India stood at an appalling 72nd out of 73 participating countries in a study carried out by the OECD under the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). To improve this situation, initiatives like Tech Tots are the need of the hour. Still in its infancy, Tech Tots is a venture by two students from D.J.Sanghvi College of Engineering, Mumbai which conducts workshops in electronics for students from grade 7 th -10 th . This venture which came into the spotlight at an event organized by the E-Cell at IIT Bombay, The Need Cofounders, Ankur and Nikita Electronic gadgets are like an extension of the human body now but most of us are oblivious to what goes inside. All are engrossed in enjoying the utility and fun element in the gadgets but miss out on the incredulous yet simple logic used to develop it. The current school curriculum in India does not have provisions for the much required practical aspect and the PISA report reflects this very point. How will Tech Tots do this? Tech Tots has been conducting workshops at college level up till now but would be reaching out to schools now. “We’ve signed deals with a few schools and are in talks with the Bombay Scottish school chain for the next academic year. We’ve received overwhelming response from across the country including a few corporates who’re interested in acquiring our services for their employees” says Ankur Thakkar. Projects The idea seems great but how do they plan to do it? “Our preliminary projects include a mini model of a piano, electronic dice, burglar alarms and many other projects on similar lines”, informs Nikita.                       TechTots being a student startup has a lot of momentum behind it with a strong of force of 50 volunteers behind them to help out. Talking to Ankur gives you a feeling that these young people want to make a difference. The exuberance he exudes will surely take TechTots a long way. Along with proper execution and a guiding hand, TechTots can make  an impact. It is very young days for TechTots yet with zero online presence as of now but we expect them to make a buzz as soon as they go online and start taking bigger strides. – Jubin Mehta  

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For those of you who are still getting used to the ‘timeline’ feature on Facebook, here is a way to visualize the feature in a movie format. Timeline makes it easy for you and your friends to browse through your updates and activity. Facebook along with marketing agency Definition 6 has launched timelinemoviemaker.com which enables you to watch your previous status updates, images and activity in a movie format with background music. Take a walk down Facebook memory lane by flying across your timeline: http://www.timelinemoviemaker.com/  and do not miss the updates you get when it renders and loads your movie!

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BombayMerch is India’s largest online retailer of Posters & Prints that includes genres such as Music, Movies, TV Series, Cartoons, Comics, Sports, Humour, College, Iconic, Spiritual, Inspirational, Art and Photography. All BombayMerch products are 100% officially licensed products. The money you spend while shopping does make its way back to the Artist or the Brand Owner. BM is now dealing with 4 of the largest licensing/publishing companies in the world that have given them access to over 700 titles to offer across 5 Print Categories. They also have merchandise such as wallets, purses, key rings, tin signs, fridge magnets and playing cards. Akshay Butani “I always wanted to do something myself, something different. I guess it’s in the blood! My father is a business man who started his own business when he graduated and over the years I have seen him grow. There are people who know that they’d want to become a journalist, a lawyer, or may be an actor.. .I knew I wanted to start my own company but I never knew what it was going to be about! So, I just went with the flow..” says Akshay Butani, Founder of BombayMerch. We at YourStory find out more about his entrepreneurial journey. So how did the business blood manifest? “While in my final year of IT, a few friends and I got together and started an IT company which basically involved us grabbing a lot web application development jobs from the US. And this really took off well! I always favoured ideation & business development and that was my job. I knew I needed experience and thus got campus recruited by DirectI in their sales department. At the same time moonlighting with the IT company that my friends and I had started. A year of no sleep! After bidding goodbye to DirectI, I went back full time to working with the other company, but, things had changed and I felt I wasn’t working with the right people. At the end of the day a united approach is what leads to a company’s success, and this wasn’t happening. A year after graduation I had learnt a lot in terms of working and growing in both an Organized set up and a start up. But, at this point in time, there was nothing else to do, no job or business. But, I still knew I wanted to start something, which was really important to move on”. How do you go from IT to posters? I didn’t decide I wanted to start Bombay Merch, or something even close to it. I am a complete music buff and I used to collect posters. And the thought just crossed my mind that there must be a whole lot like me who would want all of this cool stuff and this is where it all started. Here’s when the search started for companies abroad to deal with to bring in Official Movies, Music and Sports merchandise into India! When I found a company, it took a lot of persistence as they didn’t want to deal with a 22 year old from India with just about $1500 to spare and didn’t even have a company name! Yes, my first email to them went out from my personal gMail