Jul-Aug ‘10

The E-Magazine of CRESCENT, XLRI

Issue 9

CREST Consulting Research

Entrepreneurship Strategy

UNLOCK

POTENTI

AL!

ARE YOU READY TO START-UP?

Entrepreneurial Experiences

Research for Better Management

Campus Reporter

From the Editor’s Desk...

Crescent The Committee for Research,

Strategy, Consulting and En-

trepreneurship (CRESCENT)

is the result of the endeavor

of the student community of

XLRI to promote an environ-

ment of creative solution

building amongst the stu-

dents of the institute, while

reaffirming high ethical stan-

dards and values, and foster-

ing personal development in

the pursuit of excellence. It

works with the two fold

agenda of creating a brand

presence of XLRI among the

corporate and to help nur-

ture ideas of budding entre-

preneurs by providing a plat-

form to them to showcase

their Ideas.

CREST Jul-Aug 2010

Editorial Team

Miti Vaidya

Neeti Kumar

Siddhartha Saran

Urshila Ghag

T H I S I S S U E . . .

Cover Story Page 4

Unlocking Social

Network Potential

Features

Entrepreneurial Experiences | Page 2 CRESCENT chats with Dr. Amitabh Saran, Co-Founder of Buzzintown.com

“Start-Up” Your Career | Page 6 The pros and cons of beginning your career at a start-up

Research for Better Management | Page 8 An FPM student tells us what Market Research is all about for him

Campus Reporter | Page 10 What CRESCENT’s been upto!

1

A new CREST for the new academic year! We have revamped CREST in a few

ways and hope that reading it will be a better experience for you :)

Our cover story focuses on the much-talked about topic these days—Social

Media and its influences. We use inputs from the McKinsey Quarterly’s article

Unlocking the Elusive Potential of Social Networks and apply them to the case

of FarmVille, one of the most popular applications on Facebook. It is interest-

ing to observe how FarmVille uses some basic concepts to engage users and

enforce credibility. These same concepts could be applied by marketing

strategists to enforce their own brands.

CREST also begins a series, “Entrepreneurial Experiences”. By talking to en-

trepreneurs, we will try and bring to you valuable inputs about managing

ventures, straight from the horse’s mouth. We begin the series by talking to

Dr. Amitabh Saran, Co-Founder and CEO of Buzzintown.com.

The Editorial Team would love to get feedback from you on

crest.xlri@gmail.com. Happy Reading!

2

CREST Jul-Aug 2010

E N T R E P R E N E U R S H I P

The Latest Buzz in Town!

As part of the Entrepreneurial Experiences Series, we interviewed Dr.

Amitabh Saran, Co-Founder and CEO of Buzzintown.com. Dr. Saran, who

started his venture in 2007, has seen phenomenal growth over the last 3

years. Not only has his startup received funding from Intel Capital (which

invests in very select startups world-over), but has also received the TiE-

con No. 1 Startup of the Year award in the consumer web space in 2009.

What motivated you to start-up? Why this particular venture?

Since I had a PhD in Computer Science with a focus on Distributed Systems, I had a strong desire to work in this area. Although there are many entertainment choices available to people in India, they do not have access to relevant information. Print, the medium largely used for such communication, too does not provide focused entertainment options to choose from, apart from the usual suspects like movie listings for example. Buzzintown was born with the idea of providing people rich infor-mation on all kinds of entertainment options, using all kinds of media avail-able. We wanted to empower people with information and then let them de-cide how they wanted to spend their time. What makes Buzzintown different from others?

Buzzintown, as a premier entertainment hub on the Internet, is also a one-stop-shop for all information related to events across India – plays, concerts, art shows, fine dining, book readings, sport, nightlife & lifestyle. In short, we cover everything that is local and social in nature. The greatest USP of Buzz-intown is clearly its depth of content. How did you go about getting initial funding for your venture?

