Every time that I find myself hopping from airport to airport, I love seeingthe HSBC “think different” ad campaigns. Some interesting facts I read at Heathrow recently:

• Brazilian football teams have earned over $1 billion in fees from selling players internationally.
• On average, Russian billionaires are 19 years younger than those in America.
• Indian e-tutors generate $20 million annually, teaching english to American students.
• The Halal industry is worth $3 trillion worldwide.
• Two Thirds of the Worlds Billionaires Started From Scratch

The last one is definitely my favorite. You can read more about the campaign here.

These captions put forwards a very interesting proposition. They provoke us to think differently. Who would have thought that selling audio oscillators would lay foundation for a billion dollar company (Hewlett Packard).

Disruption always starts small and the key to success is to keep your eyes open about the opportunities around you.

Today, I could see tweets from Libya, Egypt, Yemen, all united by one thing. And could see an adult cry while typing on his iPad.

Thank you for leading the way. Your vision will continue to guide entrepreneurs like me in years to come.

R.I.P

Enter a Hack Day event. The Hack Day event provides the perfect opportunity for passionate employees to block times on their calendars, bring their favorite idea to the forefront, form teams with like-minded employees within the organization, and just hack away. I’ve seen this concept work like magic in companies like Yahoo and Intuit. Today, we’re having our first Hack Day event at Druva!

A Hack Day Event

The Druva Hack Day, a 24-hour code marathon, began today at 9AM. The participation from engineers and QA has been almost at a 100%, which is amazing! We have 19 teams (1-3 people) working on their passionate ideas as we speak. We also have our fearless leader, Jaspreet, hacking his favorite idea. Common sights as you walk along the offices are huddles, whiteboard discussions, intense coding, and camaraderie, all of which one would expect to find in a successful hack day event.

We have the final presentations scheduled tomorrow morning at the end of the 24-hour event, so everyone can share their latest and greatest creations with the rest. Exciting awards await the winners, whose works will be judged based on their creativity, technical difficulty, and most of all, the impact in the market and on our customers. Can’t wait to see what the teams have in store!

We are delighted to announce that Druvaa software has won the Indian Entrepreneurial Challenge 2008 award.

Eight  teams were shortlisted based on their potential scale of the business, the strength of the team and sustainable differentiation in the business model of 140 business plans that were submitted.

These shortlisted applicants were invited to participate in the final round which saw them presenting their plans and ideas in detail to an eminent jury of the country’s leading entrepreneurs and corporate heads (which includes Pramod Bhasin (CEO & President, Genpact), Raman Roy (Chairman, Quatrro BPO Solutions), Saurabh Srivastava (President, TIE Delhi), Sanjeev Bikhchandani (co-founder and CEO of Naukri.com), Mahesh Murthy (Partner, Seedfund) and Alok Mittal (Managing Director, Canaan Partners India).

The competition is was organized by Tie (The Indus Entrepreneurs) and Canaan Ventures and was co-sponsored by CNBC-TV18, Business Today, Microsoft, ISB and NASSCOM. The complete event from shortlisting, mentoring and Finals would be covered by Business Today and CNBC (Network 18).

More details with photographs and a video coverage would be posted very soon.

A nice article covered by Prasanna from Rediff.com. This interview was taken in early January 2008 when IAN announced its funding, just before the Proto.in 2008 event.

http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2008/mar/03druvaa.htm

It covers our entrepreneurial journey in good spirit

Things i didn’t like -

1. I missed the interview

2.They cut my T-shirt print. (It said, “Keep staring, i might do a trick” )

Cheers team Druvaa !!

Team Druvaa was selected as presenters at Proto.in 2008 FE for the product – Druvaa inSync.

It was a great event with major focus on Indian entrepreneur ecosystem and innovation. Druvaa inSync got a good response, and helped us to understand the target audience better.

Product Presentation -

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Pictures -

More Pictures – http://www.flickr.com/photos/protoin/sets/72157603817064023/

Other finalists – http://blog.proto.in/2008/01/20/protoin-jan08-finalists-web/

Jaspreet