ID! Haha! But, it all fell into place and I had around Rs. 60,000 left in my account and so I emptied it! As soon as the order arrived at my house, I started knocking retailers whom I thought would be interested in selling the products I had imported at their store. And I guess, I identified the right stores and all of my stock was sold out within 2 weeks from the date of import, which was fantastic! Yes, for 3 months, I was using my home as a warehouse, until my mother threw me and all my stock out And this is when I realized this is now serious business. So, I started with 1 company and 60 products and now I deal with 5 Licensing companies and currently stock over 2000 products! How has the growth been so far? It’s been great so far! We started as a distributor and launched our End Customer Focused portal in December 2011. We currently distribute our products to select stores in Bombay and Pune which include the likes of Crossword, Rhythm House, Granth, Danaii. We are setting up a stronger Distribution Network to support organized large retail formats with all of our products. Turn-over and Funding plans? Our second year turn-over crossed 25 lacs. We are currently looking for investors to take Bombay Merch to the next level. The last two years have been spent on learning the distribution business and a good amount of time was spent on launching our end customer portal as well. The ground work has been done, distribution rights acquired. We are looking at exponential growth by going Pan India both online and offline. We currently offer 2000+ products and we are looking at doubling this number by the end of this year. The team I’ve been able to build has contributed a lot to our little glory! We have the right products & the right team to keep our customers happy. The feedback we receive on our eBay store justifies that! Going ahead, how do you see you see your venture growing? I started with Rs 60,000 as mentioned earlier. This initial amount is responsible for much of our growth. Just as any start up, there comes a time when the unthinkable happens. What I mean is you realize you don’t have money to buy a “vada pau”! Haha! It was in these times, that my parents have been my angel investors. 6-8 months into the business, I faced a cash flow problem as retailers enjoyed a credit period against merchandise that was initially purchased outright, and whatever money came in was invested right back in. The money I received from my parents helped me keep the company afloat and also invest in new product lines for the Indian market. The goal is to be a company to be reckoned with when it comes to Pop Culture Merchandise in both, the retailer and distribution format. Along with this, I’ve planned our own set of product lines which will be launched later this year. BM recently won exclusive distribution rights from a company based out of New York for the Indian Sub-Continent. The company is called DynoMighty which designs and manufactures wallets that are 100% recyclable, paper thin, weigh just 17 gms, expand to your own personal needs, non-tearable, water resistant! I am really excited about this one These are the sort of products we want to introduce in India. We are looking at launching this product line by the end of this month.   Please tell us more about BombayMerch Foundation. I personally believe knowledge is supreme. In the future we’d like to commit a set percent of our profit in providing free education or vocational education to kids/teenagers from families that can’t afford it. We do what we can now, there’s a Girl’s orphanage next to my house in Juhu where a little from the Bombay Merch kitty goes in to educating girls. And a handicapped school in Bombay Central that provides surgical support to kids from families that can’t afford any form of correction surgery or support instruments. At the end, the real pleasure is in giving. Bombay Merch was an accidental thought that crossed my mind. And it is just the beginning Click here to check out BombayMerch posters and merchandise.

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The Dell Social Innovation Challenge identifies and supports promising young social innovators. They provide university students with teaching and training, as well as with startup capital and access to a network of mentors and advisors. The 2012 challenge will present 27 awards, more than $140,000 in cash prizes and more than $500,000 worth of in-kind prizes. Five Finalists will be flown to Austin, Texas, in June for a Finalists Weekend full of networking and mentoring with social innovation leaders. They’ll pitch live in front of the judges for these Grand Prize Awards:  $50,000 Grand Prize  $20,000 Second Prize  $10,000 Third Prize Two Expertise Award winners (selected by judges) will also attend Finalists Weekend: $15,000 Best Innovation in Environmental Sustainability presented by Tomberg Family Philanthropies $10,000 Best Innovation Leveraging Technology presented by Dell 200+ Semi-Finalists (selected by judges) will receive: 1:1 Mentoring from DSIC-Certified Mentor to refine their project page and required Finals  materials (video pitch and project roadmap) People’s Choice Awards 17 People’s Choice Award Winners will be selected via online voting. $1,000 Each 11 Focus Awards 6 Regional Awards February 13 is the deadline to enter grand prize awards of the Dell Social Innovation Challenge . Teams are encouraged, but not required, to create and enter projects in the Competition. Students 16 years of age or older, who are actively enrolled as a student at an accredited educational institution that grants college/university (or equivalent) degrees at any time between January 1, 2012 and May 31, 2012, or have graduated with a degree from an accredited educational institution in the fall semester of 2011 are eligible to take part.