We prepared an early prototype for the entertainment portal (we called it Timatar – if Apple, why not Timatar?) – with which we went to professional angel investors. The portal won their favor in US and Europe, and we closed our Angel round in April 2007. Buzzintown.com started its formal opera-tions in May 2007. In July 2008, we received institutional VC funding from Intel Capital. What do you think were the most valuable elements in this process?

Ideas, Plan, Team and Flawless Execution – are all “must-have” ingredients for success. However, the most valuable asset for me personally, has been my undying determination to not take NO as an answer… for anything! What kind of challenges did you face? How did you overcome them?

The challenges we faced were no different from what others face in starting traditional brick and mortar businesses. In my case, it started with structur-ing the name of the business to suit available domain names: in all formats - .com, .in, .co.in – and this was very crucial to begin with. Hiring a bright set of people is always a challenge – more so in a startup when you are selling a vision instead of a cushy brand. Getting the startup team right was critical as also the challenge of managing multiple hats at the same time, working out of subleased office spaces, trying to stretch the rupee to its extreme. The challenges of any startup are the same, and we are extremely lucky that our hard work has paid off.

Continued on Page 3

“Ideas, Plan,

Team and Flaw-

less Execution –

are all “must-

have” ingredients

for success.”

3

CREST Jul-Aug 2010

E N T R E P R E N E U R S H I P

In your opinion, what is the best achievement of your team till date?

Should we term our funding from Intel Capital, during the midst of the eco-nomic downturn, our greatest achievement? Or would that be the natural outcome of our growing traffic (2 million registered users, 7-10 million views of our content monthly) – which should be our greatest achievement since we did it without spending on marketing or advertising? Or should it clearly be the quality of our content that has helped Buzzintown to trans-form itself from being a plain vanilla event listing company to an entertain-ment hub, which I hope is the first of many milestones for us? Realize that with Jayhind! (http://jayhind.buzzintown.com) we launched the first ever commercial television channel exclusively on the internet with fresh epi-sodes every week watched by millions of people! Frankly, I don’t know which is the greatest!?! So where does Buzzintown move ahead from this point?

We are a content portal. We plan to expand geographically in India as well as other countries of the world. Buzzintown has to be the de-facto destina-tion to get your fill on what’s happening in and around town, where every-one can find something interesting to do. Buzzintown will continue present information, reviews, discounts & deals, video footage and the best answer to your “What Should I Do Today?” question! We are – when LOCAL MEETS SOCIAL! Our readers would love to know how busy entrepreneurs unwind and

have fun!

Having fun is part of the job at Buzzintown… in fact, sometimes the tension is that there is SO MUCH happening around us to enjoy, and only 24 hrs in a day!! Where else will you find a big section of the team officially devoting hours on Facebook & Twitter, watching movies, plays, DJ nights in the pre-text of “reviewing” them, and eat food at the best of joints – all as part of your JOB!!! Any words of wisdom for budding entrepreneurs?

Entrepreneurship is a “bug” – it doesn’t matter how cozy you are in your job – if it bites you, you have to do it. Having said that, statistically speaking, 93% startup ventures “fail”. So while it is important and critical to pursue your dreams, I suggest getting to the bottom of the following five things:

(1) Need – figure out the missing link, an unexplored area in the geography you want to start. (2) Determine the criticality of the need – would consumers be willing to PAY for the solution you provide? (3) Business Plan – How do you make money while establishing the brand (in the midst of competition)? (4) Core team – One core member at least in each of the functional areas of the company (R&D, Ops, User Experience, Sales)? (5) No NO! – once you’re out there, don’t ever take “NO” for an answer!

Once you have these things figured, you’re MUCH BETTER off compared to the crowd.

“Entrepreneurship

is a “bug” – it

doesn’t matter

how cozy you are

in your job – if it

bites you, you

have to do it.”

4

CREST Jul-Aug 2010

C O V E R S T O R Y — S T R A T E G Y

Unlocking Social Network Potential

Amidst the ever-increasing babble about Web 2.0 and the power of social

networks, Urshila Ghag unearths what you can learn from Farmville to

capitalize on Social Media Marketing.

