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[sameer-agarwal]

Coming from email

Direct posting via email

via First Impressions http://ift.tt/1nkIXUu

[sameer-agarwal]

Liars lie all the time

There are only 2 kinds of liars – the first who can hide it. And the others who cannot.

From this subset of liars (those who can hide it) – there’s a significant portion that is unaware of the fact that they are lying. Their minds are just oblivious of the fact that what their mouth is saying – is in fact not true.

Most sales guys are in the zone by their 3rd year. “Cleans the stains fastest…”, “You won’t get a better deal sir… “, “super freezes in an instant”…

“I did not kill that man…”

The social behaviour of such individuals is remarkably similar to those telling the truth.

via First Impressions http://ift.tt/1mxDGff

[sameer-agarwal]

Coming from email

Direct posting via email

via First Impressions http://ift.tt/1nkIXUu

[sameer-agarwal]

Liars lie all the time

There are only 2 kinds of liars – the first who can hide it. And the others who cannot.

From this subset of liars (those who can hide it) – there’s a significant portion that is unaware of the fact that they are lying. Their minds are just oblivious of the fact that what their mouth is saying – is in fact not true.

Most sales guys are in the zone by their 3rd year. “Cleans the stains fastest…”, “You won’t get a better deal sir… “, “super freezes in an instant”…

“I did not kill that man…”

The social behaviour of such individuals is remarkably similar to those telling the truth.

via First Impressions http://ift.tt/1mxDGff

[sameer-agarwal]

Courage of Conviction means being Fearless

Imagine you are superman. Imagine hard…. and believe you are superman. You are responsible for the safety of your people. And you don’t know what shit will fall from the sky next. It could be a small meteorite. Or a giant natural calamity.

When shit does fall – who do you ask for directions? You are superman – who can help you?

Who do you check with to get the confidence that your decisions are indeed – correct?

What is correct?

During Entrepreneurship, most decisions have unpredictable results. But you need to be convinced about a decision to take it.

The courage needed to get that conviction comes from the courage to make mistakes.

The courage to make mistakes is called being fearless.

Thus….

Being fearless brings the courage of conviction. Decisions become easier to take.

Disclaimer: Malcom Gladwell has caught this decision making very well in his acclaimed book – BLINK. Must read if you’ve caught yourself over-contemplating decisions.

  via First Impressions http://ift.tt/1eJbQ6w

[sameer-agarwal]

Courage of Conviction means being Fearless

Imagine you are superman. Imagine hard…. and believe you are superman. You are responsible for the safety of your people. And you don’t know what shit will fall from the sky next. It could be a small meteorite. Or a giant natural calamity.

When shit does fall – who do you ask for directions? You are superman – who can help you?

Who do you check with to get the confidence that your decisions are indeed – correct?

What is correct?

During Entrepreneurship, most decisions have unpredictable results. But you need to be convinced about a decision to take it.

The courage needed to get that conviction comes from the courage to make mistakes.

The courage to make mistakes is called being fearless.

Thus….

Being fearless brings the courage of conviction. Decisions become easier to take.

Disclaimer: Malcom Gladwell has caught this decision making very well in his acclaimed book – BLINK. Must read if you’ve caught yourself over-contemplating decisions.

  via First Impressions http://ift.tt/1eJbQ6w

[sameer-agarwal]

Every year ??

Philoso-crappy aside, every year, right before I break out for the year end indiscipline, I ask myself how far back do I want to ‘reset’ my life.

Go back to a time more familiar. More safe.

I kid you not – the idea isn’t to make myself feel younger. Well …. maybe it is… KA-CHING !

But I now know – the idea is to resist change.

Do you resist change? Or go with the flow?

via Sameer Agarwal http://ift.tt/1fMh9nW

[sameer-agarwal]

Every year ??

Philoso-crappy aside, every year, right before I break out for the year end indiscipline, I ask myself how far back do I want to ‘reset’ my life.

Go back to a time more familiar. More safe.

I kid you not – the idea isn’t to make myself feel younger. Well …. maybe it is… KA-CHING !

But I now know – the idea is to resist change.