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Last week has been choc-a-block with activity on YourStory.in and CloudStory.in We spoke to some superstar entrepreneurs, superstar VCs, and learned quite a few startup lessons. In case you missed out on any of the action, here is a quick recap of the week gone by. Cloud Conversations: Cloud Specialist Janakiram MSV with Jishnu Bhattacharjee of Nexus Venture Partners Varun Singh, ScaleArc: “In the database infrastructure software space, scalability is everything.” 6 Startup Leadership Lessons From a Gym “My Startup Failed, But it’s Ok” Amazon launches Junglee in India: Doesn’t sell products directly 51% Facebook users are concerned about Facebook Timeline; reveals Sophos’ Survey [YourStory.in TV] Investments in E-commerce by Shailendra Singh, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital India CloudStory.in Monthly Sum-up for January

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Harvard Business School Angels started in 2007 as a special interest group of the HBS Alumni Association of Northern California. Similar groups formed around the world and HBS Angels became a global alumni organization in December 2010. Today, the HBS Angels organization is comprised of Harvard alumni interested in investing in high-potential early stage companies. HBS Angels is open to all Harvard alumni and others affiliated with the university, not just HBS graduates. The mission of HBS Angels is to provide an educational and networking forum for Harvard alumni who are interested in researching and investing in early stage companies on an individual basis. HBS Angels has many chapters all over the world including one in India started by Raj Chinai and Ramesh Shah. Ramesh is the Chairman & Managing Director at RK Group while Raj works with IndoUS Venture Partners. YourStory caught up with Ramesh and Raj to learn more about their investment strategy and future plans. YourStory: How has the response been since the launch? What kind (sector-geography-stage) of startups are you looking at? Can we expect investment news from you soon? Raj Chinai Raj Chinai: The response has been overwhelmingly positive, with strong support from various groups across the start-up ecosystem, including entrepreneurs, angel investors, VCs and industry executives. We are evaluating start-ups across all sectors and geographies within India. Most of the business plans represent the tech sector and most companies are based in Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi. We are beginning to interact with several interesting entrepreneurs from smaller cities and non-tech sectors, and we hope this momentum will continue. We have a healthy pipeline of deals and we are in the process of evaluating a handful with a high degree of interest from our angel investors. YS: How does HBS Angels India integrate into HBS Angels globally? Can funded startups tap into the HBS Angels network globally?  Raj Chinai: We are a part of the global organization in which we selectively share deal flow and learn from our peer chapters on aspects of the investment process that have worked well vs. those that need to revised. We also share our network of contacts as needed, across industries and geographies, with our peer chapters. We maintain a close collaboration. For instance, we will be participating at our annual HBS Angels conference in Silicon Valley in a few months, whereby all global chapter leads will have a chance to meet and interact on various topics of common interest. Yes, our global network is one of the unique advantages that our portfolio companies are encouraged to avail of. YS: As a chapter do you have any plans for the near future (events, programs)? Ramesh Shah Ramesh Kumar: Yes, we will be organising pitch event and also the first meet of angel shortly. YS: Raj, Specifically to you: As part of IUVP you were already active in investing and startups, what motivated you to start HBS Angels chapter in India? While I am actively evaluating early-stage investment opportunities at IUVP, there is still a gap in the market for investing in companies that have smaller capital requirements ($250K to $500K) and business plans that are mostly unproven or require greater validation than would be suitable for most venture firms. While we now have more angel networks and venture firms that invest in these types of “very early-stage” companies than a few years ago, there still remains a sizable gap between entrepreneurs who are seeking this level of start-up capital and mentorship, and those who are able to effectively provide it. Ramesh and I are motivated to address this need. We are building the HBS Angels platform to enable entrepreneurs to launch their businesses while receiving sufficient support and guidance from our angel investors. We have a network of angel investors based in multiple cities, including Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai, and we are actively evaluating business plans from across the country. Our core team, however, is based in Bangalore, which has so far been lacking an organized angel network. Visit HBS Angels website by clicking here.