Ever found yourself addicted to Farmville? Research shows that FarmVille has become the most popular game application on Facebook, with over 60 million active users and over 24 million Facebook application fans as of June 2010. Given these figures, the prodigious hype about social networks and their potential impact on marketing is understandable. Farmville is an apt indicator of the immense potential Social Media Marketing offers to compa-nies. Many companies are busy trying to establish their presence on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and other platforms. Yet there is some obscurity regarding the true value of social media marketing, even while common sense suggests that they should be tremendous enablers and amplifiers of word of mouth, the fact remains that few companies have unlocked this potential.

Social media marketing centers on efforts to create content that attracts at-tention, generates online conversations, and encourages readers to share it with their social networks. The message spreads from user to user and pre-sumably resonates because it is coming from a trusted source, as opposed to the brand or company itself. This has led to the adoption of a new mind-set: word of mouth as media is a form of content and hence becomes malleable to content management practices. Thus we have ‘Pages’, ‘Likes’, and ‘Wall posts’ on Facebook, ‘tweets’ of new releases on Twitter Unlike traditional advertising which is purchased, word of mouth on social networks needs to be earned. Thus social media marketing can be sustained only by being genuinely useful to individuals generating this word of mouth. How can a brand be useful to an individual on a social networking sight? First, it can provide social importance to the user and second, it can stimu-late word of mouth through much coveted ‘virtual items’. Let us examine how these insights into the system can be leveraged. Social Importance: recognition on social networking sites is an effective motivator. Users who gain importance in their social environment want to publicize it among their peers and hence they generate word of mouth. Thus the users gain real perceived value in the form of this recognition. Coming back to the example of Farmville where the players are awarded ‘white rib-bons’ , ‘blue ribbons’, ‘’Good Samaritan Award’ which can then be published onto the walls of the friends in their network. Facebook status messages and tweets are evidence for the fact that people love to brag about their achievements. These experiences can also create ‘contagions’ in which such behaviour is mimicked by their networks of friends. This serves to magnify the word of mouth effect and act as effective marketing strategy. Classically, Farmville also leverages this aspect. Having ‘neighbours’ on Farmville, i.e., inviting friends to play along with you comes with benefits of farm expansion, more coins and experience.

Continued on Page 5

“Unlike traditional

advertising which

is purchased, word

of mouth on social

networks needs to

be earned. Thus

social media mar-

keting can be sus-

tained only by be-

ing genuinely use-

ful to individuals

generating this

word of mouth.”

5

CREST Jul-Aug 2010

Coveting Virtual Items: Observing consumer behaviour, we can safely con-clude that consumers love virtual goods- nonphysical objects used in online communities and games. This then raises the question as to why consumers are ready to pay real money for things which don’t actually exist. Coming back to people obsessively playing Farmville to acquire coins to buy seeds, tractors, fuel, trees, animals and what not, their motives reinforce the notion that they seek importance through recognition. Brands need to use these virtual items as catalysts to generate word of mouth on social media.

Another example to be found on Facebook is that of ‘virtual gifting’. In the context of a social network, it is easy to think of gifts as symbols of popular-ity hence importance, especially as their availability can be strictly limited. In such a case, the desirability of such items is likely to be of significance for brands to create word of mouth media. Word-of-mouth marketing through social networks could emerge as an im-portant tool in the marketer’s arsenal. That will depend on whether market-ers can tame the fundamentally unpredictable and serendipitous nature of word of mouth without losing what makes it so valuable in the first place—its authenticity.

Inputs from: The McKinsey Quarterly

C O V E R S T O R Y — S T R A T E G Y

World's Smallest Resignation Letter

Dear Sir,

I Love your Wife.

Thank you.

6

CREST Jul-Aug 2010

“Start-Up” your Career!

