Over the next few days, Ola users will see an unfamiliar sight on their apps. Instead of cabs, Transformers will be whizzing across their cities, picking up and ferrying passengers. So the Ola Micro will become the Bumblebee, which is “protective, loyal and and playful,” and Ola Share will become Crosshairs, which is the “best team player.” Ola Prime, of course, will become Optimus Prime. Brand promotion – level A++. Ola showing nearby vehicles as…

At Uber’s town hall meeting during which it announced the departure of CEO Travis Kalanick, Liane Hornsey, its Chief Human Resources Officer, was trying to rally the troops. Uber had been hit by a series of scandals which accused the company of having a discriminatory and toxic work culture, and morale was low. “I know you’re polishing your resumes,” Hornsey said, worried that some employees were considering leaving the company. “I want to finish today by saying, put…

On 15th May last year, Ishaan Gill from Delhi had an unusual Uber ride. Gill had sensed something was amiss when the ride had started. “The cab reached an hour late and the driver Ajay seemed dizzy. I asked him if he was OK and he nodded in positive. At Aurobindo Marg, I stopped texting and looked ahead on the road. To my amazement, the driver was about to hit a divider. As I looked towards…

2016 was already a strange enough year, but now it’s become stranger still – Flipkart is now complaining that Amazon India is copying everything from them. “Copying us,” said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Flipkart’s head of advertising and commerce platform, when asked about the rapid strides Amazon has made over the last year. Krishnamurthy was speaking at a joint interview with Flipkart CEO Binny Bansal. “We came up with the construct of BBDs, they copied that. When we have a…

It’s often hard to figure out the provenance of words – they’re passed around, modified, and can get lost in the confusing maze of history and time. But every once in a while, it’s possible to pin down the exact moment a new word was created.  One such word is unicorn. Until a few years ago, unicorn didn’t mean anything – not to startups and entrepreneurs, anyway. A unicorn was a mythical creature with a white coat and a horn,…

The new Snapdeal logo was unveiled today with much fanfare. There were full page ads in newspapers, press coverage, and the usual social media hype. The logo was well received in most quarters, with people saying it looks modern and slick. However, Seedfund founder Mahesh Murthy wasn’t impressed. Rs. 200 crores for a new paint job on the Titanichttps://t.co/1FR8kp2tZ7 — Mahesh Murthy (@maheshmurthy) September 12, 2016 Ouch. Murthy is likening the logo redesign to “a…