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Taking the leap and marketing your business overseas could be the best decision you make this year. The economic outlook might be gloomy in the United States and Europe, but that’s far from true in the rest of the world. And for small to medium business owners, the internet is a relatively cheap way to tap into growing markets. That’s not to say it’s foolproof. As with any marketing strategy, it  pays to do your homework. We’re sure that Ford wishes it did a little more research before launching its Caliente car in Mexico. The name is slang for “streetwalker” – perhaps not the image most car buyers aim for! From picking an offensive product name to falling foul of internet censorship in China, there are plenty of pitfalls waiting to trip up would-be global entrepreneurs. But the good news is, the payoffs can be huge if you get it right. While the number of foreign language internet users is growing rapidly, most content is still in English. This means it’s much easier to rise to the top of the search engine rankings in other languages, simply due to less competition. And with growing opportunities in emerging markets, such as the CIVETS (Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa) it can represent a much higher ROI. 1. Don’t let your website get lost in translation We’ve all heard amusing translation errors, or product names that simply don’t work  in other languages. Anyone wondering why Clairol’s hair-curling iron, the Mist Stick, sold poorly in Germany should know “Mist” means “human waste”. And most users are turned off by poorly-written websites that are difficult to understand. There’s no doubt Google Translate and similar tools have their uses. But when  it comes to translating your website or marketing materials, it’s worth hiring native-speaking translators to ensure its word-perfect. Internet marketing or localization specialists can advise on countries to target and any potential issues with brand names or slogans. Don’t follow the example of Pepsi’s Chinese advertising campaign, which claimed the drink could (literally) bring ancestors back from the dead! 2. Don’t ignore local or cultural differences It might seem cheaper to set up a single website to cover France and Quebec, or assume your European Spanish site will do for Latin America. But there are significant differences in language and culture. For example a “coche” means a car in Spain, but a “baby stroller” in much of Latin America. It doesn’t take a huge amount of effort to localize each website for a specific market. This also allows you to choose products and advertising aimed specifically at each country. Plus, adding local references helps build trust and inspire confidence in your company. 3. Keep it simple. For small companies, setting up a foreign website is far cheaper than establishing an on-the-ground presence in a new country. But many fall flat by failing to have an easy system to deal with enquiries or take payments. If you can’t afford international sales staff, then restrict communication to email or online forms. Cut costs by using free translation tools to understand emails, then hire freelance translators to ensure the replies are accurate. And make sure you have an easy payment system – whether that’s credit cards, checks or Paypal. 4. SEO doesn’t always translate well There’s no point having a beautifully designed, easy to use website if no one can find it. Many companies think they just need to translate their keywords into different languages, but this isn’t always the case. Taking time to research popular keywords and commonly-used search engines in each country will pay off in generating extra traffic – and sales. For instance, did you know many Italian users often search for English words and phrases? Tools such as Google Global Market Finder are a good place to start. But remember, Google isn’t king everywhere – the Chinese prefer Baidu, while Yahoo still leads the way in Japan. 5. Don’t forget non-English speakers closer to home Around 34 million people speak Spanish at home in the United States. But if your website’s only in English, they probably won’t read it! There’s no doubt people prefer to browse the internet in their native tongue. A European Commission report found 82 per cent of online shoppers were reluctant to make a purchase if there was no information in their own language. This applies just as much to non-English speakers at home as abroad. Christian Arno is the founder of professional translation services provider Lingo24 . Launched in 2001, Lingo24 now has over 160 employees spanning three continents and clients in over sixty countries. In the past twelve months, they have translated over 60 million words for businesses in every industry sector, including MTV and World Bank.

