Elon Musk has his hands full these days. He’s the full-time CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and Neuralink, runs OpenAI and Boring Company, and promotes futuristic projects like the Hyperloop. Even thought it might not seem so at times, Musk is only human, and he needs large teams for his grand visions to come to life. That means interviewing people — lots and lots of people. Musk is a prolific interviewer. In the early days of…
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…
India’s most valuable startup is considering the biggest pivot in its ten year history. Flipkart wants to become an app-of-apps in the comings months, providing several services other than just e-retail, the company has announced. Through Flipkart’s app, customers will be able to order food, book cabs and travel, and plan a vacation.“The business is targeting a December launch and will follow a WeChat model, where the Flipkart app can be used to book a cab,…
The food tech story in India has unfolded somewhat like the Big Bang — the sector burst into prominence in 2014, with big-name deals and plentiful funding. Things, however, cooled down almost immediately — by 2016, the sector had seen a bloodbath. There with shutdowns, firings, and a food tech founder was even held hostage for 36 hours by his irate employees. But as the dust slowly settles on the sector, the few remaining players might be slowly beginning…
[This article is the first in our of our new series The Cofounders, where we talk about the stories of the lesser known founders of famous companies] Uber is now the most valuable startup in the world, and Travis Kalanick is its recognizable public face. As its CEO, Kalanick represents Uber at all public platforms, and receives the brickbats and bouquets that come with the role. He’s also become a bit of a celebrity — when Kalanick…
India’s national cricket team walked out today with a new name adorning their blue jerseys. Chinese smartphone maker Oppo is the latest sponsor for the Indian cricket team, having signed a five-year contract with the BCCI for Rs. 1079 crore earlier this year. The title sponsor for the IPL this year was Oppo-competitor Vivo, which signed a two-year contract with the BCCI. Chinese companies now have the sponsorship positions for two of the most lucrative positions in Indian cricket,…
For several years, BookMyShow had a near monopoly on the movie ticketing business in India. As companies in other sectors tried to woo users with discounts and freebies, BookMyShow had been in the enviable position of doing exactly the opposite — it charged a convenience fee on each ticket booked, with tickets on its online platform being more expensive than tickets booked at the Box office. As other startups languished with unsustainable losses, BookMyShow became one…
If fake news stories can be used to win elections, they can also be used to part gullible people with their hard-earned money. Over the last few days, hundreds of Indians have been seeing an interesting a news story on their Facebook feed. “Azim Premji Invests $515 million In Tech Startup,” says the headline, which seemingly leads to the CNN Money site. “Famous Indian billionaire – Azim Premji with a cult-like following has invested enormous amount – $515,000,000…
It hasn’t been a good few months for Indian unicorns. Flipkart has seen its value fall from $15 billion to 11 billion, Ola has seen its value fall from $5 billion to $3 billion, and Snapdeal is on the verge of being sold at a sub-billion dollar valuation after seeing a sixfold drop in its value. But away from the doom and gloom of the consumer internet space, the Indian unicorn club has a new member. ReNew…
A butterfly flaps its wings somewhere in the universe, and two years later, 17 million Zomato passwords and emails are stolen. On 28th October 2015, the developers at 000webhost, a free hosting provider, discovered that something was amiss. Hackers had managed to use a PHP exploit to gain access to their database, and steal the email addresses and passwords of their 13 million users. 000webhost’s team immediately sprung into action, they reset everyone’s passwords. By 1st November 2015,…