Trying to decide between picking the tried and tested dream company or

braving the unchartered waters of a start-up? Neeti Kumar examines that

it is crucial to consider the entire landscape of compensation and career

growth.

Let’s Start with salary.

Once upon a time, you could expect to work at a start-up for a pittance - if you got paid at all. Most senior managers and founders lived in their par-ents' garages while building a company into a real business. The billions of dollars in venture capital being poured into start-ups have changed all that, giving many start-ups enough cash to pay competitive sala-ries. However, always remember the mysterious gap between the CTC and the in-hand salary. You certainly wouldn’t like to have an in-hand salary of 19,000 per month and a 4.8 lakhs p.a. CTC. So get your facts clear first. Consider the hours you'll be expected to work.

The defining characteristic of a start-up is working long hours. In the first few years of a start-up's life, it's not uncommon to work 12-hour days, seven days a week. If you're working double the hours that you would work anywhere else for the same salary, you've effectively taken a 50-percent pay cut. And the time that you spend working could very well have been used for other things. It's hard to measure the opportunity cost of giving up all your free time. Maybe you would have spent it on the couch, but then again, maybe you would have taken a class or written that novel. Those with families have to consider the toll work will take on their personal lives. What other opportunities does the start-up offer?

Although the lure of riches is compelling for many people, there are some other reasons to work for a start-up that don't involve dollar signs. For example, in most start-ups, people are given greater responsibility than they would have in a more established company. For many, having start-up experience is another step on the career ladder. So that what you can learn in a year you might not be able to learn in 5 years working in an established giant. Are you ready for it?

The work load and the responsibility put in are enormous. Considering your first job, are you ready for it coming straight out from college where the only responsibility was hosting the cultural fest? Or you think you need proper training to get prepared for the big bad corporate world? How many shares of stock will you get from a start-up?

Just because stock is being offered doesn't mean your dreams of becoming Bill Gates are almost fulfilled. Look at the details of the entire process. Com-panies have a lot of flexibility in how they offer their stock to employees. Find out how much you'll have to invest to make use of your options.

Continued on Page 7

“Having start-up

experience is an-

other step on the

career ladder. So

that what you can

learn in a year you

might not be able

to learn in 5 years

working in an es-

tablished giant. ”

E N T R E P R E N E U R S H I P

7

CREST Jul-Aug 2010

How long until they vest?

It's crucial to bear in mind how long you'll have to stick around to own all your shares. This typically takes four years or even longer. A start-up is not exactly a get-rich-quick scheme. What if the company is sold?

Many start-ups make for attractive acquisitions -- in fact, some are founded in hopes that they'll be acquired by one of the giants, such as Amazon.com or Yahoo. But what about you, your shares, and your job? Many people who are at-tracted by the excitement of working for a start-up don't want to work for one of the giants. If your company is bought before you fully vest, you may have to work for a company you don't especially like or have to give up some of your stock. So to conclude, go for the start-up if the challenges it offers excite you. After all, belief in yourself is more important than belief in the company.

Inputs from: Team Chotanarad.com

E N T R E P R E N E U R S H I P

How You Made Money?

A young man asked an old rich man how he made his money.

The old guy fingered his worsted wool vest and said, "Well, son, it was 1932. The depth of the Great Depression. I was down to my last nickel.

"I invested that nickel in an apple. I spent the entire day polishing the apple and, at the end of the day, I sold the apple for ten cents.

"The next morning, I invested those ten cents in two apples. I spent the entire day polishing them and sold them at 5:00 pm for 20 cents. I con-tinued this system for a month, by the end of which I'd accumulated a fortune of $1.37."

"And that's how you built an empire?" the boy asked.

"Heavens, no!" the man replied. "Then my wife's father died and left us two million dollars."