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The best-selling author will speak on “Leader Without Title” on Feb 29 at Bangalore   Robin Sharma doesn’t like the title of a guru. But still his books enjoy a celebrity status in major Fortune 500 corporations invariably leading to his position as a leadership guru. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari brought this Indian-origin Canadian author into prominence. From then, he has authored 16 books and has given new meaning to leadership. By default, he looks at life through a leadership lens, in a way democratizing it and infusing confidence in every individual on this earth. “If you breathe oxygen, you are a leader,” proclaims Robin in one of his many podcasts, filled with punch and panache. His 21-day exercise in habituating any practice reverberates in every ancient text. You could say then he takes the help of ancient texts and scriptures. That’s what he did with The Monk. … The stressful corporate life found a solace in the teachings of sages in the Himalayas. The rediscovery of a corporate lawyer in perfect harmony perhaps found the young audience searching for life and leadership taking to the book like flies to a nectar. He has time and again created best-sellers dishing out leadership mantras that found a ready audience. His lifestyle techniques such as learning something challenging every day vibe with stressed out souls wanting honest advice. The best-selling author is ready to infuse more enthusiasm into your life and give toast your life by making you a leader in every right at Bangalore on February 29, 2012 (Wednesday). Clichés apart, the talk on “Leadership without Title” could be life-changing for you. Rang De, the microcredit company helping many poor enterprising women and men find a livelihood through small businesses in rural areas, is hosting the leadership guru. By your participation, you are also helping someone poor find a livelihood. For those of you longing to make a difference to someone’s life as well as yours, don’t miss this unique opportunity! Register here for the event. YourStory.in is the online media partner for this talk hosted by Rang De.

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Mantra Business Center has launched a very economical option for startups in Bangalore to get a shared office space at a good IT Grade facility. The facility is located in HSR Layout in Bangalore & can be a good options for entrepreneurs located in Hosur Sarjapur road, Koramangala and JP Nagar area. Check out more details at this link

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For a mundane copyeditor like me in publishing outsourcing industry for 14 years, André Schiffrin’s Business of Words is like wisdom transferred to progeny from a gutsy insider who did not get swept away by the sweeping changes in publishing that he witnessed over the years. Schiffrin instead found a way out of the situation by bringing in a new business model that is an inspiration to independent publishers across the world. That this book Business of Words is a combined volume for Business of Books (published in 2001) and Words & Money (published in 2010) in its Indian edition brought out by Navayana, an independent publisher giving voice to the marginalized, is one of the thirty publications appearing in different countries in the world holds testimony to the author’s indispensable presence in publishing world in which he is leaving his indelible mark after decorating it for 50 years. The full import of Schiffrin’s pioneering efforts in founding Free Press as a non-profit business to preserve the freedom of the press from overambitious corporate entities bent on increasing only the economics of the business and laying by wayside the real objective of publishing in bringing out diverse points of view in-depth cannot be appreciated without the backdrop of changes taking place globally. Herein lies an act of daring of a publishing veteran standing up as an entrepreneur and learning what it entails to run the publishing business on his own terms. André Schiffrin’s father Jacques Schiffrin, born in Russia, moved to France, where he started as publisher and translator of his own publishing house Editions de La Pléiade. After German occupation of France during the Second World War, Jacques, being a Jew, was forced to flee. He travelled to the United States and joined Pantheon Books founded in New York in 1942 by Kurt Wolff. Many immigrants had started publishing in the US and left their mark in that period. Jacques died in 1950 when André was fifteen. In 1959, André joined New American Library and in 1961 Random House purchased Pantheon Books for less than $1 million. The same year, André was invited by new owners of Pantheon Books to join them. At twenty-six, with publishing absorbed during growing up, André entered a tumultuous phase of his life, what you call baptism by fire into publishing. André landed in challenging situations after a few changes at Random was named managing director of Pantheon Books within a year of his joining it. At the helm, he was to institute an intellectual culture that reverberates even today for its fascinating depth and number of copies taking an obscure place. “Above all we were looking for new works that brought the kind of intellectual excitement that American life in the 1950s was lacking,” comments Schiffrin in perhaps the first hint of a stifle in America during McCarthy years that prompted Schiffrin to move to Europe