7 money lessons to teach your kids

1. Piggy bank
2. Pocket money
3. Value inculcation
4. Introduce financial jargo
5. Bank account
6. Summer jobs
7. Lead by example

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9 essentials of entrepreneurship

"Entrepreneurship is an attitude," says Ramalinga Raju. "It's for people who are willing to fail."

So what is entrepreneurship all about?

* It is all about hard work and applying your mind properly.
* It needs complete dedication to your ideas and putting your best efforts into them.
* It is going to bed thinking about the idea and waking up in the morning thinking about it.
* It is a field where you need constant attention at every detail.
* It is about driving yourself: If you are a professional, your boss will remind you that you are not working, if you an entrepreneur you have to remind yourself.
* It is about convincing others about your ideas too: You have to get the full support of your family and friends to succeed.
* It is about networking: Being an entrepreneur also means that you have to be constantly in touch with clients, customer and business partners at close quarters.
* It is about leadership: You should know how to be a leader and add value to the leadership with your ideas.
* It is about confidence: You have to live with the conviction that even if things don't work out in the initial stages, later on everything will be in place and you will emerge a winner.

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6 qualities that make you a crorepati

1. Self-Belief
2. Perseverance ( A Never-say-die attitude)
3. Seizing opportunities
4. Innovation
5. Betting on talent
6. Constant Learning
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A VC's story: How to build BIG companies

Srini Raju came back from the United States to join Satyam Computer Services as a partner and he was the chief operating officer from 1992 to 2000. He was also the first chief executive officer of Cognizant Technology Solutions from 1994 to 1996.

In 2000, he left Satyam to become a venture capitalist. He founded iLabs Capital to help start new ventures. iLabs now funds 13 companies, many of them leaders in their respective market segments. He is also a founding member Indian Institute of Information Technology.

He recounts the long successful journey he has undertaken so far.
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Dataone Billing software

Dataone Billing software: "If you are a user of BSNL's DataOne Broadband service, run (don't walk) to http://dobs.sourceforge.net Download, configure, be amazed, be very amazed. In short, this is a script to capture and calculate your Dataone Usage from Dataone's unhelpful Usage site. Lots of options, well written. And excellent documentation included as well. Kudos to Aravind SV - make sure to send him a thank you message. I have only tried the Linux version. Gaurav tried the Windows version, and reports success as well. Good stuff, and please note - it's Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) :) BTW - I am being flooded with requests for help for Dataone setups. I'd love to help, guys, but I simply don't have the time. You should *really* be going to VinuThomas.com and check out the forums there - lots of people, lots of help. "

Why China won't be able to match India

If George W. Bush wishes to be remembered in future ages -- and what high-spirited world leader doesn't? -- he will devote much of his second term to forging close and durable links with India.

Naturally, US President Bush must seek to get Continental Europe back into the Atlantic camp. With the sun of the anti-US Jacques Chirac setting and the star of the realistic and sensible Nicolas Sarkozy on the rise in France, and with the likelihood of the pro-US Angela Merkel's taking over Germany's chancellorship from the ridiculous failure that has been Gerhard Schröder's, the Continentals are already moving Bush's way.
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India rises, Silicon Valley drools

Promod Haque grew up in the old India, born into a lower-middle-class family, but he was lucky enough to attend a school in New Delhi for the children of wealthy dignitaries. His father was a bureaucrat; his mother took a job as a teacher elsewhere to cover his tuition. "I was very fortunate to go there," he says, "but I was an outsider."
After he graduated in engineering and started selling medical gear in India, he proudly bought his parents their first refrigerator. Two years later, in 1972, he arrived in the US for grad school at Northwestern -- and was stunned to see that every student apartment had its own fridge.
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Build Systems if not Leadership

   Govindraj Ethiraj of CNBC-TV18 writes about the need to build Systems if not leadership by relating Mumbai Blasts 2003 and Mumbai Heavy Rain.
   "A system is agnostic to people and personalities. And that's what this city needs, at least in the area of information management"
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Bored on phone? Beware Jerk-O-Meter

   Ever wonder if that spouse, friend or co-worker on the other end of the phone is really paying attention? The 'Jerk-O-Meter' may hold the answer.

   Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing software for cell phones that would analyze speech patterns and voice tones to rate people -- on a scale of 0 to 100 per cent -- on how engaged they are in a conversation.

   Anmol Madan, who led the project while he pursued a master's degree at MIT, sees the Jerk-O-Meter as a tool for improving relationships, not ending them. Or it might assist telephone sales and marketing efforts.

   "Think of a situation where you could actually prevent an argument," he said. "Just having this device can make people more attentive because they know they're being monitored."
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Do you talk loudly on the cellphone?

   The complaints are familiar and frequent: People on cell phones talk too loud, they use them at inappropriate times, and they just don't seem to care if they are bothering anyone.

   The horror stories are famous too. Cell phones at funerals. Cell phones at weddings. Cell phones in class. And of course, cell phones in restaurants.

   President Bush has a well-known low cell phone tolerance. He gives a withering evil eye to those whose cell phones ring during his public appearances.
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KPO, the latest buzzword in Indian IT

   India's business process outsourcing industry will soon be edged out by the emerging knowledge processing or KPO sector as the biggest revenue grosser, according to an industry expert.