Words of Wisdom

Bad habits are like chains that are too light to feel until they are too heavy to carry. - Warren Buffet

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. - Thomas Alva Edison

There are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group; there is less competition there. - Kahlil Gibran

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CREST Jul-Aug 2010

Research for Better Management

Want to become a better manager? So, what does it take to become a bet-

ter manager? RESEARCH! Confused? Read on…

In this article we take a peek in the life of a researcher, Angshuman Ghosh. Angshu is a PhD Scholar in Marketing at XLRI. He is interested in marketing, advertising, psychology, philosophy and technology. A Computer Engineer by qualification, he has worked for Wipro Technologies for 3 years before joining XLRI. Angshu is a hardcore marketing person. In fact the first ques-tion he asked before we stared with the interview was who the target audi-ence was! Here is what he has to say about research, marketing, his life as a marketing researcher and relevance of research for managers. So, what is Research?

In simple terms research is finding answers to a question or finding solution to a problem. Based on the research question or problem we try to gather information and insights from past research or primary data and analyse and interpret the findings to come to a conclusion. Formally or informally we all conduct so many researches in our daily life, but just don’t call it re-search. Won’t you do an extensive research over internet before buying your next laptop or car? Of course, you will! What is the relevance of research for managers?

Most managerial decisions are basically for the purpose of solving some problem and it always requires answers to the relevant questions and hence research is an integral part of a manager’s life. In fact, to make any decision we need information and insights. The more the reliable our information and insights, the better will be our decisions. Better decision making capa-bility is one of the most important reasons why companies look for effective managers and research can really help you a lot in that regards. What inspired you to get into Marketing Research?

My interest in marketing began from my childhood as I used to watch and get amazed by the popular advertisements that would come on Doordar-shan. Why and how a 30-second ad of Rasna or Cadbury becomes part of popular cult was always a question in my mind. As I grew up how creative story telling could sell products really intrigued me. Learning things of my interest and that too in depth was always a primary goal in my life. Pursuing research in marketing would have given me the opportunity to develop in-depth understanding of marketing and advertising. Also being a lazy person I hate work! So, I followed the popular proverb “Do what you like and you never work a single day in your life” and decided to pursue research in mar-keting as my career. How hectic is it to pursue research?

Research is all about advancing knowledge and understanding about phe-nomenon around us. And there is no end to it. I spend a lot of time reading new articles and news mostly over the internet. I also keep observing things around me and keep thinking why something happened or did not happen. It takes most of my time but as I love doing it, it is always fun rather than hectic.

Continued on Page 9

“Formally or infor-

mally we all con-

duct so many re-

searches in our

daily life, but just

don’t call it re-

search. Won’t you

do an extensive

research over

internet before

buying your next

laptop or car?”

R E S E A R C H

9

CREST Jul-Aug 2010

Which research projects have you worked on so far?

I have conducted a research study on 100+ top Indian FMCG brands under the guidance of Prof. Pingali Venugopal. This study was to understand how the concepts of segmentation, targeting and positioning actually works in practical world. Content analysis of print and TV ads over the last few dec-ades was done to gain insights of these brands and then the findings were compared with actual perceptions of consumers obtained from survey based primary research. I have also presented a paper in an international conference on the topic of Luxury Goods Marketing. This research was done under the guidance of Prof. Sanjeev Varshney and focused on how consum-ers define luxury goods, what are the characteristics of those consumers and what motivates them to buy luxury goods. What is the road ahead?

Traditional marketing focused on mass communication since it was almost impossible to reach consumers individually with customized message. How-ever things are changing and changing fast. Now if an unwanted ad comes on TV we switch the channel and if we really need to buy a product we will research on the internet about the product rather than relying on advertise-ments promoted by the manufacturer. So, there is going to be a drastic shift in marketing paradigm from outbound to inbound marketing. With the ad-vent of internet and Web 2.0 how consumers communicate is changing fast and voice of consumer is becoming increasingly important. I am currently working on this paradigm changing domain of marketing called Web 2.0 Marketing. It includes cutting edge and interesting topics like how you get on top of Google for particular keywords, how effectively you can use social media sites to promote your brands and so on. What does it take to do research?