to look for diversity and open minded views. Despite being part of a big corporation Random House, Pantheon Books remained fiercely independent under Schiffrin and he built an incredible back-list and a vibrant team of editors. A firm believer in bringing several voices to the debate, Schiffrin concentrated on authors who would breathe fresh air into politics and culture and later diversified into many interesting titles in economics and psychology. There is an interesting twist here in the history of publishing. Allen Lane, founder of Penguin Books, was getting older and in 1970, he sold Penguin to Pearson, one of the major British conglomerates. He was persuaded by some of his editors to make Penguin a public trust when on his deathbed, on which Schriffin says, “Had Lane agreed to this proposal, the future of British publishing might have been very different. Penguin would have continued to set high standards for paperback publishing and, by being able to buy books from other publishers, would have encouraged the rest of the trade to do the same.” But as Schiffrin later says, Penguin was lucky to pursue its own course, but Pantheon Books was hit by the ugly face of American capitalism. Through the years, publishing changed from enlisting titles for its content to glamorous advances to “celebrity” authors. Then profitability was the focus as increasingly corporates who had interests in communications and media took over publishing, for example, Rupert Murdoch taking over HarperCollins. Random House in the meanwhile underwent another change of hands. S.I. Newhouse, the new owner who was running newspapers his father had founded, ostentatiously announced no change of course but eventually that promise was broken. After a fascinating journey, in 1990, Schiffrin encountered Albert Vitale, who succeeded Bob Bernstein, his rock solid support at Random. Vitale was instrumental in setting unreal targets for Pantheon and bringing in profit-per-book and such distasteful practices that left Schiffrin unable to hold on to his beliefs of back-list feeding unprofitable acquisitions and some titles taking time to become best-sellers. By sad turn of events, Schiffrin quit Pantheon Books in 1990, the publishing house he nourished and saw it grow from strength to strength, along with his team of editors. Random House seemed to have followed some dubious accounting practices that never gave Pantheon Books its due. Surprisingly, Pantheon Books remained profitable despite cries of profitability enveloping the publishing business of the 1980s, a fallout of Reagan/Thatcher economic policies of that period. He reminisces, “Newhouse and Vitale had achieved the remarkable result of lowering the intellectual value of the firm, cheapening its reputation, and losing money, all at the same time.” Bertelsmann, the German firm, eventually bought Random House in 1998, to the rude shock of publishing industry. Faced with many options and offers, perhaps, Schiffrin took a daring decision here in 1990 that showed the character of the man to preserve the careers of many young editors who resigned from Random House with him. With the strongest possible distaste for profit that publishing industry was bent upon, he chose to go the non-profit route in founding Free Press, which was eventually taken over by Simon & Schuster in 2001. What is fascinating is the make-over of Schiffrin from an editor looking for manuscripts from authors of all hues to shifting from boardrooms to boardrooms making presentations of his ideas to foundations run by businessmen. He did find that money and took off. Free Press built on Schriffrin’s tradition of not looking only for best-sellers but also books for its intellectual depth that didn’t sell well. Looking back, it is doubtful how many would have taken the gamble that André Schiffrin took to follow his conviction rather than join yet another big publisher with a glamorous title and its attendant benefits. If American entrepreneurism is defined by likes of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg, who made millions through technology at times not employing straightforward business practices, André Schiffrin stands out as an entrepreneur who treaded a path less travelled, inspiring perhaps an army of independent publishers around the world through his intellect and intelligence and not following dubious practices that characterized the industry as a whole. Like a pearl in the depth of oceans. This review is biased in favour of Schiffrin’s personal journey that will inspire entrepreneurs but the book weaves the history of publishing in Schiffirin’s voice and in the latter part of the book Schiffrin discusses the issues of the publishing industry in depth and draws parallels with Norwegian and French experiences. He advocates radical measures to preserve the falling standards and his account gives an overall picture of the publishing industry, of which bookstores is an important component. The book is unputdownable for those in publishing and for others, it is an inspiring story of a publishing veteran who wrote new rules of the game. André Schiffrin, Business of Words , Indian edition, Navayana Publishing, 2011, 296 pp. with index, Rs. 295. Distributed in South India by IPD Alternatives, ph: 91-11-26492040. Also available from Navayana, ph: 91-11-26494795. Flipkart link to purchase online. –Venkatesh Krishnamoorthy, curator of Books Reviews on YourStory and chief evangelist

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