Do you resist change? Or go with the flow?

via Sameer Agarwal http://ift.tt/1fMh9nW

[sameer-agarwal]

3 Tough Learnings

The biggest mistake I did in the last 5 months – forgot to take care of my customers. I was too busy trying to get new ones.

Of course I’m exaggerating. But that’s the only way I’ll catch your interest.

Amplifying the proposition is how you’ll grab their attention. I didn’t forget about you. Thanks for still being on this list.

I LOVE YOU !!

Here are top 3 learnings from my last few months of absence:

1. Entrepreneurship is the toughest job out there.

The word ‘Entrepreneur’ doesn’t have a definite etymology. There are multiple theories, the french word ‘Entree’ comes closest to it. Read this.

If you’re thinking about a becoming an Entrepreneur – consider the odds:

- Working hours are 24 x 7 x 365 - You’ll not get paid for a few years - You’ll be paying salaries and will still be the most hated - 9 out of 10 fail

But there’s a flip side that beats it all – I can smoke weed on a wednesday afternoon and no one will cut my pay.

2. Build value – not network. 

“Hey – what’s up – how’re you doing? Wanna buy from me?”

This needs to be replaced with :

“Hey – you’re screwed here. I have a solution that’s free and analytics cost this.”

My network has grown because of my customers. Not the other way around.

When I get more customers – I get more opportunities to solve problems. This gives me insights into their challenges and their current solutions. New opportunities get discovered and my cognizance about my product’s value becomes clearer.

In the last 6 months – I’ve made it a point to talk to as many individuals I can connect across LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and even Angellist. On any day I’m engaged in at least 30-40 conversations across new customers, existing customers, strangers, mentors, and people who hate me and/or my guts.

I guess that’s why my blog took a backseat.

3. Customers are the best investors.

An investor will give you money on his judgement. A customer will give you money for his benefit. Its a far better bet to receive money from someone who’s benefiting today than someone who may benefit tomorrow.

I had an option to chase investors to get their money or chase customers to get their money. I wouldn’t have learnt anything on the road to Investor-hill. But the road to customer-hill was remarkable learning and discovery.

If you are building something for someone so they can benefit and pay you – spend your energy chasing them. They will be the best investors.

via Sameer Agarwal http://ift.tt/1hksTRI

[sameer-agarwal]

3 Tough Learnings

The biggest mistake I did in the last 5 months – forgot to take care of my customers. I was too busy trying to get new ones.

Of course I’m exaggerating. But that’s the only way I’ll catch your interest.

Amplifying the proposition is how you’ll grab their attention. I didn’t forget about you. Thanks for still being on this list.

I LOVE YOU !!

Here are top 3 learnings from my last few months of absence:

1. Entrepreneurship is the toughest job out there.

The word ‘Entrepreneur’ doesn’t have a definite etymology. There are multiple theories, the french word ‘Entree’ comes closest to it. Read this.

If you’re thinking about a becoming an Entrepreneur – consider the odds:

- Working hours are 24 x 7 x 365 - You’ll not get paid for a few years - You’ll be paying salaries and will still be the most hated - 9 out of 10 fail

But there’s a flip side that beats it all – I can smoke weed on a wednesday afternoon and no one will cut my pay.

2. Build value – not network. 

“Hey – what’s up – how’re you doing? Wanna buy from me?”

This needs to be replaced with :

“Hey – you’re screwed here. I have a solution that’s free and analytics cost this.”

My network has grown because of my customers. Not the other way around.

When I get more customers – I get more opportunities to solve problems. This gives me insights into their challenges and their current solutions. New opportunities get discovered and my cognizance about my product’s value becomes clearer.

In the last 6 months – I’ve made it a point to talk to as many individuals I can connect across LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and even Angellist. On any day I’m engaged in at least 30-40 conversations across new customers, existing customers, strangers, mentors, and people who hate me and/or my guts.

I guess that’s why my blog took a backseat.

3. Customers are the best investors.

An investor will give you money on his judgement. A customer will give you money for his benefit. Its a far better bet to receive money from someone who’s benefiting today than someone who may benefit tomorrow.

I had an option to chase investors to get their money or chase customers to get their money. I wouldn’t have learnt anything on the road to Investor-hill. But the road to customer-hill was remarkable learning and discovery.