Inquisitiveness is one of the most important traits of a researcher. If you like to know more about why and how things work (or they don’t) then you have a researcher inside you. However, the world around us is not always very simple to understand and as a result sometimes it takes little bit of stretching before you arrive at right answers for your research question. It took researchers in physics thousands of years to understand the exact na-ture of light and still confusions abound. So, it might need tenacity at times but if challenges fascinate you then you will love it. If you are the kind of person who likes freedom and complete control over your work then proba-bly research is the right field for you. Having a logical and innovative mind won’t hurt either! Finally, You have also started a website?

Yes! I wanted to bring all my learning in management in general, and mar-keting in specific to the benefit of everyone and so started the website: http://tnmg4u.com. It is a repository of management knowledge especially in the field of marketing and advertising. Information available in the site should be very helpful for management students and budding managers. In fact, I’m currently also looking for interested writers to develop this web-site. Angshuman Ghosh can be contacted at <ghosh.angshuman.fph@gmail.com>

R E S E A R C H

“Traditional mar-

keting focused on

mass communica-

tion since it was

almost impossible

to reach consum-

ers individually

with customized

message. However

things are chang-

ing and changing

fast.”

10

CREST Jul-Aug 2010

CRESCENT Consulting Club (C3) - The Launch CRESCENT Consulting Club (C-Cubed), which was initiated last year, launched its activities for this year with an intro-ductory session. Discussions included a brief about What is Consulting, its types, and the kind of work one could expect as a consultant. The session was wound up with an introduction to guesstimates, where everyone participated enthusiasti-cally in the simple examples taken up. CREST takes Guesstimates one step

further, by posing another question:

How many Doctors in Jamshedpur?

The most out-of-the-box answer gets

featured in the next issue of CREST!

L’Ultima Battaglia Translated into “The Ultimate Battle”, this was a simulated, real-time strat-egy game. The event was moderated by Prof. Munish Thakur and saw large participation from both batches. Teams comprised four juniors and two seniors each. The game revolved around the strategy of a conglomerate in certain sectors, where participants had to make decisions in various func-tions over several financial periods.

What’s Coming Up?

CRESCENT has got quite a few activities rolled up its sleeve.

After the launch, the focus of C-Cubed will move towards acquainting students with the nuances of guesstimates, case analysis and other tools required to crack those consult interviews. Fur-ther down the line, an M&A series, Live Projects and many other such activities have been envis-aged.

We are also looking to increase our presence on the web and in line with that the CRESCENT blog will be launched very soon, which would eventually give way to a more elaborate website.

On the Entrepreneurship front, we are currently developing “The Idea Factory” to encourage en-trepreneurship within students on a smaller scale. Details and structure will emerge soon.

Besides the above, there are plans for later, which we will share along the way.

Finally, CREST will continue to arrive in your inbox periodically, and we hope to improve with each issue based on your feedback :)

C A M P U S R E P O R T E R

CRESCENT e-mail id

crescent@xlri.ac.in

CREST Jul-Aug 2010

CRESCENT MEMBERS

Faculty Advisor

Prof. Munish Thakur

Secretary

Mohammed Sadique Quraishi

Senior Executive Members

Aalok Sanghvi

Miti Vaidya

Nitin Agarwal

Siddhesh Ajgaonkar

Vikas Kedia

Vikram Singh Rathore

Junior Executive Members

Namrata Singh

Neeti Kumar

Rama Krishna Chava

Rohnak Shah

Shashwat Sahai

Siddhartha Saran

Urshila Ghag

Cover Photo Courtesy

Karthik Srinivasan

The Editorial Team of CrestCrestCrestCrest invites articles from readers for

publication in forthcoming issues. If you have articles/ ex-

periences/ studies to share in the areas of consulting, en-

trepreneurship, research or strategy, please do send them

in to crest.xlri@gmail.com mentioning your name and insti-

tute name.