Greek Complexity

India’s new politics

Snip: "Driving home in the gathering darkness, Nandan Nilekani seems tired. His car crawls through Bangalore’s chaotic streets after a gruelling day of glad-handing, dense crowds and half-a-dozen speeches."

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No, Tinder Is Not Worth $5 Billion

Snip: "Don’t believe those reports saying Tinder, the popular mobile dating app, is worth $5 billion."

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White knights and soft landings

Photo credit: Jon Rawlinson

We need more soft landings in Singapore, India, and other markets in SE Asia for start-ups that fail to fulfil their initial promise. Why? So that more potential entrepreneurs and start-up employees will actually take the plunge.

I'm a little late to the party but I just realised that Brandscreen, an ad-tech company that went into administration at the end of 2013, was bought by a US ad-tech firm last month. I've been told that Brandscreen went through a raft of problems prior to its entering administration but I also know that they had some great assets in their staff, intellectual property and client roster.

It's a virtual certainty that none of Brandscreen's shareholders made a profit on the sale to Zenovia, but that's not the point. We need more of these fall-back options which will allow start-up founders and employees to dust themselves off and live to fight another day, whether that be at another start-up or at a larger organisation. Over time, prospective white knights will find that there are talented, motivated and cohesive teams, not just individuals, available to them.

Getting this started is the responsibility of everyone here -- senior entrepreneurs, investors, large tech companies, corporate executives, everyone. Ultimately, we will all benefit from increased start-up activity and greater market depth, so it's up to us to make it happen.

Let's do it.

The Crossroads of Should and Must

Snip: "There are two paths in life: Should and Must. We arrive at this crossroads over and over again. And each time, we get to choose. Over the past year I’ve chosen Must again and again. And it was petrifying. And at times it was dark. But I would never, ever, trade this past year for anything."

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