected by an eminent panel comprising of Chief Information Officers (CIOs) of marquee companies, VCs, and senior executives from Product companies.
In conversation with Sanjoe Jose, Founder of TalView, participant in Intech50 2014. |...
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