If you are building something for someone so they can benefit and pay you – spend your energy chasing them. They will be the best investors.

via Sameer Agarwal http://ift.tt/1hksTRI

[sameer-agarwal]

Are stories real?

Here’s a story.

Imagine America is singular. As in an ape. China is another one. So is Zimbabwe and Uganda.

Basically – all countries are apes.

This is just at the dawn of the Neanderthal age – some 200,000 years ago.

You really need to picture the cave men.

  There’s the forest party you see. All the apes show up. Its this magical day of each month when they all get together.

World culture if you may. They all eat together, dance to some tooones, and just chill out.

As the group photograph is announced – all the apes in the world stand together. Shoulder to shoulder. Some are sharply dressed because they are rich. And some are rather shabbily dressed. Some have their bling on. And others are fashionably yet sophisticated in their choice of attire.

Some have their faces covered. Others haven’t eaten in weeks.

Italy is the pretty one right in the middle of a bunch of chimps huddled together. There’s the small oriental looking fellow on the right there. He’s sharp.

The American ape Stands out. So does the Indian.

The Indian ape ?

Well…. he….. is rolling around and screaming and pulling its own hair. When seen from the outside – it looks retarded. The generous would call it poetry or beauty in chaos.

But the Indian chimp stands out.

Sure they all laugh and play together. That’s cause they’ve not found natural oil yet. The crude oil. That black gooey thing that drives us. Our economies and our cultures – forward.

No one knows it exists. No one knows where to find it. No one knows how to distill it to use it. And basically – its useless.

But one of these apes knows something. It knows that black gooey thing will be what everyone will want soon. His observation skills tell him that the apes are beginning to fall in love with automation. They want to automate everything. And machines can automate everything. And machines will need oil. The same stuff that, economies, whatever.

So this ape sets out to collect as much of this stuff as it can. Along the way…

Rages wars with new apes. Fights tooth to tooth with clans of apes that had just begun to believe in some faith and religion was taking birth. Persistence wins in the end and American gets all the oil Earth has to offer.

This ape – called America, becomes obsessed with the knowledge that it possessed that one commodity more than any other – that black gooey stuff.

The sense of preservation – drives us all.

Here’s an excellent game to time travel you through this.

http://bit.ly/17cSkMu

via Sameer Agarwal http://bit.ly/17cSkMv

[sameer-agarwal]

Are stories real?

Here’s a story.

Imagine America is singular. As in an ape. China is another one. So is Zimbabwe and Uganda.

Basically – all countries are apes.

This is just at the dawn of the Neanderthal age – some 200,000 years ago.

You really need to picture the cave men.

  There’s the forest party you see. All the apes show up. Its this magical day of each month when they all get together.

World culture if you may. They all eat together, dance to some tooones, and just chill out.

As the group photograph is announced – all the apes in the world stand together. Shoulder to shoulder. Some are sharply dressed because they are rich. And some are rather shabbily dressed. Some have their bling on. And others are fashionably yet sophisticated in their choice of attire.

Some have their faces covered. Others haven’t eaten in weeks.

Italy is the pretty one right in the middle of a bunch of chimps huddled together. There’s the small oriental looking fellow on the right there. He’s sharp.

The American ape Stands out. So does the Indian.

The Indian ape ?

Well…. he….. is rolling around and screaming and pulling its own hair. When seen from the outside – it looks retarded. The generous would call it poetry or beauty in chaos.

But the Indian chimp stands out.

Sure they all laugh and play together. That’s cause they’ve not found natural oil yet. The crude oil. That black gooey thing that drives us. Our economies and our cultures – forward.

No one knows it exists. No one knows where to find it. No one knows how to distill it to use it. And basically – its useless.

But one of these apes knows something. It knows that black gooey thing will be what everyone will want soon. His observation skills tell him that the apes are beginning to fall in love with automation. They want to automate everything. And machines can automate everything. And machines will need oil. The same stuff that, economies, whatever.

So this ape sets out to collect as much of this stuff as it can. Along the way…

Rages wars with new apes. Fights tooth to tooth with clans of apes that had just begun to believe in some faith and religion was taking birth. Persistence wins in the end and American gets all the oil Earth has to offer.

This ape – called America, becomes obsessed with the knowledge that it possessed that one commodity more than any other – that black gooey stuff.

The sense of preservation – drives us all.

Here’s an excellent game to time travel you through this.

http://bit.ly/17cSkMu

via Sameer Agarwal http://bit.ly/17cSkMv

[sameer-agarwal]

#Why marketing is no longer creative

Its war out there. Constant bullets flying here and there. Bombs going off in the distance. And then near you. All around you – you can hear screams and voices. People getting flung about. Tanks rolling by. Noise. Chaos. Bombs and bullets. Call Of Duty ish-style.

From the second you wake up. To the second you go to bed. You’re being bombed. All the time. By emails, news, updates, emails, tweets, FB posts, phone calls, emails, and did I say emails?

Though you may be tempted to believe there’s no marketing involved – when was the last time you received an email from someone just checking on you and asking how you’re doing?

Rare – if not regular.

Some stranger is trying to influence you all the time. The only time you get rest is when you’re asleep. If you’re lucky at that…

We’re all talking - all the time. Hardly anyone is listening. What we listen, see, hear, touch, and feel are for my benefit. Not yours. I don’t care what you’re selling. I only care about what I’m buying.

Sounds familiar?

You see – marketing has become a very redundant job.

Marketing now demands a strict set of rules to follow and optimize the channel bandwidths. You’ve got social, TV, Radio, web, and print. Choose what you can afford – and use the relevant sequences to get the content piece consumed.

So when you have a good blog post – what are the steps you follow to ensure you can influence as many people out there with that post? You can share it via social. You can email it out. You can print it and post it on all the trees in your city.

Doing any of the above is essentially a bunch of steps that you will repeat for each new content piece.

But as a marketer, how efficiently you execute those steps is where your creativity will shine. Your creativity won’t shine on the blog post. That’s the content OEM’s job.

The synergy between a marketer who understands how to source content, and a content OEM who knows how to focus on her skill is a very well rehearsed affair over at LA. Hollwood for the rest of us. Where a startup like Avatar takes 7 years to go market and gets $2.9Bn in return for it.

Marketers channel energies. They carry messages. Creatively finding the ‘spaces’ where the bombs can be dropped. These are gaps when the audience is receptive.

In world War II – the Japanese zero was the hero. In defense of us Content OEMs, its the NUKE that the world knows the war for.

via Sameer Agarwal http://bit.ly/16uCOxf

[sameer-agarwal]

#Why marketing is no longer creative

Its war out there. Constant bullets flying here and there. Bombs going off in the distance. And then near you. All around you – you can hear screams and voices. People getting flung about. Tanks rolling by. Noise. Chaos. Bombs and bullets. Call Of Duty ish-style.

From the second you wake up. To the second you go to bed. You’re being bombed. All the time. By emails, news, updates, emails, tweets, FB posts, phone calls, emails, and did I say emails?

Though you may be tempted to believe there’s no marketing involved – when was the last time you received an email from someone just checking on you and asking how you’re doing?

Rare – if not regular.

Some stranger is trying to influence you all the time. The only time you get rest is when you’re asleep. If you’re lucky at that…

We’re all talking - all the time. Hardly anyone is listening. What we listen, see, hear, touch, and feel are for my benefit. Not yours. I don’t care what you’re selling. I only care about what I’m buying.

Sounds familiar?

You see – marketing has become a very redundant job.

Marketing now demands a strict set of rules to follow and optimize the channel bandwidths. You’ve got social, TV, Radio, web, and print. Choose what you can afford – and use the relevant sequences to get the content piece consumed.

So when you have a good blog post – what are the steps you follow to ensure you can influence as many people out there with that post? You can share it via social. You can email it out. You can print it and post it on all the trees in your city.

Doing any of the above is essentially a bunch of steps that you will repeat for each new content piece.

But as a marketer, how efficiently you execute those steps is where your creativity will shine. Your creativity won’t shine on the blog post. That’s the content OEM’s job.

The synergy between a marketer who understands how to source content, and a content OEM who knows how to focus on her skill is a very well rehearsed affair over at LA. Hollwood for the rest of us. Where a startup like Avatar takes 7 years to go market and gets $2.9Bn in return for it.

Marketers channel energies. They carry messages. Creatively finding the ‘spaces’ where the bombs can be dropped. These are gaps when the audience is receptive.