   Kiran Karnik, president, National Association of Software and service Companies, on Friday while predicted that the country's IT exports would grow by 32 per cent to touch $22.3 billion by the end of the current fiscal, said KPO was set to outgrow the BPO sector in the coming years
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Narayana Murthy's dream for the future

   India's software giant Infosys Technologies Limited has entered its 25th year of existence. In these 25 years, the company has scaled many a peak, making the nation proud of it.

   N R Narayana Murthy, Chairman, Infosys, however, has plans to turn the company into a bigger, stronger, and global player.

   At an analysts' meet, held to mark the silver jubilee celebrations of Infosys in Hyderabad, Murthy spoke about his future for the company.

   Here's the speech that he delivered...Read More...

10 rules to manage your boss

Jacques Horovitz, Professor of Service Strategy, Service Marketing & Service Management at IMD, one of the world's leading business schools says :
   1. Decisions: If you do not want a 'no' or procrastination, give him/her a hand
   2. Manage her time: You may represent only 1% of her problems, don't make it as if it is 100%.
   3. An opinion: If you ask for her opinion, she will always have one
   4. Information: It is not data.
   5. Problems: Don't just come with problems, come also with solutions.
   6. Assumptions: Do not assume she knows as much as you do, but assume she can understand;
   7. Delegations: Constantly test the waters.
   8. Promises: Do not promise what you cannot deliver, and avoid surprises, trust is at stake
   9. Differences: Manage differences in culture
   10. Trust: Don't be sloppy in your documentation. It undermines trust
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Why 'work-ex' is must for MBAs

    Barkha Shah & Malavika Mariswami writes in Rediff :
   You don't understand risk till you actually take one, and if you don't understand risk, you're training to be a Bureaucrat of Business Administration, not a Master.

   Ouch! That hurts -- if you're doing an MBA without any work experience ('work-ex' in campus lingo), as most Indian B-school students are. Work experience is not a hard and fast part of the admission criteria for most institutes, and an MBA is the 'done thing' nowadays straight out of college.
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Cheap computing for millions!

      Novatium Solutions, a Chennai-based startup is building a $100 (Rs 4,300) computer using the "thin client" architecture. This, the company hopes, will take "computing to the next billion."

      In Bangalore, Encore Software is engaged in a similar experiment. Its SofComp is being promoted as a sub-Rs 10,000 mobile computer. Earlier, the company had developed the handheld Simputer with the help of professors from the Indian Institute of Science in the city.

      SofComp combines affordability, computing ability and mobility, say Encore's chairman Vinay Deshpande and vice president Shashank Garg. It works without a hard disk and uses the system-on-chip architecture.

      Set up by Shishir B Purohit, Novatium, meanwhile, dreams of making low cost PCs widely available, an effort backed by Ashok Jhunjhunwala, the Indian Institute of Technology (Chennai) professor who took wireless telephony to villages. Its computer, based on "thin client" architecture can handle most routine office work such as e-mail, word processing, spread sheets, presentations, and Internet browsing.
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How to set up a large start-up

   Think big, start small and scale up fast: it's every manager's dream.

   For Shikha Sharma, Managing Director of ICICI-Prudential Life Insurance Company, it was a challenge. Hiring people, opening branches and offices across the country, unleashing a media blitzkrieg, getting customers: She explains the strategy and the processes employed in founding a large start-up.
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Just what are credit derivatives ?

   Rediff article says...
   Like any other financial derivative, credit derivatives provide payoff to the investor that depends upon the underlying default risk associated with any financial instrument, especially bank loans.
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The book that inspired me

Ankur Bhatia, MD, Amadeus India Sub Continent writes...

   I have just finished reading Stephen Covey's The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness To Greatness. It's all about self-introspection, understanding your true potential and the difference you can make to the people around you.

   It emphasises that success comes to those who, as a starting point, listen to their inner selves. Thereafter, based on the needs of the people with whom they interact, they create innovative ways to empower them.

   Covey calls the present times the 'New Knowledge Worker age' in which, in order to thrive, innovate, excel and lead, we must build on and move beyond effectiveness.

   As a continuation to his previous book, The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, in this book he emphasises the eighth habit. Simply put, the eighth habit means to find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.

   It is the answer to the soul's longing for greatness, the organisation's focus on excellence, and humanity's search for its 'voice'. The book is insightful, encouraging and definitely inspiring.

   It has introduced me to new ideas and practices that will have a profound impact not only on my professional life but personal life as well.

Intel`s $700-mn India project faces trouble

   Business Standard Reports...
   Govt reluctant to make an upfront payment of $100mn demanded by IBM.
   There seem to be hiccups on the way towards setting up Intel?s proposed $700-million wafer testing facility in India as the government appears reluctant to meet some of the demands raised by the world?s largest chipmaker.
   Apart from flexibilities on external commercial borrowings and tax benefits, Intel had asked the government to make an upfront payment of $100 million, officials told Business Standard today.
   But the government is not ready to make this kind of a contribution. A team from Intel negotiated the terms of a deal with officials last week but a breakthrough could not be achieved, officials said.
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B-schools make managers, not leade

   Vipul Jain, CEO & MD of Kale Consultants writes :
   B-schools don't teach you leadership. The job of a leader as distinct from a manager - is to unflinchingly believe that tomorrow will be better than today.
   That's what keeps you together when you don't know how you are going to get to your goal. It makes you get out of bed and get to work. As a leader, people look up to you; they draw energy from you. Many of us are managers; few are leaders.
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