In world War II – the Japanese zero was the hero. In defense of us Content OEMs, its the NUKE that the world knows the war for.

via Sameer Agarwal http://bit.ly/16uCOxf

[sameer-agarwal]

Bentley vs Nano Dilemma

Bentley. Valuation. Higher social status. Gets you from point A to B. Nano. Almost free. Negligible social points. Gets you from point A to point B.

Both the brands are profitable.

A marketing campaign is all about an experiment. Taking risk. Betting.

But with risk – comes the equal chance of failure. When you’re designing your next marketing campaign – how do you believe it will work? How can you be sure it’ll work.

The honest truth is that you cannot be sure – ever.

So the question for marketing to ask the product is this -

“Do ya wanna look cool or ya wanna be savin laeeves?”

Cause if they’re saving lives – marketing’s job is already done. This is why hospitals don’t need to do advertising or social media to build a customer base.

via Sameer Agarwal http://bit.ly/1aaEHkn

[sameer-agarwal]

Bentley vs Nano Dilemma

Bentley. Valuation. Higher social status. Gets you from point A to B. Nano. Almost free. Negligible social points. Gets you from point A to point B.

Both the brands are profitable.

A marketing campaign is all about an experiment. Taking risk. Betting.

But with risk – comes the equal chance of failure. When you’re designing your next marketing campaign – how do you believe it will work? How can you be sure it’ll work.

The honest truth is that you cannot be sure – ever.

So the question for marketing to ask the product is this -

“Do ya wanna look cool or ya wanna be savin laeeves?”

Cause if they’re saving lives – marketing’s job is already done. This is why hospitals don’t need to do advertising or social media to build a customer base.

via Sameer Agarwal http://bit.ly/1aaEHkn

[sameer-agarwal]

How Hitler made it work

Taking over countries by force is not fathomable today.

But back then apparently it was easier to work guns. No 3D printing and shit. Just plain old – follow me else I’ll shoot ya. And they would follow…or die fighting back.

The reason why Gengis khan, Napolean, Hitler and even Patton succeeded in pulling off such wild stunts is because they built an army. They pressed buttons (so as to say) and an army of individuals made it happen.

Khufu pulled off an Architectural wonder with this technique of using armies. [The Pyramid of Giza]

Building an Army sounds natural, but its far from easy. Born to Fauji and with a family of warriors who’ve served the Indian through the 3 wars – I can tell you there are basic principles of building an Army.

Note – the strength it takes to kill another stranger has a better word – Fanaticism.

Fanatic support about something requires mentoring. Continuous and if I may – religious. The repeated activity can make young 17 year olds ready to kill – and Hitler used this to his advantage.

From a War veteran to us mortal fighters, here are his top 3 tips to building a powerful army:

1. Give them what you want. Tell them what you’ll expect in return.

The Fauj gives you cheaper food, cheaper booze, and great accommodation. It gives you fantastic sporting opportunities, wild adventures, and organizational support for events like transfers and loans.

In exchange – you should be ready to die when your boss tells you to. No questions asked.

2. Train them to be good at what they do. Train them again. And then train them again.

The Services spend 90% of their operations resources on training. Visit the National Defense Academy anytime during a Sunday (or be my guest) and you’ll blow your mind hollow.

Training is repetition. And repetition brings perfection. War is a terribly dangerous place for any man – you can die. The Army wants to ensure you impact the war the maximum before you blow a leg and become useless.

Call it ‘Day Zero Ready’ if you may.

3. Build pride. Sustain it and create a sense of wealth in that pride.

We all strive to become part of a cult. Its a natural social conduct – to be a part of a cause. A revolution in fact.

The Army instills pride in you. So you feel proud about the fact that you protect a nation. You are not just stronger at the physical level, but at the mental level as well. You and your family is well taken care of. And you will be honored and respected long after you’ve gone – provided you deliver when asked.

Such radical instances of thoughts make up the Army. If you don’t believe me – please attend the next Passing Out Parade at the IMA in Dehradun or the National Defense Academy at Pune.

You will be surprised how a bunch of individuals together can rock the ground beneath you.

    via Sameer Agarwal http://bit.ly/